Coventry City Council will not allow another stadium in Coventry - so therefore what options does the club have, it is clear we need the revenues to compete with other teams, especially if we want to play in the prem ever again, and as I understand it ACL are not prepared to sell the Ricoh to the club...so what would you suggest?
Where did Coventry City Council state they would not allow another stadium in Coventry? They can't turn down a planning application without a valid reason and 'we don't like SISU' is not a valid reason. Even if CCC did turn it down the appeal process would take it out of the hands of CCC.
Why do we need to own the stadium to get revenues? Past ACL rent offers have included access to matchday revenues, the new stadium will not have a casino, exhibition hall etc so we won't get additional revenues from other events at a new stadium.
ACL don't own the Ricoh to sell it to SISU. They own the lease and SISU have never made an offer to buy it. They did make an offer to buy the Higgs 50% which was accepted but SISU never completed hence why Higgs are taking legal action to recover their costs. They have never bid for the 50% share owned by CCC nor have they made an offer to CCC for purchase of the freehold.
The obvious solution here is to purchase the 50% owned by Higgs. That puts SISU in a much stronger postion when agreeing a new deal for CCFC. Then purchase the 50% off CCC, pay off the loan and restructure the lease to a rolling lease with peppercorn rent. SISU / CCFC then get all the revenues from the Ricoh and CCC retain the security of owning the freehold so that SISU can't sell it off or load debt against it.