As 5,200 Coventry City fans head down to London for tonight’s FA Cup tie with Arsenal at the Emirates, it is time to reflect again on the current plight of the Sky Blues. Securing the FA Cup against the odds 27 years ago brought delight to a city that had already seen its economic prosperity punctured.
According to a friend who was on a train down to London, the Coventry fans were in fine voice. They will, however, be holding up protest banners at designated points in tonight’s game and Arsenal fans are planning to show their solidarity.
As 5,200 Coventry City fans head down to London for tonight’s FA Cup tie with Arsenal at the Emirates, it is time to reflect again on the current plight of the Sky Blues. Securing the FA Cup against the odds 27 years ago brought delight to a city that had already seen its economic prosperity punctured.
According to a friend who was on a train down to London, the Coventry fans were in fine voice. They will, however, be holding up protest banners at designated points in tonight’s game and Arsenal fans are planning to show their solidarity.
The owners continue to search for a site on which they can erect a new stadium. The latest favourite is a disused golf course in Exhall, not so far from the abandoned Ricoh Arena. Nuneaton & Bedworth Council would have to give planning permission,
Meanwhile, Warwick University have made it clear that none of their spare land would be available for a stadium. I never thought that was a starter and even if the University was amenable it is doubtful whether Warwick District Council would have welcomed the idea.
Coventry City chief executive Tim Fisher has blamed Coventry City Council for the stadium problems, suggesting that Arena Coventry Limited were intransigent over the record charged for the use of the Ricoh.
He has said, ‘I believe the council made a decision that they did not want a hedge fund running Coventry City. This is a socialist council.’ To me, they look more like old fashioned Labour people, but in any case one does not have to be a socialist to think that a hedge fund is not ideally suited to run a football club where it is hard to sweat assets to maximise returns.