Coventry City Council have welcomed the Judicial Review decision made this morning and have said that they want the Sky Blues back to the Ricoh Arena as soon as possible.
Coventry City Council have issued the following statement:
"Coventry City Council has welcomed the judgement handed down today (Monday 30 June) following the judicial review into the Council’s decision to support new loan arrangements for ACL.
Cllr Ann Lucas, OBE, Leader of the Council, said: “We are delighted that the judge has found the claimants’ grounds for bringing the JR are totally invalid .
“We were always confident we could robustly defend our unanimous and cross party decision by all councillors at Full Council in January 2013 to support the new loan arrangement to ACL. The decision was taken in order to protect an important asset – the Ricoh Arena – which belongs to the people of Coventry. We had no choice about defending this decision in the courts.
“We have taken no pleasure in finding ourselves in court defending our decision and in having to spend council taxpayers’ money defending a legal challenge from SISU. We have always wanted to see the Sky Blues playing back at the Ricoh, the club’s rightful home. Our door remains open – to the football club, to anyone who wants to talk to us about the future of the Ricoh Arena. We will always listen, and make our choices based on what’s best for the city, not on what works for the interests of one group.
“We continue to urge Joy Seppala to consider a return to the Ricoh Arena so that thousands of Sky Blues fans can see their team again at home and the relationship between the club and ACL can be rebuilt.
“If Joy does not want – even now – to return the football club to its rightful home back here at the Ricoh Arena we would encourage the Football League to use its powers to ensure a rapid return to Coventry for the sake of thousands of Sky Blues fans.
“We also urge SISU to abandon further costly, lengthy and pointless appeals and focus on realistic ways of bringing the club home.”
Judge Hickinbottom has yet to award costs as a result of the hearing. A decision on costs is expected on 4 July"