Hoffman will pay £1 for the sky blues if agreed (5 Viewers)

skyblu3sk

Well-Known Member
FORMER Coventry City vice chairman Gary Hoffman offered to buy Sky Blues for £1.
But if current owners Sisu agree to the deal he has promised to provide £20million to cover their running costs and strengthen the squad plus another £10mil lion to buy a half-share in the Ricoh Arena.
 

skyblu3sk

Well-Known Member
Hoffman's group offered to buy 100 per cent of the football club for £1. He then went back in with a written offer that included payments to owners Sisu if City get promoted to the Premier League in the next three seasons. The club's board and owners said the second offer did not comply with Football League rules because it was not on letter headed paper or signed.
 

skyblu3sk

Well-Known Member
Hoffman insisted that the investors he has lined up for City are not time-wasters.

"I want to put the facts straight because most fans are fed up with rumours and I want to tell them where we have got to on this,"

"Above all, we should all be getting behind Andy Thorn and his team ahead of the new season.

"As far as the offer goes, yes I made a verbal offer on behalf of investors about six weeks ago. I met the chairman, Ken Dulieu, to do this. Having not heard anything after a week, I chased and the offer was rejected.

"I then put an offer in writing, handed the offer letter over to the chairman and explained who the investors were * well known people from the UK and some overseas investors; football people and business people with great reputations.

"I said in the letter that proof of funds would be provided through legal representatives. The chairman said he would explain to the board that it was a serious and formal offer.

"I had already explained and put in writing that, as well as the offer to Sisu for 100 per cent of the shares of the club, the investors were prepared to invest over £20million in the club and, additionally, exercise the option as soon as possible to buy 50 per cent of the stadium. In total it is likely they would be prepared to invest over £30million.

"The offer, I am sure, was unpalatable to Sisu because we were proposing that all the up-front money went into the club and stadium.

"Even so, it was more generous than what Sisu offered shareholders three years ago when they took over.

"Shares that had been in families for decades were taken off them with no recompense because they were promised a brighter Sky Blue future. Geoffrey Robinson and others were forced to write off all their investment and Sky Blues supporters gave up their shares for nothing.

"Sisu have put money in and we were all grateful for that but we are no further forward.

"I did not receive a reply to my letter so chased after a week again.

"The reply I got was that the chairman had presented the proposals to the board and explained why the letter was not, at this stage, signed by the investors. But he said he had been instructed by the shareholders * Sisu and Leonard Brody * to write back saying they would not consider it unless it was on letter headed paper! How ridiculous.

"In the letter I had offered to work together on a way forward that was in the interest of all stakeholders. But I got no response to the substance of my proposals, just that it needed to be on letter headed paper.

"The investors were reluctant to do this because previous correspondence had been mistakenly copied on to people that should not have seen stuff. So the investors have said to me that the ball is now in Sisu's court if they want to talk about the way forward and they have taken the offer off the table until we are approached by Sisu."

He added: "These people are not time wasters and nor am I. I have spoken to many potential investors and brought forward serious ones. But they are frustrated by lack of response and having to chase * it is a waste of their time!" Asked to expand on his reasons for leaving the board earlier this year, Hoffman said: "The specifics should remain confidential, but everyone knows that the catalyst was the loan of Conor Thomas to Liverpool. It was grabbing at short-term money by offloading someone with long-term potential * a recurring feature that I was worried about.

"In reality, I should have probably resigned at the beginning of last year like Mike Parton * another serious businessman * but I wanted to stay to help Ray Ranson and stabilise things.

"Everyone can guess that I did not have a great relationship with Sisu.
That was because the board was often misled and given inaccurate information. Sisu only gave us month by month and week by week promises rather than a plan for the year or three years that would have enabled Ray and the management team to do their job.

"I was also concerned by the way in which people were being treated.
There are lots of good people who were trying to do the right thing that have left the club."

Joe Elliott was suspended as the club's life president last month after being accused of collaborating with the takeover bid but Hoffman said: "I thought that was ridiculous, because Joe is Sky Blue through and through.

"He was the one who drove the length and breadth of the country helping Sisu get share certificates off Sky Blue supporters three-and-a-half years ago.

"The then board, who were being asked to write off lots of money, didn't throw him off because they knew he was acting in the best interests of the club. I have helped Sisu get money in over the last couple of years and so has Joe. We are just trying to act in the best interest of the club and I am surprised that the local people on the board went along with his suspension." sion."

Hoffman claims that another reason for him leaving the board was because of their communication with the supporters.

"I applaud saying more to fans about what is going on," he said, "but the transpar ency has been extremely selective.

"There has been lots going on that they have not been transparent about.
For example, there was too much mortgaging of the future, which is a bit like buying your house on a credit card * ultimately it has to come to an end. I won't go into detail but I objected to it several times."

He added: "Superficial tweeting does not help either * it just gives a sense of keeping in touch but hasn't really kept people up-to-date with key developments on or off the pitch."

Hoffman confirmed that manager Andy Thorn has the full backing of him and his investors, and was recommended by Ray Ranson to become manager when Aidy Boothroyd was sacked.

"I think Andy was a great appointment," said Hoffman, who hinted that there may be a way back for Ranson.
"Of course when Ray Ranson recommended him as manager most of the board would not have understood what he had done with Ray as chief scout in signing some great young players.

"Interestingly, I have been talking to Ray for a couple of years about convincing him to be Director of Football with Andy Thorn and Steve Harrison looking after day to day matters."

As for the three star players who have walked away from the club this summer, Hoffman claims City missed their chance to get them signed up, saying: "It is a shame we haven't kept Marlon King, Keiren Westwood or Aron Gunnarsson. There were opportunities to get them tied up in the past that were missed because of money. But it is good to get the two new goalkeepers. Ray Ranson and Andy Thorn always regarded Joe Murphy as a natural replacement if we lost Westwood."

Asked what he feels the future holds for the club if City and Sisu fail to find fresh investors themselves or do business with his people, the life-long City fan fears the Sky Blues could end up in administration, taking a tenpoint hit and the likelihood of being relegated to League One like Southampton did in 2009.

It is likely that Hoffman and his people would step in if Sisu put the club into administration, but that is less than ideal as it would mean City being deducted points that would seriously hamper any promotion bid.

"If Sisu found investment I would be the first to applaud them," said Hoffman, who remains an associate director of the club.

"The board said that the players' wages budget would be the same as last year but that is not the signal they are sending out.

"As it stands the club will be looking at a number of options including cutting the wage bill drastically so that Sisu does not have to invest too much more, although getting to breakeven will probably take nine months and an extra £4-£5million of invest ment.

"This is not palatable for anyone and is the road Southampton went down.

"Administration is bad news for everyone but some investors will be waiting for it but, for the time being, Sisu clearly don't want that. Rather they will hang on, manage month to month, reduce the wage bill and hope for a fairy godmother. In my ex perience they rarely come along.

"So my investors are waiting in the wings but they have been frustrated with waiting for re plies and with the reaction we got to what was a serious pro posal of significant investment in the club.

"Above all, I just feel sorry for the situation everyone finds themselves in. I just hope for a good start to the season, although I know it will be difficult."
 

I'mARealWizard

New Member
And they're off...

smiley_emoticons_hobbyhorse.gif
 

Nick

Administrator
So the interesting post was true! I wonder what Brody has to say on the matter?

No doubt never recieved an offer and GH is lying! GH speaks a lot of sense there!

We need to sell to them now!
 

Lloyd

New Member
Getting tired of all the crap surrounding Sisu, why can't they just get the hell away from our club!!! Accept the Hoffs bid before the entire fanbase turn on you sisu....
 

Nick

Administrator
Could the Football League step in? If it is in the club's best interests?

What would stop me buying Leicester if I won the euro millions and just selling everything and shutting them down?
 

skybluesam66

Well-Known Member
clouting reckons bid has been cancelled by Hoffman, and currently no offer on table

he also said sisu continuing to fund 500k per month losses - although Brody on Twitter said current losses are nowhere near this amount

carried on saying not for sale etc
 

Nick

Administrator
clouting reckons bid has been cancelled by Hoffman, and currently no offer on table

he also said sisu continuing to fund 500k per month losses - although Brody on Twitter said current losses are nowhere near this amount

carried on saying not for sale etc

Was he on CWR? So now the board are accusing each other of lying and denying any bids?
 

nimrod

New Member
The really sad thing about all of this is that Delilu, Brody et al are serious financial players who individually have the
clout to take the club forward on their own if they so wished.

They are just sitting back and bleeding our club to death in the vain hope that someone is going to come in from nowhere
and give them lots of money for the privilidge of taking the shares off their hands.

I said when they stole my shares when SISU took over no good would come of this so it is time for them to do the decent
thing and step a side and give a genuine Coventry supporter the opportunity to rescue our club for all decent football fans
from the City.

WE DESERVE THIS.

We are the people who support our club whatever the circumstances so therefore DEMAND that its custodians act in
OUR BEST INTERESTS!

COME ON SISU - DO THE DECENT THING!!!
 

Godiva

Well-Known Member
£1

So Hoffman and his investors has offered to buy the club for £1.
The £1 is for the shares of the football club, but what about the current loans?

If SISU agree to sell the shares, then they would only do that if the new owners agreed to pay interest on the loans owed to SISU and that would almost DOUBLE the current losses.

There is no way new investors can turn around the business to a point where it can service the interest on the loans - even if they buy 50% of the Arena.

When SISU say the club is not for sale, they mean: Anyone who would buyout the loans owed to SISU in full can buy the club, but in reality this will probably never happen.

I think the ideal business here would be if Hoffman and his investors agreed to become co-owners of the club with an option to buyout SISU in the future when certain goals have been achieved.

But if Hoffman fail to follow simple rules on how to place a formal bid correctly, I think he is wasting everybodys time and just create further frustration.
If he continue to use the papers to stir up the fans it may well make the club unstable from top to bottom. More players will want to leave and we will struggle to get points on the playing field.
 

CovisGod

Well-Known Member
I can see this dragging on for an absoloute age......Probably ending in the Hoff withdrawing completely.

Why can things as a Sky Blues fan never be simple ?
 

lordsummerisle

Well-Known Member
Why the mention of GR particularly by Hoffman?

Is he one of the successful local businessmen?

Been spouting a lot in Hoffman's mouthpiece about SISU recently too.
 

IrishSkyBlue

Facebook User
Just as i thought i knew be £1 bid but as the rest said sisu are gonna drag the shit out of this.
 
Last edited:

fanta80

New Member
Hoffman comes across as unprofessional in my opinion. Raking up past deals, no mention of the investors, cant get a correct offer written out in case its 'leaked' to the press yet he blabs about a rejected offer to the press! £1 was never going to work as SISU want at least some of the money back from the loans they have put in. Also how is the RICOH only worth £20million?
 

stevo_ccfc

New Member
I believe the 10 million for the ricoh is a pre-agreed figure that the club is allowed to purchase a share in the ground for
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
Sure i read somewhere that we had lost that option maybe im wrong though.
they had someone from the Higgs Trust on who confirmed there was an option in place and noone had tried to exercise it. Can only be sold to the club, said something about someone could buy the Higgs half but the option would still be in place so the club would still have the right to exercise that. Couldn't confirm what the cost would be due to commercial confidentiality written into the agreement but did confirm it was based on a preset formula and that the club knew this formula (so you would assume GH does as well).
 

skybluebeduff

Well-Known Member
I've just tweeted Brody quoting what the CET has said about Hoffmans offer being rejected, due to it not being on headed paper. I can imagine he will reply in another 10 days time........ The guy is a CLOWN.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
The RICOH cost 112mil to make plus a 3mill the other year for a revamp, and with its profit making surely it would be worth more than 20mil!
 

lordsummerisle

Well-Known Member
Think the £10 million is just to buy the option to buy half, would still need to raise £50-60m to buy half the stadium.
 

rob9872

Well-Known Member
The £112m included a huge number for clearing the site (gas works). It also only has a figure of worth now based on what it can achieve not what it cost to build. £20m is probably about right and even then you would struggle to make a return without owning the car parking facilities and using more of the stadium throughout the year. A lot of the funding was from the council, ACLc, Higgs, lottery and 2006 World Cup bid. Pretty sure that the agreed £10m is for 50% and not the option. Otherwise a more suitable sized arena would be built with the £10m
 

Pigeon

New Member
From looking at what they've done to the club and how much worse its going to be for SISU I don't see why they just don't go. They've ruined their reputation and are borrowing ridiculous amounts of money just to survive without actually spending on the team and extremely unpopular with the fans.
Leave SISU before you drag us into admin or relegation
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top