After each matchday programme, we will be publishing the 'From the Boardroom' article on our website. For Saturday's match against Crewe Alexandra, Coventry City Chief Executive David Boddy wrote the column and his article is published below:
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to everybody associated with Crewe Alexandra, I hope they enjoy their visit to the Ricoh.
Firstly, I would like to thank supporters for their excellent support so far this season, particularly our following away from home. You have travelled in large numbers to all of the away games so far with numbers well in excess of 1,000 travelling for the first 4 games. The support on Tuesday night at Swindon from the 700 Sky Blues fans was magnificent, they sang and got behind the team for the whole 90 minutes and created a brilliant atmosphere, which can only help the team.
In my notes earlier in the season I wrote about the issues that we had been having with Ticketmaster over Season Ticket distribution and that we were having meeting with them. Since then we have had a series of meetings and the outcomes are that, coupled with technical issues between them and Fortress (which is the Stadium access entry system) and on the back of that the delays it caused, we collectively decided that there is a need to do the “rollover” process between the two systems earlier in the summer. The rollover process is a cut-off point where last season’s Season Ticket cards are either re-validated or switched off, meaning anybody renewing after that point will need a new card. Ticketmaster are apologetic to our supporters and the Club.
During the summer and as an ongoing process we have undertaken a renovation process at Ryton. The Sky Blue Lodge needed quite a lot of general repairs and tidying up. Mark Robins also required some internal changes to the gym, changing rooms etc. A large part of the work has been done by a volunteer, Bill Poynton to whom we thank. The place is now looking a lot better, the pitches, as always are immaculate thanks to the great work of groundsman, Julien Morris and his team and as a training facility it is as good as any at this level of the game.
We are promoting a Sporting Evening with Kevin Keegan in early November here at the Ricoh (details are available in this programme). It is the first such event of this nature that we have held for a long time and has already captured the imagination with over 150 tickets already sold. Kevin is a quality speaker and it promises to be a great night. If the evening is the success we expect it to be, we are planning to make them a bi annual event, and we are already working on the next one and planning to bring the biggest sporting names to Coventry.
Enjoy the game,
PUSB
Dave Boddy
Chief Executive
Coventry City Football Club