‘Real Football, Real Fans – EMPTY WORDS!’ is the message being delivered to Football League Chairman Greg Clarke at 4pm today, Thursday 18 July, at the Football League offices in London W1U 8FL, by fans angry at Clarke for rubber stamping the decision to move Coventry City FC to Northampton. The relocation was proposed to the Football League by the secretive Sisu family of hedgefund companies and its mysterious owner JoySeppala, who have been running CCFC.
The ‘flashmob’ event is being organised by the ‘Keep Cov in Cov: Support the Badge, not sisu’ campaign group. Michael Orton, the campaign co-ordinator, explained: “Coventry City FC was founded in Coventry 130 years ago and Coventry has always been our home. A hedgefund has decided to rip CCFCout of its home City and community, ripping up our heritage and identity, and sounding the death knell for the Club – and the Football League just says ‘yes’!”.
The Football League’s strapline is ‘Real Football, Real Fans’ but many football fans are now questioning whose interests the Football League represents. If Coventry City can be relocated so ‘home’ games involve a 70 mile trip what will it take for the Football League ever to say ‘no’ to an owner? As Mr Orton said: “There is a lot of controversy already about the Football League’s ‘fit and proper’ test for owners but the kind of decision it has made regarding CCFC is leading many people to question the operation of the Football League itself and whether it needs to be subject to Government regulation”.
Coventry fans stress that the protest will be peaceful and are appealing to supporters of other Clubs to join them. As Mr Orton put it: “at the moment it’s about Coventry but who will be next? This is about football Clubs being turned into franchises and that’s an issue that affects every supporter. So it would be great if fans of other teams join us 4pm Thursday 18 July 4pm at W1U 8FL”.
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Contact: Michael Orton 077099788