Wasps CEO David Armstrong has said that the Rugby Club will try to accommodate Coventry City's category 2 Academy at the Alan Higgs Centre when they take over it.
Armstrong said to the Coventry Telegraph's Simon Gilbert: "The football club are in an odd situation really. Until quite recently they had been saying they wanted to co-locate the Academy with the main training facility.
To that end, Paul Breed (chief executive of Coventry Sports Foundation) had to go out and find other tenants and found us.
That plan has been coming together for a while. What I’m not clear on is whether CCFC have found another location for their Academy yet.
But what we have offered them is use of the indoor kicking area so that they can maintain their Category Two status, which requires them to have an indoor facility contractually available to them.
We have offered them up to three hours every weekday evening in the indoor kicking area so that they can maintain that Academy status. That should help them if they take us up on the offer.
I know Paul is trying to find a way to accommodate them pitch-wise as well, but that’s something between them and the football club.
Building on the existing pitch will cause a problem , but what they would be able to do is relocate the pitch you choose to play the matches on to one of the other pitches.
I don’t think they would find that too difficult. Essentially they’re all pitches maintained to the same standard, all you do is put some barriers around one of them.
We appreciate that the Academy is a particularly pressing issue for them, it’s valuable to them in terms of the funding they get for being a Category Two club.
They’ve produced some great players through the academy in recent years and I’m sure they will do in the future. That’s an important part of their strategy.
We’ve kept the two conversations separate and said if you would like to use the indoor kicking area at the Higgs Centre you are very welcome to do so."
When asked if he understood why Coventry City fans are angry about this, Mr Armstrong replied: "I can and it’s partly why we are trying to help them out by ensuring the club is not at a disadvantage, particularly with the indoor facility.
But the football club had its opportunities in the past to extend its presence at the Higgs Centre and didn’t do so.
The owner is bound to need to go out and fill space where he can if he thinks he’s losing one of his tenants and that’s what he has done."
Full story - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/were-delighted-choice-wasps-chief-11417729