Next Season-Ricoh Arena or ground share? (1 Viewer)

BrisbaneBronco

Well-Known Member
Its quite obvious that the monthly rent of 100k is crippling us and it has reached the point where we can no longer pay the rent. With SISU not having a pot to piss in, and a takeover being highly unlikely, where will we be playing our home games next season.
The Butts with a capacity of 4000 would appear to be too small, so what are our options?
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
There are no other options. We will be at the ricoh.
 

Coventrycityfc

New Member
The only thing we can hope for is some good results in the next,,,,sorry all remaining games then once we confirm our continuation in the Championship a miracle takeover is tabled again #pusb
 

CJparker

New Member
Stop all these annoying threads! We are not going to leave the Ricoh!!!
 

Otis

Well-Known Member
We might not leave. Doesn't mean we won't be forced out though. ACL and the council can of course do this if they so wish.

You may find it annoying but if we can't pay the rent what other options do the council/ACL have? Even if they halved the rent I bet we still wouldn't be able to afford it.

It's a stark reality.
 

mark82

Moderator
We might not leave. Doesn't mean we won't be forced out though. ACL and the council can of course do this if they so wish.

You may find it annoying but if we can't pay the rent what other options do the council/ACL have? Even if they halved the rent I bet we still wouldn't be able to afford it.

It's a stark reality.

What would ACL gain from forcing us out? Who is going to replace us in the stadium?
 

Sky Blue Sheepy

New Member
What would ACL gain from forcing us out? Who is going to replace us in the stadium?

We account for something between 13-20% of the Ricohs profits. They don't need us. That said, they don't want to force us out - this whole not paying the rent think is a ploy to try and reduce the rent by my, albeit limited, understanding.
 

Lord_Nampil

Well-Known Member
If i was a Coventry tax payer, the idea of paying for a football stadium with no football team init wouldn't make me very happy! As iv said before with out CCFC there would be no ACL....
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Good guessing lads. Wonder if any of you are right
 

LastGarrison

Well-Known Member
If i was a Coventry tax payer, the idea of paying for a football stadium with no football team init wouldn't make me very happy! As iv said before with out CCFC there would be no ACL....

But as a Cov tax payer you would be happy if someone wasn't paying our council the tax that they owe?

Or are you just looking through your football fan tinted glasses?
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
First off CCFC will have signed a lease - probably with a long term. Implication of that is the club is now in breach of the contract and liable not only to pay the £100k for last month but quite likely the balance of the outstanding period on the lease. The lease i believe is held by CCFC holdings limited. I also understand that there is a bank account holding a lease deposit against which ACL can draw to pay any rental default. If this deposit no longer exists my question would be how many months rental has it had to pay in the last year? Moving away from the Ricoh has serious financial consequences - probably worse than staying

ACL DO NOT WANT CCFC TO FAIL - ACL rent is not the reason for CCFC to fail CCFC are the reason. The club cannot afford the rent (which has not changed recently or I would bet is likely to in the foreseeable future) because over the last decade or more successive Boards and owners have failed to address the key issues at the club on and off the pitch. ACL, the council, the charity do not and never have ran CCFC, CCFC Holdings or SBS&L. The figure for rent in any business plan for CCFC over the last 5 years has not changed it is fixed, it is a known constant. SISU et al singularly failed to address the problem of performance and income in five arduous years but now seek to blame ACL & the council because "the rent is too high" :facepalm:

We play our home games in an olympic venue, we chose to do that, we accepted that to do so it would cost. We have been happy to take the benefits of the surroundings, happy to base the club and its commercial operations their, happy to show it off as if it were the clubs. yes we only have 26 or so match days there a season but the club is there 365 days a year, holds other events there, markets it as a positive selling point. Their own commercial department values use of the pitch alone for 1 hour at £5000 (had discussions with them for a promotion for our own junior club) - thats not including the changing rooms, the stands, the 4 x restaurant and bar facilities, other catering, offices, shop and ticket offices. Match days alone the club has exclusive use of all the Ricoh facilities from something like 10am till 7pm Do the maths and take a reasonable view of what a fair rent for a large first class sporting stadium should be. Yes the club are in deep mire with the finances but it isnt because of rent

If they owned it or another site ? How can they they have no money and a poor financial track record. But say they bought a site and it cost £25m it would cost at 5% interest £1.98m a year in repayments over 25 years. We cant afford £1.2m rent though :thinking about:

If we ground shared - so we are locked into a lease at the Ricoh and then pay rent to play at another ground where we wouldnt have a share of the other income streams, or a permanent home. How does that benefit us ?

But ACL, the Council, Charity are not helping the club. Think folk need a reality check. Firstly over the years all three have assisted the club in lots of ways including financial. There have been financial arrangements and loans. They have built a stadium that is well run and with an international reputation. Admittedly it wasnt the ultra modern 80000 seater to rival Wembley envisaged by BR etc but it is good enough for the olympics. To do that they have risked their own money and taken out loans. It is a fine line to balance the exposure gained from CCFC and the varied needs of the City of Coventry - not everyone is a football fan in Coventry let alone a CCFC fan. ACL etc are not a bank, are not CCFC's personal charity.

ACL can and would survive without CCFC - but they dont want to ! I suspect there is an awful lot being done behind the scenes by ACL, the council & Charity in order to try save the club that is not being made public. Certainly I dont think some here give them much credit for their efforts or what ACL etc have done in the past. This mess is the club's and SISU's fault - 100% no need to look to blame others.

To my mind it isnt a discussion about whether we go elsewhere or not ..... we stay at the Ricoh. It is now a discussion whether CCFC survives. The club wont fold because of the rent .... it will be because of years of poor management, bad planning, no targetted investment, under achieving, living way beyond means (110% wages as % of turnover before any other bill is paid is lunacy). That is no ones fault other than who ever has been in charge at CCFC for the past decade.

Smoke & mirrors from the club - cant believe anyone buys into it

just my opinion
 
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Gynnsthetonic

Well-Known Member
Opposite Halfords on the Foleshill Rd is the now derelict former City Engineers site, you could build a cracking little stadium on there about 24000 say and would be cheaper than buying the Ricoh. Take a look at the Euroborg stadion home of FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivision they built there 2 tier stadium for about 35 million euros 22500 seater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMyHXKOuSMg
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
Opposite Halfords on the Foleshill Rd is the now derelict former City Engineers site, you could build a cracking little stadium on there about 24000 say and would be cheaper than buying the Ricoh. Take a look at the Euroborg stadion home of FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivision they built there 2 tier stadium for about 35 million euros 22500 seater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMyHXKOuSMg

sure you could but just a couple of small obstacles

- we have no money, if we cant pay the day to day type bills like rent £100k how do we pay for a stadium - we couldnt afford a subuteo one !
- the council would have to grant planning permission to something in direct competition to a site they own 2 miles away, never going to happen

to name but two reasons
 

Gray

Well-Known Member
Opposite Halfords on the Foleshill Rd is the now derelict former City Engineers site, you could build a cracking little stadium on there about 24000 say and would be cheaper than buying the Ricoh. Take a look at the Euroborg stadion home of FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivision they built there 2 tier stadium for about 35 million euros 22500 seater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMyHXKOuSMg



we cant afford to pay £100,000 a month. Where we gonna get the money to buy the land and the 35 mill to build a stadium?
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
Get new owners in that have a few quid and build a new stadium just a min or twwo away....in Beduff?
 

EleanorRigby

New Member
Opposite Halfords on the Foleshill Rd is the now derelict former City Engineers site, you could build a cracking little stadium on there about 24000 say and would be cheaper than buying the Ricoh. Take a look at the Euroborg stadion home of FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivision they built there 2 tier stadium for about 35 million euros 22500 seater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMyHXKOuSMg
Where is all that supposed land at the old city engineers site ? There is a canal there you know. But I'll tell you where there is a large piece of land, in fact i can tell you where there are two, the old GEC site at Copsewood, which would bring us almost back home and the old British Celenese plant on Old Church Road. Having said that unfortunately we are stuck with what we have and the owners ACL, which is a polite name for the council will have to do one for their money because they daren't kick us out.
 

jabharty

Member
Groundsharing with the brummies?!
It would be a nuclear war zone, and would end up with 50 city fans in the stadium, with 100 walking wounded coming in 90 minutes late!
 

mememe

New Member
no ricoh next season

There is no realistic chance we will be playing in the ricochets next season. Wish nor any new owner could afford the rent of 100.000 a month. Most teams in that league aren't worth 1.2 million.

City will be in so much financial strife for being demoted disuse will without doubt sell to any mug going. But the problem for any owner is going to be the ricoh.

Its a huge rock around our necks. The other issue is the wage bill and the clubs debts. With the paltry income we will get in that league it is obvious we need a billionaire.. a billionaire looking for a 3rd division team.

Realistically we are a club that without sisus endless investment we are going to cease to exist. We are going to lose our club.
 

TheRoyalScam

Well-Known Member
SISU don't endlessly invest - they're merely hedge fund managers - we don't know who owns the club - of more concern is the fact that our accounts haven't been signed off by the auditors, and therefore we're no longer a 'going concern' - doesn't matter what division we're in - we need new owners!:blue:
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
When the BBC attempted to identify our owners, they were told by the Football League that they couldn't since no individual held more than a 10% stake. What is likely is that each investor into the hedge fund has been given a slice of stake back (say, 5% or so each)-the investors entrust SISU to manage these particular investments to get them a profit, or reduced losses.
 

Coventrycityfc

New Member
Its a very tense time but we have to keep the faith and hope something good can come out of all this. My only concern is if manage to stay in the Championship will SISU put us in administration ????? City til I die PUSB
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
The money that came in to settle all of the club's previous debts in the form of a whopping great loan-don't shoot the messenger.
 

CovFan

Well-Known Member
The thing I would like to know is if we are refusing to pay the rent as it is or if we are unable to pay it. Don't really know which answer I'd prefer.
 

pw362

Well-Known Member
Surely if we get new owners they could sit down with ACL & sort out a new rent agreement?
 
This is a crude attempt by SISU to re-negotiate the rent, if I was ACL or Cov Council I would be taking SISU straight to the courts.
 

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