The Sky Blue Trust have issued the following press statement regarding the flag situation for Coventry City supporters going to Wembley Stadium on Sunday for the EFL Trophy Final.
For match after match, year after year, Wembley has allowed flags and banners up to 250cms wide without any problems, However suddenly the Football League has changed the rules for Coventry City.
Whilst a minor annoyance compared with allowing a club to be ripped from its home city this sudden, nonsensical change to a 100 cm wide maximum shows how the Football League recognises and fears the anger they have helped foster among the Sky Blue Army.
The prospect of a stadium full of banners proclaiming less than complimentary messages towards the Football League or club owners are terrifying to the ivory tower dwelling out of touch mandarins at EFL House. However the Sky Blue Trust urges all those who have invested their hard earned money to get their personal messages out to the world. Free speech is vital in this world and petty bureaucrats should not be allowed to silence the voice of the Sky Blue Army.
Shame our club doesn’t appear to have fought harder for our supporters except to ensure their own authorised flags were exempt from the ban.
Not only is this attempt to restrict free speech pathetic, it is also counterproductive but could be potentially creating an unnecessarily confrontational atmosphere. On what should be a fun and happy occasion stewards will be tasked with confiscating “oversize” flags, leading to arguments and ill-feeling.
We would urge all City fans to behave peaceably and if you want to take a flag larger than 100 cms simply follow the guidelines set out by Wembley. Submit an official request for the flag by going to https://help.wembleystadium.com/support/tickets/new
Send a photo showing the whole of the flag and list the actual size of the flag. If there is one also show a photo of any valid, in date fire certificate, although this is not mandatory. Get your application in by 5pm on Thursday. To date the Trust has not heard of any flags being turned down.
The Football League has once again shown itself to be completely out of touch with the heart and soul of the game, proving that the feelings and needs of supporters are of little interest to them.