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 our game against Queens Park Rangers below:
Good afternoon and welcome to the Coventry Building Society Arena for today’s game against Queens Park Rangers.
I would like to welcome the players, staff, officials and supporters who join us from QPR today.
Following the postponements over Christmas, games are now coming thick and fast, with another re-arranged home game this Tuesday night against Stoke City, with us now having midweek games virtually every midweek until the next international break.
Breaking news at the beginning of the week was the signing of Jake Bidwell, who joined us on a free transfer from Swansea City. Everybody at Ryton is delighted to add a player of Jake’s quality and experience to the squad, having played over 300 games in the Championship at the age of 28. Jake is a versatile left sided player who will give us lots of options down the left-hand side and has committed his long-term future to the Sky Blues. Fans will hopefully see this as a positive addition, as we aim to strengthen the squad and continue to improve.
I have read with interest recently on social media that supporters are looking for investment into the squad. We have built our success in recent years on measured and sustainable development and this must continue to be our approach. Though our playing resource remains at the lower end of the Championship budgets table, we have made a significant increase to this season’s budget from last season and, whilst still looking to operate within that structure, improve the squad.
Also as part of that process, it has been vital that we protect our existing players by extending their contracts and in the process of doing this, we will further increase the financial playing resource next season. Already this season, Dom Hyam, Matty Godden, Jamie Allen and Callum O’Hare have all extended their agreements with us, which brings an important, continued stability to the Club. Already in January, we have turned down significant bids for players, which again shows our desire to keep the current group together.
Sky Blues supporters have played their part in this, backing the Club with the highest number of Season Ticket sales since 1969, surpassing 11,500, and with a current average attendance of 19,500. I would like to thank every supporter that has backed us this season so far, and hope that you have been as excited by the quality of football that we have produced so far, as I have been – plus being in the FA Cup Fourth Round and in an excellent league position too. Today we will be wearing our Ricoh Return Membership shirt, which is another excellent kit, and our way of thanking those fans who purchased their Membership under the uncertainty that we had last March when we launched it.
It is also important to remember that the Owners have played their part as well, as they continue to support the Club financially during this campaign.
Our general approach to recruitment is to do the vast majority of our activity in the Summer transfer window, so to be able to bring Jake in at this point is a real bonus to us and an important addition to our squad.
Thank you for your support as always, enjoy the game.