The announcement that Swansea City’s first away game after the World Cup could be in jeopardy is correct, but any announcement of Coventry City actually being ‘evicted’ is slightly wide of the mark. However don’t think Mike Ashley and his Fraser Group will care too much about the disruption they will cause to the city’s football club and it’s fans.

Mike Ashley is fifty eight and the Walsall born ‘entrepreneur’ has amassed billions over a lifetime of investment and careful business planning, he is no mug. A lot of money to your average Joe is peanuts to Ashley. If he has five billion pounds in net worth as suggested the interest has paid his misdemeanours when at Newcastle United.

And Coventry City should be concerned at his latest move to evict the club from their ground.

In 2016 then Newcastle United player Jonás Gutiérrez took Ashley to a tribunal and won. Why ? Because Ashley ordered John Carver the magpies manager at the time to drop him. Maybe that happens a lot ? But the ruling against Ashley was as a result of Jonás Gutiérrez being diagnosed with cancer.

In the narrative after the disability discrimination tribunal ended they found in the players favour in two of four claims and Gutiérrez could receive up to £2m in compensation. In its ruling, the tribunal said: “We find as a fact therefore that the respondent was deliberately managing the claimant’s selection to prevent him triggering the option [of extension]. We concluded that the reason why the respondent managed the claimant’s selection was because they had no longer wanted him at the club because of his cancer.”

So, in employment law Ashley was proven to have discriminated against a player with a disability to ensure he didn’t reach an amount of games which would mean an extra payment. And was culpable in this by ordering the manager not to play him. Gutiérrez said post verdict He said: “It is notable that during my chemotherapy treatment, neither the manager, Alan Pardew, or any club directors contacted me to see how I was feeling or to congratulate me on my recovery.”

That’s shocking.

There is a trail of litigation against Ashley including him being told to pay Kevin Keegan in another tribunal for constructive dismissal an amount of two million pounds. But it’s water of a ducks back to the billionaire. His latest move you can be assured is to manoeuvre himself in to a stronger position as this threat of eviction is real. Frasers blame the sky blues board for inaction but only a few weeks ago before the purchase of the lease went through the board stated -

‘The Football Club has had brief initial discussions with the Fraser Group regarding the future of the Arena and their interest in it, and they have given us assurances that the Sky Blues continuing to play at the Arena is very much part of their plans, should they purchase the Arena. The situation is very fluid and outside of our control, but obviously of great importance to the Football Club and our supporters. We will endeavor to keep our fans updated as much as it is possible for us to do so over the coming weeks and months’

As soon as the Fraser Group got their feet under the table the eviction notice is served.

So what can the football league do as an example ?

Well, Mike Ashley has passed a fit and proper test at Newcastle, and regardless of what people think that’s more about finance than anything else. However, they can revisit that and Ashley’s involvement. But do you think they will ? He isn’t the owner of Coventry City FC, they are merely tenants and Ashley in simple terms is the landlord. That’s tricky. So, how about a Coventry City council getting involved ? They could well do, and it’s been rumoured they have already contacted the Fraser Group for dialogue as has Coventry south MP Zarah Sultana. But this is all about flexing muscles and getting a long game going.

Mike Ashley knows the route around buying businesses and the feeling is he wants Coventry City. He also knows they are his biggest income stream as landlord. But as he has proved before he will be ruthless in his dealings to get to where he wants to be. And he is doing it again. He is bigger financially than the EFL so don’t expect them to challenge him too quickly. There may well be a belief he won’t take this eviction notice beyond a threat, but don’t be so sure, he will go to any length to get what he wants.

The disruption to the club, it’s supporters and infrastructure is again in limbo, it’s really disheartening to see a proper working class area with history, not dissimilar to Swansea being once again dragged through emotional turmoil. We have seen it at Swansea between 1997 and 2002 and it was dealt with by fan action, and of course direct action as well. Those days very much feel as if they are over. The real cost here is the genuine Coventry City supporter, not their two man board but the real beating heart of the city. Mike Ashley may have the financial clout to disorientate the fans, but over time they won’t welcome that behaviour, and that’s where money doesn’t come in to it. Ashley lost the support of Newcastle United fans as an owner, and Coventry City have been sucked in as well.

Including the supporters trust who must be reeling today.

Richard Keys a self confessed Coventry fan stated this morning "The deal Mike Ashley has offered Coventry to play at CBS Arena is a fair one. It would require the club not to fall into arrears again. Ownership issues at Cov are a joke. Ashley can flush out the chancers. If he ends up owning the club he’ll have my backing."

There you go, this is the type of person the true Coventry fan is up against. Keys moral standing is at zero for his disgusting sexist comments when he was sacked by Sky, so what credibility do we put on this latest nonsense ? All we see is a man protecting the big guns in an attempt to curry favour.

The passage of time and certain dialogue will mean the swans away game will go ahead without any real issues. But the real issue if that’s the case is the way Ashley and his mega group are acting, they seem to have no care for a club and it’s community and for that reason alone they are on dodgy ground. Money may buy you something nice, but if you kill the belief and hope of a community as he found out at Newcastle it’s nigh on possible to get your credibility back.

Part of this is most certainly a ruse, and we think it’s all a part of Ashley wanting to come out of this as the good guy, that’s a long road but people are easily manipulated at times. Watch this carefully, it’s going to be a head game and a half, but we know all about those type of situations, the interpretation of events is often far wide of the actual real destination of those involved.

But it’s the real people who get hurt the most.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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