I think we all know that wasn't going to happen because wasps had the business acumen to put a confidentiality clause in place to protect their negotiated offer.
Which brings you straight to question. Why didn't SISU have the business acumen to negotiate with the council?
I just don't get this "the council should have done" argument. Are people really suggesting that SISU don't know how to do a business deal and need some other party to negotiate first? Who negotiated the deal for CCFC? Presumably it wasn't SISU because they don't know how to do such things, all they can do is hide around the corner until some other party negotiates a deal only for SISU to then jump in front of them and steal the deal from underneath their feet. Maybe this is the hold up on the new ground? They're waiting for another sports team to negotiate on a new stadium in the Coventry area so they can jump in front of them at the eleventh hour and steal their thunder.
Some people on here are incapable of accepting that the reason we've lost the Ricoh has more to do with what SISU did and didn't do rather than what Wasps/CCC did do.
How long of a opportunity did SISU have to do what Wasps did?
If you could prove that SISU rejected the same deal on the same terms that Wasps got then I'm 100% with you. But they weren't. This is where IMO a lot of people take issue with the council's actions.
SISU failings were clear to see, and the council had an opportunity to call their bluff once and for all...which you could argue would have been for the benefit of the club and/or the city... as either SISU buy - council get money - club get a home, or Wasps buy - council get money.
You could argue it wasn't their responsibility to do so, but they felt the need to discuss the moral responsibility of the owners actions in 'ripping a club from the heart of it's community' - which they conveniently ignored later down the line.
In reality the council were so trapped by the bullshit of their own making (or bluff as Italia calls it) that a secret deal was the only way to circumvent having to answer for the inaccuracies and false statements, as well as getting a shit load LESS money for the people of Coventry than they would have done otherwise.