There has been much rumour, speculation, guess work and conjecture concerning the story that appeared in the Coventry Telegraph about Wasps rugby club taking a controlling interest in ACL, the current leaseholders and management company of the Ricoh Arena. The Sky Blue Trust has spent the past few days talking, formally and informally, to all the major parties involved including ACL, Coventry Council and Coventry City Football Club to see what the actual facts are of this matter and if there are any grounds for concern for Coventry City fans both in the short and long term.
Officially neither the Council nor ACL would confirm or deny that any talks were taking place. As we understand it however there have been talks but not with Wasps rugby club but with a consortium headed up by Derek Richardson, the owner of Wasps. Mr Richardson is London based Irish multi-millionaire businessman. He was the founder of 123.ie, Ireland’s first online insurance company which was sold to RSA insurance for a report £45 million.
The deal appears to be for the entire Higgs Charity share and most of the council share in ACL. ACL would carry on trading as it is just with new ownership and all current contracts would be honoured, including the existing 2 year + 2year extension deal that Coventry City FC have in place.
Therefore there is no danger of Coventry City Football Club being evicted or turfed out for the next four years at least.
Coventry City Football Club have said that they have not been informed of any negotiations that may have been or are taking place but as is typical with this type of deal it is likely that non-disclosure agreements will have been signed by all parties. However there had been no hint of anything like this during the 5 weeks that the current day renter deal had taken to negotiate with ACL.
As far as the football club is concerned it has a 2+2 deal and fully expects to be at the Ricoh for the next four years – what happens during that time by way of contract extensions etc is something for the future but the current priority is getting back to playing at the Ricoh and getting fans through the turnstiles.
The club maintains it current stance regarding the importance of stadium ownership and revenues and, to date, has not made any statement about any cessation of plans to build its own ground.
Whilst we have not been in direct contact with Coventry RFC or Wasps RFC we are lead to believe that the major concern of Coventry Rugby Club is not the arrival of Wasps to play at the Ricoh as they believe their fan base is loyal and will stay with them at the Butts, especially as Wasps are likely to be playing on different days to Cov.
Their major concern centres around the development squad situation. Each major team such as Wasps has links with a junior team with respect to player development etc and it appears that whilst Cov were approached by Wasps about such an arrangement Moseley RFC have been far more eager to partner with Wasps and as such could leave Cov out in the cold. We understand that such a development deal can be worth upwards of £50,000 per season to the junior club.
In summary
1. 1.There do appear to be talks going on about the sale of 90% of ACL to a consortium headed up by the owner of Wasps Rugby club
2. 2 CCFC effectively have a 4 year deal to stay at the Ricoh and this will be honoured by whoever the owners of ACL are
3. CCFC’s current priority is not new long term deals but getting fans into the Ricoh
4. 4. Coventry RFC are concerned about the development partnership with Wasps being done with Moseley and not Cov.
Since the Summer of 2013, the Sky Blue Trust had a short-term priority to get the Club back to the Ricoh Arena. Now that has been achieved, our immediate priority is to make sure they stay there in the long-term. The Sky Blue Trust will continue to question all sides about this and other matters and bring the facts to the attention of its members and Coventry City supporters in general.