After each matchday programme, we will be publishing the 'From the Boardroom' article on our website. For Tuesday's Carabao Cup tie versus Blackburn, Coventry City Chief Executive Dave Boddy wrote the column and his article is published below:
"Good evening and welcome to tonight’s game against Blackburn here at the Ricoh Arena in the Carabao Cup.
It’s our pleasure to welcome the players, officials and supporters of Blackburn Rovers, and not least Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus, who will need no introduction to Sky Blues fans. Indeed it was Mark that was instrumental in initially bringing me to the club, so I thank him for the opportunity.
This is the first time I have written programme notes in PUSB since my appointment as Chief Executive in June.
When I was appointed, I said how excited I was by the potential for the coming season under Mark Robins. Saturday’s win against Notts County showed some of that, and I am sure there is more to come. However, I am sure Mark will stay grounded, as there is a long season ahead of us.
I am responsible for the day-to-day operation of the club, and my priorities are to develop the commercial opportunities and aim to improve our engagement with community, supporters and all stakeholders in the club.
It has on the whole been a very positive summer. We have new commercial agreements in place, with Soccer Supplement our new Nutrition Partner and Genesis Employment sponsoring the Goal of the Month competition. It’s important we continue to acquire new partners, as well as enjoying close relationships with existing ones, such as our shirt sponsors Allsopp & Allsopp.
Speaking of shirts, we have been very pleased with the response to the new home and away kits. I am delighted to tell you that sales of the home shirt in the first five and a half weeks have surpassed the total sold of last year’s home shirt last season! We will work with our retail partner JustSport to ensure the shop is stocked with what is undoubtedly the most popular shirt for a number of years.
Despite the drop to League Two, Season Ticket sales have been strong and I would like to thank everyone who has bought so far. We anticipated a decrease following relegation, but the fact it has been less that we expected emphasises the faith you as supporters have in Mark Robins and his team, and your loyalty to your club.
I would like to apologise on behalf of the club to fans who did not receive their Season Ticket card until the opening day of the season. This delay was caused by an issue while printing cards, between the interfaces of Ticketmaster and Fortress Access Control. As soon as this issue became clear, it was our priority as a club to let those fans affected know what was happening and ensure they could attend the opening day with as little hassle as possible.
Now that this has been done, I have arranged a meeting with senior management at Ticketmaster to review what happened and how the overall ticketing experience can be improved for our supporters. Ticketing is something which affects every single supporter, as well as being the main source of revenue for the club, so it is vital this is addressed.
Today sees the start of the cup campaigns this season, and we will be playing in the Carabao Cup, Emirates FA Cup and of course Checkatrade Trophy. We all saw at the end of the last season the effect a good cup run and success can have on the club, its supporters and the city as a whole, and we all hope that we can galvanise everyone involved in Coventry City throughout the 2017/18 season."