Paul Appleton, the administrator of Coventry City, is insisting that the Sky Blues are available for sale from today and that this includes the golden share which enables the club to play in the Football League.
Paul Appleton, the administrator of Coventry City, is insisting that the Sky Blues are available for sale from today and that this includes the golden share which enables the club to play in the Football League.
However, it is evident from the administrator’s own report that the legal situation is highly complex and that potential investors cannot be sure what it is they are buying. The administrator has had to delve back to 1907 to try and establish the relevant facts. As the administrator himself admits, this is all likely to end up back in court which will mean further delays in getting the club back on its feet.
What Coventry Council, Arena Coventry Limited (the operators of the Ricoh Arena) and Sky Blues fans would like to see is a successful takeover by the consortium backed by American millionaire Preston Haskell and including local people who have been involved with the club.
However, it is evident that hedge fund Sisu would like to get back in control. The club has been run into the ground under their management. Coventry deserves better than a League 1 club. What I have never really been able to work out is what Sisu’s motives and strategy have been.
If they thought they could make money out of a football club that doesn’t own its own ground, they were surely disabused of that idea a long time ago. Coventry City Council and the Higgs Trust were hardly likely to hand the Ricoh over to them at a knockdown price. What they do seem to think is that they can win by playing hardball and using all legal avenues open to them. That is why it remains unclear whether the light at the end of the tunnel is a train coming the other way.