The Coventry City Diamond Club held its Annual General Meeting lunch today at the Ricoh Arena.
Over 200 members and guests attended the AGM which announced a profit of £259, celebrated the awards for Pat Raybould and Joe Elliott and remembered those sadly no longer with us including Michele Ridley, re-elected four Committee members and elected a new Secretary to the Committee.
The Diamond Club which is in its 20th year, is known for its guest speakers and with original guest speaker Mark Robins being employed elsewhere in the football industry, there was still plenty of top quality speakers for the members and guests to enjoy.
Pat Raybould, who was named the Npower League One Fan Of The Year, spoke about her evening at The Brewery in London where she was presented with the award by FL Chief Greg Clarke as well as her work as a volunteer with the Family Zone on match days at the Ricoh Arena and her work on the Supporters Consultation Group, which aims to help improve the experience of watching Coventry City as well as trying to get more people into the ground.
Next up was Brian "Harry" Roberts. Harry works in the match day hospitality lounges when he is not a PE teacher, something he always wanted to be after being a professional footballer.
Roberts' best memory of playing for City included the 3-2 win over West Ham in the League Semi-Final and Roberts calls Warwickshire home and City his club despite playing for Birmingham City and Wolves.
He said that "it breaks my heart to see what is happening to the club but hopefully we will see it through." and admitted to having underpants older than Cyrus Christie.
Then it was a trio of guest speakers making their Diamond Club debut in Arena Coventry Limited Acting Chief Executive Jacky Isaac, Marketing Director Liz Cooper and Head Of Operations Mark O'Shea.
Jacky travels every day from St Neots,.arriving before 7.30am and she spoke about the Davis Cup tennis event which was held at the Arena that now has a capacity of 12,000, whilst hosting the Sky Blues game against Brentford. She made it very clear that they want the football club playing at the Ricoh Arena.
Liz Cooper has been employed at the Ricoh Arena since 2004 and said that when the Arena first opened their business was 80% football. However, within a year that had been flipped with the Ricoh Arena brand changed into a national venue. She spoke about how much work had gone in over the years to attract the big name bands with more planned for next year.
Mark O'Shea, a Lincoln City fan said it was the best job he had had and the worst, saying that it was a tough enviroment to work in but he was proud to work here and he classed.
The links between the Diamond Club and the Coventry City Former Players Association is a strong one. Chairman Tom Dentith was presented with a CCFPA tie and made an honourary member and a number of former players including Bill Tedds and Ronnie Farmer as well as CCFPA Chairman Jim Brown was in attendance.
One of their hard working committee members Billy Bell entertained everyone with a set of songs and jokes before the bingo and raffle ended what was another memorable afternoon for the Diamond Club.
Pictures copyright of Pete Chambers