LET THIS BE THE END OF RICOH ROW

COUNCIL AND FANS CALL FOR END OF COURT BATTLE AFTER APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW IS DISMISSED

THE Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed an application for a judicial review into the sale of the Ricoh Arena to Wasps in 2014.

The appeal was brought by Sky Blues Sports and Leisure and ‘others’ against Coventry City Council and ‘others’ but the decision upheld the order of Mr Justice Singh, who rejected the case in July last year.

Lawyers for the Sisucontrolled firms that make up the football club wanted a full judicial review over the controversial sale of the Ricoh Arena.

They claimed Coventry City Council undervalued the stadium by almost £30million when it was sold to Wasps Rugby Club for £21million back in 2014.

But Mr Justice Singh said the council had obtained an independent valuation which included extending the stadium’s lease and his order was upheld yesterday.

Speaking at the Court of Appeal in London and dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice McCombe said: “For the reasons given in this judgement I now hand down the appeal in this case is dismissed and the order of Mr Justice Singh of the 20th of July 2017 is upheld.”

In the 20-page written judgement, Lord Justice McCombe said in conclusion: “I would dismiss this appeal and would uphold the order made by the judge, refusing permission to apply for judicial review.

“As I have said above, I consider that the judge was correct to refuse permission to apply for judicial review, on the basis that Sky Blue’s case was based essentially on a comparison between “apples and pears”.

“Nothing has been revealed since then about the essential structures of the transactions approved by thecCouncil in the decisions under challenge.

“Further, however heavily disguised, the amended claim required Sky Blue to challenge the value of the consideration paid for the council’s ACL shares, a challenge which Sky Blue themselves eschewed before the court on 28 November 2017 and which they were prevented by the court from resurrecting. “The amendment of the claim has turned out to be nugatory.”

No lawyers for any of the parties were in court yesterday. The Telegraph has asked Sisu for a comment.

Councillor George Duggins, leader of Coventry City Council, and Councillor Gary Ridley, leader of the Opposition Conservative Party, yesterday released a joint statement in the wake of the decision.

They said: “We are delighted with today’s judgement which once again justifies why we have robustly defended all claims brought by Sisurelated companies over recent years.

“Sisu has continually sought to re-open decisions taken by the council more than four years ago on 7 October 2014. We have always remained steadfast in our belief that those decisions were appropriate, lawful and in the best interests of Coventry tax payers.

“We hope that this will be the last stage of the litigation and that Sisu will accept this as the end of all legal action so that further unnecessary costs are avoided for all parties

involved.” A spokesperson for Wasps Group said: “We have noted today’s judgment from the Court of Appeal and the response from the relevant parties. We await further developments and, in the meantime, our position regarding the possibility of future discussions with CCFC remains unchanged.”

The Jimmy Hill Way Campaign (”JHW”) is a coalition of fan groups demanding a better future for Coventry City Football Club. It includes the Sky Blue Trust, Preservation Sky Blues and Cov Fans Together.

In a statement following the judgement, they said: “On past evidence, Joy Seppala, the boss of Sisu, will now be exploring any opportunities to pursue this case further with her legal team.

“Given the record of failure so far in this Judicial Review (“JR2”) together with the losses incurred in the previous Judicial Review against Coventry City Council and the Alan Higgs Charity, surely it is time for Ms Seppala to cut her losses? “Not only is it costing her hedge-fund a small fortune in legal fees, the reputational damage, both for Sisu and her personally, is enormous.

“Please Joy: Stop Embarrassing Yourself and your Company! More importantly, please stop embarrassing and harming Coventry City Football Club.

“When an extension for City to continue playing for the 2018/19 season at the Ricoh, where Wasps are the Landlord, was announced earlier this year by Wasps Chief Executive, Nick Eastwood, he made it plain that there would be no further extension if the court proceedings against his organisation were continued.

“There seems no reason not to take that statement at face value and therefore the pursuit of JR2 by Sisu has placed the future of Coventry City FC at extreme jeopardy.”

We are delighted with today’s judgement which once again justifies why we have robustly defended all claims... George Duggins, Gary Ridley

We await further developments and in the meantime our position regarding the possibility of future discussions with CCFC remains unchanged. Wasps