OT - will Coventry be the next club to go

[NWC 239]

Things are looking very dicey for Coventry at the mo, with a winding up order forcing them to cough up 1.6million.The ironic thing is that the debt is being forced by the owners of the Ricoh Arena, who evidently haven''t been paid for ages. But if attendances are as bad as in the article below, its not suprising to see why!At one time, Coventry were considered a similar club to ours, so it just goes to show what progress we have made on and off the field.http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8310862/Coventry-Have-21-Days-To-Pay-Rent-Or-They-re-Out

[BigManInTheBarclay 75]

Putting the stadium so far out of town with no good transport links also doesn''t help. I remember going to the pre-season friendly we had there and I had to get a cab from the station!

 

[Bill 1,788]

This does rather blow another massive hole in some of the ludicrous twaddle spouted on other threads about City moving into some ''out of town stadium'' either owned by the council or paid for by selling peppercorns.

 

 

 

[Mungo Bumpkin 0]

Should have stayed at Highfield Road, a proper football ground, not move to an anodyne McStadium. Shame. Still, if they go it will be payback for getting us relegated by playing games after the end if the season. As Nelson would say, Ha ha!

[Old Shuck 183]

Apparantly a dedicated railway station serving the stadium was part of the original plans and a condition when the build went ahead.

 

It was then, mid-project, cancelled and they carried on without it. The ground is now like an out of town Ikea-no access other than by private car etc but nowhere to park of any significance. Barmy!

 

The landlords will have to reach a compromise with Coventry because if the football club does go under else quit and play somewhere else what are they going to do with the stadium? Do they really think someone will come along and take over the tenancy?

 

Brighton''s new ground is a few minutes walk from Falmer station with car parking space for, I would think, a thousand plus cars. If you''re going to build out of town, everything has to be right-they were fortunate with the Amex-but that was a rare instance of all the boxes being ticked. They and all the seats at the Ricoh are empty because no thought was put into the essentials surrounding the stadium.

[Nicko 0]

I live in Coventry and have subsequently gone to quite alot of games. Iv often thought they are a similar club to us in the things that have happened to them especially on the pitch. They have a decent squad and should walk the league and under Mark Robins I think they''ve finally turned a corner.

Off the pitch is another matter. SISU (the company that own them) saved them from Admin a few years ago but ever since then they havent got the balance of running a business and keeping the fans happy correct.

On the radio this morning their director was saying that moving to the ricoh was a mistake and that they entered into a contract that would one day prove impossible to pay. That was when they had recently been relegated to the championship. Now their in league 1 and the proposed 1.6 million they owe (since april) for rent is out of this world for a club in their position.

They have till boxing day and i expect it to go down to the wire, as it usually does for coventry. They will end up having to pay 1.6 million for a stadium they dont even own. 

[norfolkchance1 0]

Rather blows a hole in the arguments from about 4 or 5 years ago on this messageboard.

[First Wizard 0]

Its the fans I feel sorry for.

[Nicko 0]

Yup, sad state of affairs.

[K Lo 224]

I work in Coventry and drive past the Ricoh everyday on the way to work.The company that owns it, if I understand correctly, wamts to sell it back to Cov. FC and are just holding it so that no one else buys it, so I''m surprised at this problem. The rail station would have been a big bonus, so I don''t know why that didn''t come about.Cov. is a team that I love to hate, as there has been much office banter between Cov. fans and the few Norwich fans here (there are 4 of us in this office right now!)Do i wnat them to go out of business? Not really, just as I don''t want the Binners to either. You need rivals to make the game more interesting.

[Bill 1,788]

"that they entered into a contract that would one day prove impossible to pay"

 

well well

 

 

 

 

[Nicko 0]

[quote user="K Lo"]I work in Coventry and drive past the Ricoh everyday on the way to work.The company that owns it, if I understand correctly, wamts to sell it back to Cov. FC and are just holding it so that no one else buys it, so I''m surprised at this problem. The rail station would have been a big bonus, so I don''t know why that didn''t come about.Cov. is a team that I love to hate, as there has been much office banter between Cov. fans and the few Norwich fans here (there are 4 of us in this office right now!)Do i wnat them to go out of business? Not really, just as I don''t want the Binners to either. You need rivals to make the game more interesting.[/quote]

Thought I was the only Norwich fan in the Coventry area! :)

 

[Kirby_86 0]

Ive always thought it was a very silly move them moving from Highfield Road to their current far-too-big-for-them stadium....

[rock bus 851]

Nope i live in leamingon not too far away :)

[Waveney Canary 0]

Nick and k lo. Have you considered supporting your local team?

[Nicko 0]

[quote user="Mike hunt"]Nick and k lo. Have you considered supporting your local team?[/quote]

I''m 23 and for 20 years of my life iv lived in Norwich. I held a season ticket for 4 years. Hope that qualifies me as a norwich fan :P

However, being within close proximity of the Ricoh, and being a fan of football it''s nice to watch some every now and then. When Norwich are in the midlands or Manchester then I go to those matches.

[K Lo 224]

[quote user="Mike hunt"]Nick and k lo. Have you considered supporting your local team?[/quote]Muppet. I don''t think that Gorleston FC offers that much entertainment really, so I follow Norwich, which is the nearest football league team to where I live.

[SwindonCanary 455]

[quote user="Mike hunt"]Nick and k lo. Have you considered supporting your local team?[/quote]Will you ''higher than mighty'' guys give it a rest with supporting your local team. I live in Swindon but the only time I''ve visited the ground (apart from athletics training) is when Norwich played there.Have any of you sung ''Norwich ''til I Die''  coz I don''t remember any proviso saying unless I move away, do you ?I would love to walk to Carrow Road, have a few pints, watch the match and after, go to the bar and chat about what happenedUnfortunatly that''s not how it happens, I set off from Swindon sometime before 9am drive for 4 hours watch the match then make the journey home. Back in time for Match of the Day and my first pint of the day.Sorry late at night and rant over

[K Lo 224]

[quote user="swindoncanary"][quote user="Mike hunt"]Nick and k lo. Have you considered supporting your local team?[/quote]Will you ''higher than mighty'' guys give it a rest with supporting your local team. I live in Swindon but the only time I''ve visited the ground (apart from athletics training) is when Norwich played there.Have any of you sung ''Norwich ''til I Die''  coz I don''t remember any proviso saying unless I move away, do you ?I would love to walk to Carrow Road, have a few pints, watch the match and after, go to the bar and chat about what happenedUnfortunatly that''s not how it happens, I set off from Swindon sometime before 9am drive for 4 hours watch the match then make the journey home. Back in time for Match of the Day and my first pint of the day.Sorry late at night and rant over [/quote]No, stay with the rant.It''s rediculous to say "support your local team". In the office where I work [ in Coventry ] there are, off the top of my head, supporters of:LeedsAston VillaBirminghamWest BromSpursNorwichLiverpoolArsenalWolvesCoventry (I think, they''ve gone quiet now)We all get on great and talk footy when we can. Each one of us are from that region where the club we support is based.

[Jacko 0]

I think this illustrates the reason I was absolutely horrified when the suggestion of selling Carrow Road was floated to raise some capital about 18 months ago or so. Not owning your ground is a false economy. It effectively means you chuck around £1-2 million of your budget every down the plug hole and receive no benefit from it.

The other lesson we can learn from Coventry is that a prolonged stay in the top flight with television revenue should leave a lasting legacy which is positive. Our external debt will be paid down and a top class youth programme established. Rather than all the budget and more being wasted on transfer fees and wages. I absolutely love the long term view that has been brought to this football club.

[Green Grimlock 0]

It is not fortune that the Amex has a train station. It is good design and planning and a decade of hard work. If all the boxes were ticked it would not have had 2 planning enquiries.

It is fortunate that carrow road is near the train station as travel planning would not have been a real issue considered in 1935. Neither would flood risk given how close the ground is to the river.

Coventry FC paid their money for the train station as part of the section 106 contributions. The project has not gone ahead due to lack of other private funding and government support as I understand it.

Is it careless to develope a stadium reliant on another project for its viable use. Yes.

Is it Coventry FC fault. No.

Does the poor football on the pitch help. No.

Does this put into context how inane posts about new stadiums in norwich is.

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

[quote user="Mungo Bumpkin"]Should have stayed at Highfield Road, a proper football ground, not move to an anodyne McStadium. Shame. Still, if they go it will be payback for getting us relegated by playing games after the end if the season. As Nelson would say, Ha ha![/quote]

Absolutely. Evidently, most Hammers fans are unhappy about their proposed move to Stratford. They feel it will kill the atmosphere stone dead and they dislike the fact that the nearest seats will be miles from the pitch. Not good.

[Nicko 0]

This team won 5-1 at the weekend so it would seem the troubles off the pitch aren''t really affecting the team on the pitch!

[K Lo 224]

[quote user="Nick"]This team won 5-1 at the weekend so it would seem the troubles off the pitch aren''t really affecting the team on the pitch![/quote]It was against Walsall, who hadn''t had a win in 14 games beforehand.