'Madness' for Coventry to leave CBS Arena - King

Doug King made a £25m bid for the CBS Arena in November 2022, but a judge ruled the offer came too late

Coventry City chairman Doug King says it would be "madness" to leave their CBS Arena home as negotiations continue over a new tenancy agreement.

The stadium has been owned by former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's Frasers group since November 2022, although King wanted to buy it when he negotiated his takeover of the club.

The Sky Blues agreed a five-year tenancy deal in April 2023, but he revealed last month that new English Football League rules mean they must have a long-term agreement in place by the end of the season or they will face a fine.

Asked whether he could reassure supporters about remaining at the stadium, King told BBC CWR: "It would be madness (not to stay), all I can say is it would be madness. That's it."

A long-running row over ground rent with former owners SISU twice forced Coventry to seek temporary groundshare homes, first at Northampton in 2013, later followed by two seasons with Birmingham City.

They returned to the city in 2021 and King still hopes that one day the club and ground will be under single ownership.

"It was built for the football club, it should never have been moved away," he said.

"There are a lot of reasons, which are well documented, for that, but we'd love to get it back together at some point.

"It's a stadium that only comes alive when you have brilliant football teams in it, otherwise it's just bricks and mortar."

King continued: "We have constant communication (with the ground owners) all the time about many, many things - there are things around the stadium that need to be changed and altered, we take care of the bowl.

"Everybody is aware that it benefits both parties in the relationship and that's positive for future situations."

King was speaking following the unveiling of a statue made in honour of the club's 1987 FA Cup-winning managers John Sinnott and George Curtis.

They Sky Blues are sixth in the Championship under boss Frank Lampard, ahead of Friday's meeting with Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion.

"I believe we are getting our act together, the city and community is worthy of a really top quality football team, playing in a high quality arena," King added.

"We're moving towards that, there's a still a lot to do. Nothing was done here for a long time and it takes time to change that.

"I'm always bullish, you've always got to believe you can get to where you want to get to.

"The challenge for that team is massive, it's full on, never goes away. We're fighting against clubs that want to do the same thing - you just have to be better, stronger, faster and do the best you can do."