Coventry City: League One club fight for Football League status as Ricoh Arena battle continues

Coventry City will try to save their Football League status today, telling the EFL that they still hope to play at the Ricoh Arena next year, despite the legal battle that is threatening to make them homeless again.

The League One side will formally update the League by 5pm on Tuesday, ahead of an EFL board meeting on Wednesday, at which the Coventry situation will be discussed. If the EFL is not confident in Coventry City’s ability to find a suitable home for the 2019-20 season then they can vote to exclude them from the league at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 25 April. It would take the votes of 75% of the 72 EFL clubs to kick Coventry out.

Coventry’s four-year tenancy at the Ricoh Arena ends this summer, but they have not been able to renew their stay there because of a legal battle over the ownership of the stadium.

SISU, the private equity fund that owns Coventry City, has been embroiled in a long legal dispute with Wasps, the owners of the Ricoh, about their purchase of it in 2014. And for as long as that legal dispute continues, Wasps will not discuss allowing Coventry City to play at the Ricoh next season.

“We have made our position clear that we can’t enter discussion with an organisation that is litigating against us in court,” Wasps CEO Nick Eastwood told the BBC.

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“The football club and their owners have a very simple choice - either pursue us in the court or we can enter discussions for them to hopefully play at the Ricoh.” Eastwood insisted that Wasps will need a “permanent cessation” of legal action in order for Wasps to re-open negotiations about Coventry City staying at the Ricoh.

This is now a battle of wills between SISU and Wasps with both sides insistent that they will not blink first, and with Coventry City caught in the middle. SISU are expected to continue their court battle regardless of what happens next. Coventry City fans, desperate to force SISU to moderate their position, will demonstrate outside SISU’s offices in Kensington on 21 March, hoping to encourage them to do a deal with Wasps to keep the football club in Coventry.

The fans will also head to the EFL’s offices in London to encourage them to keep the club in Coventry and as part of the league. Before then there will be a meeting of all interested parties in London next week, in an attempt to negotiate a way for Coventry City to stay at the Ricoh.

As the football club faced the prospect of a second spell in exile, five years after having to play at Northampton Town, they tried to put some pressure back on Coventry City Council this morning. By accusing the council of breaking promises that Coventry City could play at the Ricoh for the long term, rather than just for their four-year lease there.

The strongly worded statement released on their website accuses council leader George Duggins of “trying to re-write history” regarding the guarantees the football club were given. “This is about the future of the Football Club,” says the statement. “The Council cannot just come out and just say ‘Blame Sisu’ when there are questions for them to answer."