Sub
Well-Known Member
As Coventry City fans we’ve lost our club – we don’t know when we’ll get it back
By Sam Gayton Tuesday 9 Jul 2013 12:36 pm
2
Use ← → keys to
No-go arena: Coventry will not be playing at the Ricoh next season (Picture: Getty) Betrayed, hurt, fearful for the future.
That’s how it feels to be a Coventry City fan right now.
Yesterday, the Football League sanctioned a three-year ground-sharing plan that will enable the Sky Blues to play at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium.
When Fulham waited for the renovations on their beloved Craven Cottage, they moved to Loftus Road – 2.7 miles up the road.
When Rotherham United were forced to move from Millmoor, their home for 100 years, they moved to the Don Valley International Stadium in Sheffield – 4.7 miles away.
Next season, Coventry will play 37 miles away from what is our rightful home, the Ricoh Arena.
For us, the latest move by Sisu – the prospective owner which is set to buy the club back out of administration through Otium Entertainment Group – in this painful bleeding-dry of the club that many hold dear is too much to bear.
Many of us will not be travelling to Sixfields stadium next year.
Some may say that is a crime: that you should follow your team no matter where they go, or how far away they may be.
These people do have a point. It is not the fault of the players, or the manager, or the fans that this situation has come to pass. The team may have underperformed in recent years, and previous managers may have brought in players that were not good enough to redeem us from relegation or push on for promotion like we had hoped.
Tough times: Sky Blues boss Steven Pressley (Picture: PA)
But they were working under the constraints of an organisation that many, if not all supporters believe to be self-serving. For those who say Sisu should be given credit for keeping the club afloat when we were threatened with administration in 2007, it must be put to them why Sisu bothered to save the club in the first place.
We have received minimal investment in the playing squad. From the disclosed fees of transfers in and out since 2008 when Sisu took over, £4.3 million worth of talent has been bought, whilst £7.7 million has been sold. This is even discounting sales of players including Leon Best and Aron Gunnarsson, for whom details of their transfer fees were undisclosed, possibly because they were sold for less than what the supporters would expect.
It is clear that the company have no connection with Coventry or its people. The club has been leaking money for years. The acquisition of Coventry City by Sisu (or Otium, or whatever name they use) has fans wary of a more devious plan: that Sisu are possibly trying wait out ACL and claim the Ricoh Arena on the cheap for property development.
Amidst all the posturing and legal wrangling, we have lost something far more important than the pride and power that might be at stake for Sisu, Otium, and even ACL up until a point.
We have lost our club. And we have no idea when we will get it back again.
Not one penny more. Sisu out.
By Sam Gayton Tuesday 9 Jul 2013 12:36 pm
2
Use ← → keys to
No-go arena: Coventry will not be playing at the Ricoh next season (Picture: Getty) Betrayed, hurt, fearful for the future.
That’s how it feels to be a Coventry City fan right now.
Yesterday, the Football League sanctioned a three-year ground-sharing plan that will enable the Sky Blues to play at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium.
When Fulham waited for the renovations on their beloved Craven Cottage, they moved to Loftus Road – 2.7 miles up the road.
When Rotherham United were forced to move from Millmoor, their home for 100 years, they moved to the Don Valley International Stadium in Sheffield – 4.7 miles away.
Next season, Coventry will play 37 miles away from what is our rightful home, the Ricoh Arena.
For us, the latest move by Sisu – the prospective owner which is set to buy the club back out of administration through Otium Entertainment Group – in this painful bleeding-dry of the club that many hold dear is too much to bear.
Many of us will not be travelling to Sixfields stadium next year.
Some may say that is a crime: that you should follow your team no matter where they go, or how far away they may be.
These people do have a point. It is not the fault of the players, or the manager, or the fans that this situation has come to pass. The team may have underperformed in recent years, and previous managers may have brought in players that were not good enough to redeem us from relegation or push on for promotion like we had hoped.
Tough times: Sky Blues boss Steven Pressley (Picture: PA)
But they were working under the constraints of an organisation that many, if not all supporters believe to be self-serving. For those who say Sisu should be given credit for keeping the club afloat when we were threatened with administration in 2007, it must be put to them why Sisu bothered to save the club in the first place.
We have received minimal investment in the playing squad. From the disclosed fees of transfers in and out since 2008 when Sisu took over, £4.3 million worth of talent has been bought, whilst £7.7 million has been sold. This is even discounting sales of players including Leon Best and Aron Gunnarsson, for whom details of their transfer fees were undisclosed, possibly because they were sold for less than what the supporters would expect.
It is clear that the company have no connection with Coventry or its people. The club has been leaking money for years. The acquisition of Coventry City by Sisu (or Otium, or whatever name they use) has fans wary of a more devious plan: that Sisu are possibly trying wait out ACL and claim the Ricoh Arena on the cheap for property development.
Amidst all the posturing and legal wrangling, we have lost something far more important than the pride and power that might be at stake for Sisu, Otium, and even ACL up until a point.
We have lost our club. And we have no idea when we will get it back again.
Not one penny more. Sisu out.
