Coventry City’s chief executive says buying land for a new stadium could now be months away.
Wasn’t it only weeks away this summer?
Under questioning from some sceptical fans hostile to club owners Sisu/Otium, Tim Fisher and hired property consultants CBRE insisted
negotiations with landowners continued - and were genuine.
I know there are fans that spread the blame around but are there any that actually like Sisu?
He added “plan B” of
returning to the council-owned Ricoh Arena could only happen with a stadium sale to bring in vital club revenue from the stadium, not with club returning as tenants.
Haven't people on here more financially savvy than I suggested you don’t need to own the stadium to own the revenue streams and that owning ACL would achieve that?
Mr Fisher re-iterated Sisu boss Joy Seppala was calling for a sale of the “unincumbered freehold” owned by Coventry City Council.
Why? I thought they had “moved on” and were building their own stadium?
He added it did not exclude the possibility of Sisu buying a long leasehold, not the 50-year lease currently held by Arena Coventry Limited.
But he said the council would first have to negotiate with 50per cent ACL stakeholder, the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, who the club would no longer deal with.
Maybe I am becoming forgetful, but can someone remind me when the charity became the problem? Wasn't it the council they had an issue with?
<<Fast forward>>
Mr Fisher said the club had options to buy two sites in the Coventry area. One, Brandon speedway stadium, has hit setbacks. Problems include complex ownership involving HMRC, and planning issues.
Why am I not surprised?
He said 60 acres was needed for training and academy facilities next to a £20million stadium which could begin at 12-15,000 capacity, and expand to 23,000, with planning permission potentially taking “18 months”.
According to an interest rate calculator I just used, at, for example, 5 per cent interest over 30 years, a £20million loan would only cost £1.29million per year to pay-off. I’m glad that sort of sum won’t “bleed us dry”…
He said hopes for a Ricoh sale had been undermined by a recent renewed rental offer by part-owned council firm Arena Coventry Limited.
Damn those people offering CCFC low rent deals!
Asked why the club was pressing ahead with a judicial review against Coventry City Council’s £14million ACL “bailout”, he said there was a “moral principle”, as a judge had ruled there was an arguable case the council had acted with improper conduct.
Isn’t this a circular argument? A judge ruled there was an arguable case because Sisu went to court and argued there was a case and when that was rejected went back and argued it again. If Sisu hadn’t argued the issue there would not have been an arguable case would there?
<<Fast forward>>
Otium’s late filed accounts revealed just under £8million of debts relating to loans from Arvo Master Fund over two years. Joy Seppala insists total club liabilities are around £60million.
I'll leave this point to those more financially savvy than me.
Mr Fisher attributed the delay in the accounts for Holdings accounts - which will now not be filed with the company being dissolved - to uncertainty when related company CCFC Ltd was in administration - and problems getting an auditor to sign off the group accounts.
That’s unfortunate. Who put CCFC Ltd into administration?
He asked Mr Fletcher to explain at the meeting before Mr Pressley and club development director Steve Waggott his and the trust’s role in actions which lost the team ten League points from its League One campaign this season.
Would anyone have been put in the position of having the option of removing points if Sisu had paid some rent for the Ricoh last season?
<<Fast forward>>
Mr Fisher said the club had tried in negotiations last year to buy the half-stake in ACL owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, but had failed.
Why? Is he saying Sisu did not walk away as I seem to recall PWKH alleging? Please correct me if I have misunderstood!
He said the club would not now seek any deal directly with ACL.
Why? Is anyone seriously suggesting these tough-minded business people would let a balloon or balloons on a car get in the way of CCFC missing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds of income by playing in Northampton?
But he said it was for the council to decide what would happen with ACL if there was a sale, adding that Higgs charity clerk Peter Knatchbull-Hughesen would have “something to say about that”, to which several fans agreed.
What is he trying to say? Any member of the board of ACL would have a say wouldn’t they? Didn’t Mr Knatchbull-Hughesen vote for the CVA, if I recall correctly?
The club says the rental and matchday costs would be higher than payments of around £150,000 for playing at Northampton. It accepts higher gates with a Ricoh return would make it financially better for the club.
So...
But the club insists it must own its own stadium, and there had been a total breakdown in trust and relations with ACL and the council.
And who started that breakdown of trust?
