Coventry City edge closer and closer to the abyss (1 Viewer)

[Sub]

http://www.just-football.com/2013/07/coventry-city-abyss-administration-sisu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Just-football+%28Just-Football%29

Coventry City is not simply experiencing a financial catastrophe right now; it faces a crisis of identity, with far-reaching implications for football supporters across the country.
The Ricoh Arena dispute has spun out of control over the past 12 months, to such an extent that it is virtually impossible for Coventry supporters to comprehend, let alone confront what is happening to their club.

At face value, the idea that Coventry’s owners, Sisu, were able to place part of the club into administration themselves, before appointing the administrator and buying the same subsidiary back as their administrator’s preferred bidder is absurd. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
Imagine, then, the difficulty of explaining to those with only a passing interest why this is such a significant, disturbing case.

 

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[Sub]

A typical conversation with the uninitiated goes as follows:

“So I hear Coventry are in administration then?”

Me: “Er…not exactly. Half of the club is in administration”.

“Ok. But new owners will sort everything out, right?”

Me: “No. The new owners are the old owners”.

“Right. But you’ll at least be able to afford to pay the rent on the stadium now?”

Me: “The owners could afford to pay the rent before, they just chose not to. We might be ground-sharing with Walsall next season”

“I don’t get it. Surely the FA don’t let that sort of thing happen? Anyway, how do you think Mourinho will get on at Chelsea next year?”

And this is one of countless frustrating facets of Coventry’s situation: it is virtually impossible to outline without sitting someone down and giving them a half-an-hour lecture on the complicated recent history of the club and its owners.
It may be a significant case study, but it’s a complex and boring one. People don’t follow football because they’re interested in the convoluted business practice of anonymous hedge funds.

It was the romance of England’s Euro ’96 campaign that truly hooked me in the first place, not the intricacies of the catering deals struck for that tournament and how they impacted on overheads for men in suits. If I supported anyone but Coventry, I probably wouldn’t take much more than a passing interest either.

 

[Sub]

Not another Porstmouth

One of the greatest misconceptions is that Coventry are another Portsmouth or Leeds, having spent beyond their means in order to achieve undeserved success. This is a popular perception because it is simple and easy to understand. We live in a post-2008 financial crisis world; we can all relate to that narrative arc, and according to some, Coventry fans should stop whining and deal with the consequences.

To reduce the Coventry situation to this, though, is like comparing Hamlet to The Snowman on the basis that they both conclude with the death of their protagonists. For a start, where was Coventry’s post-relegation overspending? And where was the success?

According to reports, Coventry are now around £70m in debt. Sisu claimed upon purchasing the club that they had rendered it debt-free. In recent years the net transfer spend has been negative. Sisu even used the Ricoh Arena for almost zero outlay last year.

So where on earth have these colossal debts come from? Why is there so little transparency? Unsurprisingly for an ownership who have failed to file their accounts on time for three years in a row, the breakdown of these debts remains for their eyes only.

See also: Barnet drop out of the Football League and into the unknown


Fans are running out of patience because their club is being taken away from them needlessly. It is not being downsized and dismantled because there isn’t an appetite from supporters, but because of a series of terrible business decisions made by individuals who have no affiliation with Coventry, and who appear to be unashamedly acting solely with self gain as their motive. There is a reason that all football fans should sit up and take note: this could happen to any club in the country.

Coventry City has averaged an attendance of approximately 18,000 throughout its history. This is a club who were deemed to require a 45,000-seater stadium only fifteen years ago, who represent a city of nearly 320,000 people.

 

[Sub]

As recently as February of this year, 32,000 fans filled the Ricoh for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy game against Crewe. And yet here we are, hypothesizing over the number of fans who might follow Coventry if they spend the next three years sharing with Northampton or Nuneaton while a new stadium is built (Sisu anticipate 3,000; a more realistic figure is 1,000 or less).
In other words, in such a deregulated system, no club is ‘too big’ to be immune from similar abuse.

It is this lack of accountability that Coventry’s plight serves to highlight. A governing structure that allows an anonymous hedge fund specialising in extracting profit from corporate insolvency cases to purchase a football club, drive it to administration and then buy it back to continue the exercise is one that requires some serious scrutiny.

The FA and the Football League have been very quiet when it comes to recent events at Coventry. Presumably they hope to distance themselves from the negative PR that inevitably follows Sisu’s circus, but they have a duty of care to the club’s long-suffering supporters.

 

[Sub]

Sisu’s actions are morally reprehensible, but they have not yet apparently broken any rules. Much like corporate tax evaders, one has to examine the system that allows them to get away with it just as much as the offenders themselves.

The tribal nature of football fans is partly what makes them such ripe targets for the antics of the likes of Sisu. Capitalism is driven by consumer choice and the collective influence of a customer base which has a shared goal of attaining the best quality product for as little cost as possible.

Consumer choice does not traditionally exist in football because a club is bestowed upon you from a young age, as a consequence of your family’s allegiance or a link to the place where you grew up. If a supermarket treated its customers with the same contempt that Sisu has treated fans of Coventry, they would all have taken their money elsewhere a long time ago.
But football fans are stuck with their club, and investors in modern football know this.

They can afford to exploit their customers, safe in the knowledge that they will stay loyal to the brand – and I think the gradual re-defining of football clubs and supporters as ‘brands’ and ‘customers’ is partly what lies at the heart of Coventry’s mess.

If those responsible for regulating “investors” were not so reliant on them for revenue, they might be able to carry out their responsibility to protect historic community institutions such as Barry Town and Wimbledon FC.
Only by discarding petty club rivalries and combining their collective spending power will football supporters have any success in fighting back against the likes of Venky’s and Sisu.

Tom Furnival-Adams is a contributor to Just Football and long-suffering Coventry City fan who has also written for When Saturday Comes and The Two Unfortunates. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_FA

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Are we Hamlet or the Snowman?

 

[covcity4life]

well said sub

 

[RoboCCFC90]

We really need for the Football League to declare that Otium have failed the F&P Test to stand any chance of getting out of this mess. The Football League needs to listen to the fans after all it's the Fans who make Football Clubs and the fans are calling for change. If not......... Well heartbreak and misery to come for longer periods of time.

 

[wingy]

Thanks Sub ,very good article ,a tad subjective on a couple of points but ,legislation Is waiting .

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

We really need for the Football League to declare that Otium have failed the F&P Test to stand any chance of getting out of this mess. The Football League needs to listen to the fans after all it's the Fans who make Football Clubs and the fans are calling for change. If not......... Well heartbreak and misery to come for longer periods of time.

That test is self certified and will only fail you if you're a criminal. It's a complete joke of a test.

 

[valiant15]

The apologists should read that. No doubt they'll just ignore it though.

 

[valiant15]

well said sub

Well said? On another thread you said you'd be happy to see these crooks get their hands on the ricoh! Have you got a split personality?

 

[Sub]

not my work just a link i found on newsnow coventry city

 

[wingy]

We really need for the Football League to declare that Otium have failed the F&P Test to stand any chance of getting out of this mess. The Football League needs to listen to the fans after all it's the Fans who make Football Clubs and the fans are calling for change. If not......... Well heartbreak and misery to come for longer periods of time.

I'd say they've passed the batton ,having passed It back to Appleton ,and it will come down to whether the protagonists involved wish to push It further In Court.

Unfortunately that leaves the fans being treated as Fodder,an absolute disaster.

 

[RoboCCFC90]

That test is self certified and will only fail you if you're a criminal. It's a complete joke of a test.

Well Otium have showed not to submit there accounts so maybe there is something that lies within that might help?

I agree with the perception of the test though.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I'd say they've passed the batton ,having passed It back to Appleton ,and it will come down to whether the protagonists involved wish to push It further In Court.

Unfortunately that leaves the fans being treated as Fodder,an absolute disaster.

Thing is Wingy what clout does the League really have when it comes to matters as complicated as this? They just don't have the same financial backing or legal nous as our Mayfair friends and so I don't see them having much remit to do anything.

 

[Gint11]

Interesting article. Was a good read.

 

[TheSnoz]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.

http://www.just-football.com/2013/07/coventry-city-abyss-administration-sisu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Just-football+%28Just-Football%29

 

[Covcraig@bury]

Good read and true to the core ,
I will circulate this .

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.


I posted a copy to the Football League... I've donned my tin hat against all the negativity that some on here have in deriding any of those who either email or write to the Football League. I have, in fact, posted them every article by FootyLawBlog and sent copies to my MP and the relative Government Minister.

The Chairman and Board of the Football League
Football League Operations Centre
Edward V11 Quay
Navigation Wharf
PRESTON PR2 2YF

 

[lordsummerisle]

I've sent it to Ban ki Moon and Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Top that VOR!

 

[SonOfSnoz]

It's really simple, the highest bidder will win, Sisu or Acl! Money talks! The Fl will follow the scent of £££s.

 

[BurbageSkyBlues]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.


I posted a copy to the Football League... I've donned my tin hat against all the negativity that some on here have in deriding any of those who either email or write to the Football League. I have, in fact, posted them every article by FootyLawBlog and sent copies to my MP and the relative Government Minister.

The Chairman and Board of the Football League
Football League Operations Centre
Edward V11 Quay
Navigation Wharf
PRESTON PR2 2YF

Well done VoR, and Sub for higHlighting the article.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I've sent it to Ban ki Moon and Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Top that VOR!

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit... top that !

 

[dadgad]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.

http://www.just-football.com/2013/07/coventry-city-abyss-administration-sisu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Just-football+%28Just-Football%29

Well done.
When we go down the shitter we can point out to the FL that they were warned.

 

[Moff]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit... top that !

But often the funniest.

Oh come on VOR, the Lords post was funny, and with all the doom and gloom surrounding the club it was nice to have something to laugh at!

 

[ajsccfc]

Anyone who says sarcasm's the lowest form of wit just doesn't know how to use it.

 

[NorthernWisdom]

People always leave the second bit off, that it's the highest form of intelligence.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Are we Hamlet or the Snowman?

Neither, our situation is more like Where's Wally?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.

http://www.just-football.com/2013/07/coventry-city-abyss-administration-sisu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Just-football+%28Just-Football%29

Well done for doing this but I think we all know deep down the FA will shove their heads up their arse and do nothing until it's too late and blame everyone else for what's going to happen, whatever that might be.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Neither, our situation is more like Where's Wally?

There's a bearded one at Ryton-he replaced the fat one.

 

[SkyblueBazza]

I've just emailed this to the League. Sure I'll get a standard reply. Hopefully it will get read by them before they decide what to do. Surely they will do the right thing?
Thanks to the guy who penned it and to the bloke who posted it here.
------------------------------

Dear Sirs, with reference to the shameful goings on at my club, Coventry City. Would anyone at the League have a few minutes to read this very fresh article about the activities of our current owners, Otium - another arm of our previous owners, SISU. It spells out the implications for football clubs in general. I understand the League are looking at the situation, most of us fans are fearful you will merely 'rubber stamp' the new ownership and send us into oblivion. This article paints a dismal picture.


I posted a copy to the Football League... I've donned my tin hat against all the negativity that some on here have in deriding any of those who either email or write to the Football League. I have, in fact, posted them every article by FootyLawBlog and sent copies to my MP and the relative Government Minister.

The Chairman and Board of the Football League
Football League Operations Centre
Edward V11 Quay
Navigation Wharf
PRESTON PR2 2YF

Yours & others actions in sending these kind emails to whoever you send them to are IMO only perceived as derided...by yourself/selves.
I sympathise with the people you think are deriding you - but it is not you personally, it's the actions they are questioning rather than deriding - we're all in this together! They probably see it as positive action...but their despondency & feeling of hopelessness from a lack of proper understanding all this mess, along with the past record of FL/FA/Courts leads some us to think the actions are absolutely pointless. As others have found in the past - they have changed nothing. BUT if the least they serve to do is make the people such as yourself feel better as you see it as a positive action...that's good! AND if it does actually help in leading to a positive outcome for the supporters you can view it as a major triumph. I hope it works...& if it does I'll applaud you all for a whole weekend non-stop!!!
Keep up it up - that's what I say, but don't think of it as fighting your own internal battle among fellow supporters. That'll just serve as an unnecessary distraction.

 

[TheSnoz]

Skybluebazza, cheers. Don't get too despondent mate!
My take on life is - if you do nothing, nothing happens.
What's to lose for five minutes sending an email?
People deriding? Oh I just ignore that completely.
SBT is needed for fans and sometimes a useful point of information on the club, but it is a bit insane.

 

[SkyblueBazza]

Well done for doing this but I think we all know deep down the FA will shove their heads up their arse and do nothing until it's too late and blame everyone else for what's going to happen, whatever that might be.

That's an interesting conundrum for the FL. IMO it will be a measure of their foresight how they approach their role over the next 5yrs or so. The majority of the money in the Premiership even is going to the BIG clubs...& as time goes on, the gap between the Man & Oxford Utds has become, & continues to get, bigger. Cow-towing to the BIG clubs is a very dangerous threat to the FL/FA though.
To enable the BIG clubs to sustain their growth, TV deals give them a bigger slice of the cake, hence more exposure & more kids on the bandwagon - most without experiencing a live game beyond the TV.
At some point...the inevitable Rangers & Celtic will be invited into the fold...as TV saturation point will be reached in what? 10yrs???...& renewed interest is needed by the BIG clubs who will break away or restructure the Premiership to include Celtic & Rangers to satisfy that need.
Then support is further polarised away from the lesser BIG clubs like Soton who go through their financial meltdown hell again, & the money people decide footy is not for them if they cannot get a BIG club...many will fold.
So where do the BIG clubs get their next phase of growth? within 20yrs - enter a dedicated European League containing something like the top two from each of Ger, Fr, It, Sp, UK (say Man Utd & Chelsea for arguments sake), NL & top club from the other lesser national leagues. They play home & away...say 36 games a season. We then reach the point where the Premiership TV money is reduced as its less attractive (although Man Utd & Chelsea still usually top the Prem...with their reserve sides) - kids "support" becomes even more polarised to the BIG two! The other clubs in the Premiership begin to fail...the FA Cup too becomes further devalued, so does the FL, & even the Premiership! And as all goes on there is less money coming into the FL, FA too!

UEFA replace them.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Of course if Scotland votes for independence, Celtic & Rangers won't be going anywhere.