Thank you for your email, we note your comments.
As you may have read a Football League spokesman recently said, “The Football League will continue with its efforts to resolve what is a complicated and hostile commercial dispute and we remain in dialogue with all the relevant parties.
“Our overriding aim is the return of Coventry City to the Coventry area within the timescale set out in the Club’s membership agreement.”
Aside from that, we can only provide the following information regarding the situation, which we have publicly stated previously.
The Board of The Football League has received updates and the situation continues to be closely monitored, with discussion ongoing regarding progress in returning the Club to the Coventry area. You will understand that it is not always possible to make every detail of these meetings public, but as with all cases of clubs looking to move grounds, The League will continue to emphasise to the Club that supporters should be kept up to date as often as is practically possible.
Whilst The League has publically urged Otium and ACL to resolve the dispute, The League has no jurisdiction to force any Club (or landlord for that matter) to come to an arrangement over land or rental agreement. With no agreement in place to play at the Ricoh Arena, reluctantly, the Board of Directors approved the application to relocate on a temporary basis only.
The Board has given Coventry City permission to play its matches at Northampton Town for the next three seasons, with no agreement in place regarding the Ricoh Arena. Obviously if an arrangement is reached by the club to return to Coventry at an earlier point then this is desirable for all. The League has previously stated that ideally an agreement can be reached between parties to enable this to happen. This term can be extended for two further periods of 12 months, provided the club can demonstrate sufficient progress towards the building of a new stadium in the Coventry area. Should the club not comply with this timeframe, the matter will be considered by The Football League Board at the relevant time with reference to both the permission to relocate and the membership agreement entered into in August 2013. Expulsion from the League would be a realistic outcome at that stage.
The stadium dispute between Arena Coventry Limited and Coventry City is ultimately one which must be resolved by the two parties themselves, if they are prepared to do so. However, The League is continuing with our efforts to get the Club playing back in the Coventry area as soon as possible.
The League is unable to provide further comment at this time.
Thank you for contacting The Football League.
