After each matchday programme this season, we will publish the regular column from the Coventry City board on our website. Read Coventry City Chief Executive Dave Boddy's column from Sunday's game against Tranmere Rovers below:
"Welcome to today’s game as we face Tranmere Rovers here at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy in SkyBet League One.
I would like to extend that welcome both to the Coventry City fans here today, and the fans, players, staff and officials who join us from Tranmere Rovers.
Today sees us wear the new Third Kit for the first time, following its unveiling on Friday night at Coombe Abbey.
It marks 40 years of the 2 Tone movement, which had such a huge impact on Coventry and the nation both in terms of the music and what the movement meant. It was a time when racial tension unfortunately existed in the country, and many 2 Tone bands featured a mix of black, white, and multiracial people, and they had a clear message of tolerance in their music.
It is for that reason that we have also made today our Kick It Out fixture, as we re-affirm our support for football’s anti-racism and discrimination campaign. There is no place in football or in wider society for racism or discrimination of any sort, and Coventry City will continue to work to make our matches inclusive for every supporter.
It has been great for us to work with people who were involved in the 2 Tone Movement on this kit design, and to share with them the passion they have for the music and the movement, and everything that it meant.
The kit itself is a fantastic design and one which is entirely unique to Coventry City, and I know that it will be popular with our supporters, the people of Coventry and fans of the 2 Tone movement on a wider scale.
It is a black and white design, with the distinctive checkerboard pattern that is closely associated with 2 Tone on the front of the kit. We have also amended our badge for this kit, using a black and white version of it so that it is in keeping with the rest of the design.
As fans saw with our Home and Away kits this season, we are able to incorporate unique features to our kits now. We have included the Kick It Out logo to show our support for them, and will be making a donation from kit sales to support their work, and the ‘Nutty Dancer’ as well on the back of the skirt - an image that many will also recognise from the 2 Tone era and featured on the cover of Madness’ first album. The words ‘40 years of 2 Tone’ are also included on the neck of the kit as well.
Our new kit partnership with Hummel, that started this season, has allowed us to have these bespoke designs and unique touches, which I think have helped to make these three kits some of the best the Club has had for many years. I would like to pay tribute to Hummel and their staff for their hard work on this kit, and the home and away kits too.
There has also been a huge amount of work from our team behind the scenes at the Club on this kit, in particular from Tynan Scope, Mark Hornby and Mike Reid in our Commercial, Marketing/Communications and Football Operations departments. Personally, I don’t think I have ever spent as much time working on a kit during my time in football, but it has been a pleasure to do so.
I think that time and sentiment is testament to our feelings about how good this kit is and also how closely we are now working with Hummel to provide the best possible kit designs for our supporters, and how we are not picking from a template but having a real choice in our design of kits.
This is all on top of the excellent home and away kit designs, which have sold remarkably well and surpassed all expectations. The kits will be back in stock again shortly, and we will let fans know when they will be able to buy them again.
I hope that between us and Hummel, we have provided Coventry City Football Club and fans kits that they are proud of this season and we look forward to continuing to do so for the rest of our partnership with them.
Thanks for your continued support – PUSB.
Dave
Dave Boddy
Chief Executive
Coventry City Football Club