more questions/thoughts as usual
-If the aim is to build their own stadium and it makes so much sense why still interested in the Ricoh. (yes i know it makes sense to want the Ricoh but the point I am making is that the article is contradictory )"The club was expecting the council to consider whether it wished to renew discussions on the basis on a transaction, but no response has been received" “If we say we’re going to build a stadium, then we will". Well they have repeatedly said they will havent they ? - Also says they are not interested in any rental agreement at the Ricoh
-You dont need to own the stadium to have the income streams...... so is the need to own SISU's or CCFC's ?
- Land Warwick Uni ...... greenbelt, no talks with Warwick Uni, residents wont be happy (some expensive property up there), road net work not up to it, HS2 going through close by, all points to long delays and large cost. But right now the reality is probably that talk is cheap and it helps misdirect
- will university facilities be available when the university term starts? What happens to the Academy then
- "But there is confusion over the precise location of the mooted stadium site. The university said it was unaware of any approach for any of its land outside the Coventry border." Confusion seems to be order of the day with our owners whether deliberate or otherwise
- so its gone from about to sign heads of terms on 2 sites to being interested in 3 ?
- wouldnt heads of terms indicate the price to be paid ? so why would making it public put the price up? or is that an admission that TF realises heads of terms are not binding?
- “We’ve had no talks with Warwick University about a stadium nearby, but everybody can see the sense of linking sport and education" so Uni owns most of land up there and TF hasnt talked to them ? Yet this site is of great interest
- talking to other councils is a long long way from getting a site for a stadium....... plus other councils also talk to CCC. - Any development on the City boundary will mean that CCC are involved because of the impact on the infra structure of this City.
- Changes to roads & infra structure = added cost to the plan - and large costs at that
- "Overall, our primary objective was to fulfil our fixtures with a ground-share. People questioned whether we would proceed. We’ve done that".“Our second objective is to develop a site to capture all the revenues from stadium" shouldnt the first objective have been to get a deal at the Ricoh? (yes I know perhaps it wasnt doable)
- “There was a requirement to show an amount of cash up to 40 per cent of the stadium’s full development costs.
“The rest, as is typical, will likely come from real estate borrowing.” - so that means more debt loaded on the club surely? Also more annual costs in terms of interest payments and the only source of income is CCFC? Wont that affect profitability and what can be spent on players? Plus if you havent got the site how do you know the cost and how can you show "up to 40%" of what you dont know?
- "
Fisher insists Sky Blues owners Otium have shown the League proof of funds from bank accounts to fund losses for three years while playing at Northampton Town.
And he says additional evidence was provided that Otium had been “recapitalised” – with cash from another Sisu-related hedge fund, Cayman Islands based Arvo Master Fund." So Otium up until now has not traded, so has no income and therefore nothing in the bank. But it can show it can cover losses based on estimated crowds of between 3 and 6K (how good will that estimate be so how accurate is the ability to cover losses?) So recapitalised would appear to be further loans from ARVO = even more debt loaded on the club
- "Mr Fisher said the transfer of Holdings’ assets to Otium, which now has the League’s crucial “golden share” right to operate Coventry City, had now been completed" So no use for CCFC H Ltd ....... liquidate that next ? That would be the company that was formed in 1907 to include the original CCFC, nice admission on the 130th birthday of the club. Another piece of our history gone?
I cant help thinking about just how many links with the city and the history of our club are being broken....... but its ok because the Football League have received a couple of promises from TF & co that it will be alright in the end ........
Interesting this article came out a few days after it was reported Haskell was here, after 2204 at Sixfields, after 8000 at the Ricoh.......
In reality there is very little that is new in it