Chris Anderson's boardroom notes from the PUSB matchday programme will now be published on www.ccfc.co.uk...
Coventry City Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director Chris Anderson's programme notes from the weekend's game against Doncaster Rovers.
Good afternoon and welcome to today's game against Doncaster Rovers. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of the Directors, staff, and supporters from Yorkshire.
It’s been another really positive week at the club with the 4-1 win over Gillingham on Saturday and the draw against Bradford City. It was a fantastic afternoon for the club and the buzz around the city after the game is exactly what the club should be aiming to achieve every Saturday.
We were all delighted with the attendance. 15,604 was our highest attendance this season and it shows us how much confidence has returned in the club. Everyone is thrilled to have your support. I have spoken to several of the players and the Manager this week; they’ve all commented on the atmosphere you generate, and I have no doubt that it has been a significant factor in maintaining our unbeaten home form this season. I am really hopeful that we can continue to maintain and improve our home attendances, and confident that our reduced price ticket offer will help achieve that for the Oldham fixture on Saturday, December 19th.
The positivity around the club is noticeable; one indication of that has been the strong interest in our early-bird half-season ticket deadline, which we have extended to fill the demand. In fact, the ticket office has seen sales increase by over 100% up on last season’s half-season ticket purchases. At just £11.64 per game, we believe it represents extremely good value for supporters and we were thrilled to see that more people took up the offer during the week.
It shows how much the city is buying into the project Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus are building this season. Pete Witherow, a lifelong supporter and owner of Auto Jap Spares, certainly did that in the summer when he signed up to the ‘Active Ambassadors’ scheme to help fund our loan deal for Adam Armstrong. It is a scheme we would like more businesses to sign up for in order to help drive the club forward. We’ve always valued the support of local businesses and during my short time at the club, I’ve already met with a number of local businesses hoping to reengage with them.
One other positive sign has been in the amount of media attention the club is attracting. One of the most noticeable differences at Ryton this week has been interest from national media outlets. This week alone, The Sun, BBC, Sky Sports, Five Live and the Guardian, among others covered the club, and it’s great to see people talking about Coventry City across the UK once again.
Off the field, I’m continuing my review of club operations to see where improvements need to be made, and how quickly those improvements can be achieved. With the on-pitch interest expanding rapidly, the commercial side of the business must try hard to keep up. That is one of the key challenges we currently face.
Once I’ve finished my audit, I will look to make the necessary improvements to the business, which, in turn, will help you support your football club. I’ll keep you updated with the progress I make on this in the coming weeks through my column here and via other official club channels.
Thanks for coming.
Chris
PUSB