Jimmy Hill's Chin
Well-Known Member
I'm sick of reading people saying "we are stuck with SISU", "no one will ever take us over", "we will never have any money", "any investors must need a frontal lobotomy" etc. I appreciate there is the issue of stadium ownership however that aside why are we such an unattractive proposition for potential investors whereas clubs with a similar size and pedigree (eg Leicester, Southampton) and even smaller clubs (Doncaster, Brighton etc) are attracting investors. Although the club admittedly doesn't have a great deal to recommend it presently there are surely things which could make it an attractive investment:
The Ricoh - if someone has some money to invest they could acquire ownership of a stadium hosting the Olympics, the next Rugby World Cup, huge concerts eg Oasis, Red Hot Chillie Peppers, Bon Jovi etc and football. Not many of our Championship competitors could claim this.
History - 34 years uninterrupted in the top flight (again unprecedented) in the Championship and the name recognition globally this creates.Plus the 1987 FA Cup win of course.
Location - although Coventry isn't the most attractive of cities it is just over an hour from London and is a few minutes away from Birmingham. The South Warwickshire countryside is very attractive. It's not as if we are based in the back of beyond.
Untapped Potential - as the fans have been so starved of success in recent times there is great untapped potential. Coventry have uniquely not finished in the top six of any division for over 40 years, although crowds are currently low with even a modicum of success eg a play off place in the Championship who knows how many fair weather fans would surface. Surely we could expect crowds of 20k plus and possibly even the 25k who watched Coventry play Leeds last year or the 28k against Chelsea the year before. Coventry is about the tenth largest city in the UK with only one team and around 300k people. A properly marketed and successful club could easily expect to attract 25k plus fans especially if areas like Nuneaton and Leamington are targetted. This compares with most clubs at Championship level.
So, when people are fatalistic about our future I say we should not be resigned to never having ambitions again and we should not accept SISU running us into the ground and reducing us to a fourth tier club. We must try to talk up the potential of the club and hope someone will be willing to turn the club around. If Leicester and Southampton can do it, why can't we??
The Ricoh - if someone has some money to invest they could acquire ownership of a stadium hosting the Olympics, the next Rugby World Cup, huge concerts eg Oasis, Red Hot Chillie Peppers, Bon Jovi etc and football. Not many of our Championship competitors could claim this.
History - 34 years uninterrupted in the top flight (again unprecedented) in the Championship and the name recognition globally this creates.Plus the 1987 FA Cup win of course.
Location - although Coventry isn't the most attractive of cities it is just over an hour from London and is a few minutes away from Birmingham. The South Warwickshire countryside is very attractive. It's not as if we are based in the back of beyond.
Untapped Potential - as the fans have been so starved of success in recent times there is great untapped potential. Coventry have uniquely not finished in the top six of any division for over 40 years, although crowds are currently low with even a modicum of success eg a play off place in the Championship who knows how many fair weather fans would surface. Surely we could expect crowds of 20k plus and possibly even the 25k who watched Coventry play Leeds last year or the 28k against Chelsea the year before. Coventry is about the tenth largest city in the UK with only one team and around 300k people. A properly marketed and successful club could easily expect to attract 25k plus fans especially if areas like Nuneaton and Leamington are targetted. This compares with most clubs at Championship level.
So, when people are fatalistic about our future I say we should not be resigned to never having ambitions again and we should not accept SISU running us into the ground and reducing us to a fourth tier club. We must try to talk up the potential of the club and hope someone will be willing to turn the club around. If Leicester and Southampton can do it, why can't we??
