J
Jack Griffin
Guest
http://www.coventrycity-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/psb_group_open_letter_to_tim_fisher_853421/index.shtml
Well I heartily agree the questions raised deserve answers.
Letter Issued By Campaign Group
The Preservation Sky Blues Group have sent an open letter to Tim Fisher which reads as follows:
Dear Mr Fisher
I write to you on behalf of the recently formed PSB (Preservation Sky Blues). A new name carefully selected as preservation of our football club is what we are all about and a goal we are all firmly committed to.
As chair of this group I feel now is an appropriate time to register our concerns which I'm sure will resonate amongst a significant number of Coventry City supporters.
Just to clarify something before I get to my concerns.
That is to say we are not in this for the short term. We are a London based group with an eclectic mix of finance, legal and accounting backgrounds. The one thing we all have in common is that we are lifelong Coventry City supporters who cannot stand by and let the mismanagement and neglect of our club continue unchallenged.
Mr Fisher, I put it to you that your stewardship of CCFC has been nothing short of disastrous. I venture that it is the opinion of many that in any other business your services would have been dispensed with by now. That you remain as Chairman will confuse a good number of fans but perhaps also raises a question mark as to the true extent of your financial involvement with the club. So I therefore ask the question as straightforwardly as I can.
Are you strictly CCFC Chairman or do you have a vested interest in terms of a financial stake ?
Please let us know as clearly and unambiguosly as you can.
So where do SISU go from here ? I see that the recent supporters trust vote was somewhat unanimous in its condemnation of the club owners. More than 80 % saying that SISU should sell up is by any measure a "kick in the teeth" for you and your people. I took the trouble to research the turnout which ,at around 30%, is on or about general election level so I'd suggest a fair barometer of opinion.
The irony of that particular vote is that such was the level of contempt for our faceless hedgefund owners that the option to remove the current board, in particular you as chairman, was largely overlooked.
I suspect that on this occassion you got lucky as your track record since being at the club has been dismal.
You were the man at the helm who allowed the club to be relegated from the Championship by offering no support to the then team manager and/or not appointing a replacement when it was obvious to everyone that the team was in freefall.
You were the man who presided over the Sixfields disaster which has seen lifelong supporters walk away probably never to be seen again.
You are the Chairman who talks constantly about a new stadium which we all know will never be built. Few people will be fooled by mention of discussion with local authorities about 3 sites which would never in a million years be viable for a football stadium.
It is you Mr Fisher who dismisses out of hand the option of looking to buy a stake in the Ricoh from Wasps. You talk about the risk of potential liability should Wasps default on their loan but isn't it actually the case that it is in fact the potential investment that would be at stake ..no more.
You are the Chairman who has overseen the clubs demise to a shadow of its' former proud stature. The lack of ambition and absence of long term thinking has been demonstrated on countless occassions but I offer just one example.
By anybodys standards Callum Wilson is an exceptional player. Nobody expected him to stay at Coventry for ever but the facts are these. He didn't want to leave Coventry and he'd recently signed a 4 year contract. He'd just scored 23 goals in a season and his profile was rising all the time. His value was only going in one direction. Why sell him to Bournemouth for between 2 and 3 million when his goals alone could have been the catalyst to get the Sky Blues promoted to the Championship. Contrast that with another League 1 player Britt Assombalanga, a player of the same age with the same number of goals who was recently sold for 6million from another League 1 club in Peterborough. What would Callum have been worth after another season of goal scoring exploits.
Surely selling Callum Wilson was another classic example of SISU short term thinking and one that the club must be regretting,the fans certainly are. Where the money from the Wilson sale,let alone the other players we've let go,has gone is a mystery. It certainly isn't on new players !
Which leads me to my final point. You are the man who will be remembered as being in charge while the club owners threw endless amounts of cash on pointless and ill conceived legal challenges whilst the club itself was allowed to die a slow and agonising death watched by ever decreasing crowds. In the meantime future generstions of Coventry City supporters find other things to do with their time.
Mr Fisher. Not withstanding the fact that in the opinion of PSB and many other Coventry City supporters its time for you personally to go it should now be obvious to you, Joy Seppalla and anyone else amongst your inner circle who have contributed to the near death of a much loved football club that you're not wanted here any more.
Please do the decent thing and put our club up for sale.
In the meantime we will push on with our own course of action. That being the single minded aim of Preserving OUR Sky Blues.
Best Wishes
Group Chair
PSB
Preservation Sky Blues
Well I heartily agree the questions raised deserve answers.
