Mayfair Seagull
Member
Done. Good luck!
Done. Suggestion to OP. Draw parallels to the Albion's earlier plight, e.g. 150 mile roundtrip to Gillingham when we were exiled. Might get more Brighton fans to sign!
This is something i don't understand. Why do fans boycott the club when it is in most need of their support to be able to survive. The biggest thing to me is that if the club were to face a winding up petition (as a result of a significantly reduced income due to the boycott) and fold, the chances of using admin to survive must be next to none as there isn't a proper home ground. Also the chances of a potential buyer taking over would be virtually non existant (no ground, little income) And the chances of relegation without a potential winding up order must be huge as the club have less to spend on players due to the income dropping. It always seems to me to be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face Oh and done!
So what is the ideal outcome ? Someone rich enough to buy out SISU appearing ? SISU actually building a new ground ? ( pretty unlikely I guess ). The rent being reduced on the Ricoh ? A new AFC Coventry formed, playing in Coventry ? ( at the Ricoh ?) Seems a complete mess at the moment.
Do Coventry fans actually want to return to the Ricoh Arena? I thought the problem was that the club didn't own the ground and hence the rent was too high. Is there a general consensus as to what the majority of Coventry fans want/are aiming for, besides the somewhat vague "move back to Coventry"? At a guess: take over the club, return to Coventry, build a new ground/buy the Ricoh Arena?
Many apologies, you lot will know more about our situation than anyone else! 150 miles - insane.
I understand where you're coming from. The vast majority of us said we wouldn't attend if they moved the team to Northampton in their own interests and not the clubs. (I say not the club's because as well as SISU sacrificing the club's future generations of supporters it is turning down a much better deal financially for the club by not staying at the Ricoh).
Many of us (myself included) didn't feel like it was our club anymore when that happened. More a tool being used by an immoral hedge fund to achieve a land grab - the theory being that SISU aim to distress Arena Coventry Ltd as a business by depriving it of income so that they can later buy the land for peanuts.
When they are turning down offers to play at the Ricoh for free while their new stadium is supposedly being built, it's seems obvious this is the plan.
Apart from the lack of numbers willing to travel to Northampton many have also adopted a Not One Penny More approach which means abstaining from paying for any club related purchases until the current owners are replaced.
Either they are replaced or the club dies; but to many the club is dead anyway with SISU in control disregarding its community. We will happily form an AFC Coventry if necessary.
The ideal outcome would be SISU cutting their losses and going. This is simply a game of chess between the Council and SISU over ownership of the Ricoh, with the club's supporters made to suffer.
The offer is on the table for the club to return but SISU will only accept freehold ownership of the ground and its surrounding land. Apart from this being near impossible due to incumbrances (several different parties having their own leases under that freehold that would need ending) the Council have no reason to trust our owners with what is a community asset and source of local jobs and income.
Such is the hatred and mistrust of our owners that most of us would prefer the club didn't own the ground if it meant the ground was owned by SISU.