The Final Throw?

Coventry City chief executive Tim Fisher’s comments about a potential new ground for the Sky Blues have drawn derision from many quarters, including from the solicitor acting for Ricoh Arena owners ACL.

James Powell told BBC CWR that the announcement sounded as if it was ‘made on the hoof’ as nothing similar had been previously made public despite claims that the search for a site had begun some months ago.

Whether SISU continue to fight their battle or not remains to be seen but these comments look to have sapped the last goodwill out of anyone who was still prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Owning a football club can be a hard task in the modern age, despite the riches on offer at the top of the game. Indeed it is those riches that force clubs such as CCFC to invest more and more money in pursuit of a place at the top table.

When SISU took over they did have a plan in place and for a short time it looked like it could work. The signing of younger, hungry players was established and the club did go regularly into the transfer market.

‘Never a Dulieu moment’

Selling on those players and then re-investing was part of the deal but somewhere along the line the management structure was lost and we ended up with Ken Dulieu as chairman and no investment in players over the summer of 2011, a time when Andy Thorn had sparked real interest among fans with a style of play that was easy on the eye.

It’s been a downhill slide ever since and that spiral off the pitch has exacerbated affairs off it.

SISU have tried and failed (Mr Powell’s comments about them ‘losing £70m’ could apply to many clubs of City’s stature who have battled in vain to get back into the Premier League. How much has failure to reach the play-offs in the Championship cost Leicester and Nottingham Forest this season. How much money have owners spent at Blackburn and Wolves) but, given the huge handicap that is playing at the Ricoh Arena can anyone else do any better?

If they are chased out of town with jeers ringing in their ears how do we stop the same situation arising in another five years time? The club, after all, were on the brink of administration before the present owners came in.

What was once a nightmare scenario, of a born-again CCFC starting in the Midland Alliance but owned and run by supporters, is starting to look a more appealing option by the day.