What got us back from Northampton.. (5 Viewers)

Nick said:

I think the JR was like June wasn't it? It still gives them a month in July to sort it.

You would have thought the league would again do their stuff close season.

This is all assuming that establishments work with sense though

Click to expand...

We also had the Testy scenario with the league over settling that £500K ish bill to ACL from the CVA failure ,that ran for a couple of months to August didn't It?

Not saying It was a factor but I bet the league were fed up of getting a hard time .

I agree the league could have forced it, but then you would think they would have seen the sense to do it close season if they were getting a bit annoyed with all the shit to?

Like I said, that requires sense so could be way off.

They were definitely aware of Wasps by mid June as Byng relayed on the terraces .

The march was early July and there were hints of coming back then .

We then had the CCC saying drop the JR and pay the FL's CVA deal which SISU argued the toss over , those both delayed talks being serious

for at least a month maybe two.

Edit: Maybe the League got wind of Wasps as well and had no faith In the fabled new ground .

Nick said:

I agree the league could have forced it, but then you would think they would have seen the sense to do it close season if they were getting a bit annoyed with all the shit to?

Like I said, that requires sense so could be way off.

Click to expand...

I am not sure the league could force the club back. They could have imposed points penalties or eliminated us from the leagues yes, but I don't think they could interfere (take side) in a (non-football) creditor conflict.

Nick said:

I think the JR was like June wasn't it? It still gives them a month in July to sort it.

You would have thought the league would again do their stuff close season.

This is all assuming that establishments work with sense though

Click to expand...

Maybe the football league were the catalyst Nick. If not they certainly know now that the owners of our club have not covered themselves in glory over the last 7 years, perhaps they could not pay the bond and when told they had to or move back that was the choice they made. I am more worried about the statement of financial independence from the owners of the club. To my thinking they have been told its sink or swim, no cash available you have a ticket revenue of circa 2.6 million based on 10k average attendance so make it work if not tuff. The club itself will be working to FFP after servicing the ARVO loans so if lucky they would have a playing budget of around 1 million. Pressly better have some nuggets coming through the academy soon because he cant afford to pay for anything decent in that wage structure. And just IF Fisher's pie in the sky stadium were to be built who would give the club a mortgage, purely on affordability they would not get one. Whats that line from the Specials song "Its all a load of bollocks and bollocks to it all"

wingy said:

They were definitely aware of Wasps by mid June as Byng relayed on the terraces .

The march was early July and there were hints of coming back then .

We then had the CCC saying drop the JR and pay the FL's CVA deal which SISU argued the toss over , those both delayed talks being serious for at least a month maybe two.

Click to expand...

And suddenly CCC stopped saying 'drop the JR' ...

In my mind the most logical scenario was CCC/ACL were forced by Wasps to bring back the club. That or no deal.
It helps Wasps financially and at the same time take out some of the risk CCC have with the £14m loan.

Godiva said:

I am not sure the league could force the club back. They could have imposed points penalties or eliminated us from the leagues yes, but I don't think they could interfere (take side) in a (non-football) creditor conflict.

Click to expand...

The Stress test/Financial security would give them grounds along with realisation a New Ground was pie in the sky I'd have thought .

Godiva said:

And suddenly CCC stopped saying 'drop the JR' ...

In my mind the most logical scenario was CCC/ACL were forced by Wasps to bring back the club. That or no deal.
It helps Wasps financially and at the same time take out some of the risk CCC have with the £14m loan.

Click to expand...

Yet It seems odd that they were insisting on dropping JR If at that point they'd already decided to sell to Wasps

I believe there were mainly two reasons for the return. One was financial and the other was out of sheer panic.
During the 3rd week of last May (2014) I was in conversation with a councillor whom I have known for many years. I offered my opinions on the Ricoh situation and it should be remembered that at this point SISU had withheld the rent and moved lock stock and barrel to Northampton. They had also closed the door on EVER returning to the Ricoh unless they owned it.
I was told that talks had started with regards to another team playing at the Ricoh. Not wanting to appear to be too intrusive towards what was and still is a delicate topic, and assuming that they were talking about another football team, I merely enquired "what colour do they play in". I was a bit surprised when answered "I'm not even going to say what sport they play".....I didn't push for any more information. So in retrospect the talks must have been ongoing with wasps before that date in May. Also during that conversation it was revealed that CCFC had been made an offer to play back at the Ricoh on a rental basis of just £100,000 for the first season and FREE for the following two season irrespective of what league they were playing in.
So, at that time CCFC were playing In front of insignificant crowds at Sixfields with very few season ticket sales and are paying a damaging rent to another league football club. SISU had shot themselves in their own foot and are up the creek with a hole in their boat. They have an offer of a rent back at the Ricoh that was very much more affordable than the one that they were paying at Northampton and they would also generate more season ticket sales along with more general sales with a larger away team support who want to visit the Ricoh Arena. SISU may also have been privy to the "other team" talks and needed to get a least one foot inside the door as a last hope of securing any part of ownership.

This whole they rushed back because Wasps were coming line? I find it funny that some posters peddling this also insists that the council were underhand for saying it's time to build trust as they were talking to Wasps 6-12months ago and at least one poster suggesting 2 years ago. So if that's the case why didn't the club come back 6-12 months ago or even leave in the first place if we're to believe discussions started 2 years ago?

Nick said:

why would it just be all of a sudden though? surely they could have seen they weren't making money from the first week / month they were there. Why would they wait and play 3 games in Northampton and then move back when they could have just done it in the close season, had a bit more of a buzz, sold more season tickets, had Cardiff at the ricoh which would have made a bit of money.

I don't get why all of a sudden with that timing they would have thought "shit, we arent making money, best rush back immediately"

Surely they would have been monitoring how much money they were losing on a regular basis and not just opened up their internet banking after a year and thought "shit, best get back now!"

Isn't it a bit too much of a coincidence that we rush back out of the blue after losing money for months just as it comes out Wasps were taking over? Surely that stands out to people?

Click to expand...

Well it takes them a minimum of two years just to buy a plot of land must take months to negotiate a return to the Ricoh.
God forbid should they ever require planning permission.

skybluetony176 said:

This whole they rushed back because Wasps were coming line? I find it funny that some posters peddling this also insists that the council were underhand for saying it's time to build trust as they were talking to Wasps 6-12months ago and at least one poster suggesting 2 years ago. So if that's the case why didn't the club come back 6-12 months ago or even leave in the first place if we're to believe discussions started 2 years ago?

Click to expand...

Don't know anything about talks being held 2 years ago Tony. I can only go back to the 3rd week in May last year and I have absolutely no idea if talks were ongoing before then. This is a factual account. I don't make up stories and don't subscribe to BS or conjecture.

Unless you believe Ann Lucas

Nick said:

Unless you believe Ann Lucas

Click to expand...

I guess everyone saying we only come back because Wasps were coming must believe her. That must hurt for some.

skybluetony176 said:

I guess everyone saying we only come back because Wasps were coming must believe her. That must hurt for some.

Click to expand...

Why must they believe her?

Wheelfass said:

Don't know anything about talks being held 2 years ago Tony. I can only go back to the 3rd week in May last year and I have absolutely no idea if talks were ongoing before then. This is a factual account. I don't make up stories and don't subscribe to BS or conjecture.

Click to expand...

It was Mr Eastwood who said two years.
From the press conference (http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/happened-wasps-announce-move-ricoh-7900368)

Wasps chief executive Tim Eastwood: "This takeover is the culmination of two years meticulous planning.

Click to expand...

skybluetony176 said:

This whole they rushed back because Wasps were coming line? I find it funny that some posters peddling this also insists that the council were underhand for saying it's time to build trust as they were talking to Wasps 6-12months ago and at least one poster suggesting 2 years ago. So if that's the case why didn't the club come back 6-12 months ago or even leave in the first place if we're to believe discussions started 2 years ago?

Click to expand...

Yes. Surely they always intended to return to the Ricoh but only when they had bought the stadium for next to nothing. That was always their Plan A. They have never actually intended to build their own stadium and simply used Northampton as a holding position while they waited for ACL to go bust. That is the only way the Northampton farce could have made sense.

Fisher may have believed, or at least hoped, 6-7000 would put up with it but he misread the fans as usual. So I still think the refusal of fans to go there drove them back when they knew the game was up. We are almost certainly back at the Ricoh for good now, there is no new stadium. Sisu need to work out their exit strategy and any new owners will have us at the Ricoh on a rental deal for ever. Sisu took on the council, ACL, and especially the fans, and lost the lot.

Nick said:

Why must they believe her?

Click to expand...

Her version of the timescale is the only timescale that ties in with the sudden rush to get back as Wasps are coming rather than doing it before the season started. Ergo, if you believe that the only reason we came back was because wasps were about to buy ACL you must be accepting AL was telling the truth otherwise we'd have been back sooner.

skybluetony176 said:

Her version of the timescale is the only timescale that ties in with the sudden rush to get back as Wasps are coming rather than doing it before the season started. Ergo, if you believe that the only reason we came back was because wasps were about to buy ACL you must be accepting AL was telling the truth otherwise we'd have been back sooner.

Click to expand...

What's her version of the timescale?????

Moff said:

Is it Groundhog day?

I am sure there was a thread on this yesterday.

Click to expand...

And every day. For ever and ever, amen.

...so there.

I travelled to Mordor to find this thread, only to realize I brought a Haribo ring instead.

skybluetony176 said:

I'm not sure I get this argument. According to many of the same posters that peddle this line also say it was a 100% done deal. So how has bringing the club back changed that?

Personally I think it was a combination of things including media pressure (thankyou Simon), NOPM, the dean of Coventry and maybe even pressure by the FL behind the scenes. But anyone suggesting that NOPM played no part IMO most likely have a guilt complex.

Click to expand...

Simon Gilbert...hahahahaha!! The telegraph should have started their 'campaign' a year before they did. They had nothing to do with it at all and jumped on the bandwagon much too late.

Sick Boy said:

Simon Gilbert...hahahahaha!! The telegraph should have started their 'campaign' a year before they did. They had nothing to do with it at all and jumped on the bandwagon much too late.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that they wrote more than a few stories about the unfolding situation in the period we were being held for ransom in Northampton and they has a dedicated short cut to all the Ricoh stories on their web site. It's strange that if they only got on board at the last minute how come the club haven't really talked to them for months and months and posters like you label them the council evening telegraph etc.?

Weren't the club talking to them yesterday about ched Evans?

Exactly what got us back no money coming in now fuck off Sisu