What's happening to Coventry is sickening. Yet again the football authorities do nothing. How can they sanction the same people taking the club out of administration who put the club in it!? Football League are woefully out of their depth, have never got anything right regards decisions made against Saints, Bournemouth, Luton, Pompey and the list goes on. If we are into a season, they get in a panic about "not being able to fullfil fixtures". If we are in the close season, they come up with the same excuse!
I think I got behind on the Coventry story because the last thing I heard they were being offered the stadium for "free". I'm guessing it wasn't really free. But with the amazingly high rent they were paying, it was clearly going to result in a slow motion car crash.
Local news reporting that £12m grant going to cobblers to improve ground facilities and capacity on back of this arrangement. Also suggesting Coventry get priorit over kick off days, I. E., cobblers switch to Friday nights and Wednesdays.
You are right CBK. Not wishing to appear trite at such a horrible time for Coventry fans, but phew, what a lucky escape for us!
It is if the steel doesn't continue to corrode. Unfortunately, one of the factors that leads to a much greater likelihood of that happening is exposure to sea air...something that might be difficult to prevent in Southampton.
The money for improvements will compensate for the change of game times in the long term, but bet Cobblers fans are annoyed. What is going on though...i thought the Ricoh was offered free, presumably because of the threat to move. What will happen to the Arena?
It's baffling, even a mate who is a Cov fan struggles to understand whats going on. The new owners (who are the old owners with a different company name) clearly won't make any money out of a club playing in a small ground 30 miles away, so why are they doing this apart from out of some sort of twisted spite? Not sure if the Arena for free offer was legit, as according to my mate, the arena owners are almost as inept as SISU was. All a big mess with the Football League sticking its fingers in its ears as usual hoping it all just goes away. Fans suffer, as ever.
If the Ricoh hasn't got a football club will it be ripe for development? Could there be people who engineered this? Or am I just cynical?
I'm not sure Fran. I know several ST holders at Cobblers and they are unsure of all details. I'm just so grateful that SISU bought Coventry and not Saints; something that Lowe got right by accident.
Maybe they are trying to force a deal or drive the staduim out of business so they can pick it up on the cheap.
It's already developed. Has got an indoor arena, hotel & casino. It's pretty busy with concerts and exhibitions, although clearly the steady income of matchdays must make it pay more than the others.
