Coventry City: Ricoh Arena operators still want Sky Blues

Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the Ricoh Arena's operators, still want Coventry City to play at the stadium.

ACL and the Sky Blues have been embroiled in a year-long row over rent.

And the League One club have agreed a groundshare at Northampton's Sixfields Stadium for the next three seasons.

"We have a plan B, but we've not moved into any sort of contracts because what we really want to see is the Sky Blues playing there," said ACL director Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen.

Coventry City have been in administration since March and, despite being they will remain so until they arrange a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) to pay creditors.

Shortly after being taken over by Otium, the club agreed the groundshare deal with League Two Northampton after playing at the Ricoh Arena since 2005.

Despite threatening legal action over City's plans, Knatchbull-Hugessen insists that ACL would not struggle financially if the club were to leave the stadium for good.

"We want the Sky Blues back and playing, but it is only 23 days a year," he told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.

"It will be tight and we have a year or so where we think again on how to use this resource for the people of Coventry."

Knatchbull-Hugessen says that the nature of the business of ACL, a joint venture company, run by Coventry City Council and the Alan Edward Higgs charity, has dictated its dealings with the club.

"If we were a commercial company, we wouldn't have been talking, and they wouldn't have completed the season," he said.

"But we're not a normal business and we have an absolute clear understanding that the Sky Blues should play in Coventry.

"It's like someone you love, someone who's part of your life being taken away."