We need the club back at the Ricoh. Attendance tomorrow will not help. Both sides are culpable and both need equal abuse and disdain.
Ok at least not pro SISU. I walked away a couple of years ago pissed off about the complete mis management of the club and believing the Ricoh was a mill stone around our necks. My thinking was then we had to get out of the souless warehouse.
Roll on the last couple of years, ironically it now seems the one thing most likely to save the club is the Ricoh, and that which SISU are most desperate to get their hands on.
The stadium dosent belong to the club, it was paid for by a collective of guardian angels, because the club management spun the dice once too often. They are not going to simply take a loss when the club (owners) decides it wants to take back the stadium.
So the claims made against both sides
The ACL are culpable through:
- holding the rent at an unsustainable level for too long
They had no real choice as they had to meet they're own debt repayments. The duty of shareholders is to do the best they can for their shareholders (company law). The club and the fans are not shareholders, this should never been allowed in the first place, but we are where we are.
Things changed when they ACL were able to access more favourable financing, CCC protecting their assets yes, but also protecting a charity and the population of the city (not all of who are Sky Blues)
- refusing to negotiate with SISU
Yes it originally pissed me off, but the judges comments in the judical review make this more understandable.
Ultimately SISU made it impossible for a partnership with the ACL to work, whilst failing to invest in the team.
So why would they do this:
- Their business model is to unlock value by deconstructing assets
- Using as little of their own cash as possible to achieve their goals (they are not cash rich, asset rich may be, but unlikely to have liquid reserves), "leveraged finance"
- using litigation to weaken targets.
So you need to understand what is the asset, originally we blindly thought it was the club and premier league football, reality its the commercial land opportunities. I not sure this was the original intent for Ranson's vision, but they certainly shifted quickly to their default business model.
The gamble of Premier league is too uncertain for financial investors, the prize is the Ricoh.
Problem is i don't understand where SISU go from here, they've no assets in the club, its not a marketable investment. I can only see them running aground again and soon.
Bottom line is you don't need to support the ACL, but fans should be active in not supporting SISU. If we're agreed on not supporting SISU we're a lot closer in our goals than many on here would want to believe.
PUSB
NOPM