Saints fans will be interested to learn that SISU hve been blocked at Coventry.

Those who are worried that SISU might go elsewhere with their money will be shocked to learn that they had almost reached an agreement with Coventry City to take them over, showing that they are running out of patience with Southampton.

Crucially though Coventry's major shareholders who had previously been blocking the SISu bid, including the Club's majority shareholder who had been lining up a rival bid did a U turn and accepted that this was the only way forward in the abscence of any other funding, however SISU were blocked by the Club's major creditor the Co Op Bank who refused to sanction the offer, possibly because it may well have meant them accepting a major loss on their money.

Whilst this is no indication on whether the bid for saints is good or bad, it shows that Saints do not have a lot  of time in considering this bid otherwise the decision will be taken out of their hands.

The full transcript from the Coventry Telegraph is below. 

 THE future of Coventry City FC hangs in the balance today with the football club staring financial ruin in the face.

The Coventry Telegraph understands that a takeover by Ray Ranson's consortium, Sisu, is being blocked by the Co-op Bank -which is owed £18 million by the club - leaving it as the last man standing in a deal that could save the Sky Blues from administration.

The takeover took a giant step forward earlier this week when the club's majority shareholder and rival bidder Geoffrey Robinson came on side, by agreeing to do business with Sisu rather than blocking the deal and forging ahead with a counter offer.

But at an all party meeting before last night's match at the Ricoh Arena, the bank refused to agree terms with Sisu, effectively blocking the deal that would see the consortium purchase the club and acquire its option to buy back a 50 per cent share in the stadium.

The dramatic news is a major blow to the cash-strapped club which is believed to be unable to pay the players' wages which were due today.

And unless the bank changes its mind, it appears that the club will be forced into administration, resulting in the team being docked 10 points in the league and manager Iain Dowie facing the prospect of selling his best players, including star striker Michael Mifsud, in the January transfer window, rather than looking forward to a fresh injection of cash that would enable the manager to strengthen his side and help push the club towards promotion.

Club chairman Joe Elliott admitted: "We are at crisis point. The clock was always ticking and we are negotiating hard and doing our very best to make things happen."

It is understood that former footballer Mr Ranson and members of his consortium have been locked in high level negotiations with all parties for the last two days, desperately trying to bring the takeover to a successful conclusion.

And on Monday it is believed that the group was at the stage where it had 'technically' reached an agreement with majority shareholder Geoffrey Robinson and key shareholders Craigavon Ltd, Sir Derek Higgs and Mike McGinnity to buy the football club.

Sisu has forged a good working relationship with Arena Coventry Ltd, the company that runs the Ricoh Arena on behalf of current part owners Coventry City Council and the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, and it is understood that ACL is happy for the consortium to take over the club and acquire a shareholding in the stadium.

Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen, director of ACL and clerk to the trustees of the Higgs Charity that currently owns 50 per cent of the Ricoh, has already gone on record as saying: "There have been continual and very sensible discussions with Ray Ranson's group and that's where we believe a deal can be done."

One of the Charity's key requirements for doing business is a commitment to regeneration of the area, and Sisu clearly meet that criteria.

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