Coventry City might play away from their ‘home,’ according to developments regarding a long-term stadium.
The future of the club is unclear as they are set to go without a home when their agreement to play at Ricoh Arena expires next year. Fans have asked that the club owners, Sisu, sell to better managers. Even the chair of the Football Association, Greg Clarke has expressed his disappointment with the situation at the club. He was speaking at the Culture, Media and Sport committee in Westminster.
“Coventry City is a very, very sad case. It’s a fine football club 20 miles from my home town and I still remember them winning the FA Cup.
“Their fans have had a torrid time and the bad blood that now exists between the owners, the fans, the local council has failed to be healed by multiple acts of mediation by the Football League,” said Clarke.
The Telegraph newspaper in the city is campaigning that the owners sell after documenting years of falling revenues, attendances and league positions. The club only returned to Ricoh for two years after reaching an agreement in 2014. A rent issue forced the club to play home games in Northampton. With the current situation, the club might have to play the games away from home again.
The chair of the club, Tin Fisher, insists that they do not want to play outside of Coventry. The Football League might not be able to reassure the fans who do not want a repeat of the Sixfields fiasco that forced the club to play home games 35 miles away in Northampton.
The North East MP Collen Fletcher has reportedly met with the Football League over the matter. The stadium proprietors, Wasps, stopped discussions over the issue due to the ongoing legal action from the club owners. Fisher told fans that he believes Wasps would take another short-term deal than force them to leave again.