Petition: Without Fans there is no Football

skybluejim · 13-02-2014, 14:10

Hi guys,

Coventry City fan here in peace.

In order to bring to light the problem with football governance in our country we are demanding an enquiry by the government into how it came to be that CCFC are playing their matches 35 miles outside the city.

It would be greatly appreciated if you took 30 seconds to sign the petition. Even better if you could share it. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures it will have to be considered by government.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59884

I am posting this after hearing of the crazy state of affairs at Leeds United recently.

From what I gather, the person fronting the takeover of their club has both previously been convicted of fraud AND once uprooted an Italian club from one side of the country to the other to play out matches in front of 200 spectators.

What with my club also being owned by a private equity firm I’m not surprised to hear GFH are going ahead with this sale in their own interests and nobody else’s.

I find it appalling that, given everything that has happened with not just my club but many others, the football authorities are considering allowing the takeover at Leeds to go through.

Once again they are failing to prevent outside interests from making a mockery of our game and its heritage.

In order for this petition to be effective us Sky Blues rely on the football community coming together in this time of need. Your help is much appreciated.

(For those not aware of the background to the CCFC situation and wanting to know more, the extract below is as short hand as it gets and is taken from a recent Q&A with ArsenalOnline prior to our cup game at the Emirates).

Many thanks

Most people blame our owners, the Sisu hedge fund, and many people suspect their actions over the last two years are all about trying to get ownership of the Ricoh Arena on the cheap.
The Coventry City saga makes Lord of the Rings look short, but here goes –
• Until the mid 1990s we were well run and solvent
• 1996 a new chairman decided to ‘have a punt’ on success
• 2001 relegated from the Premier League with something like £60 million debt
• 2005 after more crises moved from our Highfield Road ground to the Ricoh Arena as tenants with the Arena owned by ACL (Arena Coventry Limited), a joint venture between Coventry City Council and a local Charity
• 2007 CCFC was taken over by Sisu, a hedge fund
• 2010 with the global financial crisis hitting Sisu hard, Sisu’s owner Joy Seppala took direct control
• 2012 Sisu declared the rent being paid to ACL was too high and stopped paying it
• 2012 Relegated to League 1
• 2013 Sisu declared they are going to build a new stadium in ‘the Coventry area’, but not in the City itself
• 2013 club went into Administration
• 2013 Sisu relocated the club to Northampton, approved by the Football League for a period of 3 to 5 years
• Today – CCFC has been described as a basket-case. Currently:
- The crisis continues to be played out in the courts and media, with the next phase being a Judicial Review Sisu has sought against the Council but that won’t happen for months
- Sisu continue to say they will build a new stadium but have not purchased land, engaged in discussions with planning authorities nor submitted a planning application
- Our owner is so secretive there is no publicly available photo of her so we don’t even know what she looks like
- The vast majority of City fans are boycotting games at Northampton and attendances there are hitting record lows with an average of around 2,000 including visiting fans, but there’s been a massive increase in numbers going to away games
- A generation of new football fans is being lost and the heart is being ripped out of our club
- There is no indication of when, if ever, we will return to Coventry