One of the first things that Lord Justice Burnett had to do when he returned to work at the Court of Appeal yesterday was to begin ploughing through the pile of work allocated to him during the Christmas recess.Amongst the pile of cases waiting for him is an application for leave to appeal by Sky Blue Sports and Leisure Ltd against the monumental failure of their application for judicial review of Coventry City Council.
You would have thought – considering the weight of the judgments against them in both their original and renewed applications for judicial review, and their publicly stated aim of leaving the Ricoh for their own newly built stadium, that they would have learnt their lesson. Apparently not.
For not only have they sought leave to appeal against that decision; they have also launched a fresh application for judicial review over the decision by Coventry City Council to sell their stake in the Ricoh Arena to the London Wasps Rugby club.
In summary, in their original judicial review the Sisu hedge-fund owned Sky Blue Sports and Leisure, one of the myriad of companies in the complicated ownership structure of Coventry City Football Club, claimed that Coventry City Council were guilty of unlawful state-aid by buying out a mortgage for Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), the owners of Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena home.
ACL was 50 per cent owned by Coventry City Council. The other half was owned as an investment by a local charity.
The reason Coventry City Council needed to buy out the mortgage was because Sisu wanted to buy the stadium at a knock-down price. And in an attempt to force the price down they attempted to distress ACL by withholding rent.
Those aren’t my allegations – they are Sisu’s allegations, and were contained within their court papers. They are open about what they tried to do.
Or, partly open: they are happy to tell the court what they are doing so long as nobody reports it or puts it into the public domain. When the Guardian reported Sisu’s actions, they received a complaint via Sisu’s solicitors.
In July last year, the Guardian reported that law firm Speechly Bircham (now Charles Russell Speechlys) wrote to them saying that “given its natural meaning”, to say Sisu stopped paying the rent “suggests that Sisu was acting in a commercially immoral way”.
So there you have it: Sisu’s own lawyers admit that Coventry City FC’s owners had acted in a “commercially immoral way”.
But wait, I’m not being fair. That would only apply, of course, if Sisu had indeed decided to stop paying the rent. Where could this suggestion have come from? Oh yes, I forgot – from Sisu’s own submissions to the High Court and the subsequent High Court judgment.
Giving judgment against Sisu’s Judicial Review application, Mr Justice Hickinbottom, said that, from 2 April 2012, “CCFC went on a rent strike, making it tolerably clear that they did not intend to pay any further rent unless and until a restructuring agreement to their (and SISU’s) satisfaction was made.”
To me – and Sisu’s own lawyers, it seems – this is “acting in a commercially immoral way”.
ACL’s bankers had decided that the lack of rental income meant that the security of the Ricoh Arena was no longer sufficient to guarantee the loan and, on 11 December 2012, they wrote to ACL demanding that they “provide additional security and/or reduce the balance of the debt to the Bank’s satisfaction within seven days.”
Can you kindly clear off as this is a CCFC fans forum and we're more interested in ACL's on goings than that of our owners. At this rate Nick's going to have to set up a CCFC sub forum.
I'm joking of course before anyone gets their nickers in a twist/wide on. Delete as appropriate.
I wonder why this thread only has 6 replies.
Saw it yesterday and was expecting to come back this morning to 14 pages.
Maybe people are trying to think of something new to say on the subject
I wonder why this thread only has 6 replies.
Saw it yesterday and was expecting to come back this morning to 14 pages.
Otis, I think people have just genuinely had enough, and are rapidly losing interest.
Footylawblogs post is excellent, but us fans are already sick of the antics of our owners and this just confirms more of the same scummy thoughtless pointless soul destroying behaviour.
I also sense that there is becoming a huge sense of 'whatever' re SISU and that even the most hardcore fans are losing interest. Couple this with the constant crap served up on the pitch, and the unwillingness of either the manager to change it, or the club to change the mananger, then we are going to be looking at crowds of a few thousand in the next year or so, if not sooner.
The only ray of light I can see is that if this happens, SISU cant sustain the losses, and something will give...hopefully them clearing off and a new start for the club which will see the likes of many of the disenfranchised fans perhaps falling back in love with the club.
Yes, all very fair points, but there have been other threads where there seems to be nothing left to say, yet we still get 14 pages.
I know I myself, am very much in that category of genuinely having had enough of all the shenanigans. The off the field stuff is totally impinging on the on the field stuff and I am losing heart at the moment with the whole shebang.
I couldn't go Monday, so recorded the game. When I came to watch I end up fast forwarding through most of the match.
It's depressing behind the scenes and dire on the football field.
Unless there is a shining knight on a big white horse somewhere ready to save us, I think things are going to get worse and worse.
Yes, all very fair points, but there have been other threads where there seems to be nothing left to say, yet we still get 14 pages.
I know I myself, am very much in that category of genuinely having had enough of all the shenanigans. The off the field stuff is totally impinging on the on the field stuff and I am losing heart at the moment with the whole shebang.
I couldn't go Monday, so recorded the game. When I came to watch I end up fast forwarding through most of the match.
It's depressing behind the scenes and dire on the football field.
Unless there is a shining knight on a big white horse somewhere ready to save us, I think things are going to get worse and worse.
I agree. A thread with regards how ACL's accounts may or may not have been reported for the last financial year has zealots jumping from rooftops in indignation; whereas one that highlights the disgusting narrative that has truly led us to where we currently are is passed over by those who don't want to see the wood for the trees....
To be fair, that was something new.
Is there anything in the footylaw blogpost that we don't already know? It's on a par with a "Gray's gone" post.
Noticed that the ACL batphone in your place must have been flashing red as soon as Simon Gilberts post went up yesterday.
To be fair it's wide on central on the ACL thread which is strange for a CCFC forum as it has no bearing on the club moving forward whatsoever.
The truth is the boat has sailed but some posters seem to have missed that, a bit like SISU.
What happens from the point of sale of ACL is now down to SISU and SISU alone. Previous regimes, CCC, AL, Higgs, previous managers, previous players, The CET, AL, PWKH etc. are all long gone. It's SISU's show now and theirs alone so I don't understand what some posters hope to gain by looking in the opposite direction.
Strange behaviour if you ask me. Especially as some have protested that they only care about the club.
To be fair, that was something new.
Is there anything in the footylaw blogpost that we don't already know? It's on a par with a "Gray's gone" post.
Noticed that the ACL batphone in your place must have been flashing red as soon as Simon Gilberts post went up yesterday.
To be fair, that was something new.
Is there anything in the footylaw blogpost that we don't already know? It's on a par with a "Gray's gone" post.
Noticed that the ACL batphone in your place must have been flashing red as soon as Simon Gilberts post went up yesterday.
Why would it? ACL's accounts were meaningless. What is ridiculous of the way people jump all over them, trying to suggest an evenness of blame in all of this. The up-in-arms disgust that ACL's representatives or stakeholders might have talked up there business. How dare they?
If people thought harder, they'd actually realise that ACL talking up their position might have been good with regards SISU's actions. Even High Court judges have seen the distressing for what it was - so all the Average Leaue one rent and the like was bollocks; so the crux was the tipping point at which SISU's distressing would have bought ACL to it's knees and they could have ravished the carcass. If ACL's message had been - we're in trouble and can't go on much longer - then SISU's actions would have been prolonged to complete the job. Talking bullishly would be an action that would bring them back to the table. That's what we all wanted, isn't it?
And whilst the whole narrative of the blog contains some old fare, it discusses the very current situation relating to the ongoing legal cases doesn't it? In fact it starts with it. It goes on to discuss the very current non-stadium farce. As such, its as current as ACL's last set of accounts, I'd suggest
However statements from Higgs and the council concerning the rude health and possible valuations of ACL without the club were taken as gospel by many on here, and an example of financial rectictude and openness that the club would do well to follow.
Any doubts raised about the veracity of these statements would be met with disgust by most on here.
M
I think a closer look at the duplicity and spin of people involved in the whole saga never goes amiss, you know where you going, you have to know where you're coming from.
However statements from Higgs and the council concerning the rude health and possible valuations of ACL without the club were taken as gospel by many on here, and an example of financial rectictude and openness that the club would do well to follow.
Any doubts raised about the veracity of these statements would be met with disgust by most on here.
M
However statements from Higgs and the council concerning the rude health and possible valuations of ACL without the club were taken as gospel by many on here, and an example of financial rectictude and openness that the club would do well to follow.
Any doubts raised about the veracity of these statements would be met with disgust by most on here.
M
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