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At lunchtime today the supporters of Coventry City Football Club will march again. Over the last two or three weeks or so, the penny has started to drop that this city is set to have its football club ripped from it, stolen by the sleight of hand of its owners whilst those who are charged with the job of regulating the game have stood by impotently, full of press releases that express “regret” whilst doing nothing to impose their will over the small matter of keeping a football club in its home town. As time progresses, however, it is starting to feel as if the future is nowhere near the done deal that the club’s owners would like everybody to believe. There is still something worth fighting for at Coventry City – for now, at least.
With just over two weeks left to go before the start of the new season in the Football League, season tickets went on sale for “home” matches to be played in Northampton this week, and the fact that they have been priced from just £184 – for a seat in the family area at Sixfields – may speak volumes about the volume that the club is expecting to sell. There is open revolt in the Coventry area at the moment, and whilst the number of people who will make that tortuous seventy mile round trip every other match for what are laughably described as “home” matches isn’t known, it certainly isn’t expected to be high. This, coupled with the low cost of those season tickets in the first place, can only have one effect on the club’s ability to keep itself financially afloat over the coming months.
It seems that everybody has done – or is doing – everything that they can in order to keep the club in Coventry. ACL, the stadium owners, had already agreed for the club to continue to play at The Ricoh Arena for as long as it remained in administration, and then, last week, the club’s former vice-chairman Gary Hoffman offered to pay the rent for the use of the stadium for the next three seasons and also to underwrite any compensation that would have to be paid if the club was to pull out of its agreement to ground-share with Northampton Town. SISU rejected the offer, a decision which, we might reflect, can only be interpreted as one which speaks volumes about their intentions for the club. If the matter of the rent to play at The Ricoh Arena was the real root cause of where the club finds itself today, then surely an offer to pay rent-free there for the next three seasons would be ideal for all concerned, wouldn’t it? Apparently not.
This week, further attempts to get the club back to the city of Coventry were rebuffed by the owners. Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen, a director of Ricoh Arena stadium management company ACL, told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire that he had arranged for the Football League to mediate on fresh discussions to ensure that the club stays in the city of Coventry, but that these were declined by SISU unless ACL go ahead and sign the CVA agreement which would push through the sale of the club to the SISU-owned Otium Entertainment Group. Considering that agreement to the CVA and completion of the sale of the club would end any chances of an investigation into the murkier waters of the club’s accounts in the recent past, it is hardly surprising that a growing number of Coventry supporters are now pleading with ACL to not sign the CVA, regardless of what the consequences for the club might be.
Considering these developments – an offer to use The Ricoh Arena rent-free and an attempt on the part of the owners of the stadium to mediate towards a return, the Football League, whose reputation as an organisation with any integrity whatsoever is already heading rapidly towards the gutter over this matter, need to explain now how they could have arrived at the conclusion that it was “impossible” for the club to play at The Ricoh Arena next season. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, then the Football Association, who have been utterly silent on this matter in recent months, need to intervene to assess whether they are actually up to the task of acting as a regulator in the first place. And while this might sound like hyperbole, this subject has now reached the point at which questions are being raised on the subject with government ministers in parliament, as could be seen from these exchanges on the floor of the House of Commons this week:
Bob Ainsworth (MP for Coventry North East): Does the Secretary of State have any plans to look at the Insolvency Act 1986? Hedge funds appear to have the ability to acquire companies, to empty them of their assets, to appoint administrators of their choosing and to proceed without fear of being pursued vigorously. That certainly seems to be what is happening at Coventry City football club. Will he look at the situation and the framework of the law?
Vince Cable (Secretary of State for Business, Innovations & Skills): Yes, we are doing just that. I spoke on Monday about that question in the general context of trusted business. We are, indeed, looking at the insolvency provisions. We are looking at insolvency practitioners’ fees, at some of the potential conflicts of interest that arise in that industry and at the regulatory framework.
Mr Jim Cunningham (MP for Coventry South): Will the Secretary of State get together with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to have a look at the way in which the Football League applies its regulations to private ownership of football clubs, because there is a diabolical mess at Coventry at the moment?
Vince Cable: Coventry seems to have some problem in that area. I come from the city of York, which went through this misery, as many towns have done in the English league. I can certainly have a look at that; it is not immediately clear to me where I fit into the picture, but I am interested in football and want to see it healthy.
At lunchtime today the supporters of Coventry City Football Club will march again. Over the last two or three weeks or so, the penny has started to drop that this city is set to have its football club ripped from it, stolen by the sleight of hand of its owners whilst those who are charged with the job of regulating the game have stood by impotently, full of press releases that express “regret” whilst doing nothing to impose their will over the small matter of keeping a football club in its home town. As time progresses, however, it is starting to feel as if the future is nowhere near the done deal that the club’s owners would like everybody to believe. There is still something worth fighting for at Coventry City – for now, at least.
With just over two weeks left to go before the start of the new season in the Football League, season tickets went on sale for “home” matches to be played in Northampton this week, and the fact that they have been priced from just £184 – for a seat in the family area at Sixfields – may speak volumes about the volume that the club is expecting to sell. There is open revolt in the Coventry area at the moment, and whilst the number of people who will make that tortuous seventy mile round trip every other match for what are laughably described as “home” matches isn’t known, it certainly isn’t expected to be high. This, coupled with the low cost of those season tickets in the first place, can only have one effect on the club’s ability to keep itself financially afloat over the coming months.
It seems that everybody has done – or is doing – everything that they can in order to keep the club in Coventry. ACL, the stadium owners, had already agreed for the club to continue to play at The Ricoh Arena for as long as it remained in administration, and then, last week, the club’s former vice-chairman Gary Hoffman offered to pay the rent for the use of the stadium for the next three seasons and also to underwrite any compensation that would have to be paid if the club was to pull out of its agreement to ground-share with Northampton Town. SISU rejected the offer, a decision which, we might reflect, can only be interpreted as one which speaks volumes about their intentions for the club. If the matter of the rent to play at The Ricoh Arena was the real root cause of where the club finds itself today, then surely an offer to pay rent-free there for the next three seasons would be ideal for all concerned, wouldn’t it? Apparently not.
This week, further attempts to get the club back to the city of Coventry were rebuffed by the owners. Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen, a director of Ricoh Arena stadium management company ACL, told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire that he had arranged for the Football League to mediate on fresh discussions to ensure that the club stays in the city of Coventry, but that these were declined by SISU unless ACL go ahead and sign the CVA agreement which would push through the sale of the club to the SISU-owned Otium Entertainment Group. Considering that agreement to the CVA and completion of the sale of the club would end any chances of an investigation into the murkier waters of the club’s accounts in the recent past, it is hardly surprising that a growing number of Coventry supporters are now pleading with ACL to not sign the CVA, regardless of what the consequences for the club might be.
Considering these developments – an offer to use The Ricoh Arena rent-free and an attempt on the part of the owners of the stadium to mediate towards a return, the Football League, whose reputation as an organisation with any integrity whatsoever is already heading rapidly towards the gutter over this matter, need to explain now how they could have arrived at the conclusion that it was “impossible” for the club to play at The Ricoh Arena next season. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, then the Football Association, who have been utterly silent on this matter in recent months, need to intervene to assess whether they are actually up to the task of acting as a regulator in the first place. And while this might sound like hyperbole, this subject has now reached the point at which questions are being raised on the subject with government ministers in parliament, as could be seen from these exchanges on the floor of the House of Commons this week:
Bob Ainsworth (MP for Coventry North East): Does the Secretary of State have any plans to look at the Insolvency Act 1986? Hedge funds appear to have the ability to acquire companies, to empty them of their assets, to appoint administrators of their choosing and to proceed without fear of being pursued vigorously. That certainly seems to be what is happening at Coventry City football club. Will he look at the situation and the framework of the law?
Vince Cable (Secretary of State for Business, Innovations & Skills): Yes, we are doing just that. I spoke on Monday about that question in the general context of trusted business. We are, indeed, looking at the insolvency provisions. We are looking at insolvency practitioners’ fees, at some of the potential conflicts of interest that arise in that industry and at the regulatory framework.
Mr Jim Cunningham (MP for Coventry South): Will the Secretary of State get together with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to have a look at the way in which the Football League applies its regulations to private ownership of football clubs, because there is a diabolical mess at Coventry at the moment?
Vince Cable: Coventry seems to have some problem in that area. I come from the city of York, which went through this misery, as many towns have done in the English league. I can certainly have a look at that; it is not immediately clear to me where I fit into the picture, but I am interested in football and want to see it healthy.
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