Coleman On Ricoh Changes

Last updated : 06 August 2009 By Covsupport News Service
Coventry City manager Chris Coleman has been talking about the changes to pitch and dugouts at the Ricoh Arena.

Those who attended the Marcus Hall Testimonial game will have seen that the pitch is now narrower and that City have swapped dug-outs.

Explainging why this happened, Chris Coleman said to the CT: "Most grounds you go to - I would say 80 per cent - the home dugout is on the linesman's side and from now on that's what we'll have at the Ricoh.

"He runs down that half of the pitch so you're a little bit closer if you're on that side of the tunnel and it gives you a better chance of having a quiet word if you need to.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get carried away. I know I've got to behave myself, but I think that it might just give us a slight psychological edge, and you have to grab every little advantage you can in this game."

With regards to the pitch changes, Coleman said: "It's a massive pitch and we just felt it was a too big so we're going to make it a bit more compact.

"We'll be trying to do a few things with the stadium on match day, perhaps getting the fans closer together to get a better atmosphere - that was the thinking behind it."