League One Coventry City will play its home games more than 30 miles away from the Ricoh Arena next season after the Football League "reluctantly approved" an application from the club to groundshare at Northampton Town for three years, according to James Riach of the London GUARDIAN. A "bitter feud" between prospective owner Sisu, which is set to buy the club back out of administration through Otium Entertainment Group, and Ricoh Owner Arena Coventry Limited "will see the Sky Blues will play at Sixfields for an initial period of three seasons." Otium, owned by Sisu, which took control of City in '07, "will be required to provide a performance bond" of £1M ($1.5M) to the Football League as "an assurance of the club's commitment to return to the Coventry area in the future." Football League Chair Greg Clarke said, "With no prospect of an agreement being reached between Otium and ACL, the board was placed in an unenviable position -- with the very real possibility of Coventry City being unable to fulfil its fixtures for next season." The move to Sixfields "has caused outrage among Coventry supporters who have had to endure a slide down the divisions to League One in recent years" (GUARDIAN, 7/8).
