No. 88: Ricoh Arena [Coventry City]

Saturday, 13th February 2016
Coventry City v. Bury [League One] 6-0

I sent myself to Coventry this weekend.

I've always wondered why being sent to Coventry is meant to be so bad. Certainly, the city doesn't seem to have a very good reputation. When I asked on twitter for suggestions of things worth seeing in Coventry on my visit, I was told the road that leaves the place was a highlight.

As it happens, continuing a theme of being surprised at how nice most of the places I've visited on this 92 Club quest are, Coventry was surprisingly quite nice and, I think - unfairly maligned.

Coventry is probably best known for the fact the cathedral was destroyed in WW2 by Nazi bombing raids. So this was always going to be the main focus of my pre-match 'cultural' tour.

Driving into Coventry centre along the raised ring road, it's easy to see the effects today of the Coventry blitz, with so much post-war concrete dominating the skyline and so little remaining that pre-dates the air raids.

Coventry City Centre: Morning after 14th Nov raid.
(Photo By Taylor (Lt) from Imperial War Museum collection)

Coventry was targeted a number of times during the war, but in one night on 14th November 1940, over two-thirds of Coventry's buildings were damaged or destroyed in an intense bombardment by over 500 German bombers.

That night, 4,300 homes disappeared in the city, along with 568 lives and all but the shell of the old cathedral. The residential suburbs and the city centre have been re-built since, but the ruins of the old 14th century gothic cathedral remain in situ as the only real reminder of the blitz.

Inside the ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral.

A new, modern cathedral was commissioned shortly after the war and built in the 1950s right next to the existing shell of its medieval predecessor, the latter's shell now serving as a memorial garden to peace and reconciliation.

The old cathedral tower still stands in one corner of the ruins as the tallest structure in Coventry at 295ft - so I thought I might as well climb its 186 steps (yes I counted them) for a view of the city. There isn't much to see from up there to be honest, but it does give you an idea of how pretty much the whole of Coventry is a modern construct since the blitz.

Coventry Cathedrals: Old 14th Century Ruins to left, 20th Century rebuild to right.

The new cathedral is not overly striking from the outside, looking something like many 1950s modernist buildings, today's eyes may find the structure a little bland and sterile. But from within, the interior does look pretty impressive and is well worth stepping inside - especially to see the 195 panes of stained glass which make up the Bapistry window - which even this godless heathen found absolutely stunning as it caught and filtered the light outside.

New Cathedral Interior: Stunning.

Perhaps the most impressive bit of the new cathedral though is the Jacob Epstein sculpture mounted on the exterior wall near the entrance of St Michael's Victory over the Devil. From afar it's a striking depiction of a vanquished and chained fallen angel helpless at the feet of a triumphant St Michael.

But close up, I found out that it also gives you a chance for a cheeky gander at Beelzebub's impressive schlong.

Can you spot The Devil's Cock? It's there look, bottom right.

In the bowels of the old cathedral is also a lovingly put together Blitz Museum, featuring a mock up of 1940s Coventry life, including a school classroom, a 1940s kitchen and a recreation of a street dealing with an air raid.

The highlight of this museum is being guided around the various rooms and displays by volunteer residents of the city. On my visit the guides were the wonderful Barry Gittins and Ken Barber - two sprightly pensioners who were children of Coventry during the blitz, and had fascinating stories to tell.

Barry was the self-styled "Local lad with the gift of the gab" - and a visit to chat to these two fellers is highly recommended if you find yourself in Coventry with time on your hands.

Lady Godiva Statue: Broadgate Square. You can see her titties.

Other than a few remaining medieval streets around the Cathedral, everything is very much 20th Century. In Broadgate square just around the corner you can see the statue of Lady Godiva, who legend has it rode nude through the city on horseback. In the space of 20 minutes I'd seen a lady's boobs and the devil's cock in statue form. Honestly Coventry - that was quite enough culture for one day.

It was soon time to head of for some football, which entailed a 4 mile drive to the Northern suburbs of the city to the 10 year old Ricoh Arena.

Ricoh Arena Overview.

The impressive 32,000-seater Ricoh, with casino attached, was built in 2005 as a replacement for Coventry City's former Highfield Road home, originally operated by Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), a company jointly owned by the City council and a charity, with the football club as happy tenants.

They didn't stay happy for long though - the stadium that the city built with the football club in mind was left empty following a protracted dispute over rent that saw The Sky Blues ground share at Northampton's Sixfields for over a year in 2013-14.

Coventry Fans Boycott at Northampton.

In that year away, most fans boycotted 'home' games in Northampton - for their first game there just 1,500 turned up, whilst at the same time, over 5,000 Sky Blues fans turned up to watch a charity game at the Ricoh instead. The crowds never really moved above the 1,500 mark during their time away from Coventry.

A miserable exile for the disgruntled Coventry fans ended in September 2014, with a return to the Ricoh in a two year deal that felt like a homecoming - 28,000 turned up at their first game back. Just a matter of months later, the stadium owners ACL sold up to Premiership rugby club Wasps, who are now Sky Blues' landlords.

What the future holds as tenants of a rugby club most fans aren't sure of. Certainly, the Wasps name is everywhere now around the ground and although there is a shop selling Wasps merchandise outside the ground, the CCFC club shop is relegated to a retail outlet next to Tesco, 10 minutes' walk from the ground.

But the seats in the Ricoh are still Sky Blue, and the ground is in Coventry, after all. So here's hoping the egg-chasers don't take the piss.

Jimmy Hill: Coventry Legend.

On top of some of those blue seats this afternoon in the empty North Stand was a large flag with Jimmy Hill on it. Football legend Jimmy died just before Christmas, and today Coventry City were dedicating to the memory of the man who made Sky Blues what they are.

Jimmy Hill had already having changed the sport by the time he retired as a player for his role in successfully lobbying for scrapping the maximum wage for players in 1961 whilst chairman of the PFA.

Hill's move into management at Coventry City was equally revolutionary. In what came to be known as The Sky Blue Revolution in fact, Hill changed the club's colours to Sky Blue, wrote a club song (still sung today by fans), pretty much invented the idea of a match programme being something more than a team sheet, and pioneered pre-match entertainment and the electronic scoreboard.

His revolution extended onto the pitch as well - Division 3 champions in 1964, and Division 2 champions in 1967. Hill then moved into broadcasting but having got Coventry into the top flight, they remained there as a testament to his legacy for 34 years until eventually relegation in 2001. It's no wonder he's so loved in these parts.

If that wasn't enough, he went back to Coventry as chairman in the late 70's and was instrumental in converting Highfield Road into the country's first all-seater stadium. Not so sure that was a good idea, but the man was clearly well ahead of his time and one of the great innovators - so I was delighted to be able to join in today with the round of applause for the great man's life.

Ricoh Arena: East Stand.

The game itself - well, it was pretty much all over 15 minutes after I took my seat in the packed East Stand, where the vast majority of the 11,000 crowd were housed. The actual sky above the Ricoh was more like a frosty and grim greyish white, but it was still very much a Sky Blue afternoon in Coventry.

Ten years ago I watched Joe Cole score an absolute screamer against Sweden in Cologne at the 2006 World Cup. Today he finds himself playing League One football at Coventry. He might be at the tail end of his career, but you could still argue he's playing beneath his natural level.

Coventry Celebrate Scoring a goal. I forget which one.

On the basis of this performance, I'd say he definitely is playing beneath his level. Dominating the game from the middle of the park, he ended up with 4 assists for the game, none of which wasn't a spectacular defence splitting ball that proved his class.

Coventry and Cole were simply too much for Bury on the day, the visitors perhaps struggling to find each other in one of the worst kits of the season - a colour I can only describe as "burnt grey". There was a public apology from Bury manager David Flitcroft after this performance. I hope whoever decided on this season's away kit will follow suit.

Seeing a stadium with over half the seats empty and a whole end of the ground unused is always a sad sight, and clearly no matter what the history of a club, you don't need 32,000 seats playing in the third tier.

Ricoh Arena: Main West Stand.

This ground was built for a side that expects Premiership football, and if they carry on like this afternoon they will be confident of taking a step back in that direction come the end of this season.

Coventry certainly is a unique place, and being sent here isn't actually as bad as you might be led to believe. Coventrians are certainly happy enough with their lot - as they sing about in the stands:

"In our Coventry homes, 
We speak with an accent exceedingly rare,
You want a cathedral we've got one to spare, 
In our Coventry homes..."

Lovely stuff.

Being Sent To Coventry is a bad thing?
Chinny reck on, mate.

NEXT UP: HUDDERSFIELD TOWN! (Feb 27th v. Ipswich)