Coventry City have had to provide an update on the pitch at the Coventry Building Society Arena and are very disappointed to confirm the postponement of their home game against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday.
On Thursday, an internationally established independent research and agronomy company appointed by the EFL evaluated the pitch at the arena. They have experience in various international tournaments and stadiums in the UK and abroad.It was their finding that the pitch was unsafe to play against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday.
Following last week’s postponement, we are hopeful that the pitch in the arena will improve enough to allow us to proceed with our match against Wigan Athletic, and that is what we planned to do.
Unfortunately, it has become clear that this is not possible and we will have to postpone Tuesday’s game against Wigan Athletic.
We apologize for the enormous inconvenience caused to Coventry City fans, players and staff, Wigan Athletic and their fans, players and staff.
We explored the possibility of reverting the fixture, but unfortunately this was not possible due to other events at the DW Stadium.
Coventry City Chief Executive Dave Bodie said:
“It is with great disappointment to report that there has been no improvement on the pitch and once again a huge disappointment to the supporters, players and staff at having to postpone Tuesday’s home game against Wigan Athletic. doing.
“I met with Stephen Vaughan at Wasp/The Arena on Monday and have been in regular email contact since.
“Let me be clear, this is not the ground staff’s fault.
“The promised investment in the new pitch, which was a fundamental part of extensive negotiations for the club to return and a public commitment following the announcement of its return in March 2021, has not been made. No significant refurbishment or refurbishment work has been done over the summer either.
“Our concerns about the quality of the pitch have not been resolved and we are very disappointed to be told that Wasps made the decision in June not to take action to install a new surface.
“Despite repeated requests and the high-profile and urgent nature of this situation, we have issued a ‘plan of action’ to address this major issue, which we pledged to publicly implement last Saturday. waiting.
“Even if the first three matches could have been played out of the league as requested by the Wasps, this would not have been possible due to the EFL fixture sequence rules that apply equally to all clubs. I was.
“While we do not want to deal with this matter publicly, we have to consider the situation in order to update our fans. We want football clubs to offer pitches suitable for the purpose of playing at home.”
Body added:
“It is our supporters who are suffering from this disruption, as are our players and staff.
“This is an incredibly difficult situation for football clubs. I hope that this situation will be resolved by
“We will continue to keep our supporters updated and will provide further news as soon as possible.”
Coventry City are pleased to provide an update on next Saturday’s home game against Huddersfield Town and details on refunds for matches against Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic.
Again, we are very sorry to have to share this news with our supporters.
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