Coventry City break silence amid CBS Arena saga | OneFootball

Coventry City have this afternoon confirmed that reports concerning their future at the Coventry Building Society Arena are indeed true.

This update comes after news broke earlier today that the Sky Blues had been issued with an eviction notice from the new owners of the stadium, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.

As per BBC Sport, club officials were informed of the news on Friday and must return keys and access cards, which saw an FA Youth Cup game switch venue on Saturday.

The Coventry City statement released this afternoon reads: “Coventry City can confirm media reports that it received an eviction notice from Frasers Group, new owners of the Coventry Building Society Arena, on Friday afternoon.

“Following the Frasers Group acquisition of the stadium from administrators, Coventry City have been told that we must agree a new licence to play at the Arena.

“We were surprised to learn of this intention by Frasers Group, given that discussions with Coventry City prior to the completion of their purchase of the Arena led us to understand the existing terms would continue unchanged with Frasers Group as the new owners of the Arena.

“Coventry City Football Club has an existing long-term licence to play at the Arena, which was agreed in March 2021 to run until 2031.”

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The statement went on to reveal Frasers Group’s current stance, from Coventry’s perspective, of course: “Frasers Group have now presented to Coventry City a new agreement with new commercial terms, which have been presented to us without any dialogue or negotiations, and are less favourable to the Football Club. In addition, this licence would only run until May 2023.”

“Frasers Group have said they would negotiate for beyond May 2023, but this leaves us without the security and certainty that our current deal provides to us and our fans.”

The Sky Blues also clarified their own position on the news, writing: “To confirm, Coventry City are happy to continue under terms of the current licence which we already have in place to play at the Arena.”

“Following Frasers Group’s purchase of the Arena, one of the great assets of the City of Coventry, they stated they were “looking forward to working with Coventry City Football Club”.

“Coventry City hope that they will act on those words for the good of the Arena, the Football Club, our fans and the City and community that they are now part of.

“Coventry City had envisaged being able to deal with this situation internally, but following media reports this morning, we will continue to keep supporters updated regarding the situation going forward and hope that we will continue to be able to welcome our fans to our home at the Coventry Building Society Arena.”

Coventry City’s next scheduled home match is set to take place on Saturday 17th December when they are due to host Swansea City in Championship action.

The Verdict

This sounds like a very messy situation indeed.

Going off Coventry’s statement, the stadium’s new owners are already supposedly backtracking on potential things said before they completed the CBS Arena purchase, which is a concerning sign if true.

This could all be just an attempt to re-negotiate terms, but the worrying thing is, what alternative do Coventry have?

Absolutely nobody wants the club to be back playing their games in Birmingham or Northampton again. The club belongs in the city.

Lets hope that for the Sky Blues’ sake, and for their supporters, that an amicable agreement can be reached by all involved.