Business of football - London Olympic Stadium and Football League clubs

Spurs are gearing up for possible legal action over the allocation of the Olympic Stadium to West Ham. Their lawyers have sent a series of questions to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to which it has four weeks to respond.   The UK Government and the office of the Mayor of London are joint owners of the OPLC and would be involved in any court action.

Spurs will decide whether to proceed to a judicial review once it has received answers to its questions.   A decision can be challenged in the courts on the grounds of illegality, irrationality and unfairness.   The OPLC is confident that it ran a rigorous and transparent selection process.   It is questionable whether there would be grounds for action on the basis of illegality or irrationality.  Questions of fairness are open to different interpretations.

Earlier this month Spurs were reported to be looking for alternative affordable sites in Haringey with good transport links.   However, there are very few such sites.  The club are understood to have rejected a potential site north of White Hart Lane in Edmonton next to the North Circular Road owned by Meridian Water because of flooding concerns.

In many ways, League 1 Leyton Orient, whose ground is close to the stadium, are even more aggrieved about the situation.   The club has served notice on the London Borough of Newham that they intend to apply for a judicial review of its decision to arrange a £40m loan for West Ham United to help them in their bid to move to the Olympic Stadium.   The move came after Baroness Ford of the Olympic Park Legacy Company knocked on the head the possible compromise of a move to a new stadium at Eton Manor, although the final decision is not hers to take.

Orient also intend to sue the Premier League, the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport so the writs will be flying around.   Barry Hearn says that he is proceeding under ‘anti-competition law'.   I'm not sure what this is, but perhaps he means competition law.   Should this be the case, it will be interesting to see what the exact grounds for the action are, although Hearn claims to have the best barristers.

Coventry City

Championship side Coventry City have been in trouble this month.   Their owners SISU have injected £8m into the Sky Blues to save them from administration.   The club were very close to administration and it is still unclear whether more cash will be needed to pay the bills before the end of the season. 

Sisu have lost £25m since buying the Sky Blues in December 2007 and do not regard the position as sustainable.   They are looking for new investors.  Revenue streams are limited to ticket sales, sponsorship and merchandising as the club does not own the Ricoh Arena.    They still would like to buy the stadium. Half of it once belonged to the club but it was sold to a local charitable trust.

The club mortgaged their only freehold property, the training ground at Ryton, for around £1m last July to help pay the bills.   City acquired the Ryton site in the early 1960s when the legendary Jimmy Hill, who transformed the club's fortunes, wanted to train players away from their then home at Highfield Road.  They got it at the knockdown price of £10,000 paid over ten years after the owner was given a day out at a match.

Key players Scott Dean (now believed to be worth £8m) and Danny Fox were sold to raise around £5m.   The sale of Academy star Conor Thomas to Liverpool for £1m was the last straw for former chairman Ray Ranson who resigned.

Brighton & Hove Albion

With all this gloom and doom, it’s good to have some positive news. Brighton & Hove Albion have been through some dark days and football fans from around the country rallied behind them.  It's 14 years since they left the Goldstone Ground and after a two year ground share at Gillingham they have spent 12 years at the Withdean Stadium.   It kept the club alive but it's not a suitable setting for football.  Away fans in particular will be glad to see the end of it and to get closer to the action and the opportunity to create some atmosphere.

There is no doubt that the Amex Community Stadium will be a spectacular addition to the Football League.  Manager Gus Poyet has had Brighton playing some stylish and controlled football this season.  They are 13 points clear at the top of League 1 and near certainties to grace the Championship next season.

It was a struggle to get the site at Falmer approved with determined opposition from some local residents.   Decisions had to be taken at the highest level and required some astute and determined political campaigning from Seagulls fans.  But the stock of goodwill they have built up around the country served them well.

The new stadium cost £96m and will have a capacity of 22,500.  14,000 season tickets have already been sold which is twice the capacity of the Withdean.   All the executive boxes have been snapped up and the conference and banqueting facilities have already attracted considerable advance bookings.   The club is hoping for regular attendances of 17,000 - 18,000 which seems an achievable target. 

Plymouth Argyle

Unfortunately, the latest news from Plymouth Argyle is not good.   No one has been paid at the club this year as it struggles to keep afloat.   Only one credible bidder is now left for the club and there is a real risk of its 125-year history coming to an end.

Wyn Grant is a regular contributor to Albion Road and also the publisher of footballeconomy.com, a website covering the business and economy of the game of football.