Ricoh (13 Viewers)

[IrishSkyBlue]

ive only been to the ricoh once was good to get there and see coventry play at home for the first time in my life, i hope i can get over for a game this season aswell but having our own stadium is key now, sisu need look forward and really hammer home getting this done if the want the fans backing and income to make a squad that can push for the premier league with a new stadium would be unreal!

 

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[Skyblueweeman]

so many are not used when events are on. Management has always been an issue. No point having 1000’s of spaces if can’t be used or badly managed.
probs best not to build a hotel in one of the car parks.

Yeah sorry...I was just responding to Grendels point about lack of parking. There's not.

Whether it's managed correctly or not is another matter though.

 

[shmmeee]

Are you talking about the Ricoh...lack of parking? Seriously?

Never understood that complaint. I’ve parked minutes away almost every game I’ve ever attended at the Ricoh. Certainly far easier to drive to than St Andrews and light years ahead of HR in that respect.

 

[pastythegreat]

It’s main problem is it’s location and lack of parking and facilities

Still it’s better located than a deprived area of Birmingham

I've always said its location is shit. It suits away fans getting off of the motorway and coventry residents that live in Holbrooks.
Other than that it has shit transport links within the city and because of this, everybody drives meaning everybody is sober and you don't really get the same party/away day atmosphere you get at StAns where a lot of fans will go on the train and make a day of it.
In the championship days there used to be queues of private charter buses outside that used to come from all over the city, they were good because you could get on it early and get an atmosphere going on the bus with a few beers, that would carry on in the ground in the telegraph stand.

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[fernandopartridge]

Never understood that complaint. I’ve parked minutes away almost every game I’ve ever attended at the Ricoh. Certainly far easier to drive to than St Andrews and light years ahead of HR in that respect.

You could park much much closer to Highfield Rd for free than you can at the Ricoh, the parking zone is ridiculous.

 

[pastythegreat]

The problems you mention with the Ricoh are also likely to exist at Warwick Uni, with same lack of facilities (even worse in terms of pubs). It's about the same distance from the city as the Ricoh, so people that moan about the Ricoh being too far from the city will be able to continue to do so if that move ever happens.

But like the people who live in Holbrooks and bum the ricoh and ignore how shit/hard it is for people in the city to get to other than themselves, I live in Tile Hill so I'm over the moon with this location. Fuck the holbrooks cunts who've never thought about me for the last 15 years! On days like today, I could walk there via 3/4 boozers so I'm happy! Time you started fucking driving and paying for parking and taking 45-60 mins to get home!

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[shmmeee]

I've always said its location is shit. It suits away fans getting off of the motorway and coventry residents that live in Holbrooks.
Other than that it has shit transport links within the city and because of this, everybody drives meaning everybody is sober and you don't really get the same party/away day atmosphere you get at StAns where a lot of fans will go on the train and make a day of it.
In the championship days there used to be queues of private charter buses outside that used to come from all over the city, they were good because you could get on it early and get an atmosphere going on the bus with a few beers, that would carry on in the ground in the telegraph stand.

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Im not a drinker really, but just as easy to get a train/taxi/bus from town as St Andrews isn’t it? Less when you’re there of course but is it really that hard to have a beer and get to the ground?

I always liked the idea of the canal barge taxi and some sky blue coloured buses like Wasps do (theirs are yellow obviously), could team up with pubs around the area for pickups. Doesn’t seem beyond the wit of man to sort if the custom is there.

 

[Grendel]

Are you talking about the Ricoh...lack of parking? Seriously?

In talking about parking restrictions around the roads.

when crowds hit 20,000 the main car parks are also shocking and you pay £10 for the thrill of waiting an hour to exit

 

[shmmeee]

You could park much much closer to Highfield Rd for free than you can at the Ricoh, the parking zone is ridiculous.

Yeah but you couldn’t get out within an hour or so in my experience.

Point stands though, I’ve always parked closer at the Ricoh than I ever did at HR. Might have been a time where you had to go for a coffee afterwards, and that’s likely to come back now we’re getting bigger crowds, but it’s never really been an issue.

The general surrounding area I totally get. Though I’m not convinced Gibbet Hill will be much better in that respect.

 

[Grendel]

Yeah sorry...I was just responding to Grendels point about lack of parking. There's not.

Whether it's managed correctly or not is another matter though.

There isn’t enough parking when the club is in the championship as there is zero street parking and only C allows parking on the day - if you arrive near to kick off they often close it. One championship game I even had a ticket for there and they tried to stop me. The parking restrictions extend to a ridiculous distance

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

There was something very special about Highfield Road that was lost when we moved to the Ricoh.

Anyone who went to HR will have their favourite memories of the stadium. For me it was evening matches and the floodlights and the smell of the turf as I made my way into the stadium.

I have never really felt the same affection for the Ricoh that I did for HR. I find the Ricoh cold and impersonal .

I think it's time to move on as I think it's very unlikely we'll play at the Ricoh again.

That something special is purely nostalgia.

Any kid that went to their first match at the Ricoh and have seen most of their games there will feel the same way about that you do about HR, because for them that's what a football stadium 'should' be. We grew up expecting it to be surrounded by houses, walkable from the centre, individual stands built at different times etc, open corners. But take all that nostalgia away and it was in fact quite crap in terms of a building. Ricoh is far better in actually usability. St Andrews reminded me a bit of HR and although there were bits which made it feel like a 'proper' stadium to me it did also remind me just how crap those kind of structures are nowadays,

 

[pastythegreat]

Im not a drinker really, but just as easy to get a train/taxi/bus from town as St Andrews isn’t it? Less when you’re there of course but is it really that hard to have a beer and get to the ground?

I always liked the idea of the canal barge taxi and some sky blue coloured buses like Wasps do (theirs are yellow obviously), could team up with pubs around the area for pickups. Doesn’t seem beyond the wit of man to sort if the custom is there.

From town its easy yes, but ive got to get in to town from Tile Hill first. Thats a bus/taxi in to town, then a bus/taxi out of town, then the same in reverse. Its 4 buses. Or, nearly £40 in taxi fairs round trip.

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[Ring Of Steel]

so many are not used when events are on. Management has always been an issue. No point having 1000’s of spaces if can’t be used or badly managed.
probs best not to build a hotel in one of the car parks.

This basically sums it up, not just on parking though, its the management of the club & matters affecting it.

Stadium- absolutely fine, easily on a par at least with every other new ground of same size
Management of stadium- total garbage
Performances while there- abysmal
General club status while there- rock bottom

People getting (understandably) blinded by the fact that we've had a dismal time since moving there, the stadium itself is just fine. But if you build a PL standard ground for 32,000 then proceed to nosedive to the bottom division with the backdrop of continual crises & depressing off the pitch developments, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what was going to happen.

Again, look at Stoke- new ground, big fanfare, they start off averaging 15k in the Championship but then promptly spend 5 years getting relegated to & stagnating in League One, ground is cold, windy, isolated, they end up with 7,000 rattling around in there for some games, imho the very worst of the "new grounds" and that was after they came back to the Championship. Add some success & stability and 2 decades later the "big clubs" are apparently petrified of the place, they had to expand the ground, and its the loudest stadium in the league. You'll put up with parking issues when you're having a great time at games.

The people in the stadium make it what it is, and that comes from what happens at the club both on & off the pitch, unfortunately we've had SISU doing an effective job of destroying the club & turning CCFC into a laughing stock/ a club to be pitied, more recently aided & abetted by the constant Wasps/ CCC stuff.

 

[Skyblueweeman]

The thing with car parks at major venues, you're always going to take time getting out. I've been in queues outside St Marys, Brittania Stadium, Ashton Gate before...it's the fact that there's hundreds/thousands of cars doing the same thing as you.

 

[shmmeee]

From town its easy yes, but ive got to get in to town from Tile Hill first. Thats a bus/taxi in to town, then a bus/taxi out of town, then the same in reverse. Its 4 buses. Or, nearly £40 in taxi fairs round trip.

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That’s a fair point. Local dedicated bus services? I mean we’re likely going to have the same issue (not from Tile Hill but from say Longford) with any new ground. What would fix it?

 

[Grendel]

The thing with car parks at major venues, you're always going to take time getting out. I've been in queues outside St Marys, Brittania Stadium, Ashton Gate before...it's the fact that there's hundreds/thousands of cars doing the same thing as you.

But the point is there’s no road parking - St. Andrews with a 10,000 crowd you can park 5 minutes walk and straight out or it’s walking distance to town if you take a train

 

[Ring Of Steel]

But like the people who live in Holbrooks and bum the ricoh and ignore how shit/hard it is for people in the city to get to other than themselves, I live in Tile Hill so I'm over the moon with this location. Fuck the holbrooks cunts who've never thought about me for the last 15 years! On days like today, I could walk there via 3/4 boozers so I'm happy! Time you started fucking driving and paying for parking and taking 45-60 mins to get home!

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I cannot believe people who live in Cov are bitching & whining about having to get from one side of the city to another.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

That something special is purely nostalgia.

Any kid that went to their first match at the Ricoh and have seen most of their games there will feel the same way about that you do about HR, because for them that's what a football stadium 'should' be. We grew up expecting it to be surrounded by houses, walkable from the centre, individual stands built at different times etc, open corners. But take all that nostalgia away and it was in fact quite crap in terms of a building. Ricoh is far better in actually usability. St Andrews reminded me a bit of HR and although there were bits which made it feel like a 'proper' stadium to me it did also remind me just how crap those kind of structures are nowadays,

I've obviously seen both- the inner city grounds & the out of town grounds.

Best ever "matchday experience" (I hate that term but we'll go with it) was always to walk from Earlsdon into town then continue onto HR via numerous pubs, anticipation building all the time, then being able to see the city centre through the gap between the Main Stand & West Stand, the club & the city felt like the same thing- nothing will ever replace that. However unless something miraculous happens then those days are over for us unfortunately.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I've obviously seen both- the inner city grounds & the out of town grounds.

Best ever "matchday experience" (I hate that term but we'll go with it) was always to walk from Earlsdon into town then continue onto HR via numerous pubs, anticipation building all the time, then being able to see the city centre through the gap between the Main Stand & West Stand, the club & the city felt like the same thing- nothing will ever replace that. However unless something miraculous happens then those days are over for us unfortunately.

Did you have a montage to go with it?

 

[Woodingdean_Sky_Blue]

That something special is purely nostalgia.

Any kid that went to their first match at the Ricoh and have seen most of their games there will feel the same way about that you do about HR, because for them that's what a football stadium 'should' be. We grew up expecting it to be surrounded by houses, walkable from the centre, individual stands built at different times etc, open corners. But take all that nostalgia away and it was in fact quite crap in terms of a building. Ricoh is far better in actually usability. St Andrews reminded me a bit of HR and although there were bits which made it feel like a 'proper' stadium to me it did also remind me just how crap those kind of structures are nowadays,

I understand what you are saying.

What is interesting is supporters of other teams also seem to look back on HR with fondness and seem less keen on the Ricoh.

I have always thought the Ricoh disappointing. It is difficult to get to, the stadium design isn't great for watching football, the 'casino' is hardly Atlantic City or Las Vegas and the hotel isn't great either.

Time to move on.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

Did you have a montage to go with it?

haha- one of the best things about an inner city ground is that you're not actually as reliant on the game to have a good time- it was always a good day going into town, having a drink, meeting people, heading up to HR- in fact I'd go as far as to say it was very often the best part of the day & the fun stopped once you were in your seat

When you're at an out of town location you don't have that, its all about the 90 mins, thats the whole focus- bad game and you don't have the "it was a good laugh today though apart from the match itself" thought to fall back on. And things like parking etc become way more of an issue. Who wants that when you're watching trash every week?

I know a few Newcastle fans & they all say something similar- St James is so central that it was essentially a fortnightly party going to games & they'd never miss it even in their "dark days", the club was part of the city as HR was. The match itself wasn't the whole & only reason for going there- at places like the Ricoh if you see a crap match then you don't really have much to look back on fondly.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

I understand what you are saying.

What is interesting is supporters of other teams also seem to look back on HR with fondness and seem less keen on the Ricoh.

I have always thought the Ricoh disappointing. It is difficult to get to, the stadium design isn't great for watching football, the 'casino' is hardly Atlantic City or Las Vegas and the hotel isn't great either.

Time to move on.

It is time to move on assuming nothing drastic happens, you are right. But the 'stadium design' part- thats just not true I'm afraid. Design has certainly moved on from the bowl type design alright, but for its time the Ricoh is easily the equal of Pride Park, the KP, St Marys- all of them.

And I see a huge trend at the moment for people to get all nostalgic about old grounds- however I went to almost all the 'old grounds' multiple times and a lot were absolute dumps with no atmosphere at all, don't get too misty eyed about the 'old days', its not the reality. And for the record, HR was an absolute morgue for the last few years. Personally I'd have always gone with updating HR but even assuming the planning etc would have been allowed and unless the pitch was moved 90 degrees we'd have had a monster Sky Blue Stand holding about 16,000, and it would have been very lopsided & messy, not really feasible and immensely expensive.

 

[pastythegreat]

I cannot believe people who live in Cov are bitching & whining about having to get from one side of the city to another.

Where do you live RoS?
From Tile Hill by car I can get to StAns quicker/easier than the Ricoh! And park for FREE when I get there too! Not to mention the decent boozers which are missing at the Ricoh

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[Brighton Sky Blue]

haha- one of the best things about an inner city ground is that you're not actually as reliant on the game to have a good time- it was always a good day going into town, having a drink, meeting people, heading up to HR- in fact I'd go as far as to say it was very often the best part of the day & the fun stopped once you were in your seat

When you're at an out of town location you don't have that, its all about the 90 mins, thats the whole focus- bad game and you don't have the "it was a good laugh today though apart from the match itself" thought to fall back on. And things like parking etc become way more of an issue. Who wants that when you're watching trash every week?

I know a few Newcastle fans & they all say something similar- St James is so central that it was essentially a fortnightly party going to games & they'd never miss it even in their "dark days", the club was part of the city as HR was. The match itself wasn't the whole & only reason for going there- at places like the Ricoh if you see a crap match then you don't really have much to look back on fondly.

I guess I’m the opposite and probably in a minority of people who focus more on the game than build up. That said I don’t think I’ve ever been to a game on my own, prefer it if somebody can share the highs and lows.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Yeah but you couldn’t get out within an hour or so in my experience.

Point stands though, I’ve always parked closer at the Ricoh than I ever did at HR. Might have been a time where you had to go for a coffee afterwards, and that’s likely to come back now we’re getting bigger crowds, but it’s never really been an issue.

The general surrounding area I totally get. Though I’m not convinced Gibbet Hill will be much better in that respect.

I suppose it does have a university on its doorstep, so those facilities would welcome the extra business.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Again, look at Stoke- new ground, big fanfare, they start off averaging 15k in the Championship but then promptly spend 5 years getting relegated to & stagnating in League One, ground is cold, windy, isolated, they end up with 7,000 rattling around in there for some games, imho the very worst of the "new grounds" and that was after they came back to the Championship. Add some success & stability and 2 decades later the "big clubs" are apparently petrified of the place, they had to expand the ground, and its the loudest stadium in the league. You'll put up with parking issues when you're having a great time at games

Stoke have always been the outlier for me in terms of stopping me hating the Ricoh completely. You're entirely right, it was a desolate hell hole when they were down among the dead men!

 

[shmmeee]

I suppose it does have a university on its doorstep, so those facilities would welcome the extra business.

Where is there other than The Varsity and the SU? Been a long time since I drank at UoW, and from memory calling what they serve in the SU beer is a push

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Where is there other than The Varsity and the SU? Been a long time since I drank at UoW, and from memory calling what they serve in the SU beer is a push

tbh I honestly don't know. It is a campus though - the Arts Centre has been re-done for the prawn sandwich brigade, the Legion can take over the Phantom Coach, and there's Cannon Park for anybody who fancies a cheeky Greggs beforehand.

Does have a 'feel' of more organic than the Ricoh, where everything was just desolate wasteland!

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

I understand what you are saying.

What is interesting is supporters of other teams also seem to look back on HR with fondness and seem less keen on the Ricoh.

I have always thought the Ricoh disappointing. It is difficult to get to, the stadium design isn't great for watching football, the 'casino' is hardly Atlantic City or Las Vegas and the hotel isn't great either.

Time to move on.

With the away supporters again is that because of the age-group and it fitted into what they think a stadium 'should' be.

I do understand it more as an away fan as it's often an all day thing. So going somewhere a bit livelier, with pubs, busy streets etc to make it a more memorable day out.

Take Bolton. First time I went to the Reebok you got there and it just felt lifeless. Middle of nowhere with some shops around it. Went on the coach but would've been a pain to get to via public transport if you'd wanted to go into the city. But we won the game 5-1, everyone had a great time and I now remember the place fondly.

 

[shmmeee]

tbh I honestly don't know. It is a campus though - the Arts Centre has been re-done for the prawn sandwich brigade, the Legion can take over the Phantom Coach, and there's Cannon Park for anybody who fancies a cheeky Greggs beforehand.

Does have a 'feel' of more organic than the Ricoh, where everything was just desolate wasteland!

I suppose. Though Greggs is closer at the Ricoh, and if you’re counting the Phantom there’s way more pubs within same range of the Ricoh (1.6m according to Google Maps).

Agree the surroundings are far nicer mind.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Yeah but you couldn’t get out within an hour or so in my experience.

Point stands though, I’ve always parked closer at the Ricoh than I ever did at HR. Might have been a time where you had to go for a coffee afterwards, and that’s likely to come back now we’re getting bigger crowds, but it’s never really been an issue.

The general surrounding area I totally get. Though I’m not convinced Gibbet Hill will be much better in that respect.

I genuinely don't recall any traffic problems that were really any worse than the Ricoh.

 

[shmmeee]

I genuinely don't recall any traffic problems that were really any worse than the Ricoh.

Maybe I just picked shit parking. I had memories of waiting in long queues of traffic back into town to the point where we ended up walking back to town and going from there as it was significantly quicker.

Might have been before Sky Blue Way was a thing TBF? When was that built?

Point is I’ve never had an issue getting to and from the Ricoh and unless it’s a city centre ground (still dreaming) you’ll get the same access issues wherever you put it.

Of course I was also a kid at HR and waiting probably felt a lot longer.

 

[Magwitch]

It is as someone has said mainly nostalgia, my Grandsons aged 15&13 know no difference and HR certainly had faults before the all seater viewing from parts of the terrace and Kop end weren’t brilliant and when the West Stand was built there were pillars running the width of the standing area obscuring viewing then when it became all seater seats where just plonked on the existing terrace, no leg room and you ended up with neck ache trying to see the other side of the pitch then we built the East Stand which again had pillars obscuring your view.
As for the Ricoh I don’t think it has really been tested, we have had a few big games with big crowds but nothing on a regular basis.
I live fairly near to the Ricoh and when the gate is larger and I’m talking 17/18000 parking ain’t brilliant so god knows what it’ll. be with 32k there..…

 

[fernandopartridge]

Maybe I just picked shit parking. I had memories of waiting in long queues of traffic back into town to the point where we ended up walking back to town and going from there as it was significantly quicker.

Might have been before Sky Blue Way was a thing TBF? When was that built?

Point is I’ve never had an issue getting to and from the Ricoh and unless it’s a city centre ground (still dreaming) you’ll get the same access issues wherever you put it.

Of course I was also a kid at HR and waiting probably felt a lot longer.

Sky Blue Way constructed 87ish

 

[shmmeee]

Sky Blue Way constructed 87ish

Oh well definitely after that then. First game was 1990!