After each matchday programme, we will be publishing the 'From the Boardroom' article on our website. For Saturday's match against Port Vale, Coventry City Chairman Tim Fisher wrote the column and his article is published below:
"Good afternoon. I would like to welcome you to our game against Port Vale, and thank you for your support of your team this afternoon. I’d also like to welcome the fans, players and officials from The Valiants too.
Last week saw the end of the summer transfer window, and the conclusion of a busy period for football clubs up and down the country.
Our activity was busier than most, with a total of 13 signings made during the window and many of these incoming players agreeing two year contracts. A huge amount of credit has to go to Mark Robins and the work of the Recruitment Department, headed up by Tommy Widdrington.
Despite the club’s best efforts, George Thomas departed us at the end of his contract to move to the Premier League, however we worked hard to make sure that players such as Jodi Jones, Ben Stevenson and Jordan Willis remained with us.
Much of our business was done earlier in the summer and this meant that the deadline day was not as busy for us as in previous years, but we were pleased to add Tom Davies to our squad. Following the injury to Rod McDonald, Mark identified centre half as a position where more depth was required and we as a board were able to provide additional funds to Mark’s budget to sign Tom from Portsmouth.
Overall, we have recruited a blend of proven experience and potential future talent to the squad, plus players who have enjoyed success in this league at previous clubs and we hope this blend will produce a successful first-team this season.
Meanwhile, the Under 23s have also started strongly and we look forward to seeing their development this year. The players, Nicky Eaden and the Academy staff should all be very proud of their unbeaten start to the league campaign.
Towards the end of August, the first team squad undertook their first community visits of the season. Their commitment is that at least once per month the players will visit the schools and community groups in Coventry and Warwickshire, many of the players personally supporting some of the 31 Sky Blues in the Community projects, which had nearly 19,000 participants and over 232,000 hours of sessions last year.
Seven of the squad went to visit the holiday courses at Bablake Playing Fields, and there is a video on our website and Youtube channel of this visit.
During the 2016/17 season, the players took part in 465 hours of visits in the Coventry and Warwickshire community. This was almost double the 285 hours the squad completed in 2015/16, while back in 2014/15 248.5 hours were completed.
As part of our continuing commitment to be a community club, this total is one that we are aiming to increase again for 2017/18 campaign, helped by the fact that Sky Blues in the Community are increasing their work and reach year upon year too.
This is of huge credit to the Sky Blues in the Community staff, and it is vital that this work is supported and continues in the Coventry and Warwickshire community."