Coventry City chief executive urges stadium landlords Wasps to install new pitch

Coventry chief executive Dave Boddy has urged the Coventry Building Society Arena's landlords, Wasps, to lay a new pitch as soon as possible.

Coventry have been unable to play a home match so far this season with the pitch deemed unsafe to use.

"There is little chance of playing Saturday and unless we get a new pitch installed quickly, there is no chance anytime soon," Boddy told BBC CWR.

"It's not in our hands, it's in the hands of our landlords."

The CBS Arena is owned by Wasps, who released a statement last week to say they had told the Sky Blues that matches at the start of this season would need to be moved.

But Boddy feels unless they replace the pitch, the club will have a "serious problem".

"I spoke with our landlords last week and they have said they are not going to put a new pitch down," he said.

"They have to do something about it and they have to do it now."

Saturday's match against Huddersfield is Coventry's latest fixture to be affected with the club hoping to switch the match to their opponent's John Smith's Stadium.

Tuesday's home game against Wigan has already been postponed after an independent assessor appointed by the EFL deemed the CBS Arena pitch unplayable.

"We've talked to Wasps about helping to try and fund a new pitch," Boddy said. "But the relationship we have with them is that they have to provide us with a pitch that is fit for purpose."

Boddy said Wasps had not given him a reason why they would not lay a new surface.

"We've triggered the disputes mechanism in our agreement so it will now be taken to a third party for resolution," he said.

"We're all frustrated and it's not helping anyone at the club."

Coventry lost 3-2 at Millwall on Saturday and drew their opening Championship match at Sunderland before losing 4-1 to Bristol City in a Carabao Cup tie that was switched to Burton's Pirelli Stadium.

The background to the ongoing Arena issues

The stadium, which began life as the Ricoh Arena, was jointly owned by Arena Coventry Ltd, set up partially from a trust fund left by a Sky Blues fan when City first moved there in 2005 after the controversial sale of their previous home, Highfield Road, for housing development.

The Sky Blues then spent 14 months in exile at Sixfields, Northampton, following a dispute over rent, before returning to the city in September 2014.

Wasps became City's landlords when they left their then home at High Wycombe to buy the ground, with financial help from Coventry City Council, in December 2014.

A further dispute with Wasps led to City playing in Birmingham at St Andrew's for two seasons, before returning to Coventry last year.

Wasps have been under a financial strain, especially since the Covid pandemic, and in June requested millions of pounds of public money from the West Midlands Combined Authority.

But Wasps owner Derek Richardson told The Times on Friday that growing rumours that the club is set to go into administration are not true.