Sir Higgs and his Dad must be spinning in their graves at this newsletter.
Sisu saved the club from admin in '07 and while the Higgs did own half the ground we played at they were rewarded with a share of the huge rent we were paying (which they were fully entitled).
With respect, that's rather a silly post. We're talking about the Higgs taking Sisu court over an unpaid bill and Sisu counter claiming, not a fascist regime throwing people in jail via show trials or talking about murderers, rapists and paedophiles.
If you mean the rent paid to ACL then the Higgs have seen none of that, ACL have never paid any dividends to shareholders.
Sisu saved the club from admin in '07 and while the Higgs did own half the ground we played at they were rewarded with a share of the huge rent we were paying (which they were fully entitled).
You're missing my point, I don't doubt they're a wonderful organisation. They've given away millions solely to help deprived people in the city of Coventry but if they choose to launch legal action against somebody (in this case Sisu) then the other party have a right to defend themselves or counter sue if they think they have grounds to.
They certainly helped out a few Councillors and ex CCFC board members...
Neither Higgs nor Sisu "saved" the club from admin, that's a divisive phrase that doesn't bear out the slightest scrutiny. Apart from anything else, in both cases we'd have been better off in hindsight going into admin and starting again.
They also don't "choose" to launch legal action. They are bound to try and reclaim money that is owed to them.
The "they did it first" defence, is about as valid as your previous "if they've done nothing wrong..." one.
Neither Higgs nor Sisu "saved" the club from admin, that's a divisive phrase that doesn't bear out the slightest scrutiny. Apart from anything else, in both cases we'd have been better off in hindsight going into admin and starting again.
They also don't "choose" to launch legal action. They are bound to try and reclaim money that is owed to them.
The "they did it first" defence, is about as valid as your previous "if they've done nothing wrong..." one.
If you mean the rent paid to ACL then the Higgs have seen none of that, ACL have never paid any dividends to shareholders.
Well they should have done their "due dillegence" then shouldn't they as this is a very predictable outcome.
Remind me, how many under privileged children have sisu helped out? And I mean directly, not through the community work that the football club does and did long before they showed up.
A rough number will be OK
they gave my son some Haribos and pencil case last week and they are not even a charity!
What I think Grendel is trying to say is that the Higgs Trust should have known being Counter Sued was a real possibility when taking Sisu to court.
Maybe Sisu should have just paid the 30k that was owed after it was agreed what would happen if the talks broke down. That to me seems the decent and honorable thing to do, but then again we are talking about Sisu.
Well they should have done their "due dillegence" then shouldn't they as this is a very predictable outcome.
They certainly helped out a few Councillors and ex CCFC board members...
Lets look at what we do know then.
* In 2003 the Higgs Charity saved CCFC from administration, which could have resulted in the club disappearing as no one was waiting in the wings.
* The Higgs Charity provided the club with a home for 8 years.
* The Higgs Charity would have allowed the club to buy half the Ricoh at a competitive rate.
* The Higgs Charity allows CCFC to have a cat 2 academy, without which the team would now be nothing.
* The Higgs Charity provides excellent sports facilities in one of the most deprived areas of the city.
* The Higgs Charity have helped countless Coventry children from deprived backgrounds.
What have Sisu ever done for the City of Coventry? (No Monty Python references please)
The question should be asked, why, as a charity set up to help deprived children(which it has indeed done some good), did it spend money intended for that to bail out a professional football club that had got itself into a mess,without a home, spending a sum of around £18million in the process, which it is very unlikely to get back, and has made no profits from it's involvement in ACL to put back into the community that it was set up to serve?
Could we take away some of the emotive guff being spouted about "deprived children of Coventry" being robbed by Sisu?
The question should be asked, why, as a charity set up to help deprived children(which it has indeed done some good), did it spend money intended for that to bail out a professional football club that had got itself into a mess,without a home, spending a sum of around £18million in the process, which it is very unlikely to get back, and has made no profits from it's involvement in ACL to put back into the community that it was set up to serve?
Surely it's charitable status shouldn't have extended to over-extended football clubs?
I'm really shocked and saddend by some of the comments on here about the higgs trust, they are a charity who tried to help the club genuinley, i'm fully supporting them against our abhorant owners.Could we take away some of the emotive guff being spouted about "deprived children of Coventry" being robbed by Sisu?
The question should be asked, why, as a charity set up to help deprived children(which it has indeed done some good), did it spend money intended for that to bail out a professional football club that had got itself into a mess,without a home, spending a sum of around £18million in the process, which it is very unlikely to get back, and has made no profits from it's involvement in ACL to put back into the community that it was set up to serve?
Surely it's charitable status shouldn't have extended to over-extended football clubs?
Sisu saved the club from admin in '07 and while the Higgs did own half the ground we played at they were rewarded with a share of the huge rent we were paying (which they were fully entitled).
You're missing my point, I don't doubt they're a wonderful organisation. They've given away millions solely to help deprived people in the city of Coventry but if they choose to launch legal action against somebody (in this case Sisu) then the other party have a right to defend themselves or counter sue if they think they have grounds to.
In short they were doing the club a favour, something I'm sure they regret now. The original plan was for Higgs to hold the 50% share as a short term measure for resale back to CCFC when their finances were on a better footing. If the plan had been followed through CCFC would have regain ownership of the share without having to pay a large premium which may have been the case if they had sold to another third party and then had to attempt to buy back on the open market. Higgs would have got their money back and everyone would have been happy. This was still the case up to the point SISU decided to liquidate the old Ltd company.
I'm really shocked and saddend by some of the comments on here about the higgs trust, they are a charity who tried to help the club genuinley, i'm fully supporting them against our abhorant owners.
i don't understand your answer ?They're a charity set up to help deprived children in the Coventry area, not professional footballers earning 1000's of pounds a week.
i don't understand your answer ?
They're a charity set up to help deprived children in the Coventry area, not professional footballers earning 1000's of pounds a week.
I'm not sure really that a charity(welcome as it was at the time to the club of course), should as you say "do the club a favour".
I'm not sure how the finances of the lease worked out, but was it £25million for a 50 year lease?
Was the Higgs half paid by them or was it the club beforehand, and they took it over for the £6million they paid the club to bail them out? Which would obviously put the charity quite a bit into profit on the deal(a good thing obviously).
Or did they pay the club £6million, and then also pay £12.5million for the half of the lease, which, if reports are true of the original deal to buy back the lease for around the original £5million(certainly not a lot more) from Higgs would have left the charity seriously out of pocket(not a good thing).
I don't think any child in Coventry will be going hungry today because of SISU. If they are then it'll be because their parents would rather spend money on fags and the bingo.
Should SISU have counter sued? Probably not. Were they in their rights to do so? Yep. Is it a good situation? Nope. But, come on. Cut out all the "poor little orphans" bollocks and quoting of their mission statement. Like The Lord said, it's emotive crap.
I don't think any child in Coventry will be going hungry today because of SISU. If they are then it'll be because their parents would rather spend money on fags and the bingo.
Should SISU have counter sued? Probably not. Were they in their rights to do so? Yep. Is it a good situation? Nope. But, come on. Cut out all the "poor little orphans" bollocks and quoting of their mission statement. Like The Lord said, it's emotive crap.
Maybe a charity shouldn't do the club a favour, but by the same token I don't really think that because they chose to do so they should be getting sued for six figure sums.
As far as I know the charity paid CCFC every penny of the net figure the club had put into the Arena project (the £6m figure) and there was a predetermined formula for the club to buy back so that the club didn't have to pay full market rate and Higgs didn't lose money.
The lease wasn't paid directly by the council or Higgs was it? Isn't that what the Yorkshire Bank (now CCC) loan was for?
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