Interesting piece today from Duncan Castles about the new Coventry owner offering supporters the opportunity to buy shares in the club. Why don't GFH try this? It would help them to free up some finance/reduce their liabilities and give fans a stake in the club. US multimillionaire Preston Haskell agrees Ricoh Arena deal as he prepares Coventry City takeover. #CCFC #LUFC An American multimillionaire has agreed a deal to purchase a half share of Coventry City's stadium with a view to buying the League One club out of an impending administration. Preston Haskell has promised to invest heavily in Coventry's playing squad and overhaul the club's operations as a means of ending more than decade long absence from England's top tier. Haskell's plans for Coventry include the return of suspended life president Joe Elliott as chairman. He also intends to bring The Sky Blue Trust onto a restructured board by offering the supporters trust a 20% stake in their club. The Ricoh Arena is currently joint owned by the city council and The Alan Edward Higgs Charity. Haskell has agreed to buy the latter group's share in Arena Coventry Limited on condition that its management is handed to him and he is allowed to bring Coventry City out of an administration process initiated last week. "What I want is to see Coventry City back where it belongs at the top level of the English game,â Haskell told The Sunday Times. âTo return this club back to the Premier League will take investment in the team and a proper management structure, both of which I can provide. "Coventry has a fantastic fan base - over 30,000 attended a Johnstone' Paint Trophy game this season - and I want to bring that support back into the club by inviting the supporters trust to take 20% of its shares. I also want to bring Joe Elliott back as Coventry's chairman. He's a man who bleeds Sky Blue and who is furious about what the current owners have done to his club." ACL is seeking administration of the football club over £1.3m unpaid rent to force a change of ownership. On Thursday the Mayfair-based hedge fund Sisu Capital placed the club's ânon-operating subsidiaryâ Coventry City Football Club Limited into voluntary administration. Sisu then moved Coventry's staff out of the Ricoh Arena and are preparing to play home games elsewhere. The administration order has been adjourned until Tuesday. Sisu bought Coventry in 2007 when it was a Championship side and the club was relegated last season amidst supporter discontent at its management. The hedge fund is run by Joy Seppala, whose career includes a stint at disgraced US banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert.
The premier league is not going to expand. There are 30 odd clubs who believe they belong in the prem. Upto half the people investing to get their club "where they belong" are going to end up in the ****. The rewards of the prem are too high compared to those on the outside and this is the real issue.
Buying shares in a limited offering for a club outside the Premiership isn't investment, it's blind faith that one day you'll hit the jackpot. More likely is that at some point the club goes into receivership and you lose everything. A completely fan-owned club is much less likely to try to asset strip and cause financial disaster though.
Jason, I think the article also suggested that he was interested in buying Leeds. Anyone know about this & who/what/ or why he didn't try harder?
Wasnt he the American pictured with bates and susannah about a week before gfh finally bought the club
Good point Boggers. He definitely was sniffing round at the end of last year. According to t'internet he has a personal fortune of $250m - not bad but not a vast wealth compared to other football chairman. Maybe he's hoping to pick up Coventry on the cheap and make a quick profit.
Dout he'll make a quick profit to talk of, but $250m to buy Leeds & invest would certainly have been enough.
