Labovitch: We Will Press Ahead With Our Own Ground

03 December 2013 00:13
City Director On Ricoh Arena Latest

Coventry City Director Mark Labovitch has said that the club will press on with their plans for a new stadium outside of Coventry after finding out that Coventry City Council want City back at the Ricoh Arena as tenants rather than letting them buy the 32,000 capacity venue.

Labovitch said to the Coventry Telegraph's Les Reid: “We clearly understood from Ann’s statement on October 30 that she was prepared to discuss ownership. We were surprised when that turned out not to be the case.

“We were equally surprised at the way ACL directors, the council executives Martin Reeves and Chris West, did not communicate this change of heart to us in a direct and straightforward way, but did so instead with off-record whispers on a fans’ podcast, the Nii Lamptey show.

“We have made it clear that no club can have a viable financial future unless it owns its own stadium.

“There is no prospect of us returning to the former landlord/tenant relationship with ACL, a company which bled the club dry for many years over two generations of owners, and wilfully sought to damage the club with actions which led to needless points deductions over the last two seasons.

“Such inexplicable actions have severely damaged our promotion chances. It is a credit to Steven Pressley and the players that so much of the damage caused by ACL has been made good.

“Joy’s door is open to Ann for further discussions. But we would have to be clear this time that it would be a discussion about stadium ownership.”

“In the absence of a clear commitment to discuss ownership, we are pressing ahead with the plans for our new stadium on the outskirts of Coventry.”

More on this: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/sisu-boss-joy-seppala-rejects-6363684

 

Source: Coventry MAD

Source: FOOTYMAD