The Guardian Coventry City Face Homeless future after Sisu's litigious aggression (4 Viewers)

[duffer]

Like I said, having met him and had quite a few chats with him about the issue, I know he’s got nothing but sympathy towards Cov fans and he absolutely hates Sisu. Never talked to him about wasps but can’t see how he’d be a fan of their decision to relocate away from longstanding supporters.

I think he’s trying to highlight the opportunities Sisu have lost to the detriment of the club and supporters, and someone else has moved in to take those opportunities and capitalise on them. I might be wrong, as I’ve said I’ve not read anything else he’s written about wasps, and can’t be bothered to at the moment as I’m trying to watch the apprentice

He might well be a decent bloke, but there's nothing in the tone of his article to suggest that's he's in the slightest bit bothered about what Wasps have done.

Plus the rather glaring factual error about them filling the Ricoh seems to point to a certain carelessness regarding the facts about their presence here - in essence I think he's disregarded the things about Wasps which don't suit his narrative.

 

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[duffer]

Interesting article and pretty much as I would see it pre sale to wasps (I agree Wasps are hardly setting the word alight and aren’t in a good shape financially). The facts are though Sisu fucked up, burned bridges etc etc. That’s not just the journalist saying it, it’s the judges involved confirming it. As I’ve said before, that’s not to say there isn’t fault from others for example I wish CCC and Higgs retained some element of control over the ground to ensure we could remain there, however, when selling to a third party that’s going to be nigh on impossible.

Sisu appear to have made some belated steps in the right direction recently but unfortunately it’s ten years too late and ultimately because of them we could end up homeless (unlikely) and/or have no chance of owning our own ground (under their ownership).

Again, I see nothing in law that says that the Council couldn't have put a covenant on the sale that guaranteed the right of the club to rent the ground at a set price or based on some kind of formula.

Without that the Council's promise that the sale of the ground wouldn't be to the detriment of the club is false. Again, SISU have been crap owners, but this rush to abdicate the council of any failings is irrational, imho.

SISU might have run us badly, but one day they'll be gone. The Council have given up on the club entirely but get a free pass.

 

[torchomatic]

Not only that they are praised by some for doing it.

The Council have given up on the club entirely but get a free pass.

 

[Silsden]

He might well be a decent bloke, but there's nothing in the tone of his article to suggest that's he's in the slightest bit bothered about what Wasps have done.

Plus the rather glaring factual error about them filling the Ricoh seems to point to a certain carelessness regarding the facts about their presence here - in essence I think he's disregarded the things about Wasps which don't suit his narrative.

I would agree he’s disregarded the issues about wasps. However he is writing an article here on the mistakes made by the owners of Coventry City, not the owners of wasps. The positive slant in this one and the original article sets to highlight the massive missed opportunities the Ricoh represents. My understanding is that they only come close to filing the Ricoh when it’s a big game and they’ve given away thousands of free tickets- but as you say that doesn’t fit with the point he’s trying to make

 

[Nick]

I would agree he’s disregarded the issues about wasps. However he is writing an article here on the mistakes made by the owners of Coventry City, not the owners of wasps. The positive slant in this one and the original article sets to highlight the massive missed opportunities the Ricoh represents. My understanding is that they only come close to filing the Ricoh when it’s a big game and they’ve given away thousands of free tickets- but as you say that doesn’t fit with the point he’s trying to make

Nonsense. If that was the case he would be explaining why the club didn't own the ground pre SISU wouldn't he?

Why would he get somebody from the trust to say how great the Wasps game was? It's quite obviously a Wasps = good and ccfc / sisu = bad "slant" as you like to put it.

If he was highlighting the opportunities the Ricoh represents, surely he would have mentioned that Wasps had to fiddle the numbers to try to mislead investors and auditors?

You are now saying because something doesn't fit with the point he's trying to make he has just openly misled or bent the truth to make Wasps seem better than they are, that's a bit strange isn't it?

As you have jumped in to defend the article, your explanation now just seems to point even more to it being a PR piece as he is making things up / misleading to fit with his agenda / point due to a personal hatred. It's the issue we had with the local media.

 

[Silsden]

Nonsense. If that was the case he would be explaining why the club didn't own the ground pre SISU wouldn't he?

Why would he get somebody from the trust to say how great the Wasps game was? It's quite obviously a Wasps = good and ccfc / sisu = bad "slant" as you like to put it.

If he was highlighting the opportunities the Ricoh represents, surely he would have mentioned that Wasps had to fiddle the numbers to try to mislead investors and auditors?

You are now saying because something doesn't fit with the point he's trying to make he has just openly misled or bent the truth to make Wasps seem better than they are, that's a bit strange isn't it?

As you have jumped in to defend the article, your explanation now just seems to point even more to it being a PR piece as he is making things up / misleading to fit with his agenda / point due to a personal hatred. It's the issue we had with the local media.

Why would he talk about wasps fiddling numbers etc in an article about Sisu losing another court case?!

Yes he hates Sisu, absolutely. As does everyone with a brain. He hates what they have done to the club and the divisions they have caused. This is his area of expertise and he’s chosen to write a follow up about it.

Tried to find something else he’s written about wasps but cannot. Certainly not trying to encourage support for wasps if that’s what you’re getting at.

Anyway it’s clear we’re not going to agree about this, you think there’s an agenda behind it, not really sure to what end, I think it’s a good piece and the guy tries to help. Let’s just leave it at that.

 

[Nick]

Why would he talk about wasps fiddling numbers etc in an article about Sisu losing another court case?!

Yes he hates Sisu, absolutely. As does everyone with a brain. He hates what they have done to the club and the divisions they have caused. This is his area of expertise and he’s chosen to write a follow up about it.

Tried to find something else he’s written about wasps but cannot. Certainly not trying to encourage support for wasps if that’s what you’re getting at.

Anyway it’s clear we’re not going to agree about this, you think there’s an agenda behind it, not really sure to what end, I think it’s a good piece and the guy tries to help. Let’s just leave it at that.

You have said that he makes out that Wasps are great in his articles because it shows what missed opportunities CCFC had. He has clearly misled to say they are still getting full houses etc but my point was that he is making up positives and covering over any negatives, why's that? He doesn't mention how we came to be in the situation of the club not owning the ground, he certainly does put a very positive spin on Wasps and even ropes in a Trust Rep (at the time) to join in.

You have said yourself there is an agenda / point to it and acknowledged he has misled.

My understanding is that they only come close to filing the Ricoh when it’s a big game and they’ve given away thousands of free tickets- but as you say that doesn’t fit with the point he’s trying to make

You also haven't said exactly how it is helping anything or going to achieve anything? If it is his area of expertise, why not use those skills to do some actual investigation into SISU that would have more chance of getting at them?

All this article achieves is gets people worked up at SISU / CCFC and thinking that Wasps are the goodies. (strangely the same approach as when they first moved here). What does that achieve for CCFC? It gets him a few likes and pats on the back but instead of giving it the "attention to our plight" line, what will it change or do?

 

[Ashdown]

The bare facts are, CCFC has 7 months to play at the Ricoh and with nothing else in place. Wasps say cease litigation before talks and SISU continue with it. They are prepared to gamble with the football clubs future over another shot at legal action that they are almost certainly going to lose. The truth is CCFC need the Ricoh and Wasps need the footfall of the City fans and the goodwill of the local populace. SISU are the immediate problem whatever the rights and wrongs of history.

 

[Nick]

The bare facts are, CCFC has 7 months to play at the Ricoh and with nothing else in place. Wasps say cease litigation before talks and SISU continue with it. They are prepared to gamble with the football clubs future over another shot at legal action that they are almost certainly going to lose. The truth is CCFC need the Ricoh and Wasps need the footfall of the City fans and the goodwill of the local populace. SISU are the immediate problem whatever the rights and wrongs of history.

Agreed, which is what makes it obvious that the "no talks while legal action" which was said last year is a bargaining chip that's part of the "game".

 

[Captain Dart]

Why would he talk about wasps fiddling numbers etc in an article about Sisu losing another court case?!

Yes he hates Sisu, absolutely. As does everyone with a brain. He hates what they have done to the club and the divisions they have caused. This is his area of expertise and he’s chosen to write a follow up about it.

Tried to find something else he’s written about wasps but cannot. Certainly not trying to encourage support for wasps if that’s what you’re getting at.

Anyway it’s clear we’re not going to agree about this, you think there’s an agenda behind it, not really sure to what end, I think it’s a good piece and the guy tries to help. Let’s just leave it at that.

He gave air time to SISU in a previous article about the Sky Blues & SISU, he wrote

Fisher acknowledged the widespread scepticism at Sisu’s claim it will build a new stadium but said the company has recently made “giant strides” towards completing on land “on the outskirts of Coventry”, at a location yet to be revealed. Fisher said Sisu is not “playing a game” but genuinely planning to build the stadium, while enabling commercial development that will make it financially viable and produce year-round income.

“The scepticism is misplaced,” Fisher said. “We are moving the club to a self-sustaining model and are looking to grow, in a new stadium where we will have our own matchday and non-matchday revenues.”

 

[Nick]

He gave air time to SISU in a previous article about the Sky Blues & SISU, he wrote

Fisher acknowledged the widespread scepticism at Sisu’s claim it will build a new stadium but said the company has recently made “giant strides” towards completing on land “on the outskirts of Coventry”, at a location yet to be revealed. Fisher said Sisu is not “playing a game” but genuinely planning to build the stadium, while enabling commercial development that will make it financially viable and produce year-round income.

“The scepticism is misplaced,” Fisher said. “We are moving the club to a self-sustaining model and are looking to grow, in a new stadium where we will have our own matchday and non-matchday revenues.”

The one put out when Wasps moved here to big them up along with the Trust?