After each matchday programme this season, we publish the regular column from the Coventry City board on our website. You can read Coventry City Chief Executive Dave Boddy's column from Friday's game against Birmingham City below:
Good evening and welcome to another live Friday night Sky Sports Championship fixture for us, when it is our pleasure to ‘host’ our hosts Birmingham City Football Club.
It is usually at this point that I welcome the players and officials from our visiting team, and of course that goes without saying that we welcome them, but more importantly once again I would like to take this opportunity to offer them our sincere thanks for being wonderful hosts during our 15 months ground sharing with Birmingham City so far.
Our thanks go out to Chief Executive Dong Ren and all of the staff here at Blues for the excellent way in which they always look after us.
This evening we’re also pleased to welcome our guests EFL Chairman Rick Parry and the Premier League Chairman Gary Hoffman, who of course needs no introduction to Sky Blues supporters as a former Vice Chairman of the Club.
In my previous notes, I have consistently banged the drum for the Government to recognise and provide the financial support necessary for EFL clubs, including in the Championship, to survive through this unprecedented period.
In my notes against Reading, I applauded and endorsed Rick’s approach to the Government but they are still clearly not listening to the crisis that EFL Clubs face.
In the absence of Government financial support, which at best looks unlikely, I would appeal to Gary and the rest of his Premier League colleagues to support the EFL pyramid, including Championship clubs, with the necessary financial support for us all to survive and come through this period intact.
A strong and productive Championship and EFL is vital for the continued success of the Premier League, and grant support is integral to that future across the 72 EFL Clubs.
This month sees the first anniversary of Dan Bolas joining Coventry City as Academy Manager. Filling the shoes of Richard Stevens, the former Academy Manager, was a massive task for Dan in his first role as an Academy Manager but his achievements in the first 12 months have been outstanding.
Despite all of the challenges that the COVID crisis has brought to the Academy, and with the Alan Higgs Centre being closed for the initial period of lockdown, Dan has very quickly brought a calmness and stability to the Academy and is in the process of implementing a long-term plan and structure to take the Academy forward.
The addition of John Dempster as the Lead Professional Development Phase Coach and Adam Bridgeford as Head of Academy Coaching, plus Matt Whitehouse as Lead Youth Development Phase Coach, have greatly strengthened the programme and given us a stability within the staff that I have not since I arrived at the Club nearly four years ago.
Alongside the existing, loyal staff who do an exceptional job at the Academy, we’ve all seen in the past the crop of graduates who have made their way into the first-team over the years and we look forward to the next generation of young players forcing their way into Mark Robins’ squad and continuing the great tradition we’re now creating at Coventry City.
Enjoy the game – PUSB.
Dave