SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
A year after Coventry City walked away from the Ricoh Arena, manager Steven Pressley is hoping that the Sky Blues will soon have some clarity about their future home.
Sunday marks the first anniversary of City’s last match at the £113million stadium – a 1-0 defeat against Leyton Orient in front of a crowd of 11,234 – and Pressley admits that the decision to ground-share at Northampton has left a cloud hanging over the club and is hampering his efforts to bring in new players.
The increasingly bitter row between club owners Sisu, who say they are pushing ahead with plans to build a new ground, and former landlords ACL faces a crucial legal challenge in June when a judicial review will rule whether Coventry Council’s £14million loan to the stadium operators amounted to illegal state aid.
“Everybody’s aware of the court case which will have a big influence as to where we are and how we move forward,” said Pressley, “so the summer months are going to be critical.
“Once we get through this period hopefully there can be a clear vision for this club – that’s what we’re all desperate for because there have been too many clouds hanging over us for the past couple of years.
"Hopefully the court case will clear those clouds and allows us a clear strategy to really push this club forward. You can deal with certainties but just now there’s an uncertainty about the stadium.”
Pressley has been at pains to avoid being drawn into the off-field dispute but, asked if he could see City returning to the Rioch, he said: “In the right circumstances of course – you never rule anything out.
“There’s no doubt that our infrastructure – the training base and the Ricoh Arena – have been a big draw to a player coming to the club to play in League One and when you’ve not got the Ricoh it will affect that.
“We’ve had to get used to playing at Northampton and they couldn’t have been more accommodating in all aspects – the groundsmen, the stewards, everybody.
"They’ve been terrific and we’re very grateful to them but there’s no doubt that it’s an absolute necessity for this club to have its own stadium, whether we return to the Ricoh or build our own – that might take several years.”
The flat atmosphere at Sixfields compared to that of even a third-full Ricoh has been evident all season and particularly so as the side have struggled for results over the past couple of months.
But Pressley – who has played in front of a 60,000 Old Firm crowd and a few hundred fans at Scottish outposts - insisted: “You can never use it an excuse. When you go and play in a stadium with a good atmosphere motivation is very easy – it creates a greater intensity and there’s no doubt it can help the game itself.
“But when you’re playing in a stadium with only 1,600 supporters players deserve credit for self-motivation and I’m so proud of the way they have gone about things – they’ve been a credit to themselves.”
Http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sp...even-pressley-hoping-clarity-coventry-7002841
Sunday marks the first anniversary of City’s last match at the £113million stadium – a 1-0 defeat against Leyton Orient in front of a crowd of 11,234 – and Pressley admits that the decision to ground-share at Northampton has left a cloud hanging over the club and is hampering his efforts to bring in new players.
The increasingly bitter row between club owners Sisu, who say they are pushing ahead with plans to build a new ground, and former landlords ACL faces a crucial legal challenge in June when a judicial review will rule whether Coventry Council’s £14million loan to the stadium operators amounted to illegal state aid.
“Everybody’s aware of the court case which will have a big influence as to where we are and how we move forward,” said Pressley, “so the summer months are going to be critical.
“Once we get through this period hopefully there can be a clear vision for this club – that’s what we’re all desperate for because there have been too many clouds hanging over us for the past couple of years.
"Hopefully the court case will clear those clouds and allows us a clear strategy to really push this club forward. You can deal with certainties but just now there’s an uncertainty about the stadium.”
Pressley has been at pains to avoid being drawn into the off-field dispute but, asked if he could see City returning to the Rioch, he said: “In the right circumstances of course – you never rule anything out.
“There’s no doubt that our infrastructure – the training base and the Ricoh Arena – have been a big draw to a player coming to the club to play in League One and when you’ve not got the Ricoh it will affect that.
“We’ve had to get used to playing at Northampton and they couldn’t have been more accommodating in all aspects – the groundsmen, the stewards, everybody.
"They’ve been terrific and we’re very grateful to them but there’s no doubt that it’s an absolute necessity for this club to have its own stadium, whether we return to the Ricoh or build our own – that might take several years.”
The flat atmosphere at Sixfields compared to that of even a third-full Ricoh has been evident all season and particularly so as the side have struggled for results over the past couple of months.
But Pressley – who has played in front of a 60,000 Old Firm crowd and a few hundred fans at Scottish outposts - insisted: “You can never use it an excuse. When you go and play in a stadium with a good atmosphere motivation is very easy – it creates a greater intensity and there’s no doubt it can help the game itself.
“But when you’re playing in a stadium with only 1,600 supporters players deserve credit for self-motivation and I’m so proud of the way they have gone about things – they’ve been a credit to themselves.”
Http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sp...even-pressley-hoping-clarity-coventry-7002841
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