deanocity3
New Member
Gary Hoffman to meet him tomorrow at boro match
not sure if has been mentioned before
Gary Hoffman is interrupting his family holiday in an attempt to thrash out a deal with Coventry City’s chief executive Tim Fisher at tomorrow’s pre-season friendly at Nuneaton Town.
The former Sky Blues vice-chairman says that he and his fellow investors will stump up the £400,000 rent to Ricoh Arena landlords ACL for the next three years and pay any penalty incurred from cancelling the groundshare deal with Northampton Town in return for a share of the ticket sales.
He says it’s a ‘no-lose’ proposal. But last night – almost 24 hours after the offer had been made – Fisher dismissed it out of hand saying: “ACL’s position to date has been that they don’t recognise us as the football club’s lawful owner and hence have consistently refused to talk to us so I don’t know what authority Mr Hoffman has to bind ACL into any future agreement.
“Besides which, there has been no detail behind these proposals, which were only put to the club by phone last night.
“We wouldn’t want to raise fans’ hopes given that the main source of income whilst playing at the Ricoh was ticket receipts and it certainly doesn’t make sense to describe the deal as an ‘offer to pay arena rent’ when actually the deal is a loan secured against ticket sales resulting in the club giving away a huge chunk of ticket revenues, our only revenue stream.”
Hoffman, however, says that the deal could be worth almost £5million to Sisu over three years and last night told the Telegraph: “I am on holiday in Spain with my family but everyone has said people need to sit down and talk. I am very happy to do that so I am going to fly back for the Nuneaton match.
“I will try to get in touch with Nuneaton’s chief executive Ian Neale to see if he can give us a room and if Tim is there at the game, which I am sure he will be, then why don’t we spend a couple of hours together, or however long it takes, in order to try to hammer out a deal because no one can lose in this situation.”
Hoffman strongly refuted any suggestion that he is trying to cash in on turnstile revenue, insisting: “Absolutely not – what I am trying to do it is save them money from Northampton; they don’t have to pay any rent at the Ricoh and they will definitely make more money out of it.
“My proposal is that I raise the money to pay the rent for the next three seasons. I assume £400,000 per season as that is the number speculated. Otium has to pay nothing towards it and they save the costs of the deal on Northampton, excluding any break clause costs which we would pay, too.
“ACL get their rent. The casino benefits, the hotel benefits, in fact everyone benefits – no losers
“I assume that the attendance at the Ricoh would be at least 5,000 per game more than at Sixfields – this is undoubtedly conservative – so 5,000 at an average £15 per ticket for 25 games equals £1.875m extra revenue.
“Otium can take half of this upside for trading purposes; the people who put up the money with me would take a return to cover financing and other costs and any additional revenue would be invested in the Academy.
“This is not about me trying to make money, it’s about trying to get Coventry back at its home and rightful place, give Sisu some money and invest further in the Academy which is a model we all want to work.
“All we’re saying is we want the £400,000 for the rent back from ticket sales, which is reasonable. Anything above that they can have and the Academy can have. We’re not here to make a return out of it.”
“I don’t know what they are paying for Northampton, but let’s say £150,000 for three years, so that’s £450,000 in total.
“They save 3 x £400,000 on rent at the Ricoh, which is £1.2m, so that’s £1.6m. They will probably, pessimistically, get £1m a year extra ticket revenue so if you add all this up Sisu get close to £5m over the three years.”
Details of Hoffman’s proposal have been sent to the Football League in the hope that they may now step in.
“If their view was that there was no option to play at the Ricoh, there is now an option and hopefully they will now encourage a deal to be done,” said Hoffman.
“I am as frustrated and heartbroken as any CCFC fan to see the club I support leaving my home town.
“The irony that I now live in Northampton very close to the NTFC chairman is not lost on me – my kids know his kids well.
“I go and see the Cobblers occasionally when the Sky Blues aren’t playing but I won’t go and watch Coventry play their home games in Northampton. It is just wrong.
“There is too much baggage and history and I know some of my own relationships with Sisu don’t help. It is a real personal regret if that has got in the way of progress. What a mess the whole thing is!
“Every party has said that if they could find a way for Coventry to play in Coventry they would – Otium, ACL, the Football League and, above all, the fans.
not sure if has been mentioned before
Gary Hoffman is interrupting his family holiday in an attempt to thrash out a deal with Coventry City’s chief executive Tim Fisher at tomorrow’s pre-season friendly at Nuneaton Town.
The former Sky Blues vice-chairman says that he and his fellow investors will stump up the £400,000 rent to Ricoh Arena landlords ACL for the next three years and pay any penalty incurred from cancelling the groundshare deal with Northampton Town in return for a share of the ticket sales.
He says it’s a ‘no-lose’ proposal. But last night – almost 24 hours after the offer had been made – Fisher dismissed it out of hand saying: “ACL’s position to date has been that they don’t recognise us as the football club’s lawful owner and hence have consistently refused to talk to us so I don’t know what authority Mr Hoffman has to bind ACL into any future agreement.
“Besides which, there has been no detail behind these proposals, which were only put to the club by phone last night.
“We wouldn’t want to raise fans’ hopes given that the main source of income whilst playing at the Ricoh was ticket receipts and it certainly doesn’t make sense to describe the deal as an ‘offer to pay arena rent’ when actually the deal is a loan secured against ticket sales resulting in the club giving away a huge chunk of ticket revenues, our only revenue stream.”
Hoffman, however, says that the deal could be worth almost £5million to Sisu over three years and last night told the Telegraph: “I am on holiday in Spain with my family but everyone has said people need to sit down and talk. I am very happy to do that so I am going to fly back for the Nuneaton match.
“I will try to get in touch with Nuneaton’s chief executive Ian Neale to see if he can give us a room and if Tim is there at the game, which I am sure he will be, then why don’t we spend a couple of hours together, or however long it takes, in order to try to hammer out a deal because no one can lose in this situation.”
Hoffman strongly refuted any suggestion that he is trying to cash in on turnstile revenue, insisting: “Absolutely not – what I am trying to do it is save them money from Northampton; they don’t have to pay any rent at the Ricoh and they will definitely make more money out of it.
“My proposal is that I raise the money to pay the rent for the next three seasons. I assume £400,000 per season as that is the number speculated. Otium has to pay nothing towards it and they save the costs of the deal on Northampton, excluding any break clause costs which we would pay, too.
“ACL get their rent. The casino benefits, the hotel benefits, in fact everyone benefits – no losers
“I assume that the attendance at the Ricoh would be at least 5,000 per game more than at Sixfields – this is undoubtedly conservative – so 5,000 at an average £15 per ticket for 25 games equals £1.875m extra revenue.
“Otium can take half of this upside for trading purposes; the people who put up the money with me would take a return to cover financing and other costs and any additional revenue would be invested in the Academy.
“This is not about me trying to make money, it’s about trying to get Coventry back at its home and rightful place, give Sisu some money and invest further in the Academy which is a model we all want to work.
“All we’re saying is we want the £400,000 for the rent back from ticket sales, which is reasonable. Anything above that they can have and the Academy can have. We’re not here to make a return out of it.”
“I don’t know what they are paying for Northampton, but let’s say £150,000 for three years, so that’s £450,000 in total.
“They save 3 x £400,000 on rent at the Ricoh, which is £1.2m, so that’s £1.6m. They will probably, pessimistically, get £1m a year extra ticket revenue so if you add all this up Sisu get close to £5m over the three years.”
Details of Hoffman’s proposal have been sent to the Football League in the hope that they may now step in.
“If their view was that there was no option to play at the Ricoh, there is now an option and hopefully they will now encourage a deal to be done,” said Hoffman.
“I am as frustrated and heartbroken as any CCFC fan to see the club I support leaving my home town.
“The irony that I now live in Northampton very close to the NTFC chairman is not lost on me – my kids know his kids well.
“I go and see the Cobblers occasionally when the Sky Blues aren’t playing but I won’t go and watch Coventry play their home games in Northampton. It is just wrong.
“There is too much baggage and history and I know some of my own relationships with Sisu don’t help. It is a real personal regret if that has got in the way of progress. What a mess the whole thing is!
“Every party has said that if they could find a way for Coventry to play in Coventry they would – Otium, ACL, the Football League and, above all, the fans.
