Over the past month, members of the Sky Blue Trust board have been meeting with the various sides in the ongoing saga of getting the club back to the Ricoh.
Here are some notes on those meetings. So when people ask, “What’s the Trust doing?” you can tell them!
The Football League
Two members of the Trust board met with the Chief Operating Manager and three of his colleagues last Friday. It enabled us to better understand the League's position, though there was much we couldn’t agree with. We were disappointed at some of their conclusions over the matters we raised.
Explanations of why some of the decisions around the groundshare were new to us, and at least we have the League’s description of events to share with our members - something we have not been able to do before.
We asked the League if there may be a way to use the withdrawal of the ten point deduction and a return to the Ricoh as an incentive for both sides to come to an agreement. We were disappointed that they felt it would not be a possibility.
We asked them to take all possible steps to encourage all parties in the dispute to come to an agreement that is satisfactory to both sides which would be welcomed by all Coventry City Supporters. Our fervent wish is for the team to be playing back at the Ricoh Arena as soon as possible. We urged them to redouble their efforts in those discussions.
They told us that they would check on progress on any new stadium at the end of the season. We urged them to look at that sooner. Supporters would want as much information on it as quickly as possible, because we have very little on that currently.
A full note on our discussions will be released later, after the League have seen it Keep watching the website!
The Council
We met with Ann Lucas, Martin Reeves and Chris West. We pressed them on several issues, but they asked us to keep most of what they said confidential inbecause of the Judicial Review that will be back in court next month. After that, they may be able to say more so there is little to add to Cllr Lucas' statement in Council. She was, however, adamant that she had invited Joy Seppala to speak with her twice with no response.
Arena Coventry
Discussions centred on what was the dispute and the possibility of a return to the Ricoh by CCFC.
ACL have drawn a line under the history of the dispute and are looking forward. They are focussing on their own business and should Otium (the owners of CCFC ) wish to approach them with a proposal to rent the stadium then ACL would be very open to such an approach.
It was confirmed that ACL were due to receive the monies that would have been due under the CVA as part of the Football League golden share settlement with Otium but nothing has ever been received. The CVA had been rejected because the Board of ACL disagreed with the basis of the administration process.
ACL are keen to have CCFC back at the Ricoh but insist that there is a very viable future to the stadium should CCFC decide not to return. In the mean time ACL are concentrating on other areas of their business and driving those forward.
The Club
The meeting covered a large number of issues including purchase of Ricoh freehold, purchase of ACL, building of new ground, rental of Ricoh and how to move things forward to get the club back to Coventry. The meeting was very frank and open with a range of opinions exchanged. Due to the confidential nature of many of the issues it was agreed not to publish detailed minutes of the meeting but to keep dialogue going. Overall the meeting was encouraging and gave some hope for the future.
Our next meeting is on Monday November 4th at the Squirrel in Greyfriars Lane. It's an open meeting, so any member can come. Bring along someone who isn't and they can join on the spot! It's a "Your Views meeting, so if you've got something to get of your chest, or suggestions to make (keep it clean please!) we want to hear them.