Coventry City Football Club have issed the following statement regarding their High Court victory over an application for a judicial review.
The statement is as follows:
"The High Court today ruled that there were good grounds for an investigation at a full Judicial Review by a High Court Judge into the legality of the loan made to ACL and whether the Council made that loan for an "improper purpose", namely to force the owners of the Club to sell out at an undervalue.
In these Âdministrative Law proceedings, the court will review the Council's conduct and the legality of its actions, rather than deciding a commercial dispute. The Court will consider (amongst other things) what motivated the Council to reject a deal (for which heads of agreement were signed in August 2012) by which SISU would pay off the bank debt and leave ACL debt free, in preference to the Council lending £14.4 million of public money secured on an asset which it believed at the time it made the loan to be worth around £6m.
The Judicial Review will finally allow all the facts behind this damaging saga to be revealed to fans and taxpayers.
Joy Seppala has made clear that we do not rule out a return to the Ricoh but the Council's stance has compelled us to focus on progressing the plans for our new stadium in the Coventry Area. The Club needs to have control over its stadium in order to guarantee its future financially and make it free from all political interference."
More: http://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/article/club-statement-291113-1204876.aspx