Transcript of Nick Eastwood's words

[Vespula Vulgaris]

So it would appear that CCFC have informed EFL that they will be playing at the Ricoh next season.

Did anyone ask Wasps?

[Rossm]

So it would appear that CCFC have informed EFL that they will be playing at the Ricoh next season.

Not according to this article in the Coventry Telegraph.

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/english-football-league-coventry-city-15933148

A couple of brief extracts:

"English Football League boss Shaun Harvey has said Coventry City are "still some distance away" from confirming a ground for next season."

and

"The club has also said it is exploring other options for a groundshare.
A statement from the EFL has confirmed tonight that the club "is not yet in a position to provide absolute clarity on its plans".

and

"The EFL understands that it is the Club’s preference to extend their stay at the Ricoh Arena for future seasons and would view this as a sensible and suitable solution to the matter."

[BG]

So basically CCFC are just playing for extra time and EFL are allowing them to do so. Not for one moment did I think the 5th of March would be the ultimate cut-off for CCFC and EFL.

I wouldn't be suprised if CCFC are allowed to string this out until mid August.

When do the rugby fixtures for next season become set?

[Marlow Nick]

When is JR2 decision due?  It might make things a bit clearer to the general public if JR2 was thrown out before CCFC have to report to EFL. SISU/Otium/Odious will then have to decide if they want to appeal again. Then the headlines might read something like "CCFC have a choice - appeal or deal"

[Neils]

It is an Appeal against losing JR2 and is with the Supreme Court to decide on whether to allow the Appeal. It should be decided before Easter (which is quite late this year towards the end of April). If they decide to allow the Appeal then the case goes into the new cycle of cases and last year this took 9-10 months to reach fruition. However, it was said that with the many strands of Brexit requiring Court attention it could stretch to over a year. Hopefully they will lose the Appeal but SISU have already said they will take any other actions open to them (EU or Civil).

[Fats]

We might need to use the VAR or TMO to solve this one!

[Heathen]

I wouldn't be suprised if CCFC are allowed to string this out until mid August.

EFL fixtures were announced for this season on 21 June and season started on the first weekend in August.

Premiership fixtures were announced on July 13.

[Marlovian]

Finally a statement from SISU: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11710/11664211/coventry-city-owners-sisu-release-open-letter-to-fans

[Rossm]

Well that's clear then. It's everybody else's fault but SISU who are absolutely blameless in all this.

[wasps]

so, if we take that article as truth, then they want:
1) the council to agree to (and presumably pay for) a stadium for CCFC within Coventry
2) Wasps to allow them to continue at the Ricoh on peppercorn rent until such time that they can move to their new stadium.
If they get both of these, they drop their legal proceedings.


I may be in cloud cuckoo land, but I suspect that Wasps would allow them to play at the Ricoh for a period of time if they dropped their lawsuits.

As such, I can only assume that the main stumbling block at the moment is that the council want less to do with SISU than Wasps do.
My guess is that the council would be only too happy to have CCFC playing in the city, but they're probably not too happy at having to pay the majority of the expense for a new stadium only to have to hand it over to a company who have previously failed to pay them, and who have more recently cost them significant financial losses and significant stress.

I can hardly say I blame them.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Well, that is a very one eyed view of the world according to SISU.

[Neils]

Bonkers view.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

A masterpiece of PR Spin.

[Marlovian]

I think "one eyed" is very generous, NWW! I'd call it delusional - the whole tone of it made me laugh out loud.

I've stripped this from a thread on the other site to add some context - thanks to La Guepe and his research. It puts this whole statement in context. The back ground is that in 2005 SISU started legal action relating to their interests in certain energy companies that had failed financially. SISU lost and the judge made these statements in his judgement:

"Ms Seppala was the least satisfactory of all the witnesses. In making my general comments above, I said that no-one was deliberately lying. But I fear Ms Seppala has a distorted recollection of some events..."

"She is also prone to exaggerate – the Respondents would characterise it as lying, but I give her the benefit of the doubt on that..."

"Further, it was the perception of others that the Applicants [SISU] were not seriously interested in negotiating but were interested only in reaching a final position under which their own interests prevailed."

I have no doubt there will be further legal action regardless of the outcome of the current and also have no doubt that SISU would renege on any agreement not to take any further action. I feel desperately sorry for the Coventry City supporters but now is not the time to blink. 

[jamestaylor002]

That letter really does beggar belief and, in ways, makes me quite frustrated this is allowed to happen. They obviously do not consider their multiple failed legal challenges to be problematic and their wish to continue with legals is either stupidity or blind faith that, somewhere down the line, they will get their decision or will cripple Wasps before that, leading me to think that SISU really do have a "50 no's and a yes, means yes" mentality.
Hard to fathom really.