Third-tier football club Coventry City CEO Tim Fisher claimed that "landlords ACL rejected a deal that would have seen the Sky Blues stay at the Ricoh Arena for the next three years while they build their own stadium," according to Alan Poole of the COVENTRY TELEGRAPH. He said the club was forced to seek a temporary ground-sharing arrangement because ACL "refused to negotiate a sensible exit strategy -- effectively a longer version of the three-game deal we did last season."
Fisher also insisted that Owners Sisu "were forced to seek an alternative home because Coventry Council reneged on a deal for them to buy out ACL’s debt in return for a half-share of the stadium and extension of ACL’s lease to 125 years." The Sky Blues have yet to reveal where they intend to build their new stadium, saying only "we have a moral obligation to keep the club in or very close to the city" (COVENTRY TELEGRAPH, 5/24).
STADIUM OWNERSHIP: In Coventry, Martin Bagot reported the company of fifth-tier football club Nuneaton Town Owner Ian Neale, Ian Neale Construction Group Ltd., "is being liquidated with its assets" -- including the club’s Liberty Way stadium -- on offer to the highest bidder to pay off the company’s creditors. Neale owns the club through a separate company and said that "he fears similar problems to those at Coventry City if Liberty Way ends up outside of the club’s control." Neale said, "The last thing we want is another Ricoh situation here. No one is going to invest in stadium infrastructure that they don't have ownership or control of. It has the potential to be a Football League club because of the size of the town, but it's important the stadium is developed as the team is (COVENTRY TELEGRAPH, 5/27).
