Coventry City’s chief executive says buying land for a new stadium could now be months away.
Under questioning from some sceptical fans hostile to club owners Sisu/Otium, Tim Fisher and hired property consultants CBRE insisted
negotiations with landowners continued - and were genuine.
He added “plan B” of
returning to the council-owned Ricoh Arena could only happen with a stadium sale to bring in vital club revenue from the stadium, not with club returning as tenants.
Mr Fisher re-iterated Sisu boss Joy Seppala was calling for a sale of the “unincumbered freehold” owned by Coventry City Council.
He added it did not exclude the possibility of Sisu buying a long leasehold, not the 50-year lease currently held by Arena Coventry Limited.
But he said the council would first have to negotiate with 50per cent ACL stakeholder, the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, who the club would no longer deal with.
On the new stadium, Mr Fisher told a heated meeting of fan shareholders of CCFC Holdings Ltd, which is being dissolved: “We’d be delighted to announce something in a short number of months. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s frustrating for us.”
In the summer the club said it had hoped to ‘‘finalise a deal’’ by mid-September.
With team boss Steven Pressley present at Coventry City Supporters Club, Freehold Street, Hillfields, on Tuesday, CBRE’s Eleanor Deeley said: “We can only work as fast as other parties.”
Ms Deeley, of the firm which delivered Brentford’s new stadium, added: “I’m not here to go into discussions on individual sites. If I gave details I would be jeopardising delivery.”
Mr Fisher said the club had options to buy two sites in the Coventry area. One, Brandon speedway stadium, has hit setbacks. Problems include complex ownership involving HMRC, and planning issues.
He said 60 acres was needed for training and academy facilities next to a £20million stadium which could begin at 12-15,000 capacity, and expand to 23,000, with planning permission potentially taking “18 months”.
He said hopes for a Ricoh sale had been undermined by a recent renewed rental offer by part-owned council firm Arena Coventry Limited.
Asked why the club was pressing ahead with a judicial review against Coventry City Council’s £14million ACL “bailout”, he said there was a “moral principle”, as a judge had ruled there was an arguable case the council had acted with improper conduct.
Councillors in private in January approved using £14million of taxpayers’ money to buy out ACL’s mortgage from Yorkshire Bank, which ACL would then pay back to the council at lower interest payments.
The council’s own papers submitted to the High Court revealed one “council valuation” for “the Ricoh” had been £6.4million in January.
The council’s High Court papers revealed the figure in the context of the bank’s concerns ACL would not be able to pay back the mortgage, and the bank’s concerns its security was worth less than the loan itself. Sisu companies claim the council had overpaid in buying out the mortgage.
The council claims the transaction was on commercial terms to prevent ACL becoming insolvent, with the club withholding part of its rent payments.
Tuesday’s meeting saw angry exchanges between Mr Fisher and members of fans group Sky Blue Trust John Fletcher and Lionel Bird. The trust had sought to prevent Otium winning the League’s golden share in August.
Mr Fletcher asked why Holdings’ 2011/12 accounts were filed late, prompting Companies House to threaten prosecution.
Mr Bird sought accounts showing any value placed on assets, including players’ contracts, when they were transferred to Otium, the company which after August became the football club.
Otium has combined the assets previously straddled between Holdings and CCFC Ltd, the company which was in administration and is now in liquidation - with only the club’s lease and license for playing at the Ricoh left in it.
Mr Fisher said there was no such value in the assets moved between companies which shared a parent company, and it was part of arrangements over debt. Holdings owed money to Otium lent to the club by Sisu-related hedge fund Arvo Master Fund. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
Otium’s late filed accounts revealed just under £8million of debts relating to loans from Arvo Master Fund over two years. Joy Seppala insists total club liabilities are around £60million.
Mr Fisher attributed the delay in the accounts for Holdings accounts - which will now not be filed with the company being dissolved - to uncertainty when related company CCFC Ltd was in administration - and problems getting an auditor to sign off the group accounts.
The club’s accountant, Steve Brookfield, said the published “consolidated” accounts for related company Sky Blue Sports & Leisure Ltd effectively showed Holdings’ accounts.
Mr Fisher questioned Mr Fletcher’s, the trust’s and ACL’s role in the long-running dispute and actions which led to the team losing ten points.
Mr Fletcher denied involvement in writing letters to Companies House, on behalf of Bob Ainsworth MP.
Mr Fisher also referred to a letter by then ACL chairman Nick Carter to the club’s auditors BDO in February - which stated BDO should consider whether to sign off the club as a “going concern”, given negotiations over Ricoh rent and ownership had collapsed.
He asked Mr Fletcher to explain at the meeting before Mr Pressley and club development director Steve Waggott his and the trust’s role in actions which lost the team ten League points from its League One campaign this season.
ACL on August 2 rejected a Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal by administrator Paul Appleton to bring the club out of administration.
On the same day, the Football League awarded its crucial golden share to Otium on the condition the club accepted losing 10 points and ACL would not be financially penalised for the CVA being declined.
Mr Fletcher accepted the Trust has urged the Football League not to transfer the share to Otium.
Mr Waggott said that, from his discussions with the Football League, the club had “come within 15 minutes” of not being able to play in League One this season unless the share was transferred to Otium and the League sanctioned the club’s groundshare at Northampton Town’s Sixfields.
Mr Fletcher alleged the League had “had a gun placed to its head”.
Several fans demanded to know why Ms Seppala was insisting on a sale of the Ricoh freehold, rather the lease which would still enable club revenues, including from the sales of food and beverage.
Mr Fisher said the club had tried in negotiations last year to buy the half-stake in ACL owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, but had failed.
He said the club would not now seek any deal directly with ACL.
But he said it was for the council to decide what would happen with ACL if there was a sale, adding that Higgs charity clerk Peter Knatchbull-Hughesen would have “something to say about that”, to which several fans agreed.
Council leader Ann Lucas has said she does not rule out further talks with Ms Seppala over a sale, dispute ACL’s latest three-year rent offer.
It would see the club charged no rent this season, but with matchday costs of £320,000 - and a £100,000 rent on top for the next two seasons.
The club says the rental and matchday costs would be higher than payments of around £150,000 for playing at Northampton. It accepts higher gates with a Ricoh return would make it financially better for the club.
But the club insists it must own its own stadium, and there had been a total breakdown in trust and relations with ACL and the council.
