Stadium

Stadium

Main articles: Highfield Road and Ricoh Arena

[edit]Grounds

Ricoh Arena, Coventry's stadium since 2005

§  Dowells Field – 1883–1887

§  Stoke Road – 1887–1899

§  Highfield Road – 1899–2005

§  Ricoh Arena – 2005-date

[edit]106 years at Highfield Road

Coventry City began playing at the Highfield Road stadium in 1899, although the club did not buy the freehold to the site until 1937. The record crowd at the ground was on 29 April 1967 when 51,455 watched the Second Division title decider against Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was more than 6,000 more than the previous record set against Aston Villa in 1938. Although many people who where at that game suggest the attendance was a lot higher, possibly much over 60,000. Supporters climbed onto the roofs of the stands and up the floodlights. The ground has an interesting history. In 1940 the main stand which backed onto terraced houses in Mowbray Street was bombed by the Luftwaffe, heavy turnstiles from the ground and gas meters from houses in Mowbray Street were discovered in Gosford Park some 500 yards away. In 1968, the main stand burnt down and its replacement was built within four months. In 1981 Highfield Road was converted into England's first ever all-seater stadium with a capacity of around 24,500, which many criticised as killing the atmosphere of the ground. Some seats were removed a few years later.[1] It had been gradually upgraded since then, with the final phase of work being completed in the mid-1990s, including two fully enclosed corners. The final game played at the great stadium was against Derby County on 30 April 2005, with Coventry hammering Derby County, winning the game 6–2. Many great players graced the turf of Highfield Road, on an emotional day, the final goal at Highfield Road was fittingly scored by a homegrown youngster Andrew Whing. Other goals came from Stern John, Dele Adebola and Coventry-born player Gary McSheffrey, who scored two of the goals. One of these was from a penalty given away by the ex-City captain Mo Konjić. The land on which the stadium once stood is now a housing estate.

[edit]Relocating to Ricoh Arena

For the 2005–06 season, Coventry City moved to the new 32,609 capacity Ricoh Arena^[5] after 106 years at Highfield Road. In 1998, the club had decided that it was time to relocate to a new stadium in the Rowleys Green area of the city, three-and-a-half miles north of the city centre and close to junction 3 of the M6 motorway. The original plan was for a state-of-the-art 45,000-seater, multipurpose stadium with removable pitch and retractable roof. It was due to be ready for the 2001–02 season and was touted to be one of the finest and most advanced stadiums in Europe. However, the club's subsequent relegation, financial problems, financier/contractor withdrawals and England's failure to secure the 2006 World Cup competition led to a radical redesign. The resulting stadium was built to a standard and somewhat uninspiring bowl design with steep stands, in line with several other new stadia builds during this period, though it is said to generate excellent acoustics (and has been used to host several major rock concerts). Despite initiating the project and being the principal attraction there, Coventry City's financial situation means that they no longer own the stadium and must pay rent to use it, this could appear to raise concerns over the managing of the clubs financies by previous club officials, as, as of the year 2001 the club were the fourth longest serving club in the top flight of English football.

The stadium naming rights were originally sold to Jaguar Cars which has strong links with Coventry. Jaguar pulled out of the project on 16 December 2004 and a new major sponsor was needed. A £10 million deal, which included naming rights, was signed and electronics manufacturer Ricoh became the new chief sponsor for the stadium. The project was funded largely by Coventry City Council & the (Alan Edward) Higgs Charity (of which former CCFC and ACL director the late Sir Derek Higgs was a trustee), and includes shopping facilities, a casino, exhibition halls and a concert venue.

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, construction delays at the ground forced Coventry City to play their first three games of the season away and postpone their home games. On Saturday 20 August 2005, City hosted Queens Park rangers in the first-ever game at the Ricoh Arena. Coventry won the game 3–0, the first goal at the Ricoh Arena being scored by the Faroe Islands international Claus Bech Jørgensen, with an 11th-minute diving header. Dele Adebola then added two more for the Sky Blues.

A campaign is currently nearing its completion which will see a statue of Jimmy Hill installed at the main entrance to the Ricoh Arena.