So, especially for Michael, the Get Cov Back to the Ricoh origin story he so desperately craves...
Just over a year ago at the start of the season, Stuart Cosgrove (AKA Cossy) was talking to people at matches, on Twitter and generally around and about about the fact that everyone hated being at Sixfields and more ways to get us back to the Ricoh. He thought that it would be worth approaching / campaigning to get the council /ACL involved and approached both the Sky Blue Trust and KCICto see if they were doing anything along these lines. The Trust were moving away from more overt campaigning and the email conversation Cossy had with Michael was as follows:
Subject: Keeping the Pressure on
I have just read your mail regarding your event down in London at the offices of the Football League, Do you think we could do the same thing outside the offices of the Coventry City Council, i think it would serve more purpose of trying to get all sides back around the table to negotiate a return of CCFC back to Coventry. The fact that it is in Coventry more people could attend, and if its advertised as an event to but pressure on, then i am sure it will be well attended. I see lots of Media coverage of people protesting about SISU, but i don't see a great deal of pressure being put on ACL/CCC who in my opinion are just as much to blame for us being forced out of our Home as SISU themselfs.
I look forward to a reply on your thoughts however long it takes.
--
Regards
Cossy
Re: Keeping the Pressure On
Stuart, thanks for taking the time to email. I am fully occupied with kcic focus on events in London and now Jimmy's Hill plus developing the Independent Inquiry initiative to bring all parties and individuals to account. If you want to pursue the acl-ccc angle you could, if you are a member, raise it with the Trust. Otherwise, what I say to everyone is go for it! Cheers, Michael
So, Cossy went for it as Michael suggested.
For my part, I had been on a few KCIC London demos and given Michael a bit of advice/help on the IT/mailing list side of things. Cossy got in touch with me towards the end of September as he needed help setting up social media & the petition etc. and I ended up being dragged kicking & screaming into doing more media stuff. The petition was launched and with it the GCBTTR campaign. There are a bunch of other people who have helped out in a number of ways from advice on press/PR, contacts, leafleting, etc. too.
So as Michael didn't have the time to add an ACL/CCC angle to the ever-increasing KCIC workload and because of his encouraging words, GCBTTR was born.