After each matchday programme this season, we publish the regular column from the Coventry City board on our website. Read Coventry City Chief Executive Dave Boddy's column from Tuesday's game against Portsmouth below:
"Good evening and welcome to this evening’s match, as we face Portsmouth tonight in SkyBet League One here at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium.
I would like to welcome the players, staff, officials and supporters of Pompey who have travelled in good numbers tonight, as they always do. I would particularly like to welcome Portsmouth Chief Executive Mark Catlin - having spent a lot of time talking to Mark over the last few years, particularly the Conor Chaplin transfer, and I would like to think that the two clubs have got a good relationship.
Tonight’s game promises to be a cracker and is important to both clubs. If the game back in August at Fratton Park is anything to go by, then we should be in for a treat. The game that night had everything. Having taken an early lead, we then found ourselves 3-1 down and it looked like our unbeaten start to the league season was coming to an end. We then went down to 10 men and getting something from the game looked even more unlikely. Matty Godden gave us a lifeline from the penalty spot with 15 minutes left, but three minutes later we were reduced to 9 men. The drama continued as Michael Rose thought he’d equalised only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by the assistant’s flag. Incredibly, we were level with 4 minutes left to play when Michael turned the ball home from a long throw to send the 950 Sky Blues fan home in delirium.
Tuesday night football at St Andrew’s has proved challenging for our supporters, sponsors and players alike. Tonight sees the first of three important Tuesday night games – tonight’s being a scheduled a league fixture but the games against Rotherham on the 25th February and Wycombe on 24th March being re-arranged matches due to our FA Cup run.
We understand how difficult it can be on a Tuesday night to get across from Coventry, with slow moving traffic both ways, both on the A45 and the M6. We really appreciate the efforts made by supporters to get here midweek and would urge fans to try and come out for the big forthcoming games against Rotherham and Wycombe. To encourage and support our fans, we will be continuing with our reduced Tuesday Night Football prices that we have had for league games so far this season.
We’re pleased to confirm to fans that the hugely successful ‘2 Tone’ third shirt is back on pre-order now, ahead of its delivery next month. This shirt, along with both the home and away shirts, have proved massively popular and replica shirt sales have this season surpassed all recent years records.
The shirt designs, along with the quality of the garments, have certainly vindicated the Club’s decision to work in partnership with Hummel this season and we’re delighted with the first season of our long-term agreement with them. The fact that we have been out of stock regularly in both the home and third shirts is a result of demand for both shirts massively exceeding all of our expectations.
I would like to thank everybody from both sets of fans for being here tonight. Play Up Sky Blues."
Dave
Dave Boddy
Chief Executive
Coventry City Football Club