Approval Rating: Reading Fans Happier With Rob Couhig And Co

Our recent managerial approval rating made it clear that Reading fans aren’t happy with the job Leam Richardson is doing, but the same is certainly not true of the owners. On the contrary, their score is on the rise.

The first time we asked for your score on Rob Couhig and co – September 2025, around five months after their takeover – you gave them a very solid 3.46/5. While not one of the very best ratings we’ve seen in our approval rating series on Reading owners, it was still good enough for eighth overall.

As for the second poll on how they’re doing – which we rolled out to tie in with their one-year anniversary – they’re up a bit to 3.63/5. That’s the seventh-highest mark we’ve had, so going by this trend, they’ll probably get the sixth-highest when we next do this approval rating…

Going up to 3.63 isn’t a massive jump, sure, but it’s still a trend in the right direction from the perspective of Couhig and co. I’d argue that any rise in approval rating in the context of an overall disappointing season is good news – fans clearly aren’t blaming the owners for what went wrong on the pitch in 2025/26.

And there’s a decent amount to be optimistic about away from results and performances. It’s clear that a lot of effort is being put in to revamp the club behind the scenes and improve the general supporter experience, including for example a heavy investment in upgrading the stadium and pitch.

It’s not universal positivity though. The recently announced One Royal initiative has its merits – such as letting fans split the cost of a season ticket into 12 payments across the year – but changes to the loyalty points system came in for a lot of flak too.

Side note: my two cents on those alterations is that, though they shouldn’t have been introduced on principle (the system was pretty much perfect as it was), in practice there probably won’t be a major, unfair impact on who gets to attend the most in-demand away games. I don’t think this new system hands a disproportionately unfair advantage to a load of fans who otherwise weren’t regular matchgoers.

Anyway, I digress. Let’s have a look at how the owner approval ratings break down, as there’s an interesting shift to unpack.

Both in September 2025 and May 2026, around 4% of people are down as ‘very unhappy’, roughly 8% are ‘unhappy’ and a little more than 10% are ‘very happy’. (That’s my terminology and wasn’t in the original poll, but it fits well in my view.)

As for that remaining 75% or so? There’s been a fairly big move in there, with around 10% of fans shifting up from ‘fine’ to ‘happy’, as you can see on the charts below.

I’d put that trend down to general appreciation for the work being put in behind the scenes. Mid-season purchases of Benn Ward and Haydon Roberts also helped – suggesting strongly that the club are willing to invest in young talent.

So, all in all, although not many of you are outright delighted with how the owners are performing at the moment, a comfortable majority of Reading fans have a broadly positive view.

I suspect there’s scope for quite a lot of fans in that 52.2% on the right-side chart to move into the highest category next time, but it’ll depend on how the team is doing on the pitch. Similarly, if Reading start next season as they ended 2025/26, it probably won’t result in people being angry at the owners, but could be reflected in more fans taking a middling view – ie 3/5.