Fletcher Issues Open Letter To Supporters

You are probably wondering at this moment 'where does this leave us?' You deserve an answer. The simple answer is this. Over the past year we have been restructuring the Club operationally and commercially and we feel that the time has now come to extend that restructuring to the playing side.

"We have always known that returning to the Premiership as a strong, healthy club would require us to reorganise and modernise the Club in all respects. Only in this way can we be sure that the Club will grow and prosper in the coming years.

"Over the past 12 months we have studied other clubs, investigated their methods, interviewed their senior executives, talked to their Chairmen and a raft of experts from the football industry. This research confirms that to be successful we need to build a sustainable 'culture' at Coventry City - one that identifies us and sets us apart from other clubs, one that underpins everything that we do.

"Traditionally football clubs have been entities of two distinct halves. One half administering all the day-to-day functions of the Club, the other managing the team on the pitch. For too long these two halves have worked apart, often with different plans and agendas. As we move into a new 'management' era at the Club we now intend to appoint a manager who is willing to work to a common plan for success and is open to exploring new methods of achieving it.

"From today we intend to make more use of scientific methods and best practice policies to support the manager and players. We want to instill a new culture into the fabric of the way we do everything on the playing side of the Club, so we can build sustainable depth, stability and long term continuity for the future.

"By doing this, we intend to develop a foundation of good practice which can be built on year after year and will remain even when individuals come and go. We will take interest in all new methods that have brought success in other teams, other sports and other walks of life, scrutinising them and testing them before introducing them to the team and thus slowly build a 'Coventry Way' of doing things.

"In implementing this transition we intend to respect the supporters and the history of the Club. We want to establish what does Coventry City stand for? What are our principles? What will make us great? Why will young kids want to join us? How do we include and value our supporters when making important decisions? What is the link between the manager, the players and the fans? How do we help our players off the field? What is our policy on racism, smoking or drug taking? How do we interface with our community? How do we best represent the City of Coventry? How do we handle problems? How do we celebrate success? What style of football do we want to play? Is it the same one as the academy teams are using? When we get into the Premiership and how will we stay there?

"As we develop this plan we intend to include EVERY facet of Coventry City Football Club. It will thus become a plan that establishes the values and principles that the Club works by, so that no one individual is ever allowed to become more important than the Club itself, be they a player, Manager or Director. Only in this way will we overcome the fragility and lack of progress that has beset the playing side in recent times.

"The financial troubles that we inherited have at times forced us to let go of players that we have wanted to keep at the Club, Gary McSheffrey being one, but whilst a certain amount of wage restructuring has been beyond our control, the combined commercial and performance plans we are now implementing should ensure that we are not put in this situation again.

"I hope that as loyal Coventry fans, you will support us in this pursuit of progress and support the new manager and systems that will soon emerge.

As always I am keen to hear your views on these matters and I look forward to sharing greater success with you in the coming years."