Player to bring in (suggestions)

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 09 Jul 2013, 09:56

I've been to both Coventry grounds and I much preferred Highfield Road. Was a proper home, they only half filled that once they dropped out of the Premiership so to build a 32,000 white elephant outside of town the alarm bells should have been ringing. Coventry never will be the sort of club to justify those attendances, it was always possible to get tickets at HR in the Premiership as we went a few times so even if something good happened there 32,000 regularly is just fantasy.

To see what's happening there is very sad and again highliting more problems with modern football, there is next to no government on who buys and runs football clubs, it's ran like business but unlike Tesco or Sainsburys the 'business' in this case means far more to their 'customers' and also local communities. Any corrupt prat with his own intentions at heart can buy a football club and ultimately there is no one to stop them. Coventry like Portsmouth, Blackburn and countless others have been horrendously mismanaged at the top for a number of years and this is the sad end to it all.

Warwick · Post by **Warwick** » 09 Jul 2013, 11:23

Must disagree slightly with royalgull. Highfield Road was their home in the respect to atmos, history, etc, but it was also like many other old football grounds in that it was dated, out of shape, and beyond help when it came to improving it and bringing it into the 21st century. The Ricoh arena is a fantastic facility with everything a modern stadium should have, maybe lacking in a little atmos and history yes, but everything a club of Coventry's size would wish for in an attempt to bounce back and indeed move forward, IN NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES!

The main problem has been the absolute joke of an ownership by Sisu who have run the club into the ground, and also the local council who also have blood on their hands, through their part ownership of the ground. On any given match day Coventry City Football Club has never earned a single penny from that stadium attendance wise until 20,000 people had walked through the turnstiles! A shit team with no reinvestment to improve the playing staff resulted in dwindling crowds, that coupled with no way to make money has resulted in the mess they are now in.

What makes this whole situation even more laughable is that SISU who is largely to blame for all this is now buying the club out of administration, with the use of one of its sister company's (OTIUM), so they are back in control again! Football administrators hang your heads in shame!

I believe the ground issue which yes looks like a ridiculous decision from the outside was the result of OTIUM the new owners (really SISU), and the council being unable to agree on a sustainable way to move forward with the Ricoh Arena. Yes it was rent free this season, but the Councils plans for the following seasons were in OTIUM's view not something they could sign up to.

RIP the end of league football in Coventry, maybe forever.

Post by **happytorq** » 09 Jul 2013, 15:12

How much were they going to have to pay to use the Ricoh Arena? It doesn't make any sense to me that the people who own it are happier to let it not be used. All this seems to be damaging to both parties.

Just read Wikipedia, and apparently CCFC were expected to pay £1.2m a year? That seems like..a..lot.

Warwick · Post by **Warwick** » 09 Jul 2013, 16:40

The stadium is a sustainable business without ccfc involved. Pop concerts, a huge gym, conference facilities, amongst other things keep it ticking over. I just cannot believe the admininistrators and football league have not done more to stop the rot. Sissu have lied to the fans constantly and run the club into the ground, and into administration. Incredibly they now get put back in charge under a different title to do even more damage, when there were offers from other parties on the table.

AustrianAndyGull · Post by **AustrianAndyGull** » 09 Jul 2013, 17:26

I thought Highfield Road was ok, bit of a pain to get to and park but a good old ground which I don't think was TOO antiquated. It's a shame either way for Cov but like we always say, if you don't run yourselves properly then you've only got yourselves to blame and as usual, the fans suffer.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 09 Jul 2013, 18:40

So, how does this affect the financial standing of NTFC? I don't want any lurking Cobblers to think this is sour grapes (you live in Northampton, I live at the beach, if I'm ever envious of a Cobbler, I'll kill myself), but is that not a tad out of order? Northants now have a 1.2m windfall for, basically, nothing. Our whole club is worth less than that and they seem to be getting it for nothing. Plough half that into the team and, allied to their already considerable budget, they could be paying half their squad four grand a week. I'm not sure even Portsmouth will be able to match that.

Matt.

AndyC · Post by **AndyC** » 09 Jul 2013, 18:51

Just to get this back on thread (however interesting all this NTFC/CCFC talk is), I see that Cheltenham have Anyinsah and Bowerman in their friendly squad for this evening.

secret · Post by **secret** » 09 Jul 2013, 19:28

This is one i heard and have no actual facts but I heard knill was interested in Paul Benson. Not sure if been mentioned elsewhere.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 09 Jul 2013, 20:09

Where do you get this crap, Secret?

RoadRunner at least has the decency to be right once in a while...*

Matt.

*Where is the cantankerous old sod these days, haven't heard from him for ages?

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » 09 Jul 2013, 20:10

ferrarilover wrote:So, how does this affect the financial standing of NTFC? I don't want any lurking Cobblers to think this is sour grapes (you live in Northampton, I live at the beach, if I'm ever envious of a Cobbler, I'll kill myself), but is that not a tad out of order? Northants now have a 1.2m windfall for, basically, nothing. Our whole club is worth less than that and they seem to be getting it for nothing. Plough half that into the team and, allied to their already considerable budget, they could be paying half their squad four grand a week. I'm not sure even Portsmouth will be able to match that.

Matt.

Where did you see this figure of £1.2m? I'd be amazed if it's anything like that.

For comparison FCUM pay Bury £5,000 per game to use Gigg Lane.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 09 Jul 2013, 20:13

I got it from Happy's post, which indicates therein that Happy himself got the info from Wiki, so it's probably about as reliable as Secret's Paul Benson rumour.
That as may be, comparing the payments made by some obscure team from the 157th tier with Coventry City might not necessarily be representative. I'm not suggesting you're wrong, merely that your basis for comparison may not be relevant (this is the bonkers world of professional football, after all, money seems to have a different value there).

Matt.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » 09 Jul 2013, 20:20

ferrarilover wrote:I got it from Happy's post, which indicates therein that Happy himself got the info from Wiki, so it's probably about as reliable as Secret's Paul Benson rumour.
That as may be, comparing the payments made by some obscure team from the 157th tier with Coventry City might not necessarily be representative. I'm not suggesting you're wrong, merely that your basis for comparison may not be relevant (this is the bonkers world of professional football, after all, money seems to have a different value there).

Matt.

Happy's post was referring to how much they were being asked to pay for the Ricoh, not Sixfields.

Bury and Northampton play in the same division (although some cobblers fans seem to have trouble accepting this) so the rent for the 2 grounds shouldn't be enormously different.

Coventry's local rag suggest it will be about £100,000 rent. Not sure if that's per season or over the whole 3 years.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... ks-4872384

OhJimmyJimmy · Post by **OhJimmyJimmy** » 09 Jul 2013, 22:51

I don't know if this name has come up before but I've just seen that Andy Bishop has just left Bury. Natural link with Knill. From memory he was always a rated striker at this level, could be an option?

AndyC · Post by **AndyC** » 09 Jul 2013, 22:57

Bishop's already signed for Wrexham

gullno4 · Post by **gullno4** » 10 Jul 2013, 09:22

just seen a tweet from Richard Logan, saying how his agent hasn't been in contact, so he is club less. Ling wanted to sign him did he not? and we've got knill chasing manset, that says alot about the difference between where we were, and where we are going!

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