Coventry City Served Eviction Notice
Coventry City have been issued with an eviction notice by the new owners of the Coventry Building Society Arena, saying the Championship club has no continuing right to use the ground. On Friday club officials were informed they must return keys and access cards and an FA Youth Cup game scheduled for the Saturday was switched to Leamington Town FC’s ground.
Controversial and outgoing former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley's Frasers Group took over the stadium last month after buying its three former operating companies.
Frasers Group do not believe they are bound by the previous licence agreement with the stadium's former owners, Wasps rugby club, who went into administration on October 18th. Coventry City’s next scheduled home fixture is against Swansea on December 17th with Frasers saying that they will be given a reasonable amount of time to remove goods and property from the stadium.
In recent seasons the Sky Blues have suffered numerous stadia issues having moved to the then Ricoh Arena from their former Highfield Road home in 2005. However, a dispute with their landlords saw them transfer home ties to Northampton Town's Sixfields ground in the 2013-14. Wasps bought Coventry City Council's 50% stake in the stadium in October 2014 before acquiring the remaining shareholding from the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, assisting Coventry City FC to return as tenants.
However, rent issues saw Coventry move to Birmingham City's stadium in 2019, spending two seasons at St Andrew’s. The Sky Blues finally returned home for the start of the 2021-22 season but there were further problems at the start of the current campaign because of the state of the pitch after it was used for rugby sevens matches during the Commonwealth Games.
Following the demise of Wasps, the CBS Arena's operating companies, Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), Arena Coventry (2006) Ltd and IEC Experience Ltd, also went into administration, enabling Frasers Group to purchase.
