Sky Blue Trust: Boddy & Fan Engagement

Last updated : 19 October 2017 By SBT

Sky Blue Trust Press Statement:

“During 2016, the English Football League agreed new rules requiring Clubs to meet requirements for supporter engagement. Before those rules were agreed, Coventry City FC had a Supporters Consultative Group (SCG) which, in recent years, had become unrepresentative of Sky Blue fans generally and seriously dysfunctional in the way it operated. The Club’s response to the new EFL rules was to abolish the SCG and put nothing in its place.

"We read that the Club CEO, Dave Boddy, is now working on plans for a replacement to the disbanded SCG. We welcome Mr Boddy’s good intentions regarding communication with supporters. The Sky Blue Trust have offered to assist with that but have had no response to that offer. We will be interested to see how Mr Boddy proposes to ensure that any new group complies with the EFL Regulations, which require supporter representatives to "be elected, selected or invited in line with basic democratic principles.”  An approach to supporter engagement, which to date appears to involve discussion with no-one but the former SCG chair, does not instil confidence that the process will demonstrate the required application of “basic democratic principles”.