Coventry City's Future Remains Uncertain - 23/09/2007

It can be a mixed blessing if someone else provides your stadium. You can get a first rate facility on very favourable terms as has happened with Manchester City. But it can also leave you with no tangible assets that you can borrow against. Coventry City's Ricoh stadium is superb with its hotel and conference facilities and a great improvement on their former home. However, it has not resolved their financial position. The club are £28m in debt and recently had to vehemently deny reports that they faced the threat of administration due to a breakdown in talks with potential investors Manhattan Sports Capital Partners. In February the American consortium - the bid vehicle for investors Sean McDevitt and Philip Harris, along with US-based English investment adviser Roger Mament - agreed in principle a deal to takeover the Sky Blues. The talks were spearheaded by business consultant and lifelong City fan Gary Hopkins. Since February, there has been no further news of progress in the talks, although Sky Blues insist that they are still 'heavily involved' in discussions. Goodness knows how long it would have taken to sort out if the discussions had been light ones.

In any case the story has moved on with Sky Blues claiming that they have received two offers to take over the club and expecting a third. Managing director Paul Fletcher is insistent that these are legitimate offers and that both parties want to restructure the ownership of the football club and the Ricoh Arena into one organisation, involving detailed negotiations with Coventry City Council and the Higgs Charity. A complicating factor is that Coventry had a storming start to the Championship season, topping the table, but have now faded, going down 4-1 yesterday at Ipswich. To make the Ricoh viable Coventry really need to regain the Premiership status. From being a third level club they broke through into the top flight when Coventry was one of the most prosperous cities in Britain as a major centre of car production. Now all the volume car production has gone, but the city is reinventing itself in services and high technology.