Coventry City's owners SISU were heavily criticised during the Coventry Coversations talk with Tim Fisher and Steve Waggott at the Herbert Art Gallery today.
This was not well attended (although what do you expect at 1pm on Friday) and but those there heard Mr Fisher say "Revenues will crash next season to no more than £6 million. Our rent for the Ricoh Arena is £1.2 million. Position is unsustainable."
He was asked: "Are you saying I should be paying Championship ticket prices for third division football?" and replied "Ticket prices were set before relegation. We must ensure the club breaks-even.
"We know that we cannot put a price on the social welfare we deliver to the city and its people. But we do deliver value. [So this is not just about finance].
Mr Fisher was then asked: "Isn't it true that you pay players more than other teams in the Championship? How do you explain this when players perform so poorly? and he replied: "you are wrong. Waggott - "we don't overpay." We are a 'mid-paying' club."
A heated audience was near enough calling for performance related contracts with questions such as "Why do you have so many players who are paid too much and don't perform for the club or even care about it?
Questions then turned to SISU "really disappointed, not with the players, but with SISU. Who are they, what do they do? We are sick of 'new' people running OUR club was one. Along with "How can you bring in new owners when you're in the third division, no players to sell, in debt?" and "SISU = bank loans".
Mr Fisher replied by saying: "Don't criticise the young players who have shouldered the burden of our fight this year' and 'if fit and proper person comes forward to buy the club, we'd be interested'.
He did apologise for the poor communication and said: "I cannot apologise enough for any poor communication. We are being as open as possible, almost to verge of commercial insensitivity"
Professor Simon Chadwick, who organises the Coventry Conversations, felt this was getting complex and tweeted "This is all very complex....Fisher as an Executive at the club simultaneously distancing himself from while defending SISU. "
Mr Fisher then spoke about budgets for the break-even, just getting through; a budget for mid-table mediocrity a bounce back one for which the club have given SISU the figures for.
When asked by a fan 'if we buy a season ticket, what are you going to give us in return?' Fisher replied 'this club is a fallen angel going through hard times. 'We guarantee that Waggott and me will give you our total commitment and motivation.'
And went on to say that "We welcome the reawakening of the Sky Blues Trust'. And 'the business as it stands at the moment is totally unsustainable which poses the question - 'Would you invest £15m in a business that yields £10m?'
Joe Elliott was in the room and spoke on behalf of the job TIm Fisher and Steve Waggot were trying to do.
There were calls for SISU to buy the Ricoh Arena if it was so commercially appealing but it was felt that Coventry City Council ownership share was a sticking point and are they likely to sell a revenue generating asset during a time of central government budget cuts and a recession?
Thanks to Professor Simon Chadwick for his tweets on this.