Source: PA
Coventry brought back from the brink
Coventry`s new-look board on Wednesday ushered in a new future but spent most of their first day answering questions about the club`s past and present - revealing City have been saved from the brink of administration.
New chairman Ken Dulieu, formerly of Southampton, was unveiled along with new chief executive Paul Clouting who is charged with the task of developing fresh income streams for the cash-strapped club and maximising existing revenue opportunities. However, former chairman Ray Ranson, who officially resigned on Monday, has quit his earmarked new role of football consultant at the npower Championship outfit - a position he was due to hold until the end of the season.
All of the this comes amid the backdrop that the Sky Blues have, for a second time, been prevented from going into administration by owners SISU. SISU - led by Ranson - rescued the club with just 30 minutes to spare in December 2007, and have poured in nearly £30million in just over three years.
But a lack of investment from elsewhere, a dearth of revenue due to the club not owning the Ricoh Arena, dwindling attendances and a lack of on-field success have all combined with unmanageable financial outgoings to lead Coventry almost back to square one, losing around £500,000 a month while SISU have lost in the region of £25million in three years.
And although not as last-gasp as three and a half years ago, Dulieu has revealed he secured new funding from SISU on Monday morning - in the form of "several million pounds" - to enable Coventry to meet their creditors.
Dulieu told Press Association Sport: "Administration was seriously close. The owners were looking at the situation in the press - what fans were saying, what the media were saying. And basically, why should they keep on investing? If they`re getting a kicking, why keep on investing? Myself and the new team were able to convince them, almost at the eleventh hour, this is still a club still worth investing in. We`ve probably got the best stadium in the Championship and there is a future here, and this is a short-term problem."
