After each matchday programme, we will be publishing the 'From the Boardroom' article on our website. For the Boxing Day game versus Charlton Athletic, Coventry City Chairman Tim Fisher wrote the column and his article is published below:
"Good afternoon. On behalf of Coventry City Football Club, I would like to welcome you to today’s game – I hope that you had a very enjoyable Christmas.
We would also like to welcome the fans, players, staff and officials who have made the trip to the Ricoh Arena today in support of Charlton Athletic.
The Boxing Day fixture is always a notable, special day in the football calendar and one I know many fans look forward to.
Following a sit-down discussion with Fans’ groups, the Club duly published the five-point pledge created by the Supporters Forum groups.
The fans groups put forward their proposed fans pledges as follows:
• Fans agreed that Coventry City should play its home matches in Coventry.
• Fans agreed that Coventry City should play its home matches in the 2019/20 season and beyond at the Ricoh Arena.
• Fans called on ALL parties to put aside their differences to sit down and negotiate a deal for Coventry City to play at the Ricoh Arena as soon as possible, despite the on-going court case
• Fans acknowledged that the consequences of ‘no deal’ for Coventry City Football Club to play at the Ricoh Arena would be catastrophic for Coventry City Football Club, its supporters present and future, the community, the City of Coventry, wider footballing community and everyone who cares about the Club.
• Fans called on ALL supporters and community stakeholders to back attempts to successfully conclude this deal as soon as possible.
The following fans groups proposed and then committed to these pledges:
Family Zone volunteers, Coventry City Former Players Association, Coventry City London Supporters Club, Coventry City Supporters Club Irish Branch, Leamington and Warwick Coventry City Supporters Club, Bedworth and Nuneaton Coventry City Supporters Club, Coventry City South Wales Supporters Club, Coventry City LGBT+ Fans Group, Sky Blues in the Community, The Coventry City Diamond Club.
Season Ticket holder representatives Ryan Caffrey, Gary Goalby and Michael Garlick also chose to support the fans pledges and committed as individual fans. The Sky Blue Trust chose not to agree and did not sign-up to support the pledges.
The points proposed by the fans groups that make up the fans pledges are very reasonable. It is clear that public opinion is in support of the Football Club continuing to play at the Ricoh Arena.
The first ever Jimmy Hill Day took place at the game against Luton Town, and I must thank everyone involved in organising the day and the fundraising for the Jimmy Hill Legacy Fund. In particular, the volunteers from Coventry City Girls FC who braved terrible conditions to shake buckets ahead of the match – we will be inviting them to another game when they can enjoy the day in more comfort!
Over £500 was raised on the day alone via the bucket collection.The auction raised nearly £4,000 and this money was shared between Zoë’s Place and the Legacy Fund.
The money collected will make a huge impact in supporting just what the Legacy Fund can achieve in our community. I would ask fans to continue to support the Fund and its money raising initiatives in the coming months and years.
The Legacy Fund committee has passed on the best wishes to the Club of Bryony Hill, who is really touched by the work that’s being done in general by the Jimmy Hill Legacy Fund and the positive news of the first Jimmy Hill Day."
Tim Fisher
Chairman
Coventry City Football Club
Please note - the printed version of this programme included a paragraph welcoming 'The Posh' as well as the Addicks. This was not included in the copy sent by CCFC to the programme designers, and was included by the designers by mistake from the Peterborough programme column - written by Dave Boddy. We apologise for this error.