skybluepm2
Well-Known Member
I know I posted a thread on similar lines yesterday, but I have plucked this from the Telegraph archive (May 2012 shortly after relegation) and it is quite extraordinary the way that Scrotium's stance has changed in little over a year and how many false promises they failed to deliver after we went down.. I have highlighted the main parts that stood out for me in red to save you scrolling through the entire article...I think his answers to Q3 sum him up in a nutshell (he is a nutsack). Funny how none of this has been mentioned in recent interviews although I'm sure he would've wriggled out of it somewhere with a big sigh...and a 'look...let me make this absolutely clear' before going on to blame Gordon Strachan's dog for the mess we're in. Hope this makes your blood boil as much as it did mine...Q5, 8 and his final statement in Q10 are also gems!!
1. What has the club been doing since relegation to League One was confirmed?
The club’s owners, SISU, led by Joy Seppala, and the club’s executives have been engaged in a series of meetings and discussions to produce a business plan and detailed budget to secure the club’s immediate survival and to provide a firm foundation for the future.
Inevitably, this ongoing work involves looking at significant cost reductions as we adjust to the reality of much lower revenues in League One. Critical to this process are our ongoing and highly constructive discussions with the city council and Higgs Charity regarding the terms for our use of the Ricoh Arena.
It’s essential that we restore the club to a break-even position as soon as we are able.
To achieve this, increasing our revenue opportunities from all areas is as important as reducing our costs, so we have also been exploring all possible ways to increase the club’s revenues for both the short and longer terms
2. Is the club in danger of slipping in to administration or even liquidation?
Unlike other recent football club administrations, Coventry City’s balance sheet has already been significantly cleaned up which rules out any ‘value’ of the club going in to administration.
We have therefore been entirely focused on ensuring our survival in recent weeks. And this is clearly something that everyone connected to Coventry City – from the club’s owners, executive and staff to the city council, Higgs Charity, and Arena Coventry Limited, the stadium operators – most wants.
SISU’s continued financial support and faith in the club in recent weeks has therefore been absolutely critical.
3. So, which is the more likely: survival, liquidation, or a bid for the club?
This football club is a vital community asset. We are an integral part of the city’s identity and profile. We are a key part of so many people’s lives here in Coventry and the wider area.
The football club provides jobs, directly and indirectly, to around 500 local people, so we are a very important factor in the local economy too, particularly on match days when many local businesses and countless other local people also benefit from the crowds we draw to our games.
Key to our survival is our ability to secure a new deal for the club’s future use of the Ricoh Arena with ACL’s shareholders, the City Council and the Higgs charity, both of whom have been extremely supportive in recent weeks. We continue to work together on this as I speak.
As for a bid for the club, SISU, our owners, have always maintained they would consider offers from anyone better placed than them to take the club forward faster.
To this point, and despite last week’s stories, no bid for Coventry City has ever been forthcoming and frankly we do not expect one to be.
We’re very sure that right now our fans would rather have the club’s management and owners focused on turning around the club’s fortunes than be distracted by persistent bid rumours that continue to lack any substance.
We appreciate that people may well be trying to help the club but the best way to help us right now is for everyone to swing their full weight behind supporting the club, its management, and owners. It’s time to unite and to move on.
4. How supportive have ACL, the City Council and Higgs Charity been during the process of trying to agree a new stadium deal?
As I have mentioned, we are actively engaged in very open and very constructive dialogue with ACL and, in particular, the stadium’s shareholders, the City Council and Higgs Charity.
Last week’s meeting at Council House, chaired by the Leader, John Mutton, was a very important part of the process we are following and our talks will continue this week and beyond.
We have been very clear as tothe perilous nature of the club’s financial position for many weeks now, but our owners, SISU, ACL, the City Council, and the Higgs Charity all want the club to survive (and ultimately to prosper). Key people, including the Leader, Cllr Mutton, his deputy, Cllr Duggins, and CEO Martin Reeves at the City Council, and Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen and Paul Harris at the Higgs Charity, have therefore been as supportive as possible recognizing that they too have significant responsibilities to their own organizations to consider.
We are very grateful for the support we are receiving from all of these people. We are all pulling in the same direction and it’s a powerful combination.
5. Why is a new stadium deal so important to the club?
Currently, the club pays around £1.2m per year in rent to ACL for the use of the Ricoh Arena. This is one of the highest rents in English football and it is simply not sustainable for our club in the current economic climate.
The club also makes a significant contribution to other stadium costs such as pitch maintenance.
Unfortunately, under the present arrangements and unlike the vast majority of football clubs, we do not benefit from key stadium revenues such as the sale of the naming rights or other sponsorships, or from match day revenue streams such as the sale of food and drink to City fans, or from car parking at the stadium. It’s important to note that, neither ACL, nor its shareholders, the City Council and Higgs Charity, has done anything wrong here.
The terms of the present arrangements were simply negotiated in a very different financial era to the one we are all now facing.
However, the combined effect of a high rent, other associated stadium costs, and no access to key match day revenue streams in the present climate represents a major life–threatening issue for the club, particularly while it is in League One, which is why we are all working so hard to look at alternative models for our continued use of the stadium.
1. What has the club been doing since relegation to League One was confirmed?
The club’s owners, SISU, led by Joy Seppala, and the club’s executives have been engaged in a series of meetings and discussions to produce a business plan and detailed budget to secure the club’s immediate survival and to provide a firm foundation for the future.
Inevitably, this ongoing work involves looking at significant cost reductions as we adjust to the reality of much lower revenues in League One. Critical to this process are our ongoing and highly constructive discussions with the city council and Higgs Charity regarding the terms for our use of the Ricoh Arena.
It’s essential that we restore the club to a break-even position as soon as we are able.
To achieve this, increasing our revenue opportunities from all areas is as important as reducing our costs, so we have also been exploring all possible ways to increase the club’s revenues for both the short and longer terms
2. Is the club in danger of slipping in to administration or even liquidation?
Unlike other recent football club administrations, Coventry City’s balance sheet has already been significantly cleaned up which rules out any ‘value’ of the club going in to administration.
We have therefore been entirely focused on ensuring our survival in recent weeks. And this is clearly something that everyone connected to Coventry City – from the club’s owners, executive and staff to the city council, Higgs Charity, and Arena Coventry Limited, the stadium operators – most wants.
SISU’s continued financial support and faith in the club in recent weeks has therefore been absolutely critical.
3. So, which is the more likely: survival, liquidation, or a bid for the club?
This football club is a vital community asset. We are an integral part of the city’s identity and profile. We are a key part of so many people’s lives here in Coventry and the wider area.
The football club provides jobs, directly and indirectly, to around 500 local people, so we are a very important factor in the local economy too, particularly on match days when many local businesses and countless other local people also benefit from the crowds we draw to our games.
Key to our survival is our ability to secure a new deal for the club’s future use of the Ricoh Arena with ACL’s shareholders, the City Council and the Higgs charity, both of whom have been extremely supportive in recent weeks. We continue to work together on this as I speak.
As for a bid for the club, SISU, our owners, have always maintained they would consider offers from anyone better placed than them to take the club forward faster.
To this point, and despite last week’s stories, no bid for Coventry City has ever been forthcoming and frankly we do not expect one to be.
We’re very sure that right now our fans would rather have the club’s management and owners focused on turning around the club’s fortunes than be distracted by persistent bid rumours that continue to lack any substance.
We appreciate that people may well be trying to help the club but the best way to help us right now is for everyone to swing their full weight behind supporting the club, its management, and owners. It’s time to unite and to move on.
4. How supportive have ACL, the City Council and Higgs Charity been during the process of trying to agree a new stadium deal?
As I have mentioned, we are actively engaged in very open and very constructive dialogue with ACL and, in particular, the stadium’s shareholders, the City Council and Higgs Charity.
Last week’s meeting at Council House, chaired by the Leader, John Mutton, was a very important part of the process we are following and our talks will continue this week and beyond.
We have been very clear as tothe perilous nature of the club’s financial position for many weeks now, but our owners, SISU, ACL, the City Council, and the Higgs Charity all want the club to survive (and ultimately to prosper). Key people, including the Leader, Cllr Mutton, his deputy, Cllr Duggins, and CEO Martin Reeves at the City Council, and Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen and Paul Harris at the Higgs Charity, have therefore been as supportive as possible recognizing that they too have significant responsibilities to their own organizations to consider.
We are very grateful for the support we are receiving from all of these people. We are all pulling in the same direction and it’s a powerful combination.
5. Why is a new stadium deal so important to the club?
Currently, the club pays around £1.2m per year in rent to ACL for the use of the Ricoh Arena. This is one of the highest rents in English football and it is simply not sustainable for our club in the current economic climate.
The club also makes a significant contribution to other stadium costs such as pitch maintenance.
Unfortunately, under the present arrangements and unlike the vast majority of football clubs, we do not benefit from key stadium revenues such as the sale of the naming rights or other sponsorships, or from match day revenue streams such as the sale of food and drink to City fans, or from car parking at the stadium. It’s important to note that, neither ACL, nor its shareholders, the City Council and Higgs Charity, has done anything wrong here.
The terms of the present arrangements were simply negotiated in a very different financial era to the one we are all now facing.
However, the combined effect of a high rent, other associated stadium costs, and no access to key match day revenue streams in the present climate represents a major life–threatening issue for the club, particularly while it is in League One, which is why we are all working so hard to look at alternative models for our continued use of the stadium.
ointlaugh: