Northampton Town chairman David Cardoza has said that football clubs must own their own ground and that their local councils should work closely with the club.
Mr Cardoza was speaking to BBC Coventry and Warwickshire and Northamptonshire’s Stuart Linnel after ACL, the owners of The Ricoh Arena, dropped their legal action against Northampton Town. While he was relieved to hear that ACL had dropped their legal action, has was incensed that his club had been the move and has now demanded compensation and an apology from what he termed ‘bullying ACL. He also wanted to know who was going to foot the legal bill and how much of it was going to come from the taxpayers of Coventry.
Speaking to Stuart Linnel, Mr Cardoza said, “Football clubs have to own their own stadiums. It’s better to own your own stadium to enjoy the revenues from them. We’ve fought for ten years to do it here. We’re on the brink of getting it sorted. We’re delighted to be working with our council. It just shows, if you work with a council and councils want to work with you, you can get things done.”
Mr Cardoza revealed that ACL had demanded £2m in compensation from Northampton Town for alleged breach of contract, claiming that that the club had ‘unlawfully’ enticed Coventry City directors to break contractual arrangements for playing at The Ricoh.
Now Mr Cardoza is asking the High Court to award full costs to Northampton ad to have the legal action struck out, claiming there was no legal basis for the action in the first place.
Not pulling his punches, Mr Cardoza claimed that ACL’s ‘intimidating’ actions had scared fans and staff and has cost the club ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ in legal fees.
For the full story click http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/northampton-town-chairman-says-coventry-6149791
Source: Coventry MAD
Source: FOOTYMAD
