Coventry City

Pat Abel (PA), Chris Anderson (CA), Jim Brown (JB), Steve Brown (SBR), Dec Connolly (DC), Kieran Crowley (KC), Darren Davies (DD), Mike Garlick (MG), Mark Hornby (MH), CJ Joiner (CJ), Chris McGrath (CM), Jan Mokrzycki (JM), Pat Raybould (PR), Ray Stephens (RS), Jonathan Strange (JS), Robert Tidmarsh (RT), Peter Ward (PW) 

Steve Barnett, Sandra Garlick, Kevin Heffernan, Colin Henderson, Kev Monks, Tynan Scope, Mark Sorbie, Ravinder Singh Thakar

Peter Ward welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for coming. As he handed over to the new chairman, Jonathan Strange, he thanked the SCG and CCFC for all the support he had received over the past year, particularly under the difficult circumstances. It had been a pleasure and a challenge, which he had thoroughly enjoyed. The SCG had made good ground which had been recognise by the club. He also spoke of the sad news of the deaths of Jimmy Hill, Mike McGinnity and Don Howe. He congratulated Jonathan Strange and Jim Brown on the great work they had done in helping to get things moving for the memorial celebration of Jimmy Hill at Coventry Cathedral.

JS thanked PW for all his work and paid tribute to his personal integrity and his work in extending the representativeness of the group, especially with younger members.

Tickets would be made available to the general public from the Butts Park Arena on a first-come basis. JS would convey a minimum of 40 tickets to the Trust and a minimum of 30 tickets to CCLSC/SBI. Members of SCG not covered by these and other distributions to the Diamond Club and CCFPA would receive their two tickets where required. JS asked members to provide names of supporters who may not belong to any particular organisation, especially those who supported and were associated with the club during the JH years. The event will be 60/75 minutes in length. It will be a secular occasion at the request of Jimmy’s family and juxtapose speech, music and film. There will be various well-known names from the world of football.  Match day stewards of CCFC will help on the day.  JS invited further assistance. SBR offered any help needed on the day from SBT members.

In the absence of any provision for an unclear outcome to an electoral process, JS proposed the following addendum to the Terms of Reference which was unanimously adopted:

In the event of a candidate failing to secure the votes of a majority of the members, the candidate with the least number of votes will withdraw. There will then be a further round or rounds of voting. The chairman will retain a casting vote.

A timetable was agreed for the election of vice-chairman.

SCG members wishing to put themselves forward for this position must e-mail JS by 24.00 on Sunday 31 January. The group will be advised of the candidates via e-mail on Monday 1 February. Kieran Crowley has kindly agreed to act as the returning officer. Members will need to e-mail their selection directly to Kieran. This will be handled in the strictest confidence. The deadline for voting will be 24.00 on Sunday 7 February. Kieran will inform JS of the outcome on Monday 8 February. JS will convey the result by e-mail to the group. 

It was noted that some members had attended irregularly, only occasionally sending apologies. A proposal was unanimously adopted that, as from 21 January 2016, anyone failing to attend a meeting for six months would forfeit their position.

JS advised that the SCG would retain Ian Davidson’s issues log in some form. Would any member who has any issues with the match day experience please e-mail JS direct. JS would also further discuss with the club issues raised about the seating at Swindon, shareholders’ certificates/share registers, no tea-spoons in Jaguar Lounge, no hot drinks in 36/37. Also, the congestion on the Block 18/19 area on the concourse caused by the toilets, a popular F&B outlet and supporters going outside the ground to smoke.   

JS asked Chris Anderson for an update about ticketing. CA covered the problems that have occurred. He is well aware of all of the issues and is working on a solution. This has been exacerbated by the rise in demand for tickets. He is in close consultation with ACL and Wasps to see what can be done to improve the system, and he is confident there will be improvements made soon. 

KC said that contrary to a suggestion, there was now clear advice on the website about the possibility of postponement in the event of opposition involvement in the FA Cup. 

CA was pleased to confirm a two year extension to play at the Ricoh has been signed off. The finance staff have now moved from the Citibase office, which is now closed, to Ryton. The club are in discussion with new sponsors for next season.

MG brought up the situation of car park A and how badly run it is. Other members also spoke about car park C. At the Burton game, there were signs on the road to car park C saying it was a no-cash entrance. Some members said that they saw drivers entering the car park and then handing over cash to the stewards. Stewards had also allowed people to park outside the car park spaces, turning the two lane exits to a one lane exit, creating a back-up of cars almost the length of the car park. And this wasn’t the first time.

MG reported that the corporate service has been very poor recently e.g. wine being served in plastic beer mugs. There has been no draught beer in the Legends Lounge and the service on Boxing Day was very poor. There had also been rowdyism and a failure to observe dress requirements.

CA confirmed that the football club have and will continue to have primacy in playing their games on a Saturday. He also spoke about the lack of CCFC signage around the ground on a match-day and that this is something the club are looking into. There is a need for banners and/or flags etc.  DD made the suggestion of showing films of the team on the external walls pre-match.

CM pointed out that the seating areas are starting to look very shabby, with spilled beer and wine stains on and under the seating which had not been cleaned.

CJ asked how the beer was poured. Was it fresh or lined up? If lined up, how long had it stood before half time?

DD asked the group if anyone had asked fans bout the lack of XXL size replica kits. No-one had.

KC advised everyone that the club had sent their condolences to the family of the man who had died at the arena on Boxing Day.

RT informed the group that the ‘Young Supporters’ group is growing in numbers.

PR informed the group that the children’s Christmas Party was a complete success. All the players came and joined in. Over £700 was raised for the Junior Sky Blues.

RS said that when trying to buy a bottle of water he was told he couldn’t buy it with the top off. SBR said that he was within his legal rights to refuse to allow it to be removed.

PA asked that if any of the group had a contact at a local secondary school willing to promote the Tickets for Schools scheme, please contact her.

SBR advised that it is now possible to buy a train ticket from outside Coventry for the Ricoh Arena Station even though you cannot use it. Could there be signs at Coventry Station advising people arriving for a match and unaware of this that they need to get a bus into town, then change at Pool Meadow to a bus for the ground?

SBR said that the Trust intend to look into ways of improving transport links with the Ricoh for City fans. He said that they would be campaigning in any way possible, not just with the rail networks but also local bus companies so as to help people to get to and from games.

SBR said that Chris Anderson would be attending the next Trust open meeting and the Trust have been given a ball to raffle on the evening