The following motion has been placed on the House of Commons order paper about the removal of Coventry City to Northampton after the Football League gave ‘reluctant’ approval and has been signed by 13 MPs to date. Early day motions are a way for MPs to express concern about an issue and are not usually debated.
The following motion has been placed on the House of Commons order paper about the removal of Coventry City to Northampton after the Football League gave ‘reluctant’ approval and has been signed by 13 MPs to date. Early day motions are a way for MPs to express concern about an issue and are not usually debated.
‘That this House notes the long-running dispute between Coventry City Football Club and the owners of the Ricoh Arena, Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), over stadium rent, match-day revenues and stadium ownership; further notes that Sisu, the club’s owners, have been looking at options for a new stadium; recognises that the club has been in administration after being taken to court by ACL and that the Ricoh Arena ended negotiations in May 2013; further notes the proposed sale of the club by the administrator to Otium Entertainment Group Ltd; understands that the club is considering hiring Northampton’s ground for home games; expresses dismay at the possibility of Coventry City Football Club playing home games outside Coventry; further notes that the Minister of State for Sport and Tourism said in an adjournment debate that he would be happy to intervene in this matter at a stage at which his intervention might be helpful, 12 March 2013, Official Report, column 67WH and believes that this time has come; and, given that all parties have taken up entrenched positions, calls on the Sports and Tourism Minister to convene an urgent meeting between the club, ACL, Coventry City Council, which half owns ACL, and the Football League to negotiate an interim arrangement to enable the club to remain at the Ricoh Arena until a final settlement can be reached.’
A strongly worded amendment has been tabled by Coventry MP Bob Ainsworth: ‘leave out from ‘(ACL)’ to end and add ‘and condemns the decision of the Football League to allow the owners of Coventry City Football Club to play their homes games for the next three years over 30 miles away from the city in Northampton; believes there is no viable plan or intention of the owners to return to the Coventry area and that therefore this permission is in contravention of the League’s own policy; believes rather than seeking a £1 million surety from the club obliging their return, the League should have investigated the situation as well as the background of an organisation that put itself into administration having run up many millions of debt while ensuring that it was structured in such a way that it would itself be the main creditor, and that this was a deliberate strategy developed over time to defraud its creditors; further believes that this kind of owner brings the game of football into disrepute; and calls on the Government, if the League will not act, to draw up proposals to reform the governance of the game and prevent this kind of abuse.’.