The Jimmy Hill Way
Campaign Update
Let Down By The Football League
As most Coventry City supporters agree, the current owners have prime responsibility for the decline of our beloved and once-great club. Joy Seppala and her hedge fund Sisu, with its anonymous investors, have brought nothing but failure and mediocrity to the Sky Blues during 9 years of tenure. The central aim of the Jimmy Hill Way Campaign is to persuade Ms Seppala to Sell Up and Go.
At the same time, there are others who must shoulder a share of the blame. In particular, those charged with the duty of football governance in this country have largely stood by and allowed clubs such as Coventry City to be brought low by owners who are variously unfit, incompetent or unworthy to take charge of some of the nation’s most valued football assets. Charlton Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Leeds United and ourselves are among those clubs with great history and traditions, currently suffering under the yoke of bad ownership. Yet the Football League, now re-branded as the EFL, appear to do little or nothing to stand up for supporters’ interests in these situations.
Colleen Fletcher MP (Coventry North East) had a meeting last month with the Football League to discuss the plight of Coventry City FC. According to the Coventry Telegraph http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/football-league-confirms-coventry-city-12035609 Shaun Harvey, Chief Executive of the EFL, failed to keep the appointment, leaving Ms Fletcher to discuss matters with two of his colleagues from the Communications Department. The article by Simon Gilbert details the questions posed by Ms Fletcher and written responses received from the EFL, none of which give us any confidence that they will bring effective influence to bear on the crisis facing our club. As Ms Fletcher is quoted:
“Whilst the meeting with the EFL allowed for the free and frank exchange of views, I regret that it did not completely address my concerns nor did it offer the reassurance sought by the fans. The EFL was unwilling to discuss the specifics of any plans the club may have for securing its long-term future in Coventry - citing reasons of confidentiality – and refused to rule out the possibility of the club being allowed to leave its home city again in the future on a temporary basis.”
That underlined phrase is chilling. With the temporary match-day hire arrangements at the Ricoh due to end in 2018 and talks halted by Wasps due to the “distraction” of ongoing legal action by Sisu, there is currently a very real possibility that the Sky Blues will once again be homeless. Yet the answers to Ms Fletcher’s questions give no sense that the EFL:
* will be pro-active in trying to resolve this problem; or
* feel any obligation to Coventry City Supporters while we suffer continuing despair at the troubles engulfing our club.
It is pleasing that politicians such as Colleen Fletcher and Damian Collins MP, Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport, are now bringing real pressure to bear on the football authorities. As supporters, all we can do is applaud their efforts and make sure that the failings of the EFL and other regulatory bodies are kept in the spotlight.
So along with our regular chants of “Sisu Out”, let’s not forget “BY THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE, LET DOWN!”
Supporters Consultative Group
The Supporters Consultative Group (“SCG”) is the only forum that Sky Blues Fans have to communicate face-to-face with club directors and officials. Meetings take place every month or so and the minutes are published on the CCFC website at http://www.ccfc.co.uk/fans/scg/
At the last meeting on 12th October, Tim Fisher was allowed to use the occasion for an attack on the Sky Blues Trust. That dialogue apparently took up the majority of the meeting and enabled Mr Fisher to deflect attention from the many pressing problems facing our football club. This is not the first time that the SCG has strayed from its remit - which ought to be holding the club directors and officials to account to supporters, not vice-versa – and is one of several reasons why the SCG is seen as being largely irrelevant by many Sky Blues supporters.
Yet, however imperfect it may be, it is the only communication channel that exists. SCG Chairperson, Jonathan Strange, is recorded in the minutes of 12th October as saying:
“The problem is people don’t want to ask questions. So many think they know the answer. The contact e-mail is prominently advertised ccfcscg.co.uk and I have never failed to forward a question sent to me.” and in later parts:
“…we need to have those questions put to us in the first place” and
“I try and encourage supporters to actually ask questions…”
Now, it could be argued that as Chairperson of this Group, Mr Strange ought to have his finger on the pulse of supporter opinion. The SCG Terms of Reference state that: “The Group will comprise 15 supporters, who will represent various supporter organisations and/or demographic groups whose input is considered of value in representing the generality of Coventry City Supporters.” While we do not question the good intentions of SCG members generally, it is apparent that the current make-up of the SCG falls well short of achieving this objective and that reform is needed, so that this group does become truly representative.
That said, we believe that Mr Strange should be taken at his word, that his request for questions from supporters is genuine and should be met with a positive response. So the Jimmy Hill Way Campaign Team will be submitting a number of challenging questions via ccfcscg.co.uk to be answered at the next meeting on 23rd November 2016, covering a range of subjects including:
* Financial Performance
* Ongoing Ricoh arrangements
* New Ground
* Tim Fisher’s role as Club Chairman
* January Transfer Window and Budget
* The Academy
* Conduct of Sisu / Joy Seppala
* Membership of SCG
Other supporters may also be encouraged to submit their own questions although if too many are received for one meeting, they may not all get dealt with. A few helpful pointers for anyone who also wishes to take Mr Strange up on this request:
1. Be polite and avoid foul or abusive language – that doesn’t mean that you can’t be pushy.
2. Give enough background detail to the question you are asking to ensure that it is taken in the correct context.
3. Indicate who you would like to answer your question, eg. Tim Fisher, Jonathan Strange etc.
4. Include a request that your question and the response be dealt with at the SCG meeting and minuted accordingly.
5. As well as sending your question to ccfcscg.co.uk you can copy us at info@thejimmyhillway.com if you wish and we’ll monitor questions raised and answered.
FA Cup Replay
CCFC v Morecambe on Tuesday night. Good luck to the lads in Sky Blue. Morecambe showed last Sunday that they are decent opponents, so this replay is by no means a foregone conclusion.
It appears that City are not expecting a big crowd as (at the time of writing) only the West Stand will be open to Sky Blues Fans. We hope that this will not result in chaos if significant numbers of our supporters turn up on the night, expecting admission arrangements as normal.
Of course, we continue to encourage supporters to show their displeasure with the owners and with the Football League. But that is never at the expense of getting behind the team and cheering them onto a 2nd round trip to either Dover or Cambridge. A good FA Cup run is well overdue.