Coventry City: Rugby club dismiss Sky Blues' planned move to Butts Park Arena

Butts Park Arena is currently home to Coventry RFC, as well as the city's semi-professional Rugby League side Coventry Bears

Coventry Rugby Football Club chairman Jon Sharp has ruled out any possibility of footballing neighbours Coventry City moving to the Butts Park Arena.

The League Two club, in the last year of their agreement with Ricoh Arena landlords Wasps, earmarked the 4,000-capacity stadium as a real option.

But Sharp says that there is no chance of any groundshare deal happening.

"We will not deal with them as long as they are owned by Sisu," Sharp told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.

"They are a sister club bearing the city's name with a proud old history, who have fallen from grace, just like us. We're marching back up. I sincerely hope they do too.

"We'll offer what support we can to get there, but the one thing we cannot do is have any formal arrangement with them, any groundshare, whilst they're owned by their current owners.

"Whether correctly or not, the current owners are vilified within the city. Whether that is fair or not, I'm not going to comment on.

"But we have spent many years re-establishing our status in the city. I'm not prepared to risk that by associating with City's owners."

The ifs and Butts . . .

• 8 July 2013 - Coventry City's plan to groundshare at Sixfields, Northampton for three years is "reluctantly approved" by the Football League.

• 26 July 2013 - Coventry City issue a statement announcing that they have agreed terms on a new site within six miles of the city centre.

• Nov 2015 - Coventry City issue a statement dismissing reports of a move to the Butts Park Arena.

• May 2016 - Coventry City reveal that the two clubs are now in talks over the mooted move.

• 11 Oct 2016- Sports minister Tracey Crouch tells a House of Commons debate on Coventry City that "genuine concerns remain about the owners' ability to resolve the matter of where the team will play".

• March 2017 - Coventry City chairman Tim Fisher tells the Coventry Telegraph that the move to the Butts Park Arena is "on".

• 15 Nov 2017 - Coventry RFC chairman Jon Sharp shuts the door on the football club.

Not good business or moral sense

Speaking to BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's weekly Rugby Show, Sharp added: "We rely on a good relationship with Coventry City Council and are talking to them about how to develop this ground.

"But how can we do that supporting someone who is suing them. It does not make business sense, never mind from a moral point of view. Our position has not changed."

The Sky Blues' problems date back to 2012 when the club was taken to court over unpaid rent by then stadium operators Arena Coventry Ltd, who were part-owned by Coventry City Council, before they sold the stadium to Wasps.

Coventry City revealed new ground plans in July 2013 with leading stadia architects AFLS+P, who have previously worked with Brighton and Rotherham, but nothing came of them

City have just 14 more league games left at the Ricoh before the agreement allowing them to play at the ground they once part-owned tuns out.

They returned to the stadium, their home since leaving Highfield Road in 2005, in September 2014 following 14 months sharing with Northampton Town at Sixfields.

SISU took over the then Championship club in 2007. City are now sixth in League Two, following relegation in May.

Two's company

The 4,000-capacity Butts Park Arena, in the Spon End district of Coventry, close to the city centre, already has two teams playing there.

The long-established Coventry RFC, once one of the foremost rugby union sides in England in their amateur days, are top of National League One, the third tier of the modern-day English pyramid.

They have played their home games there since the stadium opened in 2004, when it also became home to the city's semi-professional rugby league side Coventry Bears, who play in Championship One, also at the third tier of the 13-man code.