Way back when, when McGinnity was Chairman, the late Sir Derek Higgs proposed a new rent structure. He was director of CCFC and ACL. His rent proposal was to have a base rent set for each League with increases linked to attendance. McGinnity and Hover, then Chief Executive of CCFC, rejected this outright as although there were reductions for Championship, League One etc, there would have been an increase in the base in the Premiership.
Robinson made some half-hearted attempts to open a discussion on rent but he too would not accept anything like the Higgs proposal. The important thing for ACL was to set up a structure that was sustainable, Robinson just wanted to set part of the rent aside until they could pay it one sunny day in the future.The advantage of the Higgs proposal was that there would have been a direct link to the Club's income.
Someone asked how the rental was arrived at: in the final years at HR the lease plus costs was c£900,000. The cost of lease and licence at the Rioch followed that model. It was signed off by Robinson and Brannigan for the Club and Fletcher and McGuigan on behalf of ACL. It had been agreed by the Boards of both ACL and CCFC.
As a board member of ACL I am not aware of any rent discussions with Fisher et al before the rent stopped being paid.
When the Charity bought the shares in ACL everyone expected CCFC to buy its way straight back into ACL. The Charity actually appointed as Directors of ACL the Chairman of CCFC and Sir Derek who was both shareholder and Director of CCFC.
It has been said that Sisu should have acted faster, when they bought CCFC, to purchase the shares. Perhaps it would have been better for CCFC to have made that purchase instead of following Fletcher's fantasies under Robinson. Everyone will have a view as do I and probably there is a bit right in all of them and a bit wrong as well. It is an odd person who believes that they are always right.
On one of the threads it was suggested that we, the directors of ACL, gain personally, or could gain, from the success of ACL's business or negotiations. Neither those appointed by the City Council or by the Charity are paid anything at all. This is stated clearly in the accounts, the most recent of which were lodged at Companies House on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
ACL has recently answered a list of questions posed by the Sky Blues Trust. They have asked, or are trying to ask, a similar set of questions of Fisher and CCFC. We have agreed that the Q&A can be published alongside those of Fisher's. I hope that he answers the questions because then people will be able to set one alongside the other and, I hope, be able to begin to see the wood for the trees.
