RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.
THE OPPO – Coventry City aka The Sky Blues
DATE – Sunday 6 August 2004
KO TIME – 1.30pm (to facilitate Sky Sports live coverage)
THE GROUND – the Ricoh Arena, Coventry– click here for maps of the area – the arrow points to where the ground is.
The newly-built Ricoh Arena is 2-3 miles north of Coventry city centre, just off the A444 Phoenix Way and incredibly close to jcn 3 of the M6 – you can see the stadium from the motorway.
Around 3,000 away supporters are accommodated in the Jewson South Stand.
TICKETS
Tickets not yet on sale, please check RTG’s ticket news pages regularly for more information.
GOING BY CAR?
– From the north-east, take the A1 southbound then the M1 southbound.
– Leave the M1 at junction 21, then at the roundabout take the 3rd exit onto the M69 (signposted Coventry, Birmingham)
– Leave the M69 branching left (signposted Birmingham M6, Coventry North and Central A4600).
– Keep in right-hand lane then continue forward (signposted Birmingham) joining the M6 at junction 2.
– Leave the M6 at junction 3, then take 2nd exit onto Phoenix Way – A444 (signposted Coventry)
– At the next roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Rowleys Green Lane.
– At roundabout take 2nd exit onto Judds Lane.
– Arrive at Ricoh Arena.
There is plenty of official car parking which is well signposted as soon as you leave the motorway, and most of it only a 5-10 minute walk from the stadium. The official carparks charge £5 per car (regardless of how many passengers) – get a ticket from the steward as you enter the car park, leave part of the ticket on your dashboard, take the other part to the ticket office at the Ricoh Arena and give them your money – they then stamp your carpark ticket to show you’ve paid, which you then return to the steward as you leave the carpark.
The Ricoh Arena’s own website states that there is a dedicated Away Supporters’ carpark but certainly when I was there for the 2006 game, it no longer seems to be there – just follow the official carparking signs instead.
Beware – many of the streets closest to the Arena have ‘permit only’ arrangements on matchdays and traffic wardens will fine matchgoers who park in these areas.
Click here for details of matchday parking and public transport arrangements.
GOING BY TRAIN?
Coventry railway station is about 6 miles away from the ground so if you ARE using the train allow time to get a cab from the station to the ground (10-15 mins
For route and ticket information call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 or check the National Rail website.
Alternatively ALS are running their usual coach service – click here for details.
STOPPING OVER?
Hotel Campanile, Wigston Road, Coventry – tel 024 7662 2311
Holiday Inn Express, A45 Kempass Highway – tel 02476 417555
Churchill Hotel, Walsgrave Road, Coventry – tel 024 7644 7459
Hilton Hotel, Paradise Way, Coventry – tel 024 7660 3000
Old Ball Hotel, Walsgrave Road, Coventry – tel 024 7645 9016
Sleepers Hotel, Thomas St, Crewe – tel 01270 585555
There are also plenty of B+B places close to Coventry rail station.
SCRAN AND BOOZE
There’s a pub right next to the big roundabout directly opposite the Ricoh Arena which appears to welcome both home and away fans, and has a big outdoor area.
The Arena itself has a fairly spacious concourse area with loads of stands serving typical football fare – chicken balti pies, hot dogs, lager, soft drinks etc.
Otherwise there’s no shortage of places to eat and drink in the city centre if you venture there prior to the game.
Got any suggestions for good pubs in the Coventry area for pre-match drinks? Email [email protected] and we’ll update the guide with them
LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH
The nearest ATM is an Alliance & Leicester one at the big Makro (wholesaler) on the Gallagher Business Park, just up the A444 Phoenix Way from the Ricoh.
IN THE NEWS
They play the Portland Timbers on Saturday 8 July in a pre-season friendly.
Brentford and Republic of Ireland midfielder Jay Tabb recently signed for Coventry; at the end of last season he earned his first call-up from Steve Staunton to the Republic of Ireland senior squad for the friendly against Chile.
Defender Richard Shaw has just left the Sky Blues to go to Milwall.
Coventry City Council has said that taxpayers will have to meet the £2.9m overspend accrued during the construction of the Ricoh Stadium.
LAST SEASON
Finished 8th out of 24 with 63 points.
HEAD TO HEAD
We’ve played the sky blues 30 times in the League in recent years: we’ve won nine each, and drawn 12.
LAST 6 MEETINGS
19.03.05 Sunderland 1, Cov 0 (Brown 76)
07/08/04 Cov 2, Sunderland 0
08/12/03 Cov 1, Sunderland 1 (Downing 8)
08/11/03 Sunderland 0 Cov 0
16/04/01 Cov 1, Sunderland 0
28/10/00 Sunderland 1 Cov 0 (Thome 52)
SOME BACKGROUND FOR THE YOUNG ‘UNS…
In 1959 Jimmy Hill (yes, THAT Jimmy Hill), who was then chairman of the PFA, became CCFC manager – it was his idea to ‘rename’ the team from ‘the bantams’ to the ‘Sky Blues’. He later went on to become the club’s chairman.
Perhaps the most infamous incident involving Sunderland and Coventry came in 1977…but the two teams weren’t even playing each other at the time. Coventry were due to play Bristol City at Highfield Road and Sunderland were away at Everton. Jimmy Hill delayed the kickoff at Highfield Road by five minutes as many Bristol supporters were delayed by traffic. With five minutes to go and Coventry holding Bristol to a 2-2 scoreline, word reached them that Sunderland were losing at Everton (they eventually lost 2-0) and the score was displayed on the Coventry scoreboards, so that both sets of players were aware. RTG’s away match reports-meister Herts takes up the story: “When they realised they only needed a draw to both stay up the two teams spent 15 minutes kicking back and forward to each other, condemning Sunderland to relegation with Stoke and Spurs. Coventry finished 19th of 22 and Bristol City 18th. A Football League inquiry was held but Jimmy Hill, who was in a senior postiion at the Football League did not stand to one side while the inquiry was held – instead he made sure he was in a position to interfere the whole way through. Coventry were asked to try not to do it again (yeah, right) but the result stood.
“20 years later when we were top-flight relegation rivals once again, this time us at Wimbledon and Coventry at Spurs (if we both got the same result SAFC stayed up but our defeat meant they knew they could stay uip by getting a result) somehow 15,000 SAFC supporters managed to make it down to South London for a 3.00 kick-off while 3,000 Coventry supportes faced such appalling traffic delays in getting to North London (I assume all us SAFC supporters flew to Gatwick otherwise we would have been using the same roads) that their kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes again. Once again we went down.”
Hill’s plan to rename the club “Coventry Talbot” in the late 70’s lost him much support from the fans, and was vetoed by the League. He then turned Highfield Road into England’s first all-seater stadium in 1981 but as a result, the atmosphere and crowds both dwindled. Eventually he arranged for some of the seats to be removed to create a standing area.
Former Sunderland manager Terry Butcher was previously manager at Coventry from November 1990 to January 1992. losing the majority of matches he oversaw.
Another former Sunderland manager, Peter Reid, managed Coventry from June 2004 to January 2005 – Coventry lost 13 of the 31 games played in Reid’s tenure, won 10 and drew 8.
Adrian Heath took over when Reid left, but was only in charge for three matches (lost 2, won 1) before Micky Adams took over.
The current Coventry squad includes Don Hutchison who left SAFC under something of a cloud in August 2001, after only one full season with us, which saw him score eight league and two cup goals.
Credits CCFC, ‘Gary Mabbutt’s Knee’, ‘Herts’, Link, Multimap, Rough Guide to English Football, Soccerbase, streetmap.co.uk, Google Maps, BBC, National Rail.