Coventry City owners in talks with council over possible Ricoh return

COVENTRY City FC’s owners have held talks with council leaders in an attempt to kick-start negotiations about the club’s possible return to the Ricoh Arena.

Reports in the Coventry Telegraph newspaper said Sisu’s owner Joy Seppala had met and council leader Ann Lucas for talks aimed at resolving the situation which has seen the football club abandon its home city in favour of playing its home games at Northampton Town’s ground 45 miles away.

The club quit Coventry after Arena Coventry Ltd, owner of the Ricoh – and part-owned by the local authority effectively forced the club into administration in a bitter dispute over unpaid rent.

Ironically, the club is enjoying one of its best-ever seasons on the pitch – despite being deducted 10 points prior to the new season as a punishment for entering administration.

It is thought to be the first time the two sides have held talks since March have met today for the first time to discuss a Ricoh return, we can reveal.

No agreement is thought to have been reached but the club has said it is prepared to continue with its ground-sharing agreement at Northampton and begin plans to build a new stadium elsewhere – either in Coventry or as close to it as possible – unless a deal can be agreed between the two parties for the Ricoh.

The brinksmanship could leave the city with a major white elephant in so much as it would have a well appointed football stadium without a team to play in it.