COVENTRY CITY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING BY KEV MONKS
Coventry City held their Annual General Meeting at Highfield Road.
With almost all the Board present bar Michael Jepson who sent his apologies, Chairman Mike McGinnity, stood up in an air felt by some of "Right Who Wants To Argue" and opened his address by thanking the Alan Edward Higgs Charity for the new Academy premises and I can support his comments that they are comparable with those in the Premiership.
McGinnity then read out a statement from the Board. The statement said was "That as duty to all shareholders, the Board will give full consideration to any proposals from a serious source which can benefit the club and everyone who has the interest's in it's future success,whether they are supporters, providers of finance or shareholders themselves. "We will of course look carefully at any from proposals Mr Dhinsa may make. "But remember that he has not put anything in writing to us at this point. I have received an email from him which was one and a half lines,illustrating his intention to make a formal offer for the club. "It is obvious to say that any proposals put before the Board must contain hard evidence of sufficient new funds that will committed to the club. It is not sufficient to talk in conveyed terms about nine figure sums and Russian billionaires with actually committing up front and in hard cash. "If that cash is there and the shareholders treated fairly and respectfully then there will be something to talk about."
He admitted to having reservations about Mr Dhinsa intentions but said it was not to say that he and the rest of the board would not be absolutely delighted if Mr Dhinsa did come in at the end of the month and buy the club for what it is worth in our minds"
He then turned to the abuse he and the board had received what he considered outside of the normal day to day running of the club.
He felt that "Mr Dhinsa had wound up our supporters and some of them are beginning to take his opinion that he is the white ghost who is going to come in and rescue the club."
He went on to say: " It also appears to me that anyone who has a computer at home can start up their own website and put on that site anything they think they can or will and it will be accepted by myself and the Board. "
He spoke about an email sent to the club by Mr Chris Smith regarding the protest last Saturday and disclaimed some of the points made in it. These included Bryan Richardson who sold Highfield Road to Wimpey but himself and Graham Hover had got Wimpey to increase their offer to 38%. It also included the Council would not pay back the £2m fee for the planning permission until 2008.
He felt the Mr Smith was unaware of the implications of the protest. The club try to have as many games police free as possible and that the average police fee is £9k a game. The club had already been penalised by the police who were called out for the Portsmouth game a few seasons ago to the tune of £100,000.
He objected to an article from a fanzine writer that fans should starve the club of money by boycotting the club shop and catering outlets. Claiming it came from fans who claim to be blue and white throughout (strange always thought we were Sky Blue!) and that at the busiest part of the season,revenue is desperately needed from all sources.
He also objected to accept an email from a reporter from a local Coventry newspaper.
McGinnity stated: "He was prepared as Chairman to take any criticism which is the norm for a football Chairman. Whilst I am Chairman and people think they are free to make allegations against the board and myself which is personal and I put you on notice to the fanzines that are here,that I will take issue with them."
He has instructed his solicitors who have written to the reporter and his editor as well as the fanzine/website which allegedly published the article. He added: "We reserve our rights subject to what disciplinary action they are taking and I do not mean a slap over the wrist and also to the fanzine/magazine."
"I am not prepared to take all the abuse for what this board has done and what continuing to do to put this club on a financial sound footing,so be warned please."
He then moved on to his objectives when he took over and believed that he had reduced the debts,player wage bill and were well on the way with the new stadium.
He said that when City were in the premier League in 2001,the turnover was £23.9m, the club is now currently running it at £7.9m. Staff costs are now down by £10.4m and a further £1.8m would be reduced this season. £5.9m had been paid in interest charges and he could not accept a loss of £8.9m again.
The only way out for the club was to achieve Premiership status or for Mr Dhinsa to put a bid on the table. He forecasted that the worst case of scenario that the club would lose £1.1m with the best case being a loss of £350,000.
When the club move to the new stadium, the club would be going into a profit situation with £2.25m to come in from transfers.
He was proud of the current projections and hoped that he had the support of the shareholders.
Questions then followed with Mr McGinnity saying that the money from the sale of Highfield Road would be shown in the next accounts.
The £17m owed to directed was personally guaranteed but Mr McGinnity refused to speak about the CraigAvon Trust which is a creditor.
The accounts were adopted and Geoffrey Robinson,Michael Jepson and auditors Grant Thornton were re-elected. Mr McGinnity thanked the MP for all his financial support and all the other things he does for the club. Mr Robinson felt that the club was making progress and that we had to get back into the Premier League and were able to achieve it.
He thanked the absent Mr Jepson for all the legal work he had done for the club and the money he had saved.
The meeting was officially closed at 19.24pm.
Questions from the floor came next and he hoped that extra revenue would come from the move to the new stadium.
On money from the Davenport/Kirkland transfers, he said that the club had a good relationship with the back and that as Chairman,he had the option to move the money to another account. Mr McGinnity said that he was not happy with the bank taking the money for the Davenport deal and had told the Co-Op bank manager to his face.
The bank would not keep us in debt and the quicker Peter Reid gets us back in the Premier League the happier he would be.
The Board had not discussed the intentions of Mr Dhinsa but if he was to offer a quid he would not get the club and Mr McGinnity said that he waited for his offer.
On the casino which may not be given the go ahead,Mr McGinnity said that we can only hope and pray that the arena casino is one of the eight selected. There are alternatives arrangements that could made.
Peter Reid said he had settled in nicely,apart from the traffic. Losing three defenders had not helped and Richard Shaw and Steve Staunton had played more games than he wanted them to.
Reid was looking for consistency and hoped that he could get the best out of Dele Adebola as well as Tim Sherwood and Stern John who would become part of his "Spine". He wants competition for places and although he felt that it was hard to get in the play-offs,we could get there.
He felt that the fans had shown patience and was convinced that we could do it but said that it takes time for the players to gel.
One question to Peter Reid was had the team moved forward in the last six months. Mr McGinnity tried to rise to his feet but was held back and Reid continued saying that it was difficult to tell if there was an improvement, but we have a good backbone and some good loan players.
He said that nowadays,it was hard to keep any deal quiet but it would not stop him looking,that we had a good backbone and some good loan players and added that Dion Dublin asked Peter Reid about a move to Coventry. He concluded his answer by saying: "Our hands are tied but I think that I'll do better."
On asked about his 4-5-1 formation which he again insisted was 4-3-3. He said it was 4-3-3- when we have the ball and 4-5-1 when we don't.
He made told the players that he is not keeping so they can look for other clubs and said that the fans had been fantastic.
I then raised my hand,causing some stern looks from the top table and praised Steve Ogrizovic and Brian Borrows for the work they have done with the Academy and the reserves.
One shareholder felt that the meeting had been confrontational and Mr McGinnity replied that he did not want to be confrontational and would accept criticism but not personal criticism.
The Chairman admitted that he had reservations about being able to fill the arena every week and felt that the club needed to work harder and play good football to entice people into the new stadium.
The club will be making 5% of unissued shares available to supporters but Mr Hover stressed that it was an expensive business to do so.
Season ticket prices would be announced shortly.
Mr McGinnity closed the evening by saying that it should be "Chairman In Need" day before those assembled watched a fly through presentation about the new arena and enjoyed a free bar.