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 Derby County below:
Good afternoon and welcome to the Coventry Building Society Arena as we face Derby County in the Sky Bet Championship today.
I would also like to welcome the players, staff, officials and supporters who visit us from Derby, their first visit to the Arena for over 10 years.
These notes were written ahead of our trip to Preston North End on Wednesday but I want to pay tribute to the travelling Sky Blue Army to Blackburn last Saturday. 3,749 was by far our biggest away following so far this season and the atmosphere not only during the game that you created, but prior to the games around the pubs in the vicinity, made me very proud to be associated with the Club. Your support home and away this season has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Since our last home game against Fulham, by popular demand, we have put Season Tickets back on sale. It’s an excellent opportunity to secure your seat for all of our remaining home league games here at the Coventry Building Society Arena at the best available price, with great football being played and a fantastic atmosphere around the stadium on matchdays too. These Season Tickets will be on sale until the day before the Bristol City game, with Half Season Tickets launched before Christmas.
Since we went back on sale, total Season Ticket sales have risen to 10,900, which is the best that we have achieved since 11,579 were sold in 1969/70 in the old First Division.
At the back end of the week we launched our Third Kit for the season. Once again we believe we have a ground-breaking design as we continue to push the boundaries with our partners Hummel. Our thanks go out personally to Rob Revell of Elite Group who works closely with our internal team of myself, Mark Hornby, Mike Reid and Tynan Scope, and has produced in our opinion another inspiring shirt which we believe will be popular.
The shirt again reflects on the heritage of the 2 Tone movement in the City and also has the twist of incorporating the iconic tramlines which were made famous on our kits in the 1970s.
Having talked about the ever-growing number of Season Ticket holders, it is vital to us that we as a Club look after you, the supporters. To that end, we are in the process of expanding our staff at the Club. We have recently employed Alistair Whelan as our Customer Relationships Manager and we are in the process of advertising and recruiting for a Supporter Services Officer. Alistair’s role will include increasing the volume of data-led communications to supporters to enhance your experience as a Sky Blues fan, and increasing our use of data across the business. We will continue to develop the Club off the field to support the growing fan base, at a sensible and sustainable pace.
Since my last notes we held our first in-person Supporters Forum meeting at the Sky Blue Tavern just ahead of the Fulham game. It was good to see various supporters groups represented face-to-face and this remains an ideal way for any supporter of the Club to communicate directly with the Club about any issues or feedback, positive or negative, or ideas you might have to further improve our Football Club.
Thank you for your support – as always, PUSB.
Dave