Coventry City have issued a statement on the offer made by Arena Coventry Limited of a rent of £400k, concessions on the matchday incomes and ten years to be pay back the £1.1m which has been rejected by the Board and are basically saying that they expect to pay League One level rent for a Championship/PL facilty .
The statement reported by the Coventry Telegraph reads as follows: "When we received ACL's letter, we very much appreciated the spirit in which their offer was made.
"We believed it provided a sound basis for negotiation which we felt we would get both parties concerned to arrive at an agreed position to allow us to get on with the really important issue of running our respective organisations in a more positive and productive atmosphere. We, therefore, immediately asked that we got round the table to work towards this.
"ACL has, to date refused to meet with us and went on to issue the statutory demand. Somewhat surprisingly we now find our communications leaked to the press.
"We really want to negotiate with ACL to resolve this matter in a professional manner and not conduct arguments in public.
"We have remained consistent in that all we are seeking to do is to bring about a state of commercial normality so that CCFC is not put at a severe disadvantage to other clubs it competes with. This means having a rent in line with what other League One clubs pay (with an agreed automatic increase in the rent when the club is promoted) and having access to the same additional football revenues that other clubs have. A rent of £400,000 is still in excess of the League One norm.
"The club will never reach its ultimate goal of being financially stable along with having a strong competitive squad under the new manager Mark Robins unless the rent is brought in line with other League One clubs that allows us to make further investment in improving performances on the pitch and giving the fans and the city in general, the success they seek and deserve."