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Tim Fisher admits some players were registered to Coventry City Football Club Limited despite have repeatedly insisted they were registered to another company
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Coventry City boss Tim Fisher
Coventry City boss Tim Fisher has today accepted some players were registered in Coventry City Football Club Limited - despite repeatedly insisting players were registered in another company.
The admittance from the Coventry City boss follows a leak to the Telegraph of confidential club documents including players’ transfer agreements with other clubs.
The documents - also published on an anonymous blog website - appear to reveal players were registered with CCFC Limited, the company placed in administration in March.
Mr Fisher told us: “In these instances, the documentation clearly shows Limited as the registering company.”
Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) today seized on Mr Fisher’s comments - and today’s documents - to put further pressure on CCFC Ltd administrator Paul Appleton to restart the administration process.
Part council-owned ACL is turning up the heat on Mr Appleton in the run up to September 19, when he reports the findings of his long investigation into the conduct of Coventry City directors and shadow directors to the government’s Business, Innovation and Skills department.
He also anticipates completing the liquidation of CCFC Ltd by the end of this month at the earliest, after ACL refused to agree his Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal to bring the club out of administration - resulting in the loss of 10 league points.
Mr Appleton has repeatedly said his investigation has included examining the location of assets between Coventry City companies, including players’ registrations and contracts, and any movement of assets between companies.
Coventry City and Mr Fisher have consistently maintained over months of administration that the players were registered with another company, Coventry City Football Club Holdings.
Mr Appleton has stated it meant the club’s former owners Sisu’s own company Otium Entertainment Group Limited were the best bidders to buy the limited remaining assets in CCFC Ltd.
Last month, the Telegraph revealed the Football League had admitted errors and “administrative oversights” in registering Coventry City players to CCFC Holdings.
The League itself admitted the players should have been registered in CCFC Limited, as this was the company holding the League’s “golden share”, and therefore constituting “the club”.
The League said it had since done an audit of all 72 of its clubs to ensure this would not happen again.
The League refused to answer Telegraph questions as to whether some or all Coventry City players had been mistakenly registered in Holdings, and over what timescale.
The Telegraph has again today put these two questions to the Football League.
Our story, on August 16, prompted Coventry City to release a statement stating “the players contracts have been registered by CCFC (Holdings) Ltd and registered by the Football League in the name of Holdings for over 10 years - way before Sisu took over the club (in 2007)”.
But the documents published today support other documents previously reported by the Telegraph - including 2008 club board meeting minutes, the latest CCFC Ltd accounts and League documentation - which all pointed to players being registered in Limited.
Today’s documents sent anonymously to the Telegraph are letters to Coventry City from other clubs - Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Walsall, Bolton Wanderers, and Celtic.
They relate to compensation and transfer agreements - and the re-registering of transferred players in and out of Coventry City, including former star Sky Blues defenders Danny Fox and Scott Dann.
All state the players were registered, or were to be registered with the company Coventry City Football Club Limited.
Asked by the Telegraph about the documents, Mr Fisher, who became a director of the club later in 2011, said: “In these instances, the documentation clearly shows Limited as the registering company.”
He added: “Previously, the administration of the club and the business was less than efficient to say the least.
“Indeed, I would go so far as to say - and I’ve said it before - that historically the administrative side of the business was a complete mess. We found documentation to be contradictory in some instances, and often error strewn in others.
“For example, we have found contracts with a multitude of counter-parties using different names, including: Coventry City Football Club, Coventry City, Coventry City Football Club Limited and Coventry City Football Club Holdings Limited. Given the confusion as to company names, it is essential for documents to show the official company number.
“As we have maintained and the Football League have confirmed, the players’ registrations were held in Holdings. The contracts referred to showing Limited as the registering party are completely inconsistent with this and will doubtless have arisen from the loose usage of company names without recording the company number as well.
“The root cause of this confusion was the creation of a dual company structure by the club’s previous owners in 1995. We have now been able to clean this up, scrapping the old Limited/Holdings set-up and putting all the club’s business and assets under one company, Otium.”
Mr Appleton has said he is aware of the club documents being released - including the 2008 board minutes that were also handed to him by former club director Joe Elliott - and they are being included in his investigation.
He has also stated Coventry City Holdings could have had a claim to “beneficial” ownership over assets located in Limited - and that such claims could be open to court challenge.
An ACL spokesman said:“These documents highlight once again the need for the Football League to step aside and bring the Football Association in to scrutinise the claims and actions of Coventry City Football Club. The Football League’s errors in the registration of players and its lack of candour during the administration process itself have left it hopelessly compromised.
“We again call on them to refer this matter to the FA in the hope of restoring some credibility to their beleaguered organisation. And if they continue to stick their heads in the sand, then we urge Greg Dyke and the FA to intervene.
"These documents should also have a bearing on the administrator’s next steps. They clearly raise questions about the version of events he has been told by the club, and the one that drove the entire administration process.
" In the light of this new information, we would expect the administrator to look again at the conduct of the administration process as well as the conduct of the business of the club prior to the administration."
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Coventry City boss Tim Fisher has today accepted some players were registered in Coventry City Football Club Limited - despite repeatedly insisting players were registered in another company.
The admittance from the Coventry City boss follows a leak to the Telegraph of confidential club documents including players’ transfer agreements with other clubs.
The documents - also published on an anonymous blog website - appear to reveal players were registered with CCFC Limited, the company placed in administration in March.
Mr Fisher told us: “In these instances, the documentation clearly shows Limited as the registering company.”
Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) today seized on Mr Fisher’s comments - and today’s documents - to put further pressure on CCFC Ltd administrator Paul Appleton to restart the administration process.
Part council-owned ACL is turning up the heat on Mr Appleton in the run up to September 19, when he reports the findings of his long investigation into the conduct of Coventry City directors and shadow directors to the government’s Business, Innovation and Skills department.
He also anticipates completing the liquidation of CCFC Ltd by the end of this month at the earliest, after ACL refused to agree his Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal to bring the club out of administration - resulting in the loss of 10 league points.
Mr Appleton has repeatedly said his investigation has included examining the location of assets between Coventry City companies, including players’ registrations and contracts, and any movement of assets between companies.
Coventry City and Mr Fisher have consistently maintained over months of administration that the players were registered with another company, Coventry City Football Club Holdings.
Mr Appleton has stated it meant the club’s former owners Sisu’s own company Otium Entertainment Group Limited were the best bidders to buy the limited remaining assets in CCFC Ltd.
Last month, the Telegraph revealed the Football League had admitted errors and “administrative oversights” in registering Coventry City players to CCFC Holdings.
The League itself admitted the players should have been registered in CCFC Limited, as this was the company holding the League’s “golden share”, and therefore constituting “the club”.
The League said it had since done an audit of all 72 of its clubs to ensure this would not happen again.
The League refused to answer Telegraph questions as to whether some or all Coventry City players had been mistakenly registered in Holdings, and over what timescale.
The Telegraph has again today put these two questions to the Football League.
Our story, on August 16, prompted Coventry City to release a statement stating “the players contracts have been registered by CCFC (Holdings) Ltd and registered by the Football League in the name of Holdings for over 10 years - way before Sisu took over the club (in 2007)”.
But the documents published today support other documents previously reported by the Telegraph - including 2008 club board meeting minutes, the latest CCFC Ltd accounts and League documentation - which all pointed to players being registered in Limited.
Today’s documents sent anonymously to the Telegraph are letters to Coventry City from other clubs - Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Walsall, Bolton Wanderers, and Celtic.
They relate to compensation and transfer agreements - and the re-registering of transferred players in and out of Coventry City, including former star Sky Blues defenders Danny Fox and Scott Dann.
All state the players were registered, or were to be registered with the company Coventry City Football Club Limited.
Asked by the Telegraph about the documents, Mr Fisher, who became a director of the club later in 2011, said: “In these instances, the documentation clearly shows Limited as the registering company.”
He added: “Previously, the administration of the club and the business was less than efficient to say the least.
“Indeed, I would go so far as to say - and I’ve said it before - that historically the administrative side of the business was a complete mess. We found documentation to be contradictory in some instances, and often error strewn in others.
“For example, we have found contracts with a multitude of counter-parties using different names, including: Coventry City Football Club, Coventry City, Coventry City Football Club Limited and Coventry City Football Club Holdings Limited. Given the confusion as to company names, it is essential for documents to show the official company number.
“As we have maintained and the Football League have confirmed, the players’ registrations were held in Holdings. The contracts referred to showing Limited as the registering party are completely inconsistent with this and will doubtless have arisen from the loose usage of company names without recording the company number as well.
“The root cause of this confusion was the creation of a dual company structure by the club’s previous owners in 1995. We have now been able to clean this up, scrapping the old Limited/Holdings set-up and putting all the club’s business and assets under one company, Otium.”
Mr Appleton has said he is aware of the club documents being released - including the 2008 board minutes that were also handed to him by former club director Joe Elliott - and they are being included in his investigation.
He has also stated Coventry City Holdings could have had a claim to “beneficial” ownership over assets located in Limited - and that such claims could be open to court challenge.
An ACL spokesman said:“These documents highlight once again the need for the Football League to step aside and bring the Football Association in to scrutinise the claims and actions of Coventry City Football Club. The Football League’s errors in the registration of players and its lack of candour during the administration process itself have left it hopelessly compromised.
“We again call on them to refer this matter to the FA in the hope of restoring some credibility to their beleaguered organisation. And if they continue to stick their heads in the sand, then we urge Greg Dyke and the FA to intervene.
"These documents should also have a bearing on the administrator’s next steps. They clearly raise questions about the version of events he has been told by the club, and the one that drove the entire administration process.
" In the light of this new information, we would expect the administrator to look again at the conduct of the administration process as well as the conduct of the business of the club prior to the administration."
r solicitors checking the documents were not sure who appointed them :thinking about:.......... all because they didnt have the company number quoted but very specifically stated the company name Coventry City Football Club Limited ................... really?
