Ding ding - round 2 (11 Viewers)

[Captain Dart]

Coventry City v council Ricoh Arena court battle resumes tomorrow

 

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[Ashdown]

And it really is all this on going single minded bullshit from our inept owners that turn off many of our stay away fans................If only I and many others could convince ourselves that they had the club at heart in these obsessive legal shenanigans.

 

[oucho]

OK so can someone explain something to me without this turning into yet another "SISU arse licker / council lover" slanging match ......what is the point of tomorrow's preliminary hearing? Sounds like the real action will take place at the start of May.

I don't understand from that article what is being decided tomorrow or how they may have a bearing on the May hearing.

Thanks.

 

[Nick]

The judge is going to say that CCFC will be awarded £50m in compensation but it is 100% watertight that the money is for CCFC and SISU can't have it. The money must be spent on the infrastructure of the club and has to be on a stadium with a built in academy, training ground and community hub as that is what we "missed out on" due to the deal and Wasps being here.

SISU can keep ryton to do as they please.

 

[Ranjit Bhurpa]

OK so can someone explain something to me without this turning into yet another "SISU arse licker / council lover" slanging match ......what is the point of tomorrow's preliminary hearing? Sounds like the real action will take place at the start of May.

I don't understand from that article what is being decided tomorrow or how they may have a bearing on the May hearing.

Thanks.

I'm not a legal beagle but the cynic in me says it's yet another opportunity for court hours to be billed somewhere at exhorbitant rates. The legal process really does look after its own.

 

[oucho]

I'm not a legal beagle but the cynic in me says it's yet another opportunity for court hours to be billed somewhere at exhorbitant rates. The legal process really does look after its own.

There must be some excuse to hold it though, a pretext if you will. Maybe it's something to do with the format of the May hearing. I suspect there won't be much exciting news tomorrow.

 

[Ashdown]

The judge is going to say that CCFC will be awarded £50m in compensation but it is 100% watertight that the money is for CCFC and SISU can't have it. The money must be spent on the infrastructure of the club and has to be on a stadium with a built in academy, training ground and community hub as that is what we "missed out on" due to the deal and Wasps being here.

SISU can keep ryton to do as they please.

If only !

 

[skybluedan]

There just cunts

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

Great stuff. been waiting for ages for this. At least we can forget about football for a while again:yawn:

 

[Colin Steins Smile]

Is this where the £750k of losses in the first part of the season has been costed to?

 

[ajsccfc]

BRING PONTICELLI ON AS SURPRISE WITNESS

 

[Sky Blue Kid]

The judge is going to say that CCFC will be awarded £50m in compensation but it is 100% watertight that the money is for CCFC and SISU can't have it. The money must be spent on the infrastructure of the club and has to be on a stadium with a built in academy, training ground and community hub as that is what we "missed out on" due to the deal and Wasps being here.

SISU can keep ryton to do as they please.

You get a MAHOOOSIIVVEEEEEEE like for that.

 

[stevefloyd]

Just think how good our budget would be if it wasnt for the avaricious barristers greed greed greed

 

[Ranjit Bhurpa]

There must be some excuse to hold it though, a pretext if you will. Maybe it's something to do with the format of the May hearing. I suspect there won't be much exciting news tomorrow.

I'm sure there will be a reason as part of the whole drawn out legal process, probably procedural and as you say, I doubt there will be much for the Telegraph to try and whip everyone into a frenzy.

My only experience of the legal system is jury service (twice). Yes it was criminal law but both times you would have struggled to measure much in the way of productivity or efficiency of the legal system, despite the courts being well staffed with officials and legal representatives, all of whom will require payment from somewhere.

 

[dongonzalos]

BRING PONTICELLI ON AS SURPRISE WITNESS

But don’t give give him enough time to deliver his evidence

 

[bawtryneal]

Don't forget that SISU and CCFC are to completely different entities with no negative for the football club.

 

[ccfcway]

the farce continues. Sisu claiming wasps should pay another £30m whilst at the same time trying to negotiate a deal for us to stay at the ricoh

 

[chiefdave]

If the appeal into JR2 is May what are they doing tomorrow? Is it just going to be a 5 min thing where its formally opened and adjourned?

 

[oucho]

If the appeal into JR2 is May what are they doing tomorrow? Is it just going to be a 5 min thing where its formally opened and adjourned?

See my question above. I think tomorrow may affect the format and content of the May hearing.

 

[dongonzalos]

the farce continues. Sisu claiming wasps should pay another £30m whilst at the same time trying to negotiate a deal for us to stay at the ricoh

Apparently suing someone for £30 million, (effectively trying to destroy their business) Doesnt affect you attempting to negotiate into a long term business deal with them.
Personally I find that somewhat surprising.

 

[Sky Blue Kid]

the farce continues. Sisu claiming wasps should pay another £30m whilst at the same time trying to negotiate a deal for us to stay at the ricoh

Not only that, they're claiming Wasps should pay another £30m for something they originally claimed was worth nothing.

 

[chiefdave]

Looks like today will be a bit of a non-event. Seems all it is for is the judge to tell all sides what the next hearing is going to cover.

 

[Adge]

Apparently suing someone for £30 million, (effectively trying to destroy their business) Doesnt affect you attempting to negotiate into a long term business deal with them.
Personally I find that somewhat surprising.

And if I was them I know I would be shutting the door in their face!

 

[ccfcway]

Looks like today will be a bit of a non-event. Seems all it is for is the judge to tell all sides what the next hearing is going to cover.

Every one of the court cases has been a non event

 

[Grendel]

Apparently suing someone for £30 million, (effectively trying to destroy their business) Doesnt affect you attempting to negotiate into a long term business deal with them.
Personally I find that somewhat surprising.

Correct it doesn’t.

They don’t want a long term deal - that’s the reason there’s been a delay

 

[Nick]

Live: Coventry City v council Ricoh Arena court battle resumes

Interesting. Damages not being pursued.

 

[Ashdown]

They're not going to get any anyway !

 

[Nick]

Judge Irwin says there has to be a sensible time period for possible mediation before that hearing.

Mediation for what though?

 

[Sky Blue Kid]

Damages not being persued through THIS process.... but may well be sought through Civil Courts.

 

[Nick]

CCFC’s lawyer says the “land transfer was used to wash out the council loan”.

He’s referring to the remainder of a £14.4million loan that the Ricoh Arena company owed the council at the time of the Wasps takeover.

He says the lease extension was used to raise money in the form of bonds by Wasps which paid off the council loan making it a “neutral element”.

CCFC’s QC is referring to elements of a report by council finance officer Barry Hastie.

He is arguing that the report shows Higgs received more than the value of the shares for the Ricoh Arena and therefore he is not arguing that the council received less than the shares were worth when viewed “in isolation”.

 

[Nick]

CCFC QC reiterates he is not arguing that Wasps underpaid for the shares in the stadium. He says it appears they overpaid - referring to the fact the council valued their 50 per cent shares in the Ricoh Arena at £0 for two successive years in their annual accounts.

However, he believes the value of the overall transaction, once the lease extension is taken into account, shows that Wasps were sold the stadium on the cheap.

He says “the real value of the transaction is in the land transfer”.

 

[SkyBlue79]

If SISU win, what happens? Wasps are forced to pay the council £29 million. If they can't (as they probably can't) then what... Wasps walk away and ACL is left to be dissolved or purchased with a £29m debt associated with it (which is unlikely). The lease could go back to the council, however it could never ever be sold for less than £50 million.

I'm not sure what happens with regards any value that Wasps would claim they have added to the business and building.

Or perhaps, is it possible that the lease time frame is reduced? Is this legal? If so the bond security is blown out of the water potentially.

Not that I expect SISU to win, but just wondering what the outcomes could realistically be.

 

[sky blue john]

Lol
I'd be cagey if Sisu asked me what the day of the week was!

 

[Nick]

CCFC QC now referring to the expert evidence they wish to have admitted.

He wants a statement from independent financial expert Mr Pilgrim to be allowed.

The point of this is to critically analyse the valuation placed on the deal by KPMG - who were recruited by the council to provide independent advice ahead of the sale to Wasps.

There’s another statement from a marketing expert by the name of Mr Rathbone.

The point is to underline how CCFC believes the council failed to appropriately market the stadium prior to sale and achieve an adequate value.

CCFC QC says they asked Wasps whether they were willing to hand over specific information on Friday.

He says Wasps said they were not obliged to hand over information and they didn’t have some of the information requested anyway.

He says: “Wasps appear to be taking a cagey stance in relation to what actually happened.”

He is arguing Wasps should be told to comply with the court’s “duty of candour” as an “interested third party”.

Wasps lawyer Ms Morris is now on her feet.

She says “our position is not caginess”. She adds “we are an interested party, not a respondent”.

CCFC QC intervenes to point out that Wasps are listed as respondents in this appeal process.

She goes on to reject the “insinuation there has been some avoidance or impropriety” .

She now goes on to argue why Wasps should not be obliged to hand over documents to CCFC’s legal team.

She argues that Wasps is a private organisation and it would be impractical to say any private party who has had any financial dealings with the council is subject to the duty of candour.

She says there are concerns that public proceedings have been used in the past to obtain documents which are then subsequently used in private claims.

 

[chiefdave]

If SISU win, what happens?

If the judges rule that its the whole transaction that is to be ruled on don't SISU 'win' either way? Its either been sold on the cheap, in which case the issue of damages and Wasps paying the difference comes up, or they've paid the correct amount which would bring the bond security valuation in to question.

The argument in the past has been that the lease extension caused the huge jump in value, if there's a court ruling that says the whole thing is worth than £10m what does that mean for the security?

however it could never ever be sold for less than £50 million

It could as long as the correct process was followed I would have thought. Properly market it for sale and who knows how many interested parties there might be.