Sideways Sammy

Coventry City won 7-1 at the weekend in front of a fully-packed Coventry Building Society Arena on the stadium’s 20th anniversary, however, the result was the least important outcome from the day. Of greater significance, however, was the earlier news that had been announced of the club finally owning its own stadium. For many, there was no result that could have happened to have muted the overwhelming joy of the occasion.

It brings to an end a saga that has lasted for well over 20 years, a time when the team’s performance has come close at times to dictating whether the club lives or dies. From the top-flight relegation that effectively forced the club give away ownership of the stadium during its construction to Mark Robins’ rise up the leagues that saved Coventry City from a potential slide into non-league and drew interest in owing the club from Doug King, watching this club play has so rarely been about the games in and of themselves but have had a more consequential significance.

Acquiring the stadium instantly erases a lot of the anxiety that has come from following Coventry City. A bad season is just a bad season, it doesn’t mean the club will be forced to play in another city or have its existence threatened. A good season can be celebrated for the players and staff that achieved it, rather than how it may help keep the club alive.

Saturday was an emotional occasion for anyone who has been through this odyssey with Coventry City that began long before the club moved into the then Ricoh Arena 20 years ago. It was a day that had looked impossible for much of the past two decades, the football club’s fate placed in the hands of those with little interest in the club’s future and whose main goal was burnishing their own egos. During the worst days, the idea this club could do anything more than spin the drain down the divisions was unthinkable.

There are many to blame for it having taken so long to unite Coventry City with the stadium that was built for it to play in. From the likes of Bryan Richardson and Mike McGinnity, who ushered the move away from Highfield Road despite the increasing unfeasibility of owning the new ground, to SISU and Coventry City Council, whose feud threatened the very existence of the football club and led to two, what should have been unthinkable, spells in exile outside of the city. Saturday underlined just how short those involved in this saga had sold this football club. The potential was there, it just needed people in the right positions in order to unleash it.

It all starts with Mark Robins’ role in reversing the club’s fortunes on the pitch. It cannot be understated just how much he saved the club when it was at its lowest ebb. Robins changed the perception that Coventry City was a miserable team to support, engendering pride in both the team and the city itself. He showed that the low attendances were symptom of poor performances, that the city was desperate for success, and that even the scent of it would start to bring people back.

It gave Doug King plenty to build upon when he acquired the football club nearly three years ago. King didn’t have to do much in his first months in charge, inheriting a team on its way to the Play-Off final, with two star players in Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres leading the way, plus a beloved manager charting the course. Any sense that he’s simply been lucky has been eroded in the subsequent years, from funding a spending spree in the wake of Hamer and Gyokeres’ departures, to investing in the facilities, to getting his first managerial appointment right. The acquisition of the stadium underlines that he is finally the owner fans have been waiting for, one with the club’s best interests in mind.

The next task is making sure ownership of the stadium benefits the football club, which really will test Doug King’s acumen as a businessman. No-one yet has figured out how to make the Coventry Building Society Arena a profitable venture, and there is an argument that paying rent can be cheaper than maintaining and growing an asset. Having the football club the stadium was built for as its owner will certainly help, as well attendances being at an all-time high, but it will take a lot of work in order to properly realise the potential of the stadium as a revenue stream for the club.

After decades of uncertainty, Coventry City are back in charge of their own fate. The 23rd of August 2025 will be remembered for years to come not because of the remarkable result the team achieved but for it being the moment Sky Blues fans could breathe, knowing that the spells in exile and uncertainty over the club’s existence are now a thing of the past. Fans can go to games at the Coventry Building Society Arena knowing that all they have to worry about is what the team does on the pitch. For those who have been through it all, that is a small worry to have.