News coming out of Coventry City is once again of a controversial nature.
It has emerged this week that owners Sisu have taken Coventry City Council to court over their bailout of ACL. Events on the field are not much better as Coventry look to be ending the season with a bit of a whimper.
To start with we all know that Sisu and the Council are far from best friends and if we are being truthful have very little respect for one another. It is in fact quite an extraordinary relationship breakdown with the Council being the one’s who brought Sisu to the city and the club in the first place. Who would have thought it would ever reach this stage where both parties are at logger heads with each other.
ACL have in fact been caught in the middle of all this. Yes they have done wrong and they can’t deny this fact but over the past few months they have almost been a tool for the two sides to fight each other with.
First we saw Sisu withhold substantial amounts of rent from ACL which resulted in ACL going into financial difficulty. This was clearly not just a protest to the high rent but also a tactic to force the sale of the Ricoh in a cut price deal.
The council could see this and allowing the Ricoh to go into Sisu’s hands is not going to benefit the council in anyway. It is a constant stream of revenue for the council and one they are not willing to give up without a fight.
The most worrying thing about this whole situation is that the club itself seems to be at the back of every ones minds. It remains unclear as to who owns the football league golden share, player contracts and any sort of Ricoh deal now seems further away than it has ever been.
Another issue at the moment which is understandable with all the issues surrounding the Ricoh is that of season tickets. No information has come out of the club regarding season tickets for next year and it is once again us fans who are going to continue to suffer.
The longer all these issues go on the more concerned I get about next season. Personally I can’t see us mounting any sort of promotion challenge with all the continued disruption off the pitch. The summer is a vital part in the football world for every club with the majority of transfers taking place, this is the time when I see city falling behind other clubs.
Pressley has announced that Sunday will be the day when decisions are made on the future of current squad players. This is something that I am a little worried about. Yes we have a reasonably big squad and a couple could be allowed to leave but Pressley has hinted quite a may go.
With the club in the state it is and no sign of our transfer embargo being lifted our squad could be left threadbare at best. We have no idea what has been said to Pressley and I worry that he has been made empty promises for investment in the squad. We have had it before with Sisu and another troubled season could be on the cards. Successful one definitely seems like a long shot right now.
Whilst City’s off the field problems continue City have somewhat allowed the season to fizzle out. Since the 10 point deduction the manager and players alike were quick to make the point we are still as hungry to win as before. I think we were all naive if we thought that there wouldn’t be a slump come the end of the season.
The win against Doncaster just after the point’s deduction was a brilliant response from the players and gave us fans something to be happy about but since then city have failed to inspire. Three losses with one heavy loss and a draw in the last 4 games has been disappointing. Pressley has been chopping and changing the squad though in an attempt to assess his whole squad and this has clearly had some impact on the results.
A loss in our last home game though was the most disappointing. It has been a season of turmoil at the club and the players have given their all in an attempt to give us something to cheer about and it would have been nice to end on a high and give the players a good send off. We all know many of them won’t be here next season and it is just a shame really.
In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t actually matter but with one game to go before the season is officially over a final victory for our die hard away fans would be nice. Football has kind of been the distraction for us to get away from the off field problems but with the season coming to a close I fear weeks of depressing news will continue to come out of the club with no distraction for us fans.
It has been a long slog of a season for everyone involved and I for one am glad that it is coming to an end. Let hope we can end on a high with a victory on against Notts County.
PUSB!!
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