New Club? (1 Viewer)

Could do a Darlington start from right at the bottom and build up again.

Yeah, the Council would love that. "Yeah, don't worry, the Ricoh will be here for you when you're ready. Twenty, thirty years? Take your time. In the meantime we have loads of other stuff that could bring in money to our community asset...wedding fayres, Jehovah conventions..."

Did we have this discussion yesterday? Unless ccfc ceases to exist or moves permanently and rebrands ala MK dons, then for me it's a non starter.

Milky_1994 said:

Could do a Darlington start from right at the bottom and build up again.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't be playing at the Ricoh then.

Playing at the Ricoh as a start up club would attract untenable stewarding costs let alone the rent, so unless you expect League 1 gates in Southern Premier sounds like a non starter.

stupot07 said:

Did we have this discussion yesterday? Unless ccfc ceases to exist or moves permanently and rebrands ala MK dons, then for me it's a non starter.

Click to expand...

The main hope has still got to be that even now a resolution, in whatever shape or form, can be found so we remain CCFC playing at the Ricoh. But if sisu have really decided never to play again at the Ricoh then it would be one thing if they had obtained planning permission, or even just submitted a planning application, for a new stadium - but to move out of Cov just on a promise it's temporary is quite another. At what point do CCFC stop being CCFC and are just a franchise?

MichaelCCFC said:

But if sisu have really decided never to play again at the Ricoh then it would be one thing if they had obtained planning permission, or even just submitted a planning application, for a new stadium - but to move out of Cov just on a promise it's temporary is quite another.

Click to expand...

Agree completely on this.

I disagree. I think that we would still get around 5,000 fans if were at the Ricoh even for a non-league Coventry Phoenix. That should be more than enough to pay the players, stewards etc. It just needs Ph4 to follow through and buy ACL.

singers_pore said:

I disagree. I think that we would still get around 5,000 fans if were at the Ricoh even for a non-league Coventry Phoenix. That should be more than enough to pay the players, stewards etc. It just needs Ph4 to follow through and buy ACL.

Click to expand...

If they only opened 1 stand then costs would be low.

bigfatronssba said:

If they only opened 1 stand then costs would be low.

Click to expand...

Who's going to pay for the upkeep of the rest?

Darlington tried opening only bits of their ground but it was just too big for them, killed the club.

Deleted member 5849 said:

Who's going to pay for the upkeep of the rest?

Darlington tried opening only bits of their ground but it was just too big for them, killed the club.

Click to expand...

What upkeep is needed on a plastic seat that no one sits in and a concrete stairwell that no one walks on?

Absolutely, singers.

The key thing here is hope for the future.

Under Sisu, gates have tumbled because of despondency. With even modest hope (eg JPT vs Crewe), the fans will attend.

So, if ph4 buys the Ricoh, and backs this up with modest investment in a new CCFC, we can have one stand open and gates of a few thousand will create a good atmosphere. If season tickets were modestly priced, to reflect the league status, we could be reasonably supported. Eg. £135 adults £70 concessions and £20 juniors, I think a lot of fans would purchase season tickets from the start, and would enjoy the positive experience of seeing something grow, as opposed to ever decreasing circles under Sisu.

bigfatronssba said:

What upkeep is needed on a plastic seat that no one sits in and a concrete stairwell that no one walks on?

Click to expand...

Ask Darlington!

It's also the reason Highfield Road was falling down near the end, nobody spent any money on keeping it maintained.

Whether it's empty of not, it'll still decay if nobody looks after it.

<p>

Deleted member 5849 said:

Ask Darlington!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's also the reason Highfield Road was falling down near the end, nobody spent any money on keeping it maintained.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Whether it's empty of not, it'll still decay if nobody looks after it.

Click to expand...

Acl will look after it, its their responsibility.

Are you saying anyone who doesn't fill their ground runs the risk of it falling down?

singers_pore said:

I disagree. I think that we would still get around 5,000 fans if were at the Ricoh even for a non-league Coventry Phoenix. That should be more than enough to pay the players, stewards etc. It just needs Ph4 to follow through and buy ACL.

Click to expand...

So you think that you'd get as many go as we have season ticket holders now and that will sustain enough revenue to fund the match day costs at the Ricoh? You think an American investor will buy a club 9 leagues down.

3 season ticket holders on this thread have said no to the idea which may say something.

Do you ever remember a 70s American programme where a little guy used to shout "the plane, the plane" - you most still be living there.

bigfatronssba said:

<p>

Acl will look after it, its their responsibility.

Are you saying anyone who doesn't fill their ground runs the risk of it falling down?

Click to expand...

So you'd hope ACL would charge a substantially lower rent then £400k a year if only one stand was opened, especially as a new non league club would struggle to find that kind of money.

Making ACL struggle for money also, if the rent is slashed to next to nothing.

Someone has to subsidise the Ricoh if there isn't a tenant in there that can make it work, and for a lower level non league club the ground would be too big for it by far. Why start a new club and handicap it with needless costs from the start? Other clubs who've re-started don't do that, so why should we?

I personally am not sure about the concept but would help anyone who wishes to try, what I do not like is those who do nothing and are negative, then have no ideas of there own to put forward.

Steve.B50 said:

I personally am not sure about the concept but would help anyone who wishes to try, what I do not like is those who do nothing and are negative, then have no ideas of there own to put forward.

Click to expand...

Including the people who have no ideas to save a football club and its 125 year history? That seems very negative to me.

So what's your idea?

A new club starts way down the football pyramid, Evostick league i believe and at this late stage might struggle to get in that. We would need a number of successive promotions to get back to the FL. Look at Luton Town.

why dont we just for one season go follow the sphinx and see what numbers are like.

Am sure all the local none league clubs will welcome us with open arms, but its the Rugby for me.

Steve.B50 said:

Am sure all the local none league clubs will welcome us with open arms, but its the Rugby for me.

Click to expand...

Yep , i think that the rugby club would at least double overnight should the football disappear ( not that i think it will go because it won't )

Steve.B50 said:

So what's your idea?

Click to expand...

Personally I think starting a new club while the old one stands is pointless. Not only are owners likely to move on at some stage, but it handicaps a new club as the old one still exists, and some will follow it regardless.

Negative? Maybe, but I think it's positive to make sure peoples' effort isn't wasted. If it doesn't succeed, it then gives added strength to the current owners who would have seen off a challenge, and so have their own position strengthened as a result. It could actually work in reverse of what's hoped for.

If the club dies or moves out of the city permanently, that's when a new club should start. This also helps in that there would be no challenges from the current club for use of a similar name/ similar colours etc. all unhelpful things that could stymie a new club before it even got off the ground... and many people wouldn't follow such a thing unless it looked the same as 'Coventry City'. To give it the best chance of succeeding it needs to maximise its potential and minimise its costs; that only happens when/if the old club dies or moves out of the city permanently.

If the club dies, a new club shouldn't be in the Ricoh. The Butts is the obvious place to start with, but a smaller stadium is a must to keep those costs down. It needs to give itself the best chance of success by keeping its costs down. After all, a new club would have a fan base far in excess of its immediate competitors, so why waste that money advantage by spending it needlessly elsewhere? We don't have to be welded to the Ricoh, we have to be welded to Coventry. The Ricoh can wait until a club is big enough to make best use of it and, if the Ricoh falls in the meantime, the Butts could be developed up to a certain level organically, with temporary seating, until the club was in a position to outgrow it and demand a stadium on its terms, in its city... not on the terms of a council, or an anonymous investment fund.

That way, the club gets momentum and its money advantage and can progress quickly.

The more constructive action at the moment, in my opinion, is to push SISU to actually nail down their plans. If they actually built a stadium in a suitable place that'd be OK. They won't of course, and they won't be able to prove that they intend to, but instead of targetting blindly the 'no to SISU' it needs to be asked 'no to what?'

It's not 'no to a club owning its own ground in the city'

It's 'no to owners using misleading statements to try and fracture a fanbase so they all give up'

So... assume they are telling the truth, the burden is on them to show they are telling the truth and this should be simple. If (and it's a big if!) they are, then a lot of the issues with them go away anyway. The club can live in the city, and own its own ground again.

What's more likely is there's a cat-in-hell's chance of them proving that, so the way to unite fans is to have them go along to these forums and demand to see the actual plans, the contracts signed with builders... everything physical. Continue to out them, continue to back them into a corner.

And if, when backing them into a corner, the result is the club dies... that's when a new club can be formed, at which stage it will get far more support, will be something to unite the fans around, not divide them.

Grendel said:

Including the people who have no ideas to save a football club and its 125 year history? That seems very negative to me.

Click to expand...

Read all posts before you comment it is based on worst case:facepalm:

Broken Hearted Sky Blue said:

Read all posts before you comment it is based on worst case:facepalm:

Click to expand...

Besides Grendle will never happen because your friends will never let it happen because remember what Timmy said the club is the most important thing

How long does it take to back them into that corner??

Is that the point at which you choose not to follow them out of town ,or get sweetalked into saving the club.

I think that sounds defeatist TBH.....I don't think you understand just how divorced an increasing number of fans feel towards the Club through the continued ownership of the SCUM .

The way ahead is to Eradicate their hold on the club as swiftly as we can ,we should do everything we can to hasten this.

A new club might be all that's left to do.
Picture the scenario - CCFC leave Cov to play wherever. The squad is down to bare bones, there is still a transfer embargo, there must be a strong possibility of relegation next season. By this time much of the support that stayed with the club will have drifted away.
If they do start the process of a new stadium, from the point of acquiring access to the land, right through the process of applying for planning permission with all the consultations needed to the issue of the Building Regulations completion certificate and all the safety certificates would take about 5 years. There would be major objections from locals to having a stadium on their doorstep which could possibly scupper the project. They would need 2 or 3 alternative sites to be sure one of them would be approved.
By the time all this has happened, what league would the club be playing in. The way SISU run things, every chance Blue Square Premier League ?
While all this has been going on, if a new club was set up, perhaps playing at a smaller ground to start with, with a reasonable amount of funding, it is entirely possible that a new club could be playing in the same league as the "returning" club. The support would have aligned itself with the new and properly run, SISU free club, There would be nothing for them to return to. SISU would have spent a shed load of money for nothing. Supporter power would have won the war. When the SISU run club inevitably folded, the new club could be re-named Coventry City, and hopefully return to the Ricoh, with a much healthier future to look forward to.

Grendel said:

So you think that you'd get as many go as we have season ticket holders now and that will sustain enough revenue to fund the match day costs at the Ricoh? You think an American investor will buy a club 9 leagues down.

3 season ticket holders on this thread have said no to the idea which may say something.

Do you ever remember a 70s American programme where a little guy used to shout "the plane, the plane" - you most still be living there.

Click to expand...

Why are you incapable of answering sensibly instead of being such an obnoxious twat all the time?
Sometimes you have sensible things to say, so say them sensibly instead of attacking people!

Deleted member 5849 said:

So you'd hope ACL would charge a substantially lower rent then £400k a year if only one stand was opened, especially as a new non league club would struggle to find that kind of money.

Making ACL struggle for money also, if the rent is slashed to next to nothing.

Someone has to subsidise the Ricoh if there isn't a tenant in there that can make it work, and for a lower level non league club the ground would be too big for it by far. Why start a new club and handicap it with needless costs from the start? Other clubs who've re-started don't do that, so why should we?

Click to expand...

OR;
perhaps ACL would offer the new club a rent commensurate to the league they would start in, increasing the rent or decreasing the rent as the new club moved up or down the league system.
You know, just like the one CCFC were offered right at the start but which was turned down by the then chairman Mr. McGinnity in favour of the current fixed rent contract that is supposedly at the root of all our current problems?
So many very conveniently ignore the historical FACTS that led us to where we now are.

And it is only your personal opinion that someone would have to subsidise ACL in the meantime under such conditions. The statutory auditors of ACL expressed a different opinion by signing off on the accounts of ACL in full knowledge of the rent strike and the potential loss of that income. I think I prefer to accept the statutory auditors opinion over your opinion in this matter.