Coventry City: Championship-bound club to stay at Birmingham City's St Andrew's
- Published
Championship sides Coventry and Birmingham will both play at St Andrew's next season
Coventry City will stay at Birmingham City's St Andrew's ground for the 2020-21 campaign.
The Sky Blues had been in negotiations with landlords Wasps over a potential return to the Ricoh Arena, but have not been able to agree a deal.
Coventry played at St Andrew's last season and won the League One title - joining Birmingham in the Championship.
Wasps said they were "deeply disappointed" at a "wasted opportunity".
While Coventry said "what the landlord requested of CCFC’s owners and the club was simply not deliverable".
Despite promotion, the Sky Blues 'home' league gates were almost halved from the season before. And, on Tuesday, the club announced long-term plans to return to Coventry by building a new stadium on the south-west edge of the city on land owned by the University of Warwick.
The English Football League said it will "support the club where it can to help find a solution to get back playing in the Coventry area at the earliest opportunity".
Coventry left Highfield Road in 2005 to move to the Ricoh Arena but, after a long-running rent row escalated, they spent the 2013-14 season at Northampton Town's Sixfields.
The Sky Blues returned to the Ricoh in September 2014, followed by Wasps moving in three months later. The part-city council-owned stadium was then sold to the Premiership rugby union club.
City then spent the next four full seasons there but the clubs owners Sisu could not reach an agreement with Wasps to play the 2019-20 campaign there and found alternative arrangements.
"The same issues that prevented a deal last season have again prevented a deal for the upcoming season," a statement on the Sky Blues website said., external
"We regret that their efforts and ours did not come to fruition.
"We completely understand the feeling of fans regarding groundshare and playing in Birmingham - we have made every effort behind the scenes to avoid this scenario, but now this is the case we will again be making the best of this situation for our fans, players, staff and everyone connected with the club, and urge fans to again back Mark Robins and the team next season back in the Championship."
Wasps said: "We were very close to reaching commercial agreement on a deal.
"We had held positive and constructive talks with the football club at management level for several months.
"Both sides believed they had a workable arrangement which was good for all and would see Coventry City back at the Ricoh."