Coventry say cobblers to the Ricoh – we’re off to Northampton

COVENTRY City appear to have abandoned plans to play their home games at the Ricoh Arena next season in favour of a ground share deal with Northampton Town.

The Sky Blues are understood to have agreed a deal with the League Two side that will see them share the 7,600-capacity Sixfields Stadium for the next three years while a new stadium is built in Coventry.

Rumours that Coventry may agree a deal with League One’s Walsall to share the Banks’s Stadium were denied by the Saddlers last month.

The deal means Coventry’s fans will have to travel 34 miles to Northampton’s ground in order to watch their ‘home’ games.

However, despite the distance the Sixfields Stadium is an out-of-town site – much like the Ricoh – and is well accessible from the M6/M1.

Coventry City had been in administration since a High Court hearing in March but a deal last month saw administrator Paul Appleton agree the sale of the club to the Otium Entertainment Group.

The club had been embroiled in a long-running rent row with Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), landlords of the Ricoh Arena.

What the future holds now for the arena remains to be seen. It has a purpose-built football pitch but no one to play on it.

The Football League will meet today to discuss the ground share deal and if approved, Coventry will play their first game there against Bristol City on August 10.