Sky Blues fans hold positive meeting with Wasps - The Coventry Observer

Sky Blues fans hold positive meeting with Wasps

Coventry Editorial 27th Nov, 2014 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

SKY Blues fans have held a ‘constructive’ and ‘positive’ meeting with Wasps CEO Nick Eastwood who has once again confirmed the League One remain part of their future plans in Coventry.

There remains concerns over the future of the football club in the city after rugby union side Wasps successfully purchased 100 per cent ownership of Ricoh Arena stadium company Arena Coventry Limited (ACL).

A rent deal remains in place for the Sky Blues to play home matches at the Ricoh for the next four years at least.

But Eastwood confirmed in a meeting with the Sky Blues Trust that he wants to the football club to remain at the venue and said he is open to discuss all aspects including how they can gain more access to matchday revenue.




“It takes will on both sides to make this happen and as yet these talks have yet to be had.” confirmed Trust spokesman Jan Mokrzycki.

“We stated that we preferred that the club stay at the Ricoh in Coventry as tenants on a good rental deal rather than be saddled with millions more debt and a small stadium outside Coventry.


“Nick stated that they had already had meetings with Steve Waggott and Steve Brookfield from CCFC and the meetings had been very constructive and held in an atmosphere of co-operation covering many aspects of mutual interest such as potentially sharing ticketing systems and some specific matters that would affect CCFC and its supporters.

“He stated this stadium was now the permanent home of the Wasps but they also want it to be the permanent home of the Sky Blues and would not do things to change that but there may well be the need for some compromise and pragmatism.

“There appears to be a will from Wasps to work with the Sky Blues, not something that was always clear from the previous relationship between ACL and CCFC, but the final decision rests with the football club as to which direction they wish to go in.”

It was revealed this week that a Wasps logo will be put up on the outside of the stadium in place of the current CCFC crest.

And Eastwood hinted there may be further changes made to accommodate the new owners but he did confirm the seats inside the venue will remain sky blue.

As for concerns over the current state of the pitch, which is likely to get worse when Wasps begin to play their first matches at the Ricoh towards the end of December, the Trust were told it was a concern.

“He (Eastwood) stated that the main reason for the current poor condition was simply due to the timing of the return of the Sky Blues in that the pitch would ideally have been given time to be properly prepared but for a host of reasons all parties had decided that getting matches back at the Ricoh took precedent over the potential damage to the playing surface.

“In hindsight this may have been a mistake but ACL were committed to increasing resources in this area to improve the quality of the playing surface for both teams.

“How the pitch performed for the rest of this season would be dependent upon the weather etc but unfortunately the situation is at it is and both sides would have to make do this season.”

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