Clouting Writes To Supporters Over Club Accounts

Last updated : 07 June 2011 By Covsupport News Service

Coventry City CEO Paul Clouting has written to supporters via email about the club's accounts which have become public.

The letter from Mr Clouting is as follows:

"I wanted to write to you on the back of the report in the Coventry Telegraph surrounding the club’s accounts.

As we said in our media statement, there is nothing new in the accounts – it has become a ‘new’ story because the accounts for the year 2009/2010 (the financial position of the club over a year ago) have been filed at Companies House and are now available to view.

It’s worth noting that despite the position that is portrayed, our owner SISU has continued to invest over the last year.

We had already been up front and honest about our current finances at our recent fans’ forum and, earlier, at the press conference when the new members of the board were announced.

We have made it absolutely clear that the club is seeking new investors to support the investment pumped in by the owner over the past three years.

The ‘debt’ as it is listed and reported, is money the owner has put into the club – it is not money owed to a bank or lending institution.

Again, we have been transparent about this and we’ve made it clear that we need to continue to improve revenue streams across the football club as well as looking for new investment.

For some reason, the investment by the owner over the previous three years seems to be regarded as negative. During this period no-one has made an approach to buy the club. Would the club have been in a better position without the owner’s investment? Clearly the answer is no.

I was going to write that nothing had changed since the fans’ forum but, actually, it has. We have, thanks to supporters like you, had a very strong uptake on Season Tickets and will continue to push to sell even more between now and August.

On top of that, we’ve had a very good response to the new kit and sales have been way beyond the same period last year.

So there are some real positives thanks to our fans, like you, who pledged your support. To that end, we will, where we can, continue to be as open and honest about matters concerning your football club.

Thank you once again for your support



PAUL CLOUTING
Chief Executive Officer, Coventry City FC