Progress Has Been Made - City Board

Last updated : 27 December 2009 By Covsupport News Service

Progress has been made says Coventry City's Board. The board which conprises of Ray Ranson, Joe Elliott, Gary Hoffman and Mike Parton released the following message to supporters via the club's programme for yesterday's home game against Doncaster Rovers.

For those of you who did not see the programme yesterday, the statement reads:

"As we approach 2010, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the past two years and look forward to the future.

When we first came to the club two years ago, there is no secret that that it was in a very sorry state both on and off the pitch.

Progress has been made on both counts but ultimately, a football club's on the field achievements are judged by its league position and naturally, we would all like to be higher up the Championship table.

We believe considerable progress has been made on the playing squad depite the fact that our league position is similar to that when we took over. The squad Chris Coleman inherited was far too big in numbers. There were too many professionals who were not good enough to play for a club of Coventry City's standing. 

Chris' aim - and with our support - was to have a younger, hungrier group of players who could help take the club forward over the long term.

Hopefully, by the end of the January 2010 transfer window we will be getting somwehere close to a squad of players that can challenge in the end of this division. This is our immediate objective.

We always knew that success would not come overnight and too many times in the past, clubs have overspent to achieve so called 'instant success' with the price of failure being the club's very existence. You only have to look around at the what is happening at other clubs in the Championship at the moment!

We also realise that when you have good young players in your team, other teams will be interested in them. So if the Coventry team is not progressing as fast as these players would like - from time to time, you are left with no other option but to sell.

This is made more difficult when the players are offered huge salary increases and the chance to play at a higher level, neither of which we can offer at the moment.

You have seen it happen at other clubs where they fight tooth and nail to keep a player that wants to leave. He unsettles the wholse squad while he remains there but ends up leaving anyway. After all, the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo proved that even Manchester United is a selling club if the right offer comes in.

Chris is expecting a busy January transfer window - both in and out- and he hopes to have a stronger squad of players come February.

Off-the-pitch, there has been significant progress at the club. The ultimate aim is to get back into the Premier League and we feel that we have the organisational set-up off the field to make it happen.

We have a very good relationship with the local business community and have achieved significant sponsorship success with both regional and national companies.

We have stepped up our work in the community and want to continue that Coventry City Football Club is a key player in the area - not just a football club but as a member of the community.

We believe a successful working relationship between the people of Coventry and Coventry City Football Club will go a long way towards achieving our aim of taking the club back into the Premier League.

Have a happy New Year and thank you so much for your loyal support which is much appreciated by not only the Board, but the players and manager at Coventry City.