WITH the Sky Blues gearing up for a fifth successive season in the third tier of English football, one local team who were formed following their recent downfall and off-field problems are very much on the up following three successive promotions.
Coventry United were formed back in 2013 by a group of Sky Blues fans who became disillusioned with the club when they moved away from the city to play their ‘home’ matches in Northampton following a well documented dispute with the council over the Ricoh Arena rent deal.
But three years on after creating the new club which plays its home matches at Sphinx Drive, chairman Jason Kay and co-chairmen Jason Tims, Marcus Green and Pete Schofield are looking forward to the 2016/17 season which will see them play in the Midland Premier Division.
“We found a little team called Coventry Spartans, who were very much bottom of the bottom,” Schofield told the Non-League Paper. “We took them over, re-branded the club and it’s just gone from strength to strength.
“We just can’t quite believe how far the club has come in three seasons especially with this promotion, with only one team getting out of the division.
“We’ve got our own supporters club and we’ll eventually look to become a supporters-owned club.
“We’re going to go for it again. I look at teams like Wimbledon, who have come through the ranks to do it. Obviously it takes money and a lot of luck with the right people around you, but I don’t think you should enter a league without thinking you can win it.”
Promotion from the Midland Football League Division One to Step 5 of the non-league ladder was secured after Edwin Greaves’ side completed a gruelling fixture schedule that saw them play and win ten matches in just 23 days.
United scored 41 goals and conceded just three times from the fixtures despite having a large injury list.
Bromsgrove Sporting pushed them close, falling nine points short as Coventry amassed 100 points with an incredible goal difference of 90, scoring 123 goals in a hugely impressive campaign for the club.
Schofield believes the side’s triple promotion – from the Midland Combination Division Two through the newly-formed Midland League Division Two in 2014-15 – is an incredible feat, especially this season’s achievement given the difficulty of opposition.
“There are some well-established clubs in that league,” he added. “You’ve got the likes of Bromsgrove and Hinckley, and we’ve pipped them to the post.
“It’s been a dream really, from where the club started and where it is now.”
