Coventry City: Unwanted

D-Day for Sky Blues as Sisu and Ricoh Arena owners ACL head to London for crucial meeting with administrator Paul Appleton

A crucial Coventry City creditors' meeting this morning ended in ten minutes with Ricoh owners Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) rejecting proposals to exit administration.

Sky Blues are expected to go into liquidation. Football League are meeting today - they could hand the club a 15-point deduction for the new season.

Follow all the developments live as they happen...

5:04 PM: It's all gone quiet while we wait and see if the Football League make a decision over the points deduction...

BBC Sport/Football
2 August
20:30

Coventry have been deducted 10 points after the Football League allowed them to start their League One campaign.

Coventry City FC Ltd went into administration in March following a row with Arena Coventry Limited over rent.

It now faces liquidation after ACL, which runs the Ricoh Arena, rejected a Company Voluntary Arrangement.

But an application by the Otium Entertainment Group for a transfer of the club's share in The Football League has been accepted.

A Football League statement read: "The League has transferred the club's share to the administrator's preferred bidder Otium Entertainment Group.

"This comes after an application under the 'exceptional circumstances' provision of the League's Insolvency Policy and on the acceptance of a 10-point deduction for the upcoming League One season despite the failure of its CVA."

3 August: Pressley sacked by Coventry City

Coventry City's owners Otium Entertainment Group have released a statement on their clubs website with the confirmation of the sacking of 39 year old Steven Pressley. Fans were already angry at the clubs owners for dragging their club into administration but now they are even more angry as Pressley was a respected figure at The Sky Blues and they have sacked him just before the start of an already tough League 1 campaign this season with the news of the 10-point deduction from the Football League coming just yesterday. Whoever will take over at Coventry certainly has the worst job in football.

Looks like a fun story. Good luck in your pursuit of success

Good luck with the story JL00. I will be following

Good luck

McAllister returns for 4th spell at Coventry

Former Leeds and Liverpool midfielder Gary McAllister has today been announced as manager of Coventry City after leaving his previous role in 2004 after two spells as a player at the Sky Blues. McAllister made a combined total of 174 appearances for Coventry, scoring 30 goals. McAllister has had other managerial experiences too, he managed Leeds United, who he won Division 1 for in 1992 as a player in a very similar situation, Leeds had been docked 15 points when McAllister took over from Dennis Wise who left for Newcastle, he led Leeds from -15 points to play-off finalists where they were beaten 1-0 at Wembley against Doncaster Rovers, he was sacked in December 2008 after a poor string of results, including a 1-0 loss to Histon in the F.A. Cup. McAllister rejected an offer from the Scottish national team which, coincidentally enough had just sacked McAllister's current predecessor Steven Pressley but McAllister turned the offer down (Who wouldn't!) as he was looking for a job at club level. After that, in May 2010 he was appointed as Middlesbrough's First Team Coach where he would team up with former Leeds teammate Gordon Strachan. In September 2010 Gérard Houllier appointed McAllister as Assistant/Caretaker manager. He had played under Houllier at Liverpool. After Houllier was rushed to hospital, McAllister took charge of Aston Villa against Stoke City which ended 1-1, he then led Villa to beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates and then won 1-0 against his old club Liverpool. When Alex McLeish was appointed as manager in 2011, it was announced McAllister would not return to the club.

McAllister is now in a position similar to where he was at Leeds, in financial threats and under pressure from fans. Can he take Coventry all the way?

Blitz takes over at Coventry City

English businessman Simon Blitz has taken over at debt-ridden League 1 side Coventry City. His first statement said that current manager Gary McAllister has full backing of him and his hierarchy. He also stated no investment is being given to McAllister but are currently working on clearing the clubs debts and then possibly investing in the team. He also stated that The Sky Blues future at the Ricoh Arena is safe.

Blitz had previously saved Oldham Athletic from liquidation and left after 7 years at Oldham in 2010 due to personal and economic pressures. Blitz and his business partner Danny Gazal founded Cellular Network Communications Group, an American mobile phone company before taking over at Coventry.

"I want big things to happen with this club. It has unfortunately been mismanaged before, I want to put things right. Before, I have brought Oldham from possible liquidation to security on and off the field. I will give Gary the funds for transfers when the time is right, we are in, not astronomical debt but it is still debt, we need to pay it off which is mine, Dave (Hoddle) and John's (Roberts) main priority at this moment in time. I think we can grow as a club in the next few years, it's a waiting game. As soon as we pay off the debt, we will be able to give McAllister what he needs. There were doubts about our future at the Ricoh Arena when Tim (Fisher, previous chairman) told us about the club and what to expect but I would like to confirm we are staying there. I've been to the Ricoh before when I was chairman at Oldham and the fans for Coventry were truly phenomenal. We have signed three players who will be introduced shortly and we have a signing lined up. Thank you" Said the new chairman Simon Blitz, after he said he had three players signed on, the journalists immediately started asking who they were but Blitz kept his lips sealed.


Simon Blitz (middle) with former business partners Danny Gazal (right) and Tom Corney (left)

Nice choice of manager, good luck

2013-09-02 20:55#133117 Walter : Nice choice of manager, good luck

Thanks, always liked McAllister

I hate McAllister because he was a crap Ass Man for me on FM11

McAllister boosts Coventry numbers

As soon as McAllister walked into the media room with chairman Simon Blitz, The Coventry Telegraph, Daily Mail, all the local papers all knew what this was for. All waiting for the news of the 3 players possibly 1 more joining club but since that day it turned out 6 players had all agreed to join the club, some met with delight, some met with anger. "Today, me and Gary are presenting our new signings for Coventry City to the media and fans. I know at our first press conference a couple of days ago we said we had agreed 3 signings with a possibility of 1 more which we were negotiating. Today, with mine, my business partners and Gary's delight, we have signed 6 players with one player going out. Gary, I'll leave it to you" said Blitz

"Thank you Simon, as you know, we are currently 4 games into the new season () and I felt we needed more than 3 or 4 players to give us a good platform for the season. I know due to the recent events at the club some fans may be unsure about the current finances but I had a word with Simon and he has said it was fine and I know he knows how to run a club and it's finances after previous experiences"
"Absolutely" said Blitz

"So the first player we signed is former West Ham and Toulouse left-back Hérita Ilunga. He adds experience to a fairly young side and he is a great left back, his club history proves that. Tackling, Marking, crossing and off the ball ability are all key attributes to a left-back and Ilunga has all of them.



I remember when I was managing Leeds I came up against Ian Ashbee a few times for Hull and he was truly exceptional and in training I can see he has kept that quality in his later years.



The third signing is Lateef Elford-Alliyu, he has never really settled down at a club because he has been constantly loaned out to different clubs from West Brom and I have been watching his career develop as he has grown up and in my opinion he is one of the best lower league strikers these past few seasons



Salif Diao has Premier League experience at Stoke, Liverpool, Birmingham and Portsmouth, he has also had Ligue 1 experience at AS Monaco, we will use that to our advantage as not only is he a great center midfielder and defensive midfielder but he is joining us as a scout as well.



Steve Simonsen was actually our first signing of the transfer window, he will be back-up to Joe Murphy but good back-up, he like Salif has Premier League experience at Stoke and Everton so he will come in handy if Murphy isn't putting the effort in or he is injured.



Zeki is the youngest of the signings but he is certainly one of the most talented he will be battling for his place at left-back with Hérita"



"Will you be making anymore signings Mr. McAllister?" Asked a journalist

"You'll have to ask Simon about that" McAllister replied

"Simon?"

"If Gary wants a player and he is within the price range we will certainly make an attempt to sign the player, that's all for today thanks" as Blitz finished the conference