Just A Little Taste Of The Coventry View From

[PUSBCCFC]

I'm probably alone here but I feel for Coventry and what they've gone through similar to Blackpool is a disgrace and I would never wish that on any club - apart from Wednesday. Yes the night we played them was frustrating and they should have done their protest onto the pitch right at the beginning or after the game but they were desperate and we like them only see our own point of view. Ours being that we needed three points and theirs that they saw an opportunity to make a protest on Sky TV.

Now that Cov have McNulty and Doyle I keep an eye out for their results and I hope they get promoted this season. If this was the other way round and we had owners who took us away from the Lane to a new stadium (yes Highfield Road was in need of major work, unlike the Lane) that is soulless and not owned by the club and then that stadium is sold to a rugby club so now they have to compete with Wasps for supporters, on a pitch ruined by rugby, I think we'd have being lording any fans making protests. That's my view and maybe many disagree.

This sums it up well.

To be fair, compared to a lot of grounds we visit in the lower leagues, Highfield Road wasn't in that bad of a state. We left Highfield Road because the previous owners (who were as bad as SISU) had far too high ambitions. Subsequently, their actions laid the ground work for our demise. While SISU have been here for 10 years, the problems have gone back to when we were in the Premier League nearly 20 years ago.

 

[I should coco]

To be fair, compared to a lot of grounds we visit in the lower leagues, Highfield Road wasn't in that bad of a state. We left Highfield Road because the previous owners (who were as bad as SISU) had far too high ambitions. Subsequently, their actions laid the ground work for our demise. While SISU have been here for 10 years, the problems have gone back to when we were in the Premier League nearly 20 years ago.

Sorry mate but IMHO Coventry is not a football city. You used to get 12-14k for home gates in the top level then 20k for the last game of the season where you needed to win to stay up. I remember seing new footage of the first game at the new stadium showing long queues for the novelty value and I think you got about 24k. Pretty quickly that dropped back below 20k.

I know you sold out Wembley but having a large 'big game' part time element is the root of your problems.

You don't even have enough people in Coventry who care, so quite why you think we should be behind you after your fans behaviour in that game, takes some understanding.

 

[JonnyRed(WCFC)]

There is a certain poignancy to this thread...


We wont forget that night in a hurry, as evidenced by the memories and reactions still...

The poignancy comes in because it was noticed (very observant bunch on here ) Coventry had a 28k crowd on saturday....

Turns out there was a lot of free tickets dished out....

So you all turn up to support your wonderful regime like little sheep following each other over the cliff!



On an interesting sidenote....I shall be watching Worcester this saturday.....

We play Coventry Utd... they were set up a couple of years back by a group of disenchanted Coventry City supporters, perhaps they jumped the ship too soon or shouldve stuck with things but theyre determined to plough a furrow up the football ladder and if Coventry City do end up going down the pan then theyre there to pick up the baton.

 

[snootyfenooty]

This sums it up well.

To be fair, compared to a lot of grounds we visit in the lower leagues, Highfield Road wasn't in that bad of a state. We left Highfield Road because the previous owners (who were as bad as SISU) had far too high ambitions. Subsequently, their actions laid the ground work for our demise. While SISU have been here for 10 years, the problems have gone back to when we were in the Premier League nearly 20 years ago.

The thing is, other than protected species who are the top few clubs in the premiership, most clubs go through this kind of shit. We did and without trying to ruin the aspirations of other clubs at the time. You have no divine right to a seat at the top table and you should get on supporting your team through thick and thin. The mass desertion of fans from your club is pathetic (3k the other night was it?) and you are only going one way with this kind of support.

 

[Booker4]

I wouldn't wish it upon any club, what's happened to Coventry is a disgrace.

But, their fans were complete shithouses in the way they acted that night. So the sympathy I had well and truly disappeared.

Twats.

I wasn't there Steve I have to say that. I didn't think singing there's only one SISU was good from us but I know that it was banter and at the game fans just want to support their own team and it became a source of frustration for our fans and I remember there were reports from our fans they they only whistled when we were in possession, although Cov fans disputed that. I'd like to just move on now rather than laughing at Cov to be honest, and I don't see it as karma but each to his own and I've always enjoyed your views to be fair.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I think a lot of Blades have a mild support towards any supporters (like Coventry) being controlled by poor owners
But in reality most Blades aren’t that bothered either way. We focus on our own club.

To be honest `I don’t think many fans actually fully understand the situation with Coventry, Charlton, Portsmouth etc.

It strikers me that the bottom line with owners is
When they have a successful team on the field then the owners are great
If the team are struggling then the owners are terrible.
A great example is at Sheffield Wednesday, their new Chairman has done plenty of questionable things
But because the team was doing well, then their fans turned a blind eye and apparently he was the best Chairman ever last season.
However now that they are struggling, more and more of their fans are questioning their Chairmans intentions.

Regards Coventry City I believe the club have set the player budget based on revenue, which seems fair.
There’s no way you’ll go into admin or liquidation because the club is being run to a strict financial budget. Surely having a club in any league is more important than massively over-spending, getting into massive debt and then going into admin etc.

However due to low gates the club has been downsized on the pitch, which leads to even lower crowds, so the club downsizes again the following season So this again leads to lower crowds, so the club downsizes again etc. We had the same at SU in league 1 however thankfully our gates stabilised and remained around the 18/19K mark every season.

Still think CCFC have one if the biggest player budgets in league 2, so should be doing better.

 

[Booker4]

This sums it up well.

To be fair, compared to a lot of grounds we visit in the lower leagues, Highfield Road wasn't in that bad of a state. We left Highfield Road because the previous owners (who were as bad as SISU) had far too high ambitions. Subsequently, their actions laid the ground work for our demise. While SISU have been here for 10 years, the problems have gone back to when we were in the Premier League nearly 20 years ago.

I'm sure Cov fans would love to return to Highfield Road now. It could have been redeveloped to some extent I'm sure. I have been once and it was a proper football ground like Filbert Street was too. Hopefully in time Cov will get their own ground although the Wasps move is just bizarre to be honest.

 

[JonnyRed(WCFC)]

Highfield Road was a 'proper' ground too in a heart of a community

They'd just completely revamped two sides of the ground up a year or two before vacating it as well which seemed a massive waste to me...

 

[Gimli]

No, not to put you off. To get the game abandoned.

I see the conversation has moved on slightly but just to pick up on this - if that was the aim, why did the whistles stop whenever Coventry were in possession? Why were the objects thrown when we were in possession - surely if the aim was to get the game abandoned then it wouldn't matter who had the ball at the time? Sorry to hark on about this but I'm yet to be convinced that it wasnt a deliberate ploy to disrupt our play.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

I'm probably alone here but I feel for Coventry and what they've gone through similar to Blackpool is a disgrace and I would never wish that on any club - apart from Wednesday. Yes the night we played them was frustrating and they should have done their protest onto the pitch right at the beginning or after the game but they were desperate and we like them only see our own point of view. Ours being that we needed three points and theirs that they saw an opportunity to make a protest on Sky TV.

Now that Cov have McNulty and Doyle I keep an eye out for their results and I hope they get promoted this season. If this was the other way round and we had owners who took us away from the Lane to a new stadium (yes Highfield Road was in need of major work, unlike the Lane) that is soulless and not owned by the club and then that stadium is sold to a rugby club so now they have to compete with Wasps for supporters, on a pitch ruined by rugby, I think we'd have being lording any fans making protests. That's my view and maybe many disagree.

Nope, not alone. I'm no fan of Coventry for a number of reasons, and I think they were a bit precious about us winding them up that night. But by their own admission they set out to disrupt or get abandoned a game we were desperate to win. I cheered very long and very loud when Sharp scored.

But that was that night, in general however, their plight is a disgrace and its frankly embarassing for any football fans to make derisory comments about how the likes of SISU can destroy a club. I can say for a fact that Coventry is a football city I should coco it has a thriving Junior football scene and numerous non league clubs. Yes their league side is dwindling, who would have thought? There are many teams that have seen fluctuations.

Do I like Coventry City? No. Do I support their fans such as PUSBCCFC in returning some sort of normality in this money soaked and corrupt industry ? Yes.

 

[Sheffsteel]

The bit I don’t understand relates to the Wasps rugby team.
Weren’t they originally the London Wasps but relocated to Coventry?

So are the fans that turn up to the Ricoh for their matches all Londoners?

Is this similiar to the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes relocation?
What do the `London fans think about having to travel so far?
How many Coventry locals go to watch the Wasps?
And is there a bad feeling towards them? Because if the locals refused to support the Wasps then revenue would suffer, it might prove unsustainable and they might eventually go out of business.

I’m surprised a franchise rugby team has been able to move into Coventry and seemingly be successful. Also if the stadium was owned by the council the surely they would protect the interests of the football team as it serves the community much more than a new franchise rugby club.

 

[Booker4]

Nope, not alone. I'm no fan of Coventry for a number of reasons, and I think they were a bit precious about us winding them up that night. But by their own admission they set out to disrupt or get abandoned a game we were desperate to win. I cheered very long and very loud when Sharp scored.

But that was that night, in general however, their plight is a disgrace and its frankly embarassing for any football fans to make derisory comments about how the likes of SISU can destroy a club. I can say for a fact that Coventry is a football city I should coco it has a thriving Junior football scene and numerous non league clubs. Yes their league side is dwindling, who would have thought? There are many teams that have seen fluctuations.

Do I like Coventry City? No. Do I support their fans such as PUSBCCFC in returning some sort of normality in this money soaked and corrupt industry ? Yes.

Some decent points Highfield and if I had attended I would have cheered very loud too because it was very frustrating and as you say the game could have been abandoned and we would have no doubt had to replay it as we were drawing at the time. United fans like many fans would have been irked at the situation and then it turned personal between us and them which was always going to happen.

I don't hold any resentment though and I wish them well in their attempts to remove SISU.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

Sorry mate but IMHO Coventry is not a football city. You used to get 12-14k for home gates in the top level then 20k for the last game of the season where you needed to win to stay up. I remember seing new footage of the first game at the new stadium showing long queues for the novelty value and I think you got about 24k. Pretty quickly that dropped back below 20k.

I know you sold out Wembley but having a large 'big game' part time element is the root of your problems.

You don't even have enough people in Coventry who care, so quite why you think we should be behind you after your fans behaviour in that game, takes some understanding.

To an extent, you are correct. There was an article about 15 years ago which said Coventry never attracted the huge loyal fan base because during the 60s, 70s and 80s the population of the city grew so rapidly of people from elsewhere that didn't attach themselves to the club.
Our crowds in the 80s were in line with most other top flight clubs. Over the past 25 years football has grown in popularity, but for Coventry, we have gone in a drastic downwards spiral.

The Ricoh didn't sell out early on because for the majority of the first season it was capped at 26,000. Unlike other clubs like Leicester, Southampton and Derby, success didn't follow us to the new ground and we therefore didn't attract the fanbase.

There is a real core support at Coventry even now after 20 years of problems on and off the pitch. Selling out 8000 tickets for Milton Keynes in a day and 5000 to Brighton on Saturday in about 20 minutes show that there are fans who still care and travel away from home.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

Some decent points Highfield and if I had attended I would have cheered very loud too because it was very frustrating and as you say the game could have been abandoned and we would have no doubt had to replay it as we were drawing at the time. United fans like many fans would have been irked at the situation and then it turned personal between us and them which was always going to happen.

I don't hold any resentment though and I wish them well in their attempts to remove SISU.

I'm Hillmorton.. I dare not speak for HighfieldBlade

 

[Booker4]

The bit I don’t understand relates to the Wasps rugby team.
Weren’t they originally the London Wasps but relocated to Coventry?

So are the fans that turn up to the Ricoh for their matches all Londoners?

Is this similiar to the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes relocation?
What do the `London fans think about having to travel so far?
How many Coventry locals go to watch the Wasps?
And is there a bad feeling towards them? Because if the locals refused to support the Wasps then they would quickly go out of business.

I’m surprised a franchise rugby team has been able to move into Coventry and seemingly be successful. Also if the stadium was owned by the council the surely they would protect the interests of the football team as it serves the community much more than a rugby club.

No the majority are rugby fans in the Cov area who have seied the opportunity to watch top level rugby. Coventry has a rugby following through many amateur rugby teams that we don't in Sheffield because we see rugby for what it is! A crap game of football played by toffs!

 

[Booker4]

I'm Hillmorton.. I dare not speak for HighfieldBlade

Oh sorry Hillmorton, never noticed until you pointed it out!

 

[snootyfenooty]

The bit I don’t understand relates to the Wasps rugby team.
Weren’t they originally the London Wasps but relocated to Coventry?

So are the fans that turn up to the Ricoh for their matches all Londoners?

Is this similiar to the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes relocation?
What do the `London fans think about having to travel so far?
How many locals go to watch the Wasps?
An is there a bad feeling towards them? Because if the locals refused to support the Wasps then they would quickly go out of business.

Changing the subject slightly, what is lacking in Sheffield is a top flight rugby club, and I don't mean the version they play in Leeds and Hull, or that non-entity who have been pissing about in Sheffield for the past few decades. I'd go and so would a lot of others I know. This would only be beneficial to the city and the club that hosts them. At least Coventry got that bit right.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

I think a lot of Blades have a mild support towards any supporters (like Coventry) being controlled by poor owners
But in reality most Blades aren’t that bothered either way. We focus on our own club.

To be honest `I don’t think many fans actually fully understand the situation with Coventry, Charlton, Portsmouth etc.

It strikers me that the bottom line with owners is
When they have a successful team on the field then the owners are great
If the team are struggling then the owners are terrible.
A great example is at Sheffield Wednesday, their new Chairman has done plenty of questionable things
But because the team was doing well, then their fans turned a blind eye and apparently he was the best Chairman ever last season.
However now that they are struggling, more and more of their fans are questioning their Chairmans intentions.

Regards Coventry City I believe the club have set the player budget based on revenue, which seems fair.
There’s no way you’ll go into admin or liquidation because the club is being run to a strict financial budget. Surely having a club in any league is more important than massively over-spending, getting into massive debt and then going into admin etc.

However due to low gates the club has been downsized on the pitch, which leads to even lower crowds, so the club downsizes again the following season So this again leads to lower crowds, so the club downsizes again etc. We had the same at SU in league 1 however thankfully our gates stabilised and remained around the 18/19K mark every season.

Still think CCFC have one if the biggest player budgets in league 2, so should be doing better.

The problems with SISU, Charlton and Blackpool are way deeper than the playing budget. The fact they lost our home ground and moved us to Northampton is the problem. Coventry don't have a home, they are renting a stadium off a rugby club on a short term basis.

 

[Sheffsteel]

No the majority are rugby fans in the Cov area who have seied the opportunity to watch top level rugby. Coventry has a rugby following through many amateur rugby teams that we don't in Sheffield because we see rugby for what it is! A crap game of football played by toffs!

Thanks for that, I never knew.

That’s part of the problem then.
The rugby fans are arguably traitors to the city, must be so frustrating and soul destroying.
It seems Coventry needs to decide if it’s a rugby city or a football city.
They are both on each other’s territory and battling it out, looks like rugby might be winning.
You would have thought that the council would do something to safeguard the future of football in the city.

 

[PUSBCCFC]

The bit I don’t understand relates to the Wasps rugby team.
Weren’t they originally the London Wasps but relocated to Coventry?

So are the fans that turn up to the Ricoh for their matches all Londoners?

Is this similiar to the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes relocation?
What do the `London fans think about having to travel so far?
How many Coventry locals go to watch the Wasps?
And is there a bad feeling towards them? Because if the locals refused to support the Wasps then revenue would suffer, it might prove unsustainable and they might eventually go out of business.

I’m surprised a franchise rugby team has been able to move into Coventry and seemingly be successful. Also if the stadium was owned by the council the surely they would protect the interests of the football team as it serves the community much more than a new franchise rugby club.

A lot of people in the Midlands latched on to Wasps. Coventry is a big city and if you add Birmingham, Solihull and Warwickshire into the mix, there is a huge number of potential 'rugby' fans. A lot of Coventry fans would never step foot into a Wasps game, myself included. I despise Wasps.

Wasps started off with huge crowds after they did a lot of free tickets and so on, but slowly their crowds are dropping. A lot of proper Wasps fans still travel up every game. What was quite incredible was how happy and supportive their London-based fans were of them moving to Coventry.

 

[derfblade.3]

Do Wasps have a B team.....

 

[PUSBCCFC]

I see the conversation has moved on slightly but just to pick up on this - if that was the aim, why did the whistles stop whenever Coventry were in possession? Why were the objects thrown when we were in possession - surely if the aim was to get the game abandoned then it wouldn't matter who had the ball at the time? Sorry to hark on about this but I'm yet to be convinced that it wasnt a deliberate ploy to disrupt our play.

I am not sure. I didn't blow a whistle and didn't invade the pitch.

I, like most Coventry fans, were supportive of the pitch invasion. The whistles were an idea from a group of fans outside of the usual protest groups. I didn't necessarily agree with the whistles, but don't think that they affected our play any more than yours.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

Changing the subject slightly, what is lacking in Sheffield is a top flight rugby club, and I don't mean the version they play in Leeds and Hull, or that non-entity who have been pissing about in Sheffield for the past few decades. I'd go and so would a lot of others I know. This would only be beneficial to the city and the club that hosts them. At least Coventry got that bit right.

Is the non-entity the club that caused one of the biggest upsets in sporting history and were disgracefully overlooked by the BBC, or maybe that should be the British public, as sports team of the year ?. Also never received the backing of the Sheffield populace, which is why they are where they are now.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I’ve never understood rugby league or rugby union.
I relate to the game it in a similar way to watching US Football.

Rugby league and rugby union seems to have missed South Yorkshire.
Think I’ve only ever met 2 people in Sheffield that like rugby and i’m old.

 

[snootyfenooty]

Is the non-entity the club that caused one of the biggest upsets in sporting history and were disgracefully overlooked by the BBC, or maybe that should be the British public, as sports team of the year ?. Also never received the backing of the Sheffield populace, which is why they are where they are now.

The last sentence of your post hits the nail on the head. No one gives a shit and never has. How many did they take to Wembley for the "biggest upset in sporting history", 5k? If Sheffield doesn't give a shit why should anyone else?

 

[Chali 2na]

I didn't necessarily agree with the whistles, but don't think that they affected our play any more than yours.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

The problems with SISU, Charlton and Blackpool are way deeper than the playing budget. The fact they lost our home ground and moved us to Northampton is the problem. Coventry don't have a home, they are renting a stadium off a rugby club on a short term basis.

It's a problem of the changing nature of football clubs turning away from their community and fans and turning to face bankers and investors, usually utterly disconnected from the fan.

We Blades have been relatively lucky in this regard, but there are threads elsewhere discussing the merits or otherwise of changing ownership.

Of course there is some lingering resentment about what happened that night. But fans of neither side should ignore the bigger threat. I might support your club PUSBCCFC but I support your fans who take a stand against owners like this. (Except when it affects my team, which as it turns out, your protests didn't).

Now. Enough of this being understanding, normal Cov-baiting back in 3, 2, 1....

 

[PUSBCCFC]

I’ve never understood rugby league or rugby union.
I relate to the game it in a similar way to watching US Football.

Rugby league and rugby union seems to have missed South Yorkshire.
Think I’ve only ever met 2 people in Sheffield that like rugby and i’m old.

I thought Rotherham and Doncaster both had reasonably sized rugby union sides?

 

[Sheffsteel]

The last sentence of your post hits the nail on the head. No one gives a shit and never has. How many did they take to Wembley for the "biggest upset in sporting history", 5k? If Sheffield doesn't give a shit why should anyone else?

The Sheffield Eagles sold 8,000 tickets for the Wembley final, think Wigan took well over 40,000.

A few years later both Sheffield football clubs got to Wembley (in the FA cup semi final).
The queues started forming at both grounds to buy tickets TWO days before they were due to go on sale.
The police thought there was a safety issue, so ordered both clubs to sell the tickets 24 hours earlier than planned.
All 74,000 tickets were sold by lunchtime.

It proves there’s no hunger for anything rugby relating in Sheffield, the Eagles team eventually moved to Huddersfield.
It proves that in Sheffield football dominates everything.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I thought Rotherham and Doncaster both had reasonably sized rugby union sides?

Don’t know, you never hear anything about them on the local radio or newspapers, it’s as though they don’t exist.
I’m in my early 50’s and worked in loads of places in the Sheffield area and I’ve only ever met 2 Sheffielders that like rugby league and went to the odd Sheffield Eagles game.

I’ve met about a dozen people from Leeds and about a third of them love rugby, telling me it’s a fantastic game and how their city loves the Leeds Rhinos.

and I’ve never met anyone in Sheffield that likes rugby union apart from when England play the 5 nations then of course some show interest and want England to win.