Michael Reeves
The Swans hosts for their first away trip following the World Cup break, Coventry City, were served an eviction notice from their stadium – The Coventry Building Society Arena – on Friday meaning their ground future is again unknown.
Former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group took over the stadium last month after buying its three former operating companies.
They say the Championship club has no continuing right to use the ground unless a new licence is agreed.
The club’s existing licence runs until 2031, but they say the proposed new one would expire in May 2023.
Frasers believe that the existing agreement to use the stadium is not binding on them and have served the evicition notice.
A club statement from Coventry City read: “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.
“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.
“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.”
It does not appear that the fixture with the Swans will be in doubt but the news today is the latest in a series of events that have hindered Coventry since they move to what was then the Ricoh Arena in 2014.
A dispute with their landlords saw them decamp to Northampton Town’s Sixfields ground for home games in 2013-14 and a further rent issue saw them spend two seasons at Birmingham’s St Andrews ground from 2019.
Earlier this season there were further problems at the start of the current campaign because of the state of the pitch after it was used for rugby sevens matches during the Commonwealth Games.
