covhead1
Well-Known Member
While there’s a football match on today there’s more of a battle behind the scenes as down-at-heel Coventry unleash an audacious plan to maintain their fragile football league status after the fiasco involving their golden share, a subsidiary company in administration and murky player registration issues.
Leaked information suggests that Coventry are pressing for slightly more than just a ground share at Bescot. Staring down the barrel of a gun, with oblivion on the trigger, SISU, Coventry’s owner, are desperate to exit their problem child investment with undue haste and have looked to Jeff Bonser for an answer.
Bonser is renowned in football for being one of the few owners to have made a silk purse out of a pig’s ear after his successful purchase of Walsall, the ground and the land underneath over a protracted period. SISU, recognising this, have sought his help to get them out of the mess they’ve made of Coventry.
UTS understands that on the table is a straight swap. SISU will use their massive financial backing to engineer a structured buyout of Bonser’s majority share of the club, plus the stadium, and his pension fund stake in the land.
This would give SISU an unencumbered club with the opportunity to provide fresh impetus and encourage new fans to turn up without the Bonser legacy to stop them, which would lead to an immediate lift of 2,000 on the average crowd according to sources close to UTS. Such a lift would see an early return on investment with the club continuing to be run on tight business lines.
In return, Bonser gets to roll the dice again, buying the assets, such as they are, of Coventry for a pittance off the receiver through new investment vehicle Talbot Limited (apparently registered in Cyprus).
With the new Coventry rising, Phoenix-like from the ashes of their imminent failure and relegation, the club, we are told by unnamed spies, will relocate to Nene Park, where there’s room for nearly 7,000 fans, including terracing, and also planning permission for a new hotel and conference facilities.
With Bonser’s experience in this field, and SISU’s desire to move on from their embarrassing relationship with a failed club and loggerhead attitude to supporter groups, the deal could be sewn up before today’s kick-off, with SISU putting a mid-day deadline on negotiations. The two sides have been locked in discussions in the Bescot Bar for days, and it has been closed as a precaution to enable lawyers to review preliminary paperwork in the event of a deal being reached.
The outcome could see a reverse in today’s game, with Walsall fans taking over the away end and Coventry playing in their home colours in recognition of this ground-breaking deal.
Nobody from the club was able to talk officially about the situation, as the ticket office was closed when we called for a statement. An answerphone message was indecipherable but could be taken as corroboration of this story as one clear phrase was “Coventry away”
Good ole April the 1st.
Leaked information suggests that Coventry are pressing for slightly more than just a ground share at Bescot. Staring down the barrel of a gun, with oblivion on the trigger, SISU, Coventry’s owner, are desperate to exit their problem child investment with undue haste and have looked to Jeff Bonser for an answer.
Bonser is renowned in football for being one of the few owners to have made a silk purse out of a pig’s ear after his successful purchase of Walsall, the ground and the land underneath over a protracted period. SISU, recognising this, have sought his help to get them out of the mess they’ve made of Coventry.
UTS understands that on the table is a straight swap. SISU will use their massive financial backing to engineer a structured buyout of Bonser’s majority share of the club, plus the stadium, and his pension fund stake in the land.
This would give SISU an unencumbered club with the opportunity to provide fresh impetus and encourage new fans to turn up without the Bonser legacy to stop them, which would lead to an immediate lift of 2,000 on the average crowd according to sources close to UTS. Such a lift would see an early return on investment with the club continuing to be run on tight business lines.
In return, Bonser gets to roll the dice again, buying the assets, such as they are, of Coventry for a pittance off the receiver through new investment vehicle Talbot Limited (apparently registered in Cyprus).
With the new Coventry rising, Phoenix-like from the ashes of their imminent failure and relegation, the club, we are told by unnamed spies, will relocate to Nene Park, where there’s room for nearly 7,000 fans, including terracing, and also planning permission for a new hotel and conference facilities.
With Bonser’s experience in this field, and SISU’s desire to move on from their embarrassing relationship with a failed club and loggerhead attitude to supporter groups, the deal could be sewn up before today’s kick-off, with SISU putting a mid-day deadline on negotiations. The two sides have been locked in discussions in the Bescot Bar for days, and it has been closed as a precaution to enable lawyers to review preliminary paperwork in the event of a deal being reached.
The outcome could see a reverse in today’s game, with Walsall fans taking over the away end and Coventry playing in their home colours in recognition of this ground-breaking deal.
Nobody from the club was able to talk officially about the situation, as the ticket office was closed when we called for a statement. An answerphone message was indecipherable but could be taken as corroboration of this story as one clear phrase was “Coventry away”
Good ole April the 1st.