Coventry City set to play in Northampton

[editor]

It's a fucking farce.
I'm over paying good money to be treated like shit.

 

[Diddly Squat]

The situation is a complete nightmare, I'm sure the FA could have vetoed the move to Northampton on the basis that it is completely unnecessary however as usual they do nothing to prevent the owners doing whatever they feel like. They're just a soft touch at best.

The owners of the ground have already offered a reduce the rent by 2/3rds, and have offered to allow the club to play for free while in administration. Both of these offers have been turned down by Sisu/Otium.

The football club need to get partial ownership of the ground and any profits from food etc. However due to the way Sisu have acted there is no way ACL (ground owners) will make a deal with them.

I'm a Cov supporter in Norwich so Northampton is easier to get to, but I won't step foot in Sixfields if you paid me.

 

[Diddly Squat]

Oh, they've also left the football academy over a £12,000 maintenance bill.

 

[editor]

Good piece here:

For many Coventry City supporters, today may well mark a “never again” moment. For all the anguish that we subject ourselves to on the pitch, it is worth recalling – and this is something frequently seems to be forgotten – that this game is supposed to be our leisure time, something that we do for pleasure, and those bewildered at the way that this story has played out over the last twelve months or so could well be forgiven for wondering whether there is a less painful and stressful way to spend their time. If the Football League does ratify this decision, it is likely that thousands will walk away from the club. Some may find other clubs to follow, but many will drain away from the game altogether, taking their money, their visibility on match-days and their support with them, and there can be little doubting that the Football League will, in no uncertain terms, have blood on its hands if this does turn out to be the case. Given that they are supposed to be amongst the custodians of the well-being of the game in this country, it will be well worth asking the question of whether they are fit for purpose should they grant their approval to this move.

http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=23672

 

[gnoriac]

Club statement on Parliamentary Early Day Motion on Tues 9th

The Rt. Hon. Bob Ainsworth MP subsequently submitted an amendment to this motion saying inter alia that the club's owner has no viable plan or intention to return to the Coventry area and had put itself into administration as part of a deliberate strategy developed over time to defraud its creditors.
These statements have no foundation whatsoever in fact and are grossly defamatory.
If Mr Ainsworth genuinely believes his statements to be true, we respectfully invite him to repeat them outside Parliament and not to hide behind parliamentary privilege.

Translation: Sisu would like to use their wealth and this country's grossly unfair libel laws to bully him into silence.

 

[DotCommunist]

if you go ten minutes down the road by car you hit the Hart of Duston which is a half decent pub though.

 

[Sprocket.]

When Rotherham moved to the Don Valley Stadium it was purely to upset the owner of Millmoor Ken Booth, and we moaned a bit but the journey is only an extra ten minutes to there. Luckily we are back in town now with a cracking little stadium.
Have Coventry got anything definite in the pipeline for coming home to. They will soon lose fans having to pay for the travel as well.
I am sick of hearing of all these legendary clubs being forced to the wall through money grabbing bastards who don't give a damn for the game or fans.
My condolences to all fans of these savaged clubs.

 

[gnoriac]

Not entirely a done deal yet:

And the grim news for manager Steven Pressley may extend into the forthcoming campaign if ACL, one of the four major creditors, reject the Company Voluntary Agreement when the club attempt to come out of administration. If the CVA is rejected, Coventry face liquidation and a heavy 15-point deduction.
Fisher said: "There is a creditors’ meeting on July 22. ACL, as a principle creditor, could vote for the CVA. They could therefore get what money is going to be allocated through that process. Or they could say no, and we would head towards liquidation.

Torygraph article

Thought it would only be CCFC Ltd that was liquidated, which as mentioned above, owns none of the company's assets. It does however have the 'golden share' as far as the FL's concerned, which is the reason for the points deduction. Sisu always denied this, but most of their claims in this area appear to be unmitigated bullshit. Wonder what it means if the company doesn't resurface from admin?

Meantime, Sisu hireling Tim Fisher must be starting to realise what the supporters think of him.

 

[gnoriac]

It gets ever more interesting: ACL to sue Northampton Town

 

[gnoriac]

And ACL's case looks strong

 

[editor]

This is what happens when you bring in moneygrubbing fuckers to run football: the fans come last.

 

[gnoriac]

Amazingly the Daily Fail is one the few newspapers to actually do an article more than 1 paragraph long. Yet even the broadsheets find plenty of room for drivel about celeb players and their wives.

And it gives you an idea of how much of a dick Tim Fisher is:

Club chief executive Tim Fisher said: ‘I believe that the council made a decision that they did not want a hedge fund running Coventry City Football Club. This is a socialist council. They couldn’t come to terms that there was an uber-capitalist — i.e. a hedge fund — running the club.’

 

[gnoriac]

2 more Early Day Motions raised in Parliament by Bob Ainsworth, questioning suspicious oddities in the company structure and the state of the 2010-2011 accounts, which auditors BDO, won't admit to having signed off.
Link

 

[Tom A]

It gets ever more interesting: ACL to sue Northampton Town

I would have said "nice one", but if they win and Northampton Town have to pay damages, it would be bad news for that club and its fans. The effects would probably be pretty devastating considering it's a relatively small club. Now had CCFC had tried to do a move to Milton Keynes and it was Franchise FC that was in the legal crosshairs, I would have happily had said "game on".

 

[JTG]

I would have said "nice one", but if they win and Northampton Town have to pay damages, it would be bad news for that club and its fans. The effects would probably be pretty devastating considering it's a relatively small club. Now had CCFC had tried to do a move to Milton Keynes and it was Franchise FC that was in the legal crosshairs, I would have happily had said "game on".

Hmmm. NTFC possibly underestimating the murkiness of what they've just got involved in?

 

[Tom A]

Hmmm. NTFC possibly underestimating the murkiness of what they've just got involved in?

Very likely. So that's now the fans of two clubs that have been screwed over by their owners.

 

[Balbi]

Hmmm. NTFC possibly underestimating the murkiness of what they've just got involved in?

Risking legal action, NTFC are pretty fucking murky themselves. They're trying to get 12 million off the council to redevelop the ground, and purchase surrounding land on the cheap from the council with the money. The council's Tory, the decision's been headline news - but the legal and financial case hasn't been made. Dodgy as fuck.

 

[JTG]

Risking legal action, NTFC are pretty fucking murky themselves. They're trying to get 12 million off the council to redevelop the ground, and purchase surrounding land on the cheap from the council with the money. The council's Tory, the decision's been headline news - but the legal and financial case hasn't been made. Dodgy as fuck.

Who's running the Wobblers these days? Are the Trust still involved or not?

 

[Balbi]

Cardoza family. Basically, the clubs up to its arse in debt and the auditors put it as not a viable concern.

 

[JTG]

Jolly good, business as usual then. This one ends with a load of local traders, St John Ambulance etc being out of pocket when the club falls over doesn't it?

 

[Balbi]

Leader of the Council has tonight decided against overview and scrutiny, instead taking responsibility for negotiations along with the Chief Exec and the Legal Compliance officer. This will end well

 

[gnoriac]

Hmmm. NTFC possibly underestimating the murkiness of what they've just got involved in?

Given Sisu's track record of unpaid rent, defaulting on money owed to the academy, failure to file signed-off accounts for 2011 let alone 2013, and all the skullduggery around the administration of CCFC Ltd, NTFC are pretty damned stupid if they haven't got all their money up-front.

 

[Diddly Squat]

Protest march today, hopefully will be a good turnout to show the level of opposition to this debacle.

 

[Diddly Squat]

Yeah too right.
I read that the league told Sisu to pay a 1 million pound bond which Sisu will get back when the club return to playing in Cov.
Except the league have allowed Sisu to pay the bond after 3 years when they are meant to move back anyway!
The whole point of a bond is you pay it up front.
If Sisu ever pay up Ill eat my hat

 

[gnoriac]

Sisu have entered an agreement to buy Brandon speedway to build a new stadium - link

However:

HMRC said in November that the Brandon Stadium was a frozen asset and could not be sold following the conviction for money laundering by gambler Jatinder Singh Batth – also known as Micky Singh – who it claims owns half of the £1million venue.

Does the dodginess never stop?

 

[gnoriac]

No surprise but still a bit of a shock, ACL and HMRC rejected the administrator's offer to take CCFC Ltd out of administration, and CCFC Ltd will go to liquidation. I'm guessing this is just to apportion the debt, 59p in the £ as opposed to the the 26p which was on offer with the admin deal. CCFC Ltd has no assets, but does have the "golden share" so the FL are due to meet this afternoon to decide how the club, not Sisu, should be punished, widely expected to be a 15 point deduction.

ACL had put forward an amendment to the admin deal, with a very reasonable rent package in return for a 10 year agreement to stay at the Ricoh. Rejected by Sisu, although there are hints it fell foul of administration law.

The meeting to accept/reject the deal lasted only 10 minutes. The minority holders in ACL had been ready to accept the administration offer, but not Coventry council.

 

[BCBlues]

Time for a bump as Cov have sort of gone home, the first time I saw Chelsea was at their real home Highfield Rd in the sixties.
Anyway, a great attendance tonight (over 27,000) and a win too.

Fair play to the fans,they've made it clear what they thought.