Supporters' group tells Coventry City FC owners to clarify stadium plans (43 Viewers)

Astute

Well-Known Member
No I accuse you if being up the councils arse as deep as "chris stokes or is it Sam Ricketts Tony" or that buffoon Italia.

This is a CCC battering thread. What a shock to see you on it jumping on lies said and making it out to be the truth. Then verbally attacking anyone that points out the lies.

So answer a couple of things for once. Richardson says in the article that he paid for the land and sold some to Tesco's. Do you believe him? I will give you a clue. We know it isn't true.

So in the article he came out with one of if not the biggest lie in the history of CCFC. So why other than for the reason of CCC bashing would you believe any of the rest of it to be true?

And don't worry. I know you won't give a straight forward truthful answer. Keyboard warrior insults is all that you know.
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Remember, when the council embark on their PR projects, the stadium cost £113m.
The bit CCFC play in and rented cost ??

But the thing is the Ricoh was a scaled down version of what Richardson had planned. He even said he wanted and showed us plans with a retractable roof.

And when we were given a 50% stake in ACL we should have had a share in it. But Richardson sold it to cover an old debt and bring in more money to keep us afloat long enough to get out of our club then blame others for what went wrong. The evidence is all in the article on this thread. How about all the money he paid himself?

Richardson is the main reason we are where we are now. He spent money we didn't have. Yes it was great for us at the time to have the players that we did. And we sold players for large amounts to cover the cost of the transfers in most of the time. But we couldn't afford the wages. We also brought in players on a big wage that were not good enough.

HR was our home. A proper old style ground. Stands that were built at different times and didn't go together. Amenities that could have been a lot better. But it was ours until sold. It was near the city centre so easy to get to. It was big enough for us other than the occasional big game. And if we would have kept it we wouldn't be in this situation now.

So to me Richardson is to blame for our situation. CCC could have done much more to help us but they are not to blame. SISU could have dealt with things much better. But they are not to blame. And I will never believe a word that Richardson says. I know a couple of people that were close to our club at his time at our club. I found it hard to believe some of what was going on. But I wasn't worried at all. We were in the Prem and had a good side. What a fool I was.
 
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Sick Boy

Super Moderator
I loved HR and never understood people complaining about the amenities, it was a football ground what did they expect?

Now we get told that a London rugby franchise is helping raise the profile of the city. Ccfc has always been and always will be bigger than them and draw bigger crowds.

If we weren't at the Ricoh, I reckon they'd struggle to sell naming rights for the stadium, despite what the Council Telegraph tell us.
 

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
But the thing is the Ricoh was a scaled down version of what Richardson had planned. He even said he wanted and showed us plans with a retractable roof.

And when we were given a 50% stake in ACL we should have had a share in it. But Richardson sold it to cover an old debt and bring in more money to keep us afloat long enough to get out of our club then blame others for what went wrong. The evidence is all in the article on this thread. How about all the money he paid himself?

Richardson is the main reason we are where we are now. He spent money we didn't have. Yes it was great for us at the time to have the players that we did. And we sold players for large amounts to cover the cost of the transfers in most of the time. But we couldn't afford the wages. We also brought in players on a big wage that were not good enough.

HR was our home. A proper old style ground. Stands that were built at different times and didn't go together. Amenities that could have been a lot better. But it was ours until sold. It was near the city centre so easy to get to. It was big enough for us other than the occasional big game. And if we would have kept it we wouldn't be in this situation now.

So to me Richardson is to blame for our situation. CCC could have done much more to help us but they are not to blame. SISU could have dealt with things much better. But they are not to blame. And I will never believe a word that Richardson says. I know a couple of people that were close to our club at his time at our club. I found it hard to believe some of what was going on. But I wasn't worried at all. We were in the Prem and had a good side. What a fool I was.
Richardson had long gone by the time the share was sold. I stopped reading after that.
 

Irish Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
But the thing is the Ricoh was a scaled down version of what Richardson had planned. He even said he wanted and showed us plans with a retractable roof.

And when we were given a 50% stake in ACL we should have had a share in it. But Richardson sold it to cover an old debt and bring in more money to keep us afloat long enough to get out of our club then blame others for what went wrong. The evidence is all in the article on this thread. How about all the money he paid himself?

Richardson is the main reason we are where we are now. He spent money we didn't have. Yes it was great for us at the time to have the players that we did. And we sold players for large amounts to cover the cost of the transfers in most of the time. But we couldn't afford the wages. We also brought in players on a big wage that were not good enough.

HR was our home. A proper old style ground. Stands that were built at different times and didn't go together. Amenities that could have been a lot better. But it was ours until sold. It was near the city centre so easy to get to. It was big enough for us other than the occasional big game. And if we would have kept it we wouldn't be in this situation now.

So to me Richardson is to blame for our situation. CCC could have done much more to help us but they are not to blame. SISU could have dealt with things much better. But they are not to blame. And I will never believe a word that Richardson says. I know a couple of people that were close to our club at his time at our club. I found it hard to believe some of what was going on. But I wasn't worried at all. We were in the Prem and had a good side. What a fool I was.

I agree with all of this except that Sisu are not to blame. They have made a bad situation a lot worse in their efforts to get something for nothing. In the end they have given a franchise club the chance to walk in and pick up the stadium, that could have been theirs if they had acted properly, for what seems like peanuts.
 

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
I agree with all of this except that Sisu are not to blame. They have made a bad situation a lot worse in their efforts to get something for nothing. In the end they have given a franchise club the chance to walk in and pick up the stadium, that could have been theirs if they had acted properly, for what seems like peanuts.

Take it up with Ransom. Also, how can you agree when there are parts of the post that are factually incorrect.

Also, we were never offered the stadium at the same cut price deal the franchise were offered too.
 

Mr T - Sukka!

Active Member
Isn't this thread supposed to be about SISU building a new stadium outside of Coventry? Not all the old crap that has been done a million times?

SISU keep banging the drum about this new stadium, but they don't fool anybody.

1) What happened to the forums with Sandra Garlic?
2) Why have they not identified a site?
3) Why have SISU put no details to any council where they intend to build?

This new ground is bullshit, and everyone can see it.

And for people that do believe it (there cannot be many), 2 questions for you:
1) How would renting in a new ground be better then renting £100k per year @ the Ricoh with a share of food and drink?
2) Why would they even mention a stadium outside Coventry, when they don't know how many paying customers would go?
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
I loved HR and never understood people complaining about the amenities, it was a football ground what did they expect?

Now we get told that a London rugby franchise is helping raise the profile of the city. Ccfc has always been and always will be bigger than them and draw bigger crowds.

If we weren't at the Ricoh, I reckon they'd struggle to sell naming rights for the stadium, despite what the Council Telegraph tell us.

Toilets not big enough and you had to hold your breath. If you wanted refreshments you either went before half time or missed the start of the second half. But otherwise I loved the place.
 

italiahorse

Well-Known Member
Isn't this thread supposed to be about SISU building a new stadium outside of Coventry? Not all the old crap that has been done a million times?

SISU keep banging the drum about this new stadium, but they don't fool anybody.

1) What happened to the forums with Sandra Garlic?
2) Why have they not identified a site?
3) Why have SISU put no details to any council where they intend to build?

This new ground is bullshit, and everyone can see it.

And for people that do believe it (there cannot be many), 2 questions for you:
1) How would renting in a new ground be better then renting £100k per year @ the Ricoh with a share of food and drink?
2) Why would they even mention a stadium outside Coventry, when they don't know how many paying customers would go?

Been asking this for ages but people on here just moan and let Sisu take the mickey.
I want to see a comparison on both scenarios before I commit to a new stadium.
Unlike quite a few on here.
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
I agree with all of this except that Sisu are not to blame. They have made a bad situation a lot worse in their efforts to get something for nothing. In the end they have given a franchise club the chance to walk in and pick up the stadium, that could have been theirs if they had acted properly, for what seems like peanuts.

SISU were not the cause. They are only with us because we were already in the shit. SISU have done as much damage to our club as CCC. I don't blame either of them more than the other. They were as bad as each other. SISU took the piss with the way they tried to get the Ricoh. CCC took the piss by letting Wasps have it. Richardson started it all off. We should have tried our best to get HR back once we knew that we couldn't afford the Ricoh.
 

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
Toilets not big enough and you had to hold your breath. If you wanted refreshments you either went before half time or missed the start of the second half. But otherwise I loved the place.

That was all part of it though for me! If only we had spent the money doing the place up, we'd be in a far healthier situation than we are now.
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Been asking this for ages but people on here just moan and let Sisu take the mickey.
I want to see a comparison on both scenarios before I commit to a new stadium.
Unlike quite a few on here.

How can you compare a stadium that won't get built with a rental agreement that we have no details of?
 

stupot07

Well-Known Member
Isn't this thread supposed to be about SISU building a new stadium outside of Coventry? Not all the old crap that has been done a million times?

SISU keep banging the drum about this new stadium, but they don't fool anybody.

1) What happened to the forums with Sandra Garlic?
2) Why have they not identified a site?
3) Why have SISU put no details to any council where they intend to build?

This new ground is bullshit, and everyone can see it.

And for people that do believe it (there cannot be many), 2 questions for you:
1) How would renting in a new ground be better then renting £100k per year @ the Ricoh with a share of food and drink?
2) Why would they even mention a stadium outside Coventry, when they don't know how many paying customers would go?

Until the club buy some land and show us the business case we don't won't know which is the most viable option.

What we do know is that renting at the Ricoh with little / no access to revenues limits our turnover to one of the lowest 3-4 in the the championship.

2 other points - a long term rental deal is likely to be more than £100k pa, and we know from the ACL Q&A on the trust website that the profit on f&b's at the Ricoh is around 11% (c£112k on 16k crowd) so it's probably worth around £35-40k to us at the minute.

I can't see a new stadium being built, but having seen the attendance at wasps yesterday I think there's a real chance that we could capitalise on 6 years time when they have to pay the £35m + interest back. I'd urge all ccfc fans to boycott wasps games, help drive those attendance down further.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors :)
 
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Astute

Well-Known Member
That was all part of it though for me! If only we had spent the money doing the place up, we'd be in a far healthier situation than we are now.

I have always said that I preferred HR to the Ricoh. But it was dated and would have cost a lot to bring it up to date.
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
Truie. However, once the new East Stand was built it improved and eventually we could have done that all around like they have at Ashton Gate.

Toilets not big enough and you had to hold your breath. If you wanted refreshments you either went before half time or missed the start of the second half. But otherwise I loved the place.
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
Less than £113M though.

I have always said that I preferred HR to the Ricoh. But it was dated and would have cost a lot to bring it up to date.
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Until the club buy some land and show us the business case we don't won't know which is the most viable option.

What we do know is that renting at the Ricoh with little / no access to revenues limits our turnover to one of the lowest 3-4 in the the championship.

2 other points - a long term rental deal is likely to be more than £100k pa, and we know from the ACL Q&A on the trust website that the profit on f&b's at the Ricoh is around 11% (c£112k on 16k crowd) so it's probably worth around £35-40k to us at the minute.

I can't see a new stadium being built, but having seen the attendance at wasps yesterday I think there's a real chance that we could capitalise on 6 years time when they have to pay the £35m + interest back. I'd urge all ccfc fans to boycott wasps games, help drive those attendance down further.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors :)

The interest is paid each year. But IIRC they kept enough from the sale of the bonds to pay the first year or two interest. Put that with him keeping 10m of it from what the club owed him he doesn't seem to be confident that the move will work for them.

The bonds are trading at a premium at the moment. A good way of keeping an eye on things is to keep an eye on the bonds. And then we will see if they can afford the 35m in 6 years time.

Interest of 6.5% on 35m is approximately 2 1/4m. They have to find that each year. I would say good luck to them but I wouldn't mean it :D
 
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torchomatic

Well-Known Member
Again true. However we need to remember the word "choice". We had a choice. We didn't have to move, the landlord hadn't sold the stadium, the lease wasn't up. Bryan Richardson chose to move to a new stadium. We could have developed the ground over time, we didn't need to do it all at once.

We didn't even have 13m :(
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Again true. However we need to remember the word "choice". We had a choice. We didn't have to move, the landlord hadn't sold the stadium, the lease wasn't up. Bryan Richardson chose to move to a new stadium. We could have developed the ground over time, we didn't need to do it all at once.

And as you know I am in full agreement with you.
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
Well, that was stupid, wasn't it? Apart from death there is no guarantee of anything in life.

Just to take it in context this was all originally planned and designed around us being in the top flight. At no stage was it ever considered we'd be a League 1 club.
 

tisza

Well-Known Member
Well, that was stupid, wasn't it? Apart from death there is no guarantee of anything in life.
To put the other side of it a brand new stadium with all the extra facilities/revenue stream potential etc. for around 55 million at the time must have seemed a good deal. (pre-council involvement of course).
 

martcov

Well-Known Member
Until the club buy some land and show us the business case we don't won't know which is the most viable option.

What we do know is that renting at the Ricoh with little / no access to revenues limits our turnover to one of the lowest 3-4 in the the championship.

2 other points - a long term rental deal is likely to be more than £100k pa, and we know from the ACL Q&A on the trust website that the profit on f&b's at the Ricoh is around 11% (c£112k on 16k crowd) so it's probably worth around £35-40k to us at the minute.

I can't see a new stadium being built, but having seen the attendance at wasps yesterday I think there's a real chance that we could capitalise on 6 years time when they have to pay the £35m + interest back. I'd urge all ccfc fans to boycott wasps games, help drive those attendance down further.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors :)

So, basically talk about building a stadium, but don't do it. Sign a 5 year roll over contract for as little Rent as possible and then, when Wasps cannot meet the Bond interest payments, put cash on the table? Don't forget naming rights which could still swing it in Wasps' favour.
 

James Smith

Well-Known Member
The interest is paid each year. But IIRC they kept enough from the sale of the bonds to pay the first year or two interest. Put that with him keeping 10m of it from what the club owed him he doesn't seem to be confident that the move will work for them.

The bonds are trading at a premium at the moment. A good way of keeping an eye on things is to keep an eye on the bonds. And then we will see if they can afford the 35m in 6 years time.

Interest of 6.5% on 35m is approximately 2 1/4m. They have to find that each year. I would say good luck to them but I wouldn't mean it :D

Sorry if this is a dumb question with an obvious answer but how do you keep an eye on the bonds?
 

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