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 our game against Preston North End below:
Good afternoon and welcome to this afternoon’s game as we face Preston North End.
I would also like to welcome the players, staff and officials who join us today from Preston.
During the last week, we joined the wider footballing world in condemning the plans for a so-called ‘European Super League’. The plans are divisive and threaten the very fabric of the sport in this country.
The competitive nature of the league structure and the ability for Clubs to earn their right to play in competitions is integral to football in this country, and what makes it so exciting and compelling for all of us who care about the sport. The proposed ‘Super League’ threatens that structure and the importance those Clubs play in their communities.
These plans are driven solely by the greed of the Clubs involved and for their own financial benefit, and have tarnished the reputation of the game.
Especially at a time when supporters are not able to attend games, this is a kick in the teeth for fans of those Clubs, all football supporters and the wider football family.
We support the efforts being made by fans, the EFL, the FA, the Government, other organisations and individuals in opposing these plans.
Plans for our return to the Ricoh Arena next season are moving on at a pace. The major project we have is to build our own Club Shop and Ticket Office in an area that we have agreed in the South-East corner of the stadium, facing the Arena Park shopping centre. For those familiar with the Ricoh, it is currently police cells and storage space, so there is a lot of internal work that is required.
Architects have been appointed and drawn up plans and we are currently at the tender stage for works to start and hopefully be completed in early July.
We are working closely with our retail and technical partner Hummel to achieve a retail space that our supporters will be proud of and we are all really pleased with the location within the stadium.
As communicated previously when we announced the return to the Ricoh, we are in talks to extend our agreement with Hummel and are near to competing that deal. The partnership so far has seen us create some outstanding kits that have been incredibly well received by our supporters. Kits for next season have been designed and are in production, and I’m sure supporters will be equally as pleased as they have been previously.
The unique position that Hummel gives us in designing our shirts and the detail that goes into that design through our internal ‘Kit Committee’ of myself, Mark Hornby, Mike Reid and Tynan Scope alongside Rob Revell from Hummel, I believe gives us a platform to continue creating fantastic kits that other Clubs do not necessarily have.
This has helped us to grow the retail operation over the last two years to a level of income to the Club which is four times bigger than it was prior to our Hummel agreement – income that goes to support Mark Robins and our continuing quest to improvement our on-field performance.
Thank you for your support – as always PUSB.
Dave