Would you trust sisu with the half ownership of the ground? (1 Viewer)

Reading the arcticle in the telegraph, talks are 'positive' so would you like sisu part owning the ground?
 

sw88

Chief Commentator!
I wouldnt trust them with anything! Look how they've messed our club up. The stadium tbf is pretty well run at the moment, and if SISU bought it they'd introduce their own systems and we all know how they will work out if the past history is anything to go by.
 

coundonskyblue

New Member
Reading that article it seems Sisu will have to reveal who the owners are before the council or higgs trust will allow a sale. Seen as they have been so secretive about this in the past I can't see it happening now.
 

Chipfat

Well-Known Member
Why would anyone want Sisu to own half the stadium, after seeing what they have done over the last 3 years. They continue to lie,mislead and cheat aswell as steering the club into league 1, this no foundation for owning the stadium..

SISU do not care about CCFC they care about getting money back into the pot and fooking off with as much as they can get as they now know they have no idea how to run a football club.....
 

Sub

Well-Known Member
no chance !!! the higgs trust and the council can not and should never sell to them :slap::slap:
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't trust them however IF the council / higgs trust decide to sell they could put clauses in to protect the club and fans. Things like the ownership of the stadium being tied to the ownership of the club, no finance being taken out using the ground. But my gut feeling is they shouldn't let SISU have any part of the stadium given their track record so far.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
I think the more important statements are -

The charity want complete disclosure of who the SISU investors are

That the charity & Council require proof of a sustainable business at CCFC

The Charity and Council expect the redevelopment of 5 acres adjoining - that adds to the cost of purchasing even 50%

and most importantly of all .......

The council has no intention of selling its 50% share to anyone at this time - means SISU cannot get a guaranteed immediate positive cashflow from purchasing any interest in ACL

Am pleased to see that the council are looking after the best interests of all Coventry ratepayers and that they expect a return for the risk and investment they made. If that means they use dividends from ACL profits to fund front line services I fully support that.
 
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Sub

Well-Known Member
I think the more important statements are -

The Charity and Council expect the redevelopment of 5 acres adjoining - that adds to the cost of purchasing even 50%

and most importantly of all .......

The council has no intention of selling its 50% share to anyone at this time - means SISU cannot get a guaranteed immediate positive cashflow from purchasing any interest in ACL

redevelopment of 5 acres adjoining ? is that where the scrap yards are?
 

skyblueinBaku

Well-Known Member
No. I wouldn't trust SISU with anything. On the other hand, if those spivs didn't mortgage it, it might make CCFC a more attractive proposition for a takeover and we could be rid of them.
 

Lloyd

New Member
no i wouldnt trust them with it, they sold our only profitable company, mortgaged our training ground and got loans based on season ticket projections, as soon as they owned it they'd sell it for a meagre profit and then bail leaving our club even worse off.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
Not exactly sure Sub ..... there are all sorts of little plots round that area that could be dragged in
 

crowsnest

Well-Known Member
no i wouldnt trust them with it, they sold our only profitable company, mortgaged our training ground and got loans based on season ticket projections, as soon as they owned it they'd sell it for a meagre profit and then bail leaving our club even worse off.

Prozone was not ours.
Ryton has no mortgage - it was paid off in August
First season ticket loan was taken out in 2010.

5 arces of land is the land behind the tesco stand on the other side of the railway.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
As it stands the ground is already mortgaged..... ACL (charity & Council) took out £21m loan to develop the site. For SISU to mortgage the ground they would either have to take out a second charge but that wouldnt secure much money or to repay the existing loan and refinance (again unlikely to raise much additional). However first off they would need the facility to own it outright and that isnt as it stands on the table - Council have said they wont sell their interest in ACL
 

crowsnest

Well-Known Member
As it stands the ground is already mortgaged..... ACL (charity & Council) took out £21m loan to develop the site.

The council took out a £21m loan to develop the site. This was paid back to the council when the stadium was built and they could then get a mortgage on the property.
This mortgage was then paid off using the £21m deal for the 50 year lease.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
last accounts show £17m loan from Yorkshire Bank still outstanding secured on all assets of ACL. Not due to be repaid in full until 2026. The charge itself would have been for £21m the original amount
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
"we need to buy the ground" moan, moan, moan.
"SISU want to buy the ground" moan, moan, moan...
 

covcity4life

Well-Known Member
i want 50% of stadium any which way we can get it

if we have income im sure sisu will loosen the purse strings

dont hate for hatings sake!

annoyed with council refusing to ever sell though :( thats 50% could be difference between championship and prem)
 

sky blue john

Well-Known Member
Makes me laugh Sisu have had one meeting with the Higgs Charity and think they will be in a position to make an announcement inside a couple of months. What jokers this is all in an attempt to boost a sale.
The other thing that makes me laugh is that Sisu were banging on about Hoffmans investors being disclosed now the shoe is on the other foot and the Higgs charity and counsel now want to know who Sisu's investors are. :D
 

wingy

Well-Known Member
Its an intriguing dilemna,as i alluded to after the initial article,weighing the slow ,lingering death of our club against the self interest of a strategy which is 4 years too late.It seems obvious from the posts on this thread there is massive reluctance to buy into this move ,along with the rest of the fanbase ,council ,electorate.The council have already knocked back one attempt under Fletcher ,who has stated many times since that this club is hamstrung until this issue is resolved .The whole subject is viewed with cynisism and suspiction and to make progress that has to be removed ,is that possible with Sisu probably not .The whole complex cost £58m. to build, the max Council input circa £30m.THE SOLUTION ,forget Higgs /ACL,leave that as it is ,seperate out the stadium from the rest of the developement ,make a total purchase on that element ,possibly £50m. ,bring it back to the club ,this does'nt matter who holds the reigns at the time.All other clubs who own their stadiums borrrow against them ,if you're worried about this or that they will asset strip it from the club read para 33 select committee report, http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Football_governance_15427_Cm_8207_2.pdfwhere the government are prepared to legislate on this through the localism bill.We do have to back our club over the city on this ,if you ever want us to thrive again ,this income is going to be even more critical with the introduction of the fair play rules .
 

valiant15

New Member
Try ringing sisu hq,I did the other day,as soon as you mention ccfc you get the phone slammed down! This pissed me off so I gave them 30 mins of crank calls lol. They hate us fans. They get their hands on that ground then were fecked.
 

sky blue john

Well-Known Member
Try ringing sisu hq,I did the other day,as soon as you mention ccfc you get the phone slammed down! This pissed me off so I gave them 30 mins of crank calls lol. They hate us fans. They get their hands on that ground then were fecked.

Nice one Val lol :D
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
i want 50% of stadium any which way we can get it

if we have income im sure sisu will loosen the purse strings

dont hate for hatings sake!

annoyed with council refusing to ever sell though :( thats 50% could be difference between championship and prem)

CC4L owning 50% of ACL wont get us income anytime soon. Only way we could extract income by owning 50% of shares is by a dividend and with negative reserves accumulated so far those dividends cannot be paid. So there is no short term gain to free up purse strings. In fact if they have to pay interest on the monies borrowed/used to buy the 50% then the purse strings could be tighter. The attraction of 50% from the charity is that it is a discounted price

The council have to act in the best interests of the majority of Coventry's population. Population 260k active CCFC fans 15K. They have to take decisions based on that - why should they risk or discount ratepayers money so that a minority can gamble on premiership football or owners cash in to make a financial killing. We see it through Sky blue glasses but reality for the council is something different and i dont think i disagree with them reaping some rewards from the arrangement if that money is indeed used to benefit council front line services
 

cloughie

Well-Known Member
Thankfully the council are not stupid enough to believe the orange one who is saying, what he thinks they want to hear. Only taken sisu 3 years to work out what to say.

These secret slippery liars should never be allowed to own 1% of the arena.

All this is about ssisu trying to improve the look of the clubs position and asset value (ie 4 year players contracts). All makes for a higher sale price of the club. Nothing more than that, so forget any benefits for CCFC other than sisu will be gone!
 

les_miserables

New Member
I think this is the opening shots of the end of SISU. Bullish talk from tango Ken but thats his style. I can say I want to buy the Mona Lisa but I won't get it will I. Those who think SISU getting their hands on the Higgs share will benefit OUR football club are living in cloud cuckoo land, if there's any money to be made out of the Arena it will all end up in Finland. The council want the identity of who owns the football club I doubt they will get an answer to that question.
 

wingy

Well-Known Member
If councillor muttons comments are to be taken seriously ,this football club has no future and is merely there to pay off the mortgage of £21m. via our rent,we really might as well slip out of existance and start from scratch,roof over the pitch and give them the exhibtion centre they seek/deserve.Moving the the club and building afresh with something to suit our size and ambition would be cheaper than to do a deal here.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
Lets be honest buying the stadium right now is highly unlikely, buying 50% of ACL almost as unlikely. It is all a distraction from the realities which are sorting out the finances we have got and staying in this division. Without that happening then £10m capital purchases are not going to happen!
 

covcity4life

Well-Known Member
CC4L owning 50% of ACL wont get us income anytime soon. Only way we could extract income by owning 50% of shares is by a dividend and with negative reserves accumulated so far those dividends cannot be paid. So there is no short term gain to free up purse strings. In fact if they have to pay interest on the monies borrowed/used to buy the 50% then the purse strings could be tighter. The attraction of 50% from the charity is that it is a discounted price

The council have to act in the best interests of the majority of Coventry's population. Population 260k active CCFC fans 15K. They have to take decisions based on that - why should they risk or discount ratepayers money so that a minority can gamble on premiership football or owners cash in to make a financial killing. We see it through Sky blue glasses but reality for the council is something different and i dont think i disagree with them reaping some rewards from the arrangement if that money is indeed used to benefit council front line services

fair enough i take your point

although a prem team would boost the city? no team would deystroy? i dunno

if we got 50% how much would you estimate that would bring to the club a year? 2m?
 
I would trust them with half the ownership yes.

I would expect as part of that agreement to ensure that legally the club and half of the stadium are a package. In other words if they want to sell CCFC then they sell the stadium that way we secure a better future for the club.
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
to begin with there would be no income from owning 50% but in time there could be depending how successful the arena becomes. As to how much well that depends on how well it does.

I agree Prem team would be a boost , no team a disaster - but CCFC wont go bust because of the council. If it isnt a viable business then that just reinforces councils position in not letting CCFC have
 

BurbageSkyBlues

New Member
In short, I wouldn't trust them with ownership of half the stadium. I would ask why they want to spend money for little or no benefit - as stated, the income from non existent dividends seems pointless- so this whole exercise makes me suspicious.

A point that has not been pocked up, so far, is Ken's comment that they wish to buy MORE than 50%.......which furthers my concerns.

We seem to be in impass- so we are looking to the Council, ACL and the Higgs charity to ensure the Arena remains an asset to both the city and the club, not third parties
 

oldskyblue58

CCFC Finance Director
I think Dulieu can say what he likes BSB the fact is the Council have made it clear they are not for selling their 50%. I wouldnt trust KD & co with ownership or control of the stadium they work for the investors SISU funds who need an exit strategy to get a return. It is highly unlikely that exit strategy would be to the profit of CCFC or the benefit of the fans, but you can bet it relies on owning the stadium. For the forseeable future I prefer the Council to keep control of the stadium, it wont cost CCFC any income if they do
 

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