Whilst the bid by Otium Entertainment Group may have looked to Administrator Paul Appleton on paper as the best bid for Coventry City Football Club Ltd, was it really the bid that would prevent CCFC Ltd from going into administration again?
The bid may in the words of Mr Appleton given “the greatest return to the unsecured, non-secured creditors of CCFC Ltd by a considerable margin”, but with the fury that has been un-leased by the Sky Blue support since his decision was announced at 5pm on Friday June 14th, it looks to be nothing more than a short term decision in using Otium as a vehicle to offload current debt with Mr Appleton appearing not to have considered one very important question in that would the winning bid prevent the company from going into administration in the future.
With Mr Fisher and his SISU puppet masters clearly determined on taking the club away from Coventry until such time that they can build a new stadium (Let us not forget that the Ricoh Arena took seven years to build, so building a stadium in three seasons with all the obstacles that the building of any such facility faces, looks unlikely), we now are looking at a situation where supporters are refusing point blankly to go to or won’t be able to get to which ever stadium (probably Walsall) that they have to ground-share for three or more seasons.
If predictions of only a few hundred City supporters turn out to be correct, some of whom may buy a discounted a season ticket which Mr Fisher has claimed includes good will but not free transport, then the club will struggle to attract sponsors and advertisers for their match programme, website, hoardings around the ground etc, that is if they have not been frightened off by rumours of a proposed boycott of their goods and services by some fans.
With the owners having to subsidise losses through the turnstiles, corporate takings and the like coupled with the effects of Financial Fair Play, that is going to mean less money for players or their wages.
That could mean relegation and an even bigger drop in income and with all these losses, it would only be a matter of time before Coventry City Football Club Limited is back in administration, points are deducted and the whole sorry saga starts all over again.
Other bids might not have offered as much of a return to the current creditors but Mr Appleton’s failure to consider the bigger picture of the long term future of the club, unless changed by the Football League, has taken away any hope of a bright new tomorrow for the club that we once knew.
Source: Coventry MAD
Source: FOOTYMAD
