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 Norwich City below:
Good afternoon and welcome to today’s game as Coventry City face Norwich City in the Sky Bet Championship this lunchtime at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
I would also like to welcome the players, staff, officials and supporters who join us from Norwich today, as well as the Sky Sports cameras for their live coverage of the match.
These are my first notes of 2023 and I would like to also take this opportunity to wish all Sky Blues fans a belated Happy New Year.
The last few weeks have been extremely busy for Coventry City as the purchase of the Club by Doug King as majority owner was ratified by the EFL. On behalf of the Club, I would like to welcome Doug to his first home game as Owner.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the EFL for their work in ratifying Doug as our new owner as quickly as they were able to, especially over the Festive period.
The new ownership of the Club begins a new era for the Sky Blues. Our previous majority owners SISU Capital owned the Club since December 2007 - 15 years is a long time and as we know much happened during that period both on and off the pitch.
The deal involves clearing the Club’s debts accrued prior to the agreement to purchase the Club in November, and provides a new start for the Club under fresh ownership. Doug has also been confirmed as Executive Chairman and will be working alongside our existing senior management structure.
Doug undertook his first interviews as our new owner on Thursday, after our print deadline for this programme, and fans will be able to read and watch this across our website and social media channels.
On the same day that the purchase was confirmed, the Club announced that Tim Fisher had chosen to leave the Football Club. Tim had been Chairman since 2014, first joining the Sky Blues in 2012. I would like to thank Tim for his hard work, commitment and dedication to the Sky Blues during his time with us.
He has been a figurehead at the Club for a number of years and offered important advice and counsel to many in and around the club. Having worked through difficult periods for Coventry City, he now leaves with the Club in a far better place than he found it and we wish him the best of luck for the future.
Elsewhere, the January transfer window has opened and we have been pleased to welcome Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Josh Wilson-Esbrand to the Club from Arsenal and Manchester City respectively. Meanwhile Todd Kane and Martyn Waghorn have made loan moves to Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town, and we wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season.
With Dean Austin in place now as our new Head of Recruitment, we will be continuing to work hard during the remainder of this month to strengthen the squad that is available to Mark Robins for the rest of the Championship campaign. Our recruitment department is being re-built at the same time, however it is important for fans to know that the data and information which we have gained and developed over the last few years is retained by the Club – this having not always been the case in years gone by.
As we look to today’s match, I would like to thank you as always for your continued support – enjoy the game. PUSB.