Sky Blues chairman says staying at Ricoh is City’s ‘Plan A’

COVENTRY City chairman Tim Fisher says the club are pinning their hopes on staying at the Ricoh Arena beyond the end of this season - and he hopes talks will start “within the next few weeks”.

The Sky Blues’ deal to play at the Ricoh Arena runs out at the end of this season and landlords Wasps have insisted there will be no talks on a new deal while legal action continued - meaning the club could be homeless in a matter of months.

But Mr Fisher told Sky Sports that the football club was hoping to start negotiations soon and that the Ricoh Arena was “plan A”, adding that “there has never been anything other than plan A”.

Mr Fisher did seem to contradict that by also telling Sky Sports that “there will always be a plan B and a plan C”.

The football club chairman was speaking to Sky Sports ahead of last Saturday’s home fixture against Sunderland.

Mr Fisher said: “Well, we have just spoken to our landlords and expressed our desire to remain at the Ricoh.

“We are hoping to engage in discussions and negotiations within the next few weeks.”

When the current oneyear deal was announced in February, Wasps chief executive Nick Eastwood said an ongoing legal battle over the sale of the stadium in 2014 remained an “obstacle” to a longer-term agreement.

In the Sky Sports interview the questioning moved on to the subject of that ongoing legal battle involving club owners Sisu, Coventry City Council and stadium owners Wasps .

Lawyers for all sides were at the Court of Appeal in June and a decision on whether a full judicial review into the sale of the stadium will go ahead is expected sometime soon .

Mr Fisher said: “A court judgement is due but that is really down to the shareholders and the judge.

“We are just focused on running a football club on a day-to-day basis.

“We are not interested in the legal side of things.”

Mr Fisher was then asked whether a situation where the club played its games 34 miles away in Northampton could happen again.

He said: “No. Look, there will always be a plan B and a plan C but we don’t even want to go there.

“Plan A has been and remains staying at the Ricoh Arena.”

Asked how soon progress might be he said: “We will keep everyone updated but we are trying to engage with the landlords and as soon as we have engaged in discussions we will let people know.”

Mr Fisher was then asked about the fans being “at loggerheads with Sisu for several years” and whether that had improved as a result of success on the pitch and investment in the team.

He said: “Well, Sisu don’t get involved on a day-to-day basis.

“This was the investment that they made.

“They leave the running of the football club to the CEO and his executive team and I support on a non-executive basis.

“This is an operating company run by football people for football fans.”

Last month, we asked all parties for an update on the Sky Blues future at the Ricoh Arena and received a limited response.

As the interview drew to a close Mr Fisher was asked what was the club’s aim following promotion and what Sisu “demanded”.

He replied: “No, they are not demanding of anything.

“They are demanding we run a business which is break even financially.

“Obviously we have certain ambitions and the manager has certain ambitions but we just keep level heads.

“I know it is boring but we just take one game at a time.”

In closing Mr Fisher was pressed on putting the fans’ minds at rest and whether the Sky Blues would be playing at the Ricoh Arena next season.

“That is plan A,” he replied. “There has never been anything other than plan A so we are just hoping to do a deal with the landlords.”

Coventry City’s bid to find a new permanent home dates back several years after it left Highfield Road and subsequently moved away from the Ricoh Arena.

In May 2013 Mr Fisher said a new stadium, once dubbed Highfield Road Two, would be “designed and delivered” in three years.

In July that year the Telegraph reported the club was close to sealing a deal on a new site, rumoured to have been Brandon Stadium, the then home of the Coventry Bees speedway team.

More recently there were discussions regarding a gound-share arrangement with Coventry Rugby at Butts Park Arena.

The rugby club has ambitions to redevelop its ground as a multisport arena that also hosts other events.

In November last year the rugby club’s chairman John Sharp ruled out a ground-share with Coventry City while Sisu own the football club.

Several times the Sky Blues said a deal to play at Butts Park Arena was a definite prospect, with club chairman Tim Fisher telling supporters at a public meeting in March 2017: “The Butts Park Arena is on in terms of the football club.”

In the same month the prospect of the club building a new a stadium of its own appeared to have been ruled out by Mr Fisher when he said: “We weren’t able to close a land deal on our own stadium - full stop.”

The Sky Blues moved into the stadium in 2005 after leaving Highfield Road .

But a long-running row between Coventry City and the owners of the Ricoh Arena began when the club refused to pay what they saw as unreasonable rent for use of the stadium.

This led into an increasingly bitter wrangle which saw club play their home games in Northampton for over a season until returning home in September 2014.

Wasps were announced as the new owners of stadium operators ACL shortly afterwards.

The row returned to the courts earlier this year, with Wasps now also in the sights of the lawyers.

Coventry City owners Sisu - a London hedge fund - have been fighting for a judicial review into the sale after arguing the stadium was undervalued by almost £30million.

Ricoh Arena operating firm Arena Coventry Limited had been jointly owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity and Coventry City Council and had just 39 years left on its lease.

But when Wasps bought both 50 per cent stakes the lease was extended to 250 years and Sisu claims this greatly increased the value of the firm.

The football club’s owners want Wasps to make up the shortfall which they calculate at around £27million - and pay them damages for doing a deal which meant they had no opportunity to buy the Ricoh Arena on similar terms.

Lawyers for all sides were at the Court of Appeal in June, but a decision on whether a full judicial review will go ahead was not expected before October 1.