Coventry City petition - please read & sign

[schoey71]

signed - good luck with the petition

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

City fans - this could easily have been us as Ranson & SISU were sniffing around just before Thaksin came along. It says a lot that John Wardle was prepared to do business with Thaksin but wouldn't touch Ranson/SISU with a barge-pole.

So please get signing. Good to see so many of you have done.

 

[steviemc]

Signed, and good luck.

 

[davymcfc]

Signed. I think it's absolute joke how they have dismantled one of britains big football clubs. I really hope things turn around in the future.

 

[the plasterer]

signed, good luck ccfc

 

[worsleyweb]

Should never have left high field road. The Ricoh is way too big for them. If they move back they should reduce the capacity by and have more executive facilities. Signed the petition but shouldn't have really as was sat in the bit between the main stand and north stand that day and shit myself when they stormed across. I will forgive them, this time!!!

 

[SkyBlueJim]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

This is an issue that affects all of us as it could happen to any of our clubs. It’s good to see you all agree.

 

[SkyBlueJim]

Re: Leeds Thread (Merged)

Most people blame our owners, the Sisu hedge fund, and many people suspect their actions over the last two years are all about trying to get ownership of the Ricoh Arena on the cheap.

The Coventry City saga makes Lord of the Rings look short, but here goes –
• Until the mid 1990s we were well run and solvent
• 1996 a new chairman decided to ‘have a punt’ on success
• 2001 relegated from the Premiership with something like £60 million debt
• 2005 after more crises moved from our Highfield Road ground to the Ricoh Arena as tenants with the Arena owned by ACL (Arena Coventry Limited), a joint venture between Coventry City Council and a local Charity
• 2007 CCFC was taken over by Sisu, a hedge fund
• 2010 with the global financial crisis hitting Sisu hard, Sisu’s owner Joy Seppala took direct control
• 2012 Sisu declared the rent being paid to ACL was too high and stopped paying it
• 2012 Relegated to League 1
• 2013 Sisu declared they are going to build a new stadium in ‘the Coventry area’, but not in the City itself
• 2013 club went into Administration
• 2013 Sisu relocated the club to Northampton, approved by the Football League for a period of 3 to 5 years

• Today – CCFC has been described as a basket-case. Currently:

- The crisis continues to be played out in the courts and media, with the next phase being a Judicial Review Sisu has sought against the Council but that won’t happen for months
- Sisu continue to say they will build a new stadium but have not purchased land, engaged in discussions with planning authorities nor submitted a planning application
- Our owner is so secretive there is no publicly available photo of her so we don’t even know what she looks like
- The vast majority of City fans are boycotting games at Northampton and attendances there are hitting record lows with an average of around 2,000 including visiting fans, but there’s been a massive increase in numbers going to away games
- A generation of new football fans is being lost and the heart is being ripped out of our club
- There is no indication of when, if ever, we will return to Coventry

I wrote about the Coventry City saga in our fanzine King of the Kippax recently. It is truly shocking and I simply can't believe how the FA & Football League allowed this state of affairs to develop.

One of the reasons I highlighted it was that just before they bought Coventry, Ranson & SISU were sniffing around us but the chairman wouldn't entertain the idea. Looks like that was a very good decision as they were clearly targetting clubs that didn't own their stadium.

I've signed and would encourage all other blues to do the same.

Edit: I've moved this into a separate topic.

Interesting that isnt it?

Thanks for your help.

 

[SkyBlueJim]

Weirdly enough this season I always look out for their results,I think it's a number of reasons really such as the predicament they're in, they play in sky blue and their games always have lots of goals in them, plus I know how it feels to be down amongst the dead men. Great turn out by their fans at arsenal the other week as well.
Isn't richard keys a covy fan and can't he get a consortium together and do something?
Good luck.

We'd have had more than that at the Emirates if our owners hadn't restricted us to the 5,000! Last season we took close to 10,000 there in the league cup.

Funny you should say that about RK - he was trying to help along a takeover by an American and a local businessman but SISU were favoured by the administrator purely because theyd configured a situation whereby the vast majority of the debt was owed to themselves.
With the administrators first priority being to get as much money as possible for the creditors and SISU being the creditors he simply let SISU takeover again. Farcical but that's the legal system for you.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Re: Leeds Thread (Merged)

Most people blame our owners, the Sisu hedge fund, and many people suspect their actions over the last two years are all about trying to get ownership of the Ricoh Arena on the cheap.

The Coventry City saga makes Lord of the Rings look short, but here goes –
• Until the mid 1990s we were well run and solvent
• 1996 a new chairman decided to ‘have a punt’ on success
• 2001 relegated from the Premiership with something like £60 million debt
• 2005 after more crises moved from our Highfield Road ground to the Ricoh Arena as tenants with the Arena owned by ACL (Arena Coventry Limited), a joint venture between Coventry City Council and a local Charity
• 2007 CCFC was taken over by Sisu, a hedge fund
• 2010 with the global financial crisis hitting Sisu hard, Sisu’s owner Joy Seppala took direct control
• 2012 Sisu declared the rent being paid to ACL was too high and stopped paying it
• 2012 Relegated to League 1
• 2013 Sisu declared they are going to build a new stadium in ‘the Coventry area’, but not in the City itself
• 2013 club went into Administration
• 2013 Sisu relocated the club to Northampton, approved by the Football League for a period of 3 to 5 years

• Today – CCFC has been described as a basket-case. Currently:

- The crisis continues to be played out in the courts and media, with the next phase being a Judicial Review Sisu has sought against the Council but that won’t happen for months
- Sisu continue to say they will build a new stadium but have not purchased land, engaged in discussions with planning authorities nor submitted a planning application
- Our owner is so secretive there is no publicly available photo of her so we don’t even know what she looks like
- The vast majority of City fans are boycotting games at Northampton and attendances there are hitting record lows with an average of around 2,000 including visiting fans, but there’s been a massive increase in numbers going to away games
- A generation of new football fans is being lost and the heart is being ripped out of our club
- There is no indication of when, if ever, we will return to Coventry

I wrote about the Coventry City saga in our fanzine King of the Kippax recently. It is truly shocking and I simply can't believe how the FA & Football League allowed this state of affairs to develop.

One of the reasons I highlighted it was that just before they bought Coventry, Ranson & SISU were sniffing around us but the chairman wouldn't entertain the idea. Looks like that was a very good decision as they were clearly targetting clubs that didn't own their stadium.

I've signed and would encourage all other blues to do the same.

Edit: I've moved this into a separate topic.

Interesting that isnt it?

Thanks for your help.

Only too pleased to help in some way. The point about the stadiums both being leased didn't actually occur to me until the other day. Makes sense though when you think about it doesn't it?