City London Supporters Club Issue Doncaster Game Switch Statement

Last updated : 16 March 2013 By Jon Strange

Coventry City London Supporters’ Club which includes Sky Blues International deplores the decision of Coventry City Football Club to rearrange the Easter fixture against Doncaster Rovers at such extremely short notice. We would be failing some of the football club’s most loyal supporters if we did not make our disgust at their treatment more widely known.

Easter Saturday would have been Sky Blues International Day. Some SBI members have been left out of pocket as a result of not being able to rearrange flights; they and other CCLSC members have also purchased advance price train tickets that are now worthless.

And why has this happened? Because, with the connivance of the Football League, Coventry City and Doncaster Rovers decided that their players should have an extra day’s rest. When you book tickets for a concert, for instance, you do not expect to be told a fortnight before the event that it has been brought forward 24 hours just in case the musicians get too tired.

Were the Football League reminded that aside from the cost to long-distance supporters and inconvenience to others, Good Friday in Coventry is a working day?
And what has the football club said about it? There has not been a single public acknowledgement of the inconvenience nor any public apology.  

The only comment on the website says that ‘it makes perfect sense’ and that ‘we are glad everyone has agreed to the decision’.

 Why did such ‘perfect sense’ take until 17 days before the game to assert itself rather than 284 days ahead when the fixtures were originally published? Who is the ‘everyone’ that ‘has agreed to this decision’?  

My only reply from the football club informed me that the club ‘is not in a position to offer any refunds’ over travel arrangements. As a result of this, the CCLSC committee has decided to provide at least a token payment to those CCLSC/SBI members who can demonstrate that they have been left out of pocket. Please contact Jonathan Strange.   

David Meredith, who has worked tirelessly to foster Sky Blues International, has announced his resignation as secretary in disillusionment at this contemptuous treatment of fans. We can entirely appreciate his position. We shall also be deeply sorry to lose him.