Coventry Rugby Club future secure after stadium deal
By Martin Bagot
March 25 2010
THE future of Coventry Rugby Club has finally been secured after its directors agreed a 125-year lease to play at the Butts Park Arena. Club chairman Peter Rossborough and Coventry City Council made the announcement yesterday after many weeks of talks. The move means the RFU – the game’s governing body – should agree to extend Coventry’s ‘licence to operate’ beyond the end of the current
season.
The 136-year-old club’s future had looked bleak when it was put into administration in December with debts of more than £500,000.
But millionaire businessman Jon Bowles came to the rescue in January.
His charity, Perpetual Legacy, has now provided £1 million and enabled the stadium lease to be bought back by the club.
Mr Rossborough said: “We have now secured a clean sheet and our destiny is in our own hands.”
Coventry City Council – who own the Butts Park Arena – originally assigned the lease to a previous owner of the club and it was sold on to Andrew Green when he bought Cov in August 2006.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:03:29:17:12:52 by Laugh Out Loud.
covmick/Michael Carter
HERE'S TO A GREAT COVENTRY WIN TOMMOROW!!!
COME ON COV !!!!!!!!!!
You're right, Al, some part, if not all, of the ground should be named after him by way of recognition.
Just a footnote, is the idea really palatable that, with a ground like BPA, we should be playing in National League 1 next season?
It would be interesting to see the details of the deal as although Mr. Bowles helps charities and community projects, from his website it looks like his company itself is not a charity but a property development company. So in exchange for his 1 million and the club getting a lease on the ground, his company will probably get to keep the development land for the student flats and the shops and offices at the front, which for 1million is probably a great deal for him as well.
It would be really fantastic if a % of the development profits went to fund the rugby club operaton going forward - I believe that was the original intention when the leases and planning persmissions were first granted by the council. A lot of the concerns in the past were about asset stripping and breaking up the site.
One step at a time though. Here's to the team doing the business on the pitch to keep us up.