Calista
Well-Known Member
Minutes of the Stadium Forum Committee, 21st January 2015
The loan, the loan, the loan - this entire fiasco and the destruction of our club has always been about the f***ing loan hasn’t it?
SISU have based EVERYTHING on the notion that ACL can’t pay that loan back. They reckoned they could persuade the bank to take a £10 million hit on it back in 2012, and the judge said they were fantasising.
Move on to 2015 and they are ruling out a joint venture with Wasps because Tim’s a risk expert and doesn’t want to take a chance on it. Where was the risk analysis when we kept selling vital players, got relegated and shrunk the gate receipts? Where was the risk analysis when we broke the lease and moved to Northampton? Where was the risk analysis when it was clear that Wasps valued the Ricoh far more highly than us and stepped in to take it away from us without a fight? And crucially, where’s the risk analysis for starting again by speculatively funding a second stadium outside Coventry which nobody wants? This is serial incompetence on a spectacular scale.
Of course the Ricoh’s viability was shaky when its only tenant was a bunch of short-sighted pillocks on a one-way trip to the bottom of English football. But from where I’m standing, the Council look like they have finally found a proper anchor tenant for the Ricoh in Wasps. The rugby club looks like it could really go places and attract a lot of sponsorship. They’ll be staging big games every year, which they have already proved they can turn into lucrative all-day events bringing visitors to the city as well. SISU, wake up to the opportunities and start cultivating a great relationship with them - you’re good at that, remember? Tear up the new stadium plans (shouldn’t take long!) and buy your way back into the picture at Ricoh instead, even if it’s a gradual process. For pity’s sake find somebody with a tiny bit of imagination, ambition, leadership and charisma. And if you haven’t got anyone like that, please sell up to somebody who has.
In 5 or 10 years’ time, I want CCFC and Wasps fighting for space on the back page of the Telegraph. Which of this weekend’s games at the Jaguar Arena is the biggest – Wasps v. Toulouse in the European semi-final, or the Sky Blues v. Liverpool for a place in the Champions League? OK I’m being daft now, but a city the size of Coventry has to at least think like that otherwise there’s no point.
PS I can already hear the booing from people who will say we shouldn’t touch Wasps with a bargepole. I respect that, but I genuinely believe you are worrying about a principle which just doesn’t apply. There is no moral or practical equivalence whatsoever between the Wasps move and the disgraceful Sixfields saga, and maybe I’ll put my reasons for that on the Wasps sub-forum.
TF was asked whether the club could buy 50% of the Ricoh. TF said that it is unlikely that
a deal can be done re a share of the ownership of the Stadium with Wasps. TF
confirmed that the club’s owners and Directors are not prepared to take on the risk of
financial liability for half of the £14 million loan. TF has analysed the financial risk of the
loan which is a sub-investment grade loan – meaning the loan is financially speculative
and having a high risk of default. TF will not expose the club to the risk of going into
another administration by being joint and severally liable on the £14 million loan.
a deal can be done re a share of the ownership of the Stadium with Wasps. TF
confirmed that the club’s owners and Directors are not prepared to take on the risk of
financial liability for half of the £14 million loan. TF has analysed the financial risk of the
loan which is a sub-investment grade loan – meaning the loan is financially speculative
and having a high risk of default. TF will not expose the club to the risk of going into
another administration by being joint and severally liable on the £14 million loan.
The loan, the loan, the loan - this entire fiasco and the destruction of our club has always been about the f***ing loan hasn’t it?
SISU have based EVERYTHING on the notion that ACL can’t pay that loan back. They reckoned they could persuade the bank to take a £10 million hit on it back in 2012, and the judge said they were fantasising.
Move on to 2015 and they are ruling out a joint venture with Wasps because Tim’s a risk expert and doesn’t want to take a chance on it. Where was the risk analysis when we kept selling vital players, got relegated and shrunk the gate receipts? Where was the risk analysis when we broke the lease and moved to Northampton? Where was the risk analysis when it was clear that Wasps valued the Ricoh far more highly than us and stepped in to take it away from us without a fight? And crucially, where’s the risk analysis for starting again by speculatively funding a second stadium outside Coventry which nobody wants? This is serial incompetence on a spectacular scale.
Of course the Ricoh’s viability was shaky when its only tenant was a bunch of short-sighted pillocks on a one-way trip to the bottom of English football. But from where I’m standing, the Council look like they have finally found a proper anchor tenant for the Ricoh in Wasps. The rugby club looks like it could really go places and attract a lot of sponsorship. They’ll be staging big games every year, which they have already proved they can turn into lucrative all-day events bringing visitors to the city as well. SISU, wake up to the opportunities and start cultivating a great relationship with them - you’re good at that, remember? Tear up the new stadium plans (shouldn’t take long!) and buy your way back into the picture at Ricoh instead, even if it’s a gradual process. For pity’s sake find somebody with a tiny bit of imagination, ambition, leadership and charisma. And if you haven’t got anyone like that, please sell up to somebody who has.
In 5 or 10 years’ time, I want CCFC and Wasps fighting for space on the back page of the Telegraph. Which of this weekend’s games at the Jaguar Arena is the biggest – Wasps v. Toulouse in the European semi-final, or the Sky Blues v. Liverpool for a place in the Champions League? OK I’m being daft now, but a city the size of Coventry has to at least think like that otherwise there’s no point.
PS I can already hear the booing from people who will say we shouldn’t touch Wasps with a bargepole. I respect that, but I genuinely believe you are worrying about a principle which just doesn’t apply. There is no moral or practical equivalence whatsoever between the Wasps move and the disgraceful Sixfields saga, and maybe I’ll put my reasons for that on the Wasps sub-forum.
