Thank you Amanda. I appreciate that you are in the middle here and recognise the efforts that you are going to in responding to communications on the subject.
Unfortunately you appear to be holding a particularly pungent end of a rather big stick. I don’t envy you.
However must admit that listening to the interview given by Mr Clarke to BBC Coventry & Warwickshire that was broadcast yesterday morning has given me no confidence in the FL on this matter. And, very importantly, in recent years the FL has raised the expectation of fans that should clubs get into such circumstances there would be action to prevent wilfully grinding a club into the ground and a club effectively becoming a franchise club. However we heard that the FL is powerless to act.
Mr Clarke gave the example of allowing the charlatans that are SISU/Otium scheming to reacquire despite all of the skulduggery or, alternatively, expunging the club. Believe me – for the good of the game you should have done the latter. We are now faced with any owner who wants to move their club agreeing to whatever you like about where games are played only to do what they like.
Please be aware that many fans would have accepted, and still would, liquidation. How can it be good for football that a reported 908 Coventry fans attended the game at Northampton last Sunday when between 6,000 to 8,000 watched a team of pot-bellies and baldies play a charity match at the Ricoh? It must send alarm bells when we see the lowest number of City fans EVER to watch a home FL game. I hope that more will be at the Ricoh than Northampton when the ladies team play in 9 days time.
But here is my point:
Why does it have to be frying pan or fire? May I make a suggestion? Given the objective of football being community based and cognisant of the German model of club ownership would not this be a better solution for financial misdemeanours, failure to agree CVA, wilful removal (and that is what it is) from its city be:
· Liquidate the club
· Expunge the record of the season (if during the season) / coming season (if pre-season)
· Relegate the club to League 2
· Give 12 months (if pre-season) or, if during a season, a date at the end of the next full season for a new club to be established
· The club must have 51% fan ownership (with a model for doing so set up if necessary)
· Must have a clear business model for delivery
· Must have demonstrable arrangements to play in its home town for a minimum of 25 years
· Failure to meet the deadline means the place in the FL is lost and promotion is given for an extra team from Conference.
Sounds great to me. Put that in your regulations and you’ll never have this sorry state of affairs again