It has emerged that when the new look board announced that Sisu had injected £5m to stave off administration last season, it was the money realised from the sale of Prozone that was pumped back into the club and not new money from the owners.
The sports performance analysis company Prozone was founded by former Coventry City chairman Ray Ranson. Sky Blue Sport and Leisure, the company formed by Sisu and Ranson to run Coventry City became the parent company of Prozone.
Prozone was a profitable part of the company, making around £0.5m a year, but was sold to raise capital earlier in the year to the French based company Sport Universal Process for between £4 and £5m.
Last season, with the club losing an estimated £0.5m a month and edging toward either liquidation or administration, Sisu decided to sell off one of the only assets the holding company had to raise cash to ward of a collapse of the club.
It is understood that the money realised from the sale of Prozone was pumped back into the club, but has already been used.
When the new look board was formed under Ken Dulieu's chairmanship last March. Mr Dulieu said he has persuaded Sisu to inject more cash into the club to keep it afloat until the end of the season, but the money was not new outside investment at all.
Ken Dulieu said at the press conference in March, in which the new board of directors were introduced, “It was a real coup for this team that we got more investment in, but there’s no fairy godmother here.
“We’ve got to turn the business around and get some more funding in. We can’t just rely on Sisu and the white-water rafting we’ve gone through in the last few weeks.”
The recently appointed Chief Executive Paul Clouting revealed his reasoning behind joining an apparently failing club and is quoted by the CT as saying: “Sisu continuing to invest in the business which is absolutely critical."
“They were talking to me three months ago and one of the key things was I would be crazy to walk through the front door without understanding that they were going to continue investing in the business.”
As for Sisu's representative on the board, Onye Igwe, he is on record at the March press conference as saying: “We are totally committed to supporting the club. We have already invested several millions of pounds and we haven’t taken anything out."
“When we came in we had the view of improving the way the business operates. It is clear that has not been successful but we have got a lot of very good ideas that, up until now, have been lost.”
Prozone supply statistical and performance data to some of the biggest clubs around the world, and include Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and the New York Red Bulls. It was founded by Ray Ranson and was used in lieu of capital in exchange for a 24% holding in Sky Blue Sport and Leisure when he and Sisu took control of the club.
A statement was released by Coventry City FC read, “As everyone knows, the owners of the club have continued to back it through very testing times having saved it from almost certain extinction a few years ago. That continues to be the case."
“We do not comment on specific private financial matters as that would breach confidentiality obligations. We would hope that all followers of CCFC judge the owners on their track record of backing the club and their oft-stated determination to make it successful."
"The club remains focused on preparing pre-season training and the new campaign ahead.”