torchomatic
Well-Known Member
A good piece by Chris Dunlavy, it's not online so I've had to type it out, any spelling errors are mine!
IT'S BLUE SKY THINKING NOW AS CITY SINK: RELEGATION MAY BE THEIR SALVATION
It may not feel like it to their downtrodden fans, but relegation is the best thing that could have happened to Coventry City.
Only by going down to the third tier for the first time in 48 years can this once proud club escape the financial and competitive paralysis that has numbed an entire generation of supporters and brought the club to the brink of oblivion.
Patently, the club could not support CHampionship football. Their debts, of around £60M, are the kind that can only be staved off; not repaid.
Ownership of the 32500 seat Ricoh Arena is shared between Coventry City Council and the Alan Higgs Charity, a local trust. Coventry pay £1.2M rent make nothing from sponsorship or corporate events.
Their only sources of income are gate receipts and player sales, though the latter is a well that has long since run dry.
Club owners SISU, a hedge fund, have also backed themselves into a corner, they are both unwilling to pump any more money into the club and unwilling to sell it because nobody will pay enough to offset their losses. Given that they have no real stadium or any players of real value, that is no surprise.
In other words, Coventy City are broke. For the past few years, they have paid players more than they could afford, worsening debts. Even then, they could not hope to compete with Championship clubs of even modest resources. And t his year, SISU finally gave up.
"We've had to rebuild with youth players, not even players from League Two or the Conference," said manager Andy Thorn this week, and he isn't lying.
In January, Coventry were one of only two Championship clubs who couldn't afford to bid for Fleetwood Town's £1M rated striker Jamie Vardy. The other were Doncaster, another side for whom the Championship has proved beyond a financial step too far.
This is no kind of existence. Every season Coventry tried to stay afloat, their debts got worse. And for what? Another season battling relegation? Another 17th place finish and the campaign over by March? Another year of dwindling gates?
They had become the Nick Leeson of the Championship, desperately trying to cover their losses only to make things even worse.
Now though, they can drop the act. Now, they can stop trying to mix it with the big boys and punch their own weight. It may be humiliating at first, but it is the only way they can recover - just ask Norwich.
When the Canaries went down to League One in 2009, they had debts of £23M and - though they owned their own ground - were losing money every year.
So they started again, shedding 11 players and signing 12 , all lower league types on lower league wages. They forged a spirit, started winning and now, with many of the same players Norwich are in teh Premier League and debt free.
It may take longer and it may be more painful. But for Coventry, the comeback starts here.
IT'S BLUE SKY THINKING NOW AS CITY SINK: RELEGATION MAY BE THEIR SALVATION
It may not feel like it to their downtrodden fans, but relegation is the best thing that could have happened to Coventry City.
Only by going down to the third tier for the first time in 48 years can this once proud club escape the financial and competitive paralysis that has numbed an entire generation of supporters and brought the club to the brink of oblivion.
Patently, the club could not support CHampionship football. Their debts, of around £60M, are the kind that can only be staved off; not repaid.
Ownership of the 32500 seat Ricoh Arena is shared between Coventry City Council and the Alan Higgs Charity, a local trust. Coventry pay £1.2M rent make nothing from sponsorship or corporate events.
Their only sources of income are gate receipts and player sales, though the latter is a well that has long since run dry.
Club owners SISU, a hedge fund, have also backed themselves into a corner, they are both unwilling to pump any more money into the club and unwilling to sell it because nobody will pay enough to offset their losses. Given that they have no real stadium or any players of real value, that is no surprise.
In other words, Coventy City are broke. For the past few years, they have paid players more than they could afford, worsening debts. Even then, they could not hope to compete with Championship clubs of even modest resources. And t his year, SISU finally gave up.
"We've had to rebuild with youth players, not even players from League Two or the Conference," said manager Andy Thorn this week, and he isn't lying.
In January, Coventry were one of only two Championship clubs who couldn't afford to bid for Fleetwood Town's £1M rated striker Jamie Vardy. The other were Doncaster, another side for whom the Championship has proved beyond a financial step too far.
This is no kind of existence. Every season Coventry tried to stay afloat, their debts got worse. And for what? Another season battling relegation? Another 17th place finish and the campaign over by March? Another year of dwindling gates?
They had become the Nick Leeson of the Championship, desperately trying to cover their losses only to make things even worse.
Now though, they can drop the act. Now, they can stop trying to mix it with the big boys and punch their own weight. It may be humiliating at first, but it is the only way they can recover - just ask Norwich.
When the Canaries went down to League One in 2009, they had debts of £23M and - though they owned their own ground - were losing money every year.
So they started again, shedding 11 players and signing 12 , all lower league types on lower league wages. They forged a spirit, started winning and now, with many of the same players Norwich are in teh Premier League and debt free.
It may take longer and it may be more painful. But for Coventry, the comeback starts here.
