Rotten boroughs (1 Viewer)

but our council are perfect.

Lies, damned lies, etc etc

fernandopartridge said:

Private Eye has balanced its reporting and included CCC in the latest rotten boroughs. Questions over the bail out and 'white elephant' stadium. Also makes comment on the poor deal for CCFC.

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fernandopartridge said:

Private Eye has balanced its reporting and included CCC in the latest rotten boroughs. Questions over the bail out and 'white elephant' stadium. Also makes comment on the poor deal for CCFC.

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SKY BLUE THINKING

Coventry city council is in a tangle over two of the most poisonous issues for local authorities; child protection and football.

Last month chief exec Martin Reeves came under fire after a glowing reference was given for Coventry's former head of children's services, Colin Green, when he applied for a child safeguarding role at Tower Hamlets council. Residents of the east London borough were not impressed at his appointment as chairman of Tower Hamlets Safeguarding Children Board, given that he was in charge in Coventry when the council missed numerous opportunities to intervene in the case of murdered schoolboy Daniel Pelka. Green stepped down from his new job after two days.

Opinion in Coventry is also beginning to question how clever Reeves and the Labour council's finance boss Chris West have been over their handling of the unhappy saga of the council-owned Ricoh stadium and it's erstwhile occupant Coventry City Football Club (CCFC, aka the Sky Blues), Reeves and West are on the board of Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the council-owned company which runs the stadium and is at loggerheads with the club's owner, SISU Capital (Eyes passim).

This season the Sky Blues have decamped to play "home" games 33 miles away in Northampton after failing to come to an agreement with ACL over money. The club blames its dire financial position - it spent part of this year in administration - on a lousy deal agreed by the previous owners. ACL charged it £1.3M a year in rent for the Ricoh (compared to £200,000 or so which a Division One club would expect to pay) and CCFC received no income other than gate receipts and shirt sponsorship; all other sponsorship, naming rights and food and drink sale receipts having gone to ACL. If ACL continue to hold out against selling the Ricoh to SISU, the prospect looms of SISU building its own stadium and exploiting all the opportunities for big rock concerts and the like that Reeves and co have neglected - leaving the council saddled with a white elephant with a £14M mortgage round its neck. Brilliant!

" A rubber button?"

Think they look silly now, will look even sillier if give SISU the freehold and they sell and ride off into the distance with a fat profit .

And we're off....

As long as I get my serving of Asparagus I don't care.

shy_tall_knight said:

Think they look silly now, will look even sillier if give SISU the freehold and they sell and ride off into the distance with a fat profit .

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...or if they paint it orange & purple, give it 8 legs & a spiders face, call it Boris & book The Who to play only songs written by the late great John Entwhistle every day until Man Utd. are relegated....






....well, it COULD happen...

torchomatic said:

SKY BLUE THINKING

Opinion in Coventry is also beginning to question how clever Reeves and the Labour council's finance boss Chris West have been over their handling of the unhappy saga of the council-owned Ricoh stadium and it's erstwhile occupant Coventry City Football Club (CCFC, aka the Sky Blues), Reeves and West are on the board of Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the council-owned company which runs the stadium and is at loggerheads with the club's owner, SISU Capital (Eyes passim).

This season the Sky Blues have decamped to play "home" games 33 miles away in Northampton after failing to come to an agreement with ACL over money. The club blames its dire financial position - it spent part of this year in administration - on a lousy deal agreed by the previous owners. ACL charged it £1.3M a year in rent for the Ricoh (compared to £200,000 or so which a Division One club would expect to pay) and CCFC received no income other than gate receipts and shirt sponsorship; all other sponsorship, naming rights and food and drink sale receipts having gone to ACL. If ACL continue to hold out against selling the Ricoh to SISU, the prospect looms of SISU building its own stadium and exploiting all the opportunities for big rock concerts and the like that Reeves and co have neglected - leaving the council saddled with a white elephant with a £14M mortgage round its neck. Brilliant!

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No issue with Private Eye looking at all sides of the issue, though I've cut out the stuff about Pelka as to my mind that's an unnecessary contrast.

With regard to their statements on the Ricoh issue though, they're falling into the same trap as a lot of people.

If ACL can continue to make a profit, as they say they can, is the Ricoh actually dragging the Council down financially?

Even if it isn't, is a sale to SISU right now necessarily the best option for the taxpayer? Could more money be realised by a sale of the Ricoh and land to another party for another purpose, perhaps? Or could more money and a better deal be realised by simply waiting, whilst SISU rack up bigger and bigger losses?

It's not unreasonable to think that sooner or later SISU might relent and change their 'no rental deal' position, or that they'll increase their offer to a more reasonable one (on the presumption that what they will offer at the moment won't match the Council's expectations). The one thing that really isn't clear is that SISU have either the will or wherewithal to build a new stadium - they've missed every target they've given themselves so far.

It's also not entirely impossible that SISU might simply sell to someone who is willing to strike a better deal with the council, again with their investors having tired of taking losses.

In fairness to Private Eye, it's difficult to get all of that into a paragraph, but I'm not sure that general opinion will (or is) turning against the council yet. I don't doubt we'll see more as it all plays out.

Just seems to me that both sides are placing articles in Private eye to bolster their own PR. Would rather they got on with finding a solution to bringing the team back to the Ricoh

torchomatic said:

If ACL continue to hold out against selling the Ricoh to SISU, the prospect looms of SISU building its own stadium and exploiting all the opportunities for big rock concerts and the like that Reeves and co have neglected - leaving the council saddled with a white elephant with a £14M mortgage round its neck. Brilliant!

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I'm sure Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Pink, Muse and Take That will all be rushing to play at the 12,000* seat HR2 rather than the 32,000 seat Ricoh...


*or 18,000 depending on the source.

oldskyblue58 said:

Just seems to me that both sides are placing articles in Private eye to bolster their own PR. Would rather they got on with finding a solution to bringing the team back to the Ricoh

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...and worryingly, these 2 sides believe that Private Eye (readership of about 2 dozen) is the place to do it.....

As Martin Fry once sang "That was then, but this is now." It's the future that matters not the past.

Sky Blues said:

I'm sure Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Pink, Muse and Take That will all be rushing to play at the 12,000* seat HR2 rather than the 32,000 seat Ricoh...


*or 18,000 depending on the source.

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I agree, but the bad publicity has always been focussed on SISU, not ACL. It will be interesting what happens over the next few weeks with regard to press coverage outside the City.

duffer said:

In fairness to Private Eye, it's difficult to get all of that into a paragraph, but I'm not sure that general opinion will (or is) turning against the council yet. I don't doubt we'll see more as it all plays out.

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torchomatic said:

As Martin Fry once sang "That was then, but this is now." It's the future that matters not the past.

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glad martin fry is well in the past them gold suits were absolute pants.

thaiskyblue said:

glad martin fry is well in the past them gold suits were absolute pants.

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And jackets.

Broken Hearted Sky Blue said:

And jackets.

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call the fashion police !

torchomatic said:

As Martin Fry once sang "That was then, but this is now." It's the future that matters not the past.

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Indeed. And the future according to Tim Fisher is HR2. Will HR2 attract "big rock concerts" to a 12,000 or 18,000 stadium if there is a 32,000 seater available down the road?

Who needs the moon when we got the stars?

thaiskyblue said:

glad martin fry is well in the past them gold suits were absolute pants.

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Oh great, now you tell me. I've just ordered another one.

Kipper ties are still in though, right?

"I used to be with 'it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it', and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you, too!" (Grandpa Simpson).

Who knows. We better ask the other ACL stalwart Physic Sally.

Sky Blues said:

Indeed. And the future according to Tim Fisher is HR2. Will HR2 attract "big rock concerts" to a 12,000 or 18,000 stadium if there is a 32,000 seater available down the road?

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torchomatic said:

Who knows.

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So you are suggesting the following line cannot be proven?
"the prospect looms of SISU building its own stadium and exploiting all the opportunities for big rock concerts"

Careful now, you might be accused of supporting ACL...