Coventry City under EFL pressure

[Willis88]

I still find it hard to believe the EFL/PL don't get more flack over the way they claim stewardship of the game and yet their fit and proper persons test seems to let the charlatans in time and time again...

Just look at this season alone...Bolton, Blackpool Coventry Birmingham all under the hammer and all through the poor behaviour of their owners who have enriched themselves ( or tried to) at the expense of their club.....and the millions they pour in...all seem to loans at non commercial rates with no doubt some charge over assets so if the liquidators come calling guess who will get first dibs, many employing family members as either consultants or senior execs.

Then look at Charlton and their multi club owning chairman...Tony Fernandez and the various owners of QPR who seem to spend their life either pouring money in to gain the promised land or sacking managers..Derby haemorrhaging cash...all loaned by their owner to scrape into the top six...of the Championship!


Fans demand money as a price of ownership....then turn when the taps run dry ( Staplewallet anyone.....) well how did that 100 million in one close season for Fulham pan out?

I saw the Eisners enjoying their day out at Wembley with Pompous....I followed the takeover as it was a Fans Trust selling out to new owners and it is interesting that they seem to be espousing the same mantra as our chairman and his predecessor...self sufficiency in the medium to long term...and for those clubs outside the top six to ten in the PL I can't see there is a better way forward than that....if it means players moving on then so be it..there will be other players coming through to replace them....

Promotion and relegation are what make the league interesting and exciting...we aspire to one and fear the other....but without it what do we have ...the EPL with its four from six team shuffle at the top.....why do you think everyone enjoyed the Leicester City story so much...simply that it gave hope ( admittedly off the back of a billionaire owner who seems to have been the exception over the rule in the way he ran his club.)

So I hope the EFL don't punish Blackpool and Coventry fans for the misdemeanours of their owners, but instead look at themselves and find a way to make the league what it should be ...exciting and sporting....not a money making lottery for the corrupt and incompetent....

Phew...sorry about that

There is no test that the EFL could run on any potential new owner of a football club that could predict whether they are going to be a good custodian or a bad one.

I don't accept that. I agree that there is no test that they currently run today.

There is scope for a 'test' that involves previous record of business (bankruptcies etc), intentions for the club with sanctions if not met, board level appointments etc etc. The EFL could, and should, do a lot more.

If you were presented with the Oyston's previous record and then they offered you a 2nd-hand car - would you buy it?

Cabbie has a point, do you really know what every person is going to become based on their history? How many criminals are now valued members of society? How many charity workers turned out to be criminals (look at some Oxfam aid workers for example)?

Remember the Oyston's owned Blackpool for decades but it was only since the premier league time that things got messy with them.

I do, however, think the EFL needs the ability to eject owners rather than waiting for them to sell up/go bust.

 

[pafcprogs]

Ken Anderson was bannend as a company director.

Bolton Wanderers new chairman Ken Anderson,a former football agent, was disqualified as a company director from 2005 until 2013 for transgressions including diverting company funds into personal accounts, VAT discrepancies and failure to cooperate with receivers. The Football League say Anderson passed their owners and directors test because his sentence has been served

That worked well didn't it....HMRC petitions, family being paid as consultants ( but now staff not being paid so they may not be able to play in front of their fans).

And thats after the previous owner bailed him out with about five million days before he died ....

Shall we talk about Mark Goldberg now

 

[Willis88]

Ken Anderson was bannend as a company director.

Bolton Wanderers new chairman Ken Anderson,a former football agent, was disqualified as a company director from 2005 until 2013 for transgressions including diverting company funds into personal accounts, VAT discrepancies and failure to cooperate with receivers. The Football League say Anderson passed their owners and directors test because his sentence has been served

That worked well didn't it....HMRC petitions, family being paid as consultants ( but now staff not being paid so they may not be able to play in front of their fans).

And thats after the previous owner bailed him out with about five million days before he died ....

Shall we talk about Mark Goldberg now

Then the test isn't good enough. I agree history can be used as a measure, but it shouldn't be the be all and end all of the appointment.

At the end of the day what would be best? Block everyone who's ever gone to prison/been fined by HMRC etc? The next step will be the EFL being dragged up over human rights legislation not allowing spent convictions to be ignored.

I agree, there are some complete jokes being let through by the EFL, but what they really need is the teeth to push these people out rather than hoping their background check/test is sufficient.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Sorry but we got punished with points deducted for having bad owners, the same should apply to other clubs otherwise we have been treated unfairly.

We didn't get punished for having bad owners - if that was the case then there would be deductions every week! We were punished for going into admin.

And why did we go into admin? Did it have nothing to do with the owners at the time? roblem:

 

[xmastree]

Sorry but we got punished with points deducted for having bad owners, the same should apply to other clubs otherwise we have been treated unfairly.

We didn't get punished for having bad owners - if that was the case then there would be deductions every week! We were punished for going into admin.

And why did we go into admin? Did it have nothing to do with the owners at the time? roblem:

Of course it did! But, as stated above, it was the admin that drew the punishment and therefore it was a different situation than those currently at Coventry and Blackpool.

 

[JannerinCardiff]

Sorry but we got punished with points deducted for having bad owners, the same should apply to other clubs otherwise we have been treated unfairly.

We didn't get punished for having bad owners - if that was the case then there would be deductions every week! We were punished for going into admin.

And why did we go into admin? Did it have nothing to do with the owners at the time? roblem:

Exactly. It wasn’t the fans fault we went into admin, it was the owners - so it’s their fault we had a points deduction.

 

[xmastree]

Sorry but we got punished with points deducted for having bad owners, the same should apply to other clubs otherwise we have been treated unfairly.

We didn't get punished for having bad owners - if that was the case then there would be deductions every week! We were punished for going into admin.

And why did we go into admin? Did it have nothing to do with the owners at the time? roblem:

Exactly. It wasn’t the fans fault we went into admin, it was the owners - so it’s their fault we had a points deduction.

I can't think of any instance of a club going into admin being the fault of the fans, so I'm not sure where that came from!

 

[JannerinCardiff]

I’m just saying going into admin must be someone’s fault, and to me the owners are responsible.

 

[pastiesforlife]

Ken Anderson was bannend as a company director.

Bolton Wanderers new chairman Ken Anderson,a former football agent, was disqualified as a company director from 2005 until 2013 for transgressions including diverting company funds into personal accounts, VAT discrepancies and failure to cooperate with receivers. The Football League say Anderson passed their owners and directors test because his sentence has been served

That worked well didn't it....HMRC petitions, family being paid as consultants ( but now staff not being paid so they may not be able to play in front of their fans).

And thats after the previous owner bailed him out with about five million days before he died ....

Shall we talk about Mark Goldberg now

On Talksport this morning they were reporting that Anderson has agreed to sell to the ex Watford owner. Think they said that he had been declared bankrupt three times and was banned from owning a club for three years.

Sean Harvey was on live and stated that the EFL could not object as the three year ban had finished. He also said that the new owner (deal to be completed within two weeks) might have learned from his previous experience.

So no worries for Bolton fans!

 

[Allanon]

Owners should be made Liable for all debts, not just the company (yes, I know that is not how a limited company works ( I own my own company)) but the EFL and EPL should have it as a requirement.

 

[DrP78]

I have a little bit of insight into this as I work at Coventry Uni and work very closely with the local sports teams.

In short, the council sold the Ricoh Arena to Wasps RFC back in 2014 and the football club's (dubious and anonymous) owners were livid. As a result, the owners - SISU, are suing the council. Wasps have said they will not do a deal with SISU (and thus the football club) until the legal action is resolved. Hence, the football club will be homeless at the end of this season.

The victims in this are the football club's fans. SISU's record as owners has been very poor and now it appears their best bet is a groundshare with Burton next season - this is their best option. SISU presented a new stadium proposal to the council this week - it was less than one page of A4 long!

From a financial viewpoint, Wasps don't need Coventry at the Ricoh, but in the interests of having a positive image in the city would probably allow them to play there for a nominal rent, as they do now.

 

[Quintrell Green]

I read that Coventry are under pressure and the EFL have called an EGM for later this month to determine their future as there is an apparent running issue with their landlord/s at The Ricoh Stadium concerning their tenure for next season . Should Coventry not be able to confirm the ground arrangements for 2019/20, there is a possibility they can be expelled from League One. Will this be a potential advantage to a relegated team being able to maintain their League One status.
It is all early days, but interesting times, should it relieve relegation pressure for an Argyle opponent.

This thread has drifted far off focus since I raised it. I was originally making the point to those who still consider Argyle to be a relegation risk, that there is an issue in League One that may give some comfort in their concern. The EFL will want to keep the numbers of clubs up in the League for next season, and therefore one club may get lucky if only 2 go down.

 

[pafcprogs]

Sorry I was partly responsible for that...

But it would be three go down in that case....Coventry may be a big club but not that big

( Sod's law it will be Sporting Wycombe that get reprieved)

 

[chunkymonkey78]

I have a little bit of insight into this as I work at Coventry Uni and work very closely with the local sports teams.

In short, the council sold the Ricoh Arena to Wasps RFC back in 2014 and the football club's (dubious and anonymous) owners were livid. As a result, the owners - SISU, are suing the council. Wasps have said they will not do a deal with SISU (and thus the football club) until the legal action is resolved. Hence, the football club will be homeless at the end of this season.

The victims in this are the football club's fans. SISU's record as owners has been very poor and now it appears their best bet is a groundshare with Burton next season - this is their best option. SISU presented a new stadium proposal to the council this week - it was less than one page of A4 long!

From a financial viewpoint, Wasps don't need Coventry at the Ricoh, but in the interests of having a positive image in the city would probably allow them to play there for a nominal rent, as they do now.

So why aren't the council helping? They've effectively allowed LONDON Wasps to do an MK Dons and in the process evict their own city's single major football club?

How are SISU at fault? I've never understood why the council would stand by and watch this happen?

 

[JannerinCardiff]

I have a little bit of insight into this as I work at Coventry Uni and work very closely with the local sports teams.

In short, the council sold the Ricoh Arena to Wasps RFC back in 2014 and the football club's (dubious and anonymous) owners were livid. As a result, the owners - SISU, are suing the council. Wasps have said they will not do a deal with SISU (and thus the football club) until the legal action is resolved. Hence, the football club will be homeless at the end of this season.

The victims in this are the football club's fans. SISU's record as owners has been very poor and now it appears their best bet is a groundshare with Burton next season - this is their best option. SISU presented a new stadium proposal to the council this week - it was less than one page of A4 long!

From a financial viewpoint, Wasps don't need Coventry at the Ricoh, but in the interests of having a positive image in the city would probably allow them to play there for a nominal rent, as they do now.

What a nightmare! Makes me thankful PAFC own Home Park..