Coventry City boss gets go-ahead to buy not sell in January transfer window 14 Nov 2013 08:39 Sisu chief Joy Seppala tells Steven Pressley he can keep his stars and make new signings
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Steven Pressley
Steven Pressley has been given the go-ahead to buy rather than sell in the January transfer window.
The Coventry City manager and his assistant Neil MacFarlane met with Sisu boss Joy Seppala this week for a progress report on the football front and to discuss the way forward for the Sky Blues.
And Pressley came out more than satisfied when the Sisu boss reiterated the intent to hold on to all the current young stars that attracted interest from other clubs in the August window, and told him he will have cash to spend on strengthening if he wants it.
“Neil and I had a meeting with Joy for three or four hours in London,” he said.
“It was an update report and a case of chatting over what we have done so far and the strategy moving forward, and really looking towards January. That was the content of the meeting to be honest, and discussing all those matters.”
Asked if he’d received assurances that the likes of Callum Wilson, Cyrus Christie and Leon Clarke – all of whom were the subject of approaches from other clubs when the last transfer window drew to a close – would not be sold, he said: “Absolutely, she is very keen for us to build the side around our young players so it was a really good meeting.
“She reiterated the fact that we fully intend to retain the players we have in the window.
“Conor Thomas signed a new contract this week and I think that shows the intent to try to keep hold of players and build the team. And hopefully in January, if the right players become available, we can add to the squad.”
Although City are still in a transfer embargo due to the administration process and non-filing of accounts, the club appear to be edging closer to that restriction being lifted to enable them to operate freely in the market.
The club say they have now filed their 2011/12 accounts for the companies Sky Blue Sports and Leisure and Otium Entertainment Group Ltd and are now working towards filing their 2012/13 accounts which, once done, along with the completion of the administration/liquidation process of Coventry City FC (Ltd), should enable the embargo to be lifted.
That said, they still have the capacity to bring in four new players in the one out-one in rule after Gary McSheffrey, Steven Jennings, Kevin Malaga left the club by mutual consent in September, following the departures of William Edjenguele, Cody McDonald, David Bell and Chris Dunn.
So far City have signed just three players in Andy Webster, Mathieu Manset and rookie defender Stuart Urquhart.
Each time City want to recruit a new player they have to apply to the Football League for permission and show that there is a correlation between the released players’ wages and any new signing whose wages cannot exceed 75 per cent of the man he’s replacing.
The club can also buy new players, as they did with Urquhart, albeit a small compensation fee to Rangers, as long as the club’s owners pump in equity to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules which state clubs cannot spend more than 60 per cent of their revenue on the team. So, for example, if City bought a player for £150,000 then the owners would have to inject £250,000 extra income to the club.
Pressley relied on free transfers for Webster and Manset but clearly has a bit more scope in the market now. And although he’s keen to add quality, in particular
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Steven Pressley has been given the go-ahead to buy rather than sell in the January transfer window.
The Coventry City manager and his assistant Neil MacFarlane met with Sisu boss Joy Seppala this week for a progress report on the football front and to discuss the way forward for the Sky Blues.
And Pressley came out more than satisfied when the Sisu boss reiterated the intent to hold on to all the current young stars that attracted interest from other clubs in the August window, and told him he will have cash to spend on strengthening if he wants it.
“Neil and I had a meeting with Joy for three or four hours in London,” he said.
“It was an update report and a case of chatting over what we have done so far and the strategy moving forward, and really looking towards January. That was the content of the meeting to be honest, and discussing all those matters.”
Asked if he’d received assurances that the likes of Callum Wilson, Cyrus Christie and Leon Clarke – all of whom were the subject of approaches from other clubs when the last transfer window drew to a close – would not be sold, he said: “Absolutely, she is very keen for us to build the side around our young players so it was a really good meeting.
“She reiterated the fact that we fully intend to retain the players we have in the window.
“Conor Thomas signed a new contract this week and I think that shows the intent to try to keep hold of players and build the team. And hopefully in January, if the right players become available, we can add to the squad.”
Although City are still in a transfer embargo due to the administration process and non-filing of accounts, the club appear to be edging closer to that restriction being lifted to enable them to operate freely in the market.
The club say they have now filed their 2011/12 accounts for the companies Sky Blue Sports and Leisure and Otium Entertainment Group Ltd and are now working towards filing their 2012/13 accounts which, once done, along with the completion of the administration/liquidation process of Coventry City FC (Ltd), should enable the embargo to be lifted.
That said, they still have the capacity to bring in four new players in the one out-one in rule after Gary McSheffrey, Steven Jennings, Kevin Malaga left the club by mutual consent in September, following the departures of William Edjenguele, Cody McDonald, David Bell and Chris Dunn.
So far City have signed just three players in Andy Webster, Mathieu Manset and rookie defender Stuart Urquhart.
Each time City want to recruit a new player they have to apply to the Football League for permission and show that there is a correlation between the released players’ wages and any new signing whose wages cannot exceed 75 per cent of the man he’s replacing.
The club can also buy new players, as they did with Urquhart, albeit a small compensation fee to Rangers, as long as the club’s owners pump in equity to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules which state clubs cannot spend more than 60 per cent of their revenue on the team. So, for example, if City bought a player for £150,000 then the owners would have to inject £250,000 extra income to the club.
Pressley relied on free transfers for Webster and Manset but clearly has a bit more scope in the market now. And although he’s keen to add quality, in particular
