Sort It Out City

Last updated : 11 December 2012 By Covsupport News Service

So 91% of those who have responded to a poll in the Coventry Telegraph want Coventry City and their owners SISU to accept the latest deal put to them by Arena Coventry Limited.

The deal, which is widely understood to consist of rent of £400k a year, ten years to pay back the £1m owed in rent, as well as concessions on the food  and drink, car parking etc on match days is certainly a good one.

City CEO Tim Fisher can bang on about wanting to pay a rent that is average for League One but the Ricoh Arena is not a League One stadium.  Ok, to some it might be a soul less bowl, more suited for away fans than home supporters, but it is a facility good enough for the Olympics and good enough to stage Championship and Premier League football.

Does SISU's Joy Seppala pay Band A Council Tax for her residence in Kensington which was valued at £6.4m? We think not. And she cannot expect to get away with League One rent on a Premier League facility.

We fully accept that the current board are only trying to deal with the mess caused by those in on the deal in 2005, who agreed the rent, after the share in ACL had been sold to the Higgs Charity, knowing full well that income streams were limited and that SISU should have highlighted this issue when they took control of the club, but the threats of playing matches elsewhere have to stop.

Nene Park, not that it has a big enough capacity for a club of City's stature, is going to need money spent on it and the money you will be duty bound to lay out on transport (one of the reasons that clubs like Brighton were allowed to play in another town) to get supporters to Northamptonshire is only going to add to the club's running costs, making it probably unfeasible.

Moving the club out of our city even for a while will only rile supporters, supporters you cannot afford to lose. Many won't even travel to Nuneaton for a game so playing home games at the home of former club Rushden & Diamonds FC is a sure fire way of losing a lot of what support you have.

It's good that the Board are speaking to supporters and supporters groups but it is time that SISU and The Board listened to the supporters and come back to the table and see if some common ground can be found for a deal that suits all parties can be achieved.