As recently announced, the Supporters’ Consultative Group is to be represented at board meetings of Coventry City Football Club. For those who did not see Coventry City's programme against Peterborough United on Saturday, we have reproduced the answers given by club chairman Tim Fisher and chief executive Steve Waggott from a sample of questions put directly to the board by the SCG.
Is there any prospect of the purchase of the Higgs shares in ACL?
We’ve yet to receive the necessary information to enable us to even begin to decide whether we’re able to purchase the Higgs shares in ACL, but fans will be the first to know when our position changes.
Our priority is to ensure the long term financial stability of the club whilst doing what is best for the fans, and that means building our own new stadium. TF
If not, does a new stadium now become the exclusive course?
Regardless of the outcome with the Ricoh Arena, our ambition remains to own our own stadium. It is essential in order to ensure the club’s financial future so that we can reach our ambition of being promoted back into the Premier League.
In order to secure 100% of our revenues, not just from match day but throughout the year, it is imperative that we have our own ground. We will duly announce plans for our new stadium, and thank the fans for your patience. TF
How do you see the practical relationship developing with new owners or partners?
When we returned to the Ricoh, we did so on a two-‐year deal, with the option of a further two years. In addition, we are the priority users of the stadium, and will play our home games on Saturdays. We have been guaranteed that this deal will remain in place, ensuring that the Club will be playing home games in the city for the next four years, whilst we develop our own new stadium.
We look forward to working in partnership with Wasps to ensure our mutual success, on and off the pitch. TF
What actions will you be pursuing to ensure the quality of the pitch?
The quality of the pitch is of paramount importance to the club. As you will know, we have made our concerns about damage to the playing surface known to Wasps, who are in charge of the maintenance of the pitch. They have assured us that it will remain in top condition; an assurance that we will be holding them to. TF
What are the principal contractual obligations to ACL?
We have an agreement with ACL that allows us to play all home league and cup fixtures at the Ricoh Arena for two seasons with an option for another two seasons that could take us up to June 2018.
That agreement will be fulfilled irrespective of any change in the ownership of shares in ACL. SW
What is the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and how does the club's obligation to it affect major decisions on the configuration of the seating and the closure of stands?
ACL hold the safety certificate for every event that takes place at the Ricoh Arena whether that be football, rugby or concerts. SAG ensures any event complies with health and safety regulations such as policing, stewarding, safe stadium access, and medical support, all the factors needed for running a safe event.
We have weekly meetings with ACL and safety officers to feed back any concerns from the club or supporters’ perspective and these meetings cover previous matches to help us continually try and improve the matchday experience. The Supporters Consultative Group also collate points from supporters and these are highlighted at our weekly meetings. SW
What leeway is there over the pricing and provision of food and beverages?
Unfortunately, this is not in the gift of the football club as food and beverage prices come under ACL and Compass. We do, however, constantly raise concerns around the cost of items and the competitiveness compared to the areas surrounding the ground which may be persuading supporters to consume food and beverages outside the Stadium bowl before kick off. SW
Please explain the general policy over ticket pricing?
At the start of the season the club submits a price plan to the Football League which is agreed and circulated to all other clubs (The Game Plan). Once we agreed to move back to the Ricoh Arena from Sixfields, the Football League gave us dispensation to adjust our prices for that return.
This adjustment was a return to 2012/13 prices and to look at the maximum amount of legal promotional offers we could provide to help make it as affordable as possible for supporters to get behind Steven Pressley and his team.
The first game back against Gillingham was a promotional offer. We have offers coming up over half term for families and at Christmas. We have stuck to our ‘Football For A Fiver’ structure for the JPT. We will also continue to review pricing as the season progresses. SW
Should the club and the bus companies be doing more to enable integrated ticketing?
Anything that reduced the cost for supporters to attend matches should be persued and we are more than willing to engage with bus companies to get prices down as much as possible. If we can be given a lead into talking to the bus companies we are more than happy to pursue it.
I would advise any ideas or suggestions be forwarded to the SCG to then be proposed to the directors and executives at the football club. SW.