Can you ever imagine that a stadium that hosted matches of just concluded London Olympics can see the darkness of closure? Yes, this is something that is being happened with Ricoh Arena, a small stadium having just 32000 seating capacity and belongs to Coventry City Football Club, coz its 130-year-old club in on the bank of a liquidation. The news is noteworthy for English soccer fans coz this is something that should have not been done with a legendary club who has been facing financial problems off late. The more than a century old club has been the FA champion back in 1987 perhaps it has then been one of leading soccer clubs in the country and enjoying his prominent position since last 34 years, but after that, it saw a downfall both in its balance sheet as well in its status and was relegated to a third tier club. Actually, the financial crunch at the club started when a long pending dispute between its owners, a hedge fund, and landlord of its stadium escalated to the court of law. The reason behind all this was club’s inability to pay annual stadium rent to landlord and they were asked to play their home matches around 30 miles away in Northampton, where it was impossible for fans to follow them. Now, some of their well-wishers want a thorough inquiry on what has been happening in their backyard during last few years; one of them is Labour Party legislator Bob Ainsworth, who says, “It’s a dreadful thing and it ought not to be allowed for a city to have its football club to be taken away. I want an investigation to expose everything that has gone on over the last few years.”
Since, the parent company who used to manage the affairs of stadium has gone into liquidation, there is no viable future for the club, however, they are allowed to impart in League One’s 125th season which is going to be kicked off coming Saturday. Tim Fisher, Coventry chief executive, said, “We now have certainty and the club’s future is secured. We can now get on and put our future plans into action which means building and owning our own stadium in the Coventry area.”
Similar reactions also came from Football League chairman: Greg Clarke, who said, “It is a source of immense frustration to everyone involved that the two parties in this dispute have failed to reach any agreement.” He could not believe that nobody was serious to save 130-year old legacy of a renowned club. Anyway, let us hope there would have been some positive talks going on between owners and creditors to find a midway of the problem.