AS Southampton City Council look at the possibility of buying St mary's Stadium, we take a look at other stadia which are owned by local authorities.

■ Ricoh Arena, Coventry Coventry City Council contributed towards the construction cost of the stadium, pictured right, which opened in 2005, and is a 50 per cent shareholder in the management company, Arena Coventry Limited. The other half is owned by a charitable trust.

Home of Coventry City, the arena hosted the EDF Energy Cup rugby union semi-finals last month, while Take That and Oasis are due to play gigs in the summer.

■ City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester In the case of Manchester City, the council provided the Commonwealth Games stadium, pictured right, in a straight swap for the club’s Maine Road Stadium.

It then granted the club a 250-year lease on the stadium with the club responsible for the day-today maintenance. The club pays a rental fee to the council that is linked to attendance. When the gate exceeds 33,500, the old capacity of Maine Road, the club pays a proportion of the ticket revenue on those additional seats to the council.

■ Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld The potential downside of St Mary’s falling into public ownership was highlighted this week by the plight of Scottish First Division club Clyde (above). The relegation- threatened club faced eviction from their home over unpaid rent and debts totalling £140,000. But they managed to strike a bargain at the 11th hour with ground owners North Lanarkshire Council that needed an immediate £40,000 payment towards their overall debt.