JOE Elliott has confirmed s e that American multi-millionaire Preston Haskell IV is serious about buying half the Ricoh Arena and Coventry City, insisting he has a “great blueprint“ to breathe new life into the ailing football club.
The U.S. tycoon was quoted in a national newspaper yesterday as saying he'd agreed a deal to purchase a half share in the stadium.
r And Mr Elliott stressed that while the potential investor provided hope for Sky Blues fans there was a long way to go before any deal was completed.
But he revealed that the Texan property tycoon is keen to bring together all aspects of the Ricoh site, including the land adjacent to the stadium which is earmarked for regeneration and leisure use to provide jobs, subject to buying 50 per cent of the Arena from the Higgs Charity and 100 per cent of the football club.
Positive talks have already been held between the U.S.
investor, the Higgs Charity and Coventry City Council who jointly own and run the stadium under the umbrella ACL. But any deal is subject to what happens in the High Court tomorrow.
If the judge decides to put Coventry City (Holdings) Ltd into administration that would pave the way for a formal offer to be made to a newly appointed administrator to buy the football club. Current club owners Sisu could reject that offer but could then be overruled by the administrator.
If that happened and the sale went through, the likelihood is that the Sky Blues would incur a penalty by the Football League that would see them start next season on minus 15 points.
“I have an agreement in principle to purchase the Higgs Trust 50 per cent share of the Ricoh and take over its management,“ Mr Haskell told the Sunday Times, also revealing that he planned to install Mr Elliott as club chairman and invite supporters to take a 20 per cent share in the club.
“The agreement is on condition that I am allowed to purchase Coventry City once the administration process is completed, “he added.
However, Mr Elliott, who revealed that former vicechairman Gary Hoffman would also be brought back to the board, said: “There has been no agreement but I can assure you that there has been correspondence between us all and, let me be crystal clear, that this guy is of serious intent.
“We will do everything we can * as Gary and I have always done * to help any investment group that may be interested in coming in and looking at the arena and the outside areas of the arena and investing and then, if the opportunity arose, to look at the football club to see if we could do some thing to package it all together. There's a long way to go and Preston has to be satisfied that the business plan that he has for the Arena works with the foot ball club.
“The situation on Tuesday has got to take prefer ence over anything else at this moment in time.“
Former City chairman Mr Elliott revealed that he first met Mr Haskell last June and that his interest gathered pace from January.
“He visited the club with his team of two others and came to the Colchester match and had a look round the arena. He met Peter Knatch bull-Hugessen and the Higgs Charity and they got on well, we got on well and he out lined his vision for Cov entry City Football Club,“ said Elliott.
The Telegraph un derstands that Mr Haskell is ready to make a generous of fer for the Higgs' share in the Arena which has been esti mated at around £10million.
Mr Knatch bull-Hugessen confirmed yesterday he had met Mr Haskell but said no deal had been struck over the Ricoh.“
Mr Haskell has said that he is keen to invest in the team with a view to eventually making a return to the Premier League.
“We've had some great discussions, he's been over and likes it and let's see where we get to,“ said Mr Elliott who was a guest with Mr Hoffman in the boardroom at Portsmouth on Saturday.
“We don't want to build hopes up too much but Preston has a great blueprint of how it should be and that would tie in with most people's ideas of how they would like to see Coventry City and the Arena as one.
“Preston, Gary, myself and his team get on very well and are in constant contact.
We are aware of the troubled times at the football club at the moment and will be watching with interest over the next few days but Preston is very keen to press ahead with this situation.“
As it is, the future of Coventry City remains in a state of confusion.
On Friday night the club moved all its staff from its offices at the Ricoh Arena to its training ground. Workers were also seen removing stock from the club shop.
On Saturday the club said it was in talks with the Football League over a venue for its next `home' match, raising the prospect that it would not play again at the Ricoh this season.
Coventry City will return to the High Court tomorrow to discover whether the club will be put into administration.
The U.S. tycoon was quoted in a national newspaper yesterday as saying he'd agreed a deal to purchase a half share in the stadium.
r And Mr Elliott stressed that while the potential investor provided hope for Sky Blues fans there was a long way to go before any deal was completed.
But he revealed that the Texan property tycoon is keen to bring together all aspects of the Ricoh site, including the land adjacent to the stadium which is earmarked for regeneration and leisure use to provide jobs, subject to buying 50 per cent of the Arena from the Higgs Charity and 100 per cent of the football club.
Positive talks have already been held between the U.S.
investor, the Higgs Charity and Coventry City Council who jointly own and run the stadium under the umbrella ACL. But any deal is subject to what happens in the High Court tomorrow.
If the judge decides to put Coventry City (Holdings) Ltd into administration that would pave the way for a formal offer to be made to a newly appointed administrator to buy the football club. Current club owners Sisu could reject that offer but could then be overruled by the administrator.
If that happened and the sale went through, the likelihood is that the Sky Blues would incur a penalty by the Football League that would see them start next season on minus 15 points.
“I have an agreement in principle to purchase the Higgs Trust 50 per cent share of the Ricoh and take over its management,“ Mr Haskell told the Sunday Times, also revealing that he planned to install Mr Elliott as club chairman and invite supporters to take a 20 per cent share in the club.
“The agreement is on condition that I am allowed to purchase Coventry City once the administration process is completed, “he added.
However, Mr Elliott, who revealed that former vicechairman Gary Hoffman would also be brought back to the board, said: “There has been no agreement but I can assure you that there has been correspondence between us all and, let me be crystal clear, that this guy is of serious intent.
“We will do everything we can * as Gary and I have always done * to help any investment group that may be interested in coming in and looking at the arena and the outside areas of the arena and investing and then, if the opportunity arose, to look at the football club to see if we could do some thing to package it all together. There's a long way to go and Preston has to be satisfied that the business plan that he has for the Arena works with the foot ball club.
“The situation on Tuesday has got to take prefer ence over anything else at this moment in time.“
Former City chairman Mr Elliott revealed that he first met Mr Haskell last June and that his interest gathered pace from January.
“He visited the club with his team of two others and came to the Colchester match and had a look round the arena. He met Peter Knatch bull-Hugessen and the Higgs Charity and they got on well, we got on well and he out lined his vision for Cov entry City Football Club,“ said Elliott.
The Telegraph un derstands that Mr Haskell is ready to make a generous of fer for the Higgs' share in the Arena which has been esti mated at around £10million.
Mr Knatch bull-Hugessen confirmed yesterday he had met Mr Haskell but said no deal had been struck over the Ricoh.“
Mr Haskell has said that he is keen to invest in the team with a view to eventually making a return to the Premier League.
“We've had some great discussions, he's been over and likes it and let's see where we get to,“ said Mr Elliott who was a guest with Mr Hoffman in the boardroom at Portsmouth on Saturday.
“We don't want to build hopes up too much but Preston has a great blueprint of how it should be and that would tie in with most people's ideas of how they would like to see Coventry City and the Arena as one.
“Preston, Gary, myself and his team get on very well and are in constant contact.
We are aware of the troubled times at the football club at the moment and will be watching with interest over the next few days but Preston is very keen to press ahead with this situation.“
As it is, the future of Coventry City remains in a state of confusion.
On Friday night the club moved all its staff from its offices at the Ricoh Arena to its training ground. Workers were also seen removing stock from the club shop.
On Saturday the club said it was in talks with the Football League over a venue for its next `home' match, raising the prospect that it would not play again at the Ricoh this season.
Coventry City will return to the High Court tomorrow to discover whether the club will be put into administration.
