Sky Blue Kid
Well-Known Member
Let's just get the chain of events right here, so we can see how helpful the council have been...
Aug 2014 (Just before the return to the Ricoh):
Council chief:
We need time to rebuild trust before we talk about ownership (with CCFC):
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/council-chief-need-time-rebuild-7651892
(as a matter of record, at the time the council were already secretly negotiating a deal with London Wasps)
January 2016
Council Officer email to Jon Sharp, CRFC.:
"The Council naturally wants to protect its position. We look to add a new clause (to) specifically exclude professional association football (from being played at the Butts)"
http://coventryobserver.co.uk/news/...id-b-coventry-city-f-c-butts-groundshare/
(this was in response to a possible arrangement being discussed for CCFC to play at the Butts)
May 2016
Council Chief George Duggins:
Will not put up ‘roadblocks’ to sale of lease, potential groundshare
http://coventryobserver.co.uk/news/...ouncil-leader-coventry-city-butts-sisu-speak/
(this after email above was leaked and published earlier in the month)
Aug 2016:
Council Chief George Duggins:
SISU must pay council £325,000 before it will before it will help CCFC stay at the Ricoh Arena or secure Academy
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/council-says-taxpayers-325k-out-11772291
So of the two times that the council has offered to help the club in recent history, one was a simple flat-out lie. A total fiction. A complete fabrication from start to finish, from an elected member of the council. It was not contradicted by anyone else at the council at the time, officers or councillors, even though many there would have known it to be a lie.
The other offer to help (or at least not deliberately hinder) was in response to being caught attempting to block any possible move away from the Ricoh. This was subsequently completely contradicted with a demand for money to which the council has (as yet) no legal claim.
Tremendously helpful.
Let me see now..... your first post dated August 2014... Am I right? Yes I am right..... Now then...
This is dated May 2013 some 16 months before Wasps bought the Ricoh..... Ahem here we go......
Coventry have confirmed they will definitely not be returning to the Ricoh Arena next season.
Chief executive Tim Fisher has revealed the club are instead in the process of securing a site in the local area on which to build a new stadium.
Fisher says that whilst the new ground is being constructed, they will groundshare with another club, with their plans to be presented to the Football League at the start of June.
The move comes following a year-long rent row with Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), who manage the Ricoh Arena on behalf of joint owners the Alan Edward Higgs Charity and Coventry City Council.
Fisher said: "It's a new era and we retained specialists some months ago to advise us on where to build a new stadium for the club - and in the immediate Coventry area by the way".
City claim they did not want to leave the Ricoh but they had to make the move because "the doors locked on us".
In a statement of their own on Thursday, ACL said "our doors remain open to the Sky Blues".
But asked if there is any chance of Coventry playing at the Ricoh Arena next season, Fisher replied: "None. "People have to understand we do not posture, we do not threaten, because that is not how you do business, you only do business in good faith. Always.
"We have started the process of procuring land so that we can shift the new stadium build forward at a pace. The stadium will be in the Coventry area in accordance with Football League rules."
Fisher added: "We have left the Ricoh Arena.
"We were told categorically by ACL and by the council that there was no commercial deal to be done and in actual fact they would only ever work with the administrator.
"We were very, very clear in our minds as to exactly what was intended. Given the position we have had to make contingency plans to fulfil our fixtures on an interim basis - while we deliver the long-term vision.
"That long-term vision has us playing in the Coventry area in a new stadium that will be designed and delivered in three years.
"All this will be in full consultation with the fans - starting with the upcoming forums. In consideration of financial fair play then we will own all the revenue streams that come from matchday and, non-matchday activities, and therefore we will have every chance of becoming a solid, vibrant club."
May 17, 2013