Highfield Road or Ricoh? (2 Viewers)

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

For me it’s always going to be Highfield Raod. I loved the West Terrace, loved the pre match booze up, the whole match day experience. Dont get me wrong, Ricoh a nice stadium but the pubs are crap nearby and the matchday experienceoverall is poor.

covkid69 · Oct 20, 2011

highfield road for me...a much better matchday experience than the lifeless ricoh

Platt_The_Donkey · Oct 20, 2011

no decent memories at the Ricoh...................................yet.

sy79 · Oct 20, 2011

Highfield road all the way! I go to mid week games at Fratton Park with a mate from work and its like a time warp back to our good old days! Pub crawl through crowds of fans and terraced housing, a small stadium that they can fill with loads of atmosphere, love it cant wait for the 3rd of december, for 90 mins my mate will be "dead to me"!!!!!imp:

matesx · Oct 20, 2011

Ditto mate

i come up from Banbury

used to get train with lads, straight to Rocket, then over to Lloyds and Yates's. Then all the pubs on Far Gosford Street. You knew everyone in there and they knew you.Over to Brewer and Baker occasionally and always into a rammed Strikers bar for half 2.

Used to love gettin in the Mercers Arms where we had the bar and away fans had the lounge! made for great atmosphere!

Loved HR, loved the WT although i migrated to East Stand as i got older. When we took playing the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool,Chelsea, Asenal, Villa every week for granted.

Back to Strikers after game.

Those days are gone.

The Ricoh is an altogether more sterile experience. A fantastic stadium and complex, fit for the Prem but just not the same matchday out. It's too big for us (right now) and its location feels isolated from the heart of Coventry. Playing in the 2nd division doesnt help!

I show my 9 year old lad pics of HR and tell him of the day we beat Man Utd 3-2 under the lights of HR . Ive taken him to where HR once stood - very sobering that is.

But to him all he knows is the Ricoh and his generation wont miss HR. He loves going up there and who am i to argue against that?

I think they call it progress.

Platt_The_Donkey · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
its location feels isolated from the heart of Coventry.

Not when your parents live less than a mile from the place it don't.

The surrounding area of the Ricoh is my biggest qualm, the station is needed and a bigger bridge over the rail-track.

oh and more pubs.

Waldorf · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
used to get train with lads, straight to Rocket, then over to Lloyds and Yates's. Then all the pubs on Far Gosford Street. You knew everyone in there and they knew you.Over to Brewer and Baker occasionally and always into a rammed Strikers bar for half 2.

Used to love gettin in the Mercers Arms where we had the bar and away fans had the lounge! made for great atmosphere!

I'm amazed you were in a fit state to watch the game! It sounds like more of a Saturday afternoon pub-crawl than a football match.
Seriously though, I can appreciate people missing HR. I first stood on the old Spion Kop (where the East Stand was built) and the atmosphere was terrific, but those days went with all-seater stadiums. I don't miss having to sit with a pillar between me and the seat, nor the queueing for a burger for my lad and not getting one before the second half started. I certainly don't miss the crappy urinals.

You're right, the Ricoh is set up for Premiership football. I suspect that if we get it anything like full (!!??!!), the atmosphere will iprove no end.

skybluesteve76 · Oct 20, 2011

Surely not a serious question? Highfield Road was a football ground with fantastic atmosphere.
The Ricoh is a plastic, souless place where there are concerts a casino and a hotel. Oh yeah and now and then the football team play there.

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
Ditto mate

i come up from Banbury

used to get train with lads, straight to Rocket, then over to Lloyds and Yates's. Then all the pubs on Far Gosford Street. You knew everyone in there and they knew you.Over to Brewer and Baker occasionally and always into a rammed Strikers bar for half 2.

Used to love gettin in the Mercers Arms where we had the bar and away fans had the lounge! made for great atmosphere!

Loved HR, loved the WT although i migrated to East Stand as i got older. When we took playing the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool,Chelsea, Asenal, Villa every week for granted.

Back to Strikers after game.

Those days are gone.

The Ricoh is an altogether more sterile experience. A fantastic stadium and complex, fit for the Prem but just not the same matchday out. It's too big for us (right now) and its location feels isolated from the heart of Coventry. Playing in the 2nd division doesnt help!

I show my 9 year old lad pics of HR and tell him of the day we beat Man Utd 3-2 under the lights of HR . Ive taken him to where HR once stood - very sobering that is.

But to him all he knows is the Ricoh and his generation wont miss HR. He loves going up there and who am i to argue against that?

I think they call it progress.

we did the same good days

matesx · Oct 20, 2011

"I'm amazed you were in a fit state to watch the game! It sounds like more of a Saturday afternoon pub-crawl than a football match"

Ha! i suppose it does! I was young then and we thought nothing of it.

Couldnt do it these days, not in that volume.

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
"I'm amazed you were in a fit state to watch the game! It sounds like more of a Saturday afternoon pub-crawl than a football match"

Ha! i suppose it does! I was young then and we thought nothing of it.

Couldnt do it these days, not in that volume.

you know adi from banbury?

matesx · Oct 20, 2011

do you know adi from Banbury?

yes mate, he's one of the lads im talking about

Mr T - Sukka! · Oct 20, 2011

Highfield Road was a shit hole the ground its self was a dump! in a shit area but the place did provide good memories. Beating Man Utd etc.

That what people will miss. The memories not the place.

The Ricoh is 1000 times better than HR, its just CCFC have not produced enough happy times there yet. Give it times they will.

We have one of the best gounds in the Championship and we should be proud of it! Its an cracking arena. Just the football team lets it down. But hey Andy is trying his best.

The team and the arena go hand in hand, poor team reflects badly on the arena, if we were rocking like Chelsea in the FA cup then the Ricoh is a great place when its full.

Give it time people we were at HR for over 100 years, we have been at the Ricoh 6. Ricoh all the way (and we own it, taxpayers)

Astute · Oct 20, 2011

HR will win with us oldtimers always. We have some great memories there.

The bit I disagree with is when people go on about a brilliant atmosphere at all games. The west Terrace was where the atmosphere was. Most games the rest of the ground was like the Ricoh. I also remember the 80's when we were lucky to get gates of over 12,000 most games of the season. We remember the good times but forget the rest. Yes, pubcrawl on the way to games was always good. There was plenty of bad though.

I suppose I am a one off. The last time I went there was after we had left and there was firedamage. It was upsetting to me. I have never been back since. I want to keep my memories as they are. I don't want to see the new houses that are there.

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
do you know adi from Banbury?

yes mate, he's one of the lads im talking about

good lad he is mate, probably know your face then.

mr t - no one questioning the ground but the more the matchday experience. The drink before, walk up to the ground, the walk back to the pubs after. Ricoh is more towards Bedworth and Nuneaton then Coventry itself. Apart from casino the pubs nearby are crap and 10/15 min walk to the ground.

Nonleagueherewecome · Oct 20, 2011

There were plenty of poor atmosphere games at HR as well. I agree with Mr T (I pity the fool who doesn't agree with..he!) in that the problem is we've had a crap team since moving to The Ricoh. To some extent, it's top flight football we're missing.

I do love The Ricoh, and if we were in the Prem with bigger gates it would give us a much greater platform for sustainable success than HR ever could. At the moment, it's just associated with failure..great memories such as Strachan being booed against Grimsby, Adams cupping his hand to his ear at the fans after we booed the Andrews sub and he scored, the Watford end-of-season debacle under Coleman, the dire Winless Winter of Hoofball under Aidy..the only really cracking atmosphere's I can recall are the cup games against top flight teams, QPR in the first game there, and the odd league game where we upset the odds (Notts F afew years back). That just can't compete with beating Villa, Man U and Chelsea.

If anything the atmosphere this year has been miles better than in previous years, despite the falling gates. The protests and anti-SISU chants have contributed to that.

But what I don't like is the fact that there is a distinction between the company that owns the ground and us. The customer service standards and attitude of staff selling refreshments are particularly lacking; I seem to be served by a different person every game, and the impression that they just get in agency staff who don't give a crap is inescapeable.

CovInEssex · Oct 20, 2011

It's all about memories.

Sterling Archer · Oct 20, 2011

Highfield Road for the following reasons:
- History
- Location
- Walking distance from train station/city centre
- Size of ground suitable for size of our attendances
- The fact that we owned HR and now are merely tenants paying an expensive rent

Moff · Oct 20, 2011

Highfield Road, for atmosphere, history, location and memories......many many great memories.

Even with 7499 in it against Watford in the eighties, it felt better than the Ricoh.

covcity4life · Oct 20, 2011

prefer atmosphere of highfield road but i live next door to the ricoh so cannot complain that we moved(bar the lickle financial mess of course!)

matesx · Oct 20, 2011

wish they'd build a decent supporters bar on the land behind the Tesco stand

wingy · Oct 20, 2011

Thanks mr T for insulting the 5000 people who live around highfield rd,and whats so good about not owning the stadium,its killing our football club,at the mo for me HR but ,if we'd moved in while still in the prem i'm sure percertions would be different.

CovInEssex · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
wish they'd build a decent supporters bar on the land behind the Tesco stand

Who's is that land?
It's just waste, and I'm sure when they were planning the Ricoh, they didn't say "this bit of land will be ugly depressing wasteland".

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

they should buy the old rowleys club and turn it into a supporters bar.

matesx · Oct 20, 2011

good shout

has it closed down?

i use the Cherry Tree

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

matesx said:
good shout

has it closed down?

i use the Cherry Tree

yeah been closed for almost a year now. Dunno how the place was losing money tho.

yeah cherry tree is ok.

skybluesteve76 · Oct 20, 2011

Mr T - Sukka! said:
Highfield Road was a shit hole the ground its self was a dump! in a shit area but the place did provide good memories. Beating Man Utd etc.

That what people will miss. The memories not the place.

The Ricoh is 1000 times better than HR, its just CCFC have not produced enough happy times there yet. Give it times they will.

We have one of the best gounds in the Championship and we should be proud of it! Its an cracking arena. Just the football team lets it down. But hey Andy is trying his best.

The team and the arena go hand in hand, poor team reflects badly on the arena, if we were rocking like Chelsea in the FA cup then the Ricoh is a great place when its full.

Give it time people we were at HR for over 100 years, we have been at the Ricoh 6. Ricoh all the way (and we own it, taxpayers)

I miss highfield road because it was a real football ground.

wingy · Oct 20, 2011

That land is owned by the council,Part of a parcel they took back from us valued at £10m. while we were on our knees ,they obviously will build on it in the future .if our football club cannot get its hands on the ground or streams ,they should consider venturing into arrangements with all the local clubs ,to theme them Sky blue and generate some income.

johnniericoh · Oct 20, 2011

Mixed feelings on this one.

Consensus of posts to this thread submitted divided into preferring HR for the memories and accessibility and others preferring the Ricoh for sheer modernisation of stadia that is clean, roomy and big enough

I loved HR for its accessibility and location of surrounding ale houses (I used to use the Con Club corner of Swan Lane) great banter with the away fans - never any trouble.

But remember the abysmally low gates and lack of atmosphere for some games, the poor catering services, the stinking p - - s
corner, the obstructed views all put a slight damper to the HR experience for me.

The Richo as a football arena is light years ahead of HR and indeed most prem clubs BUT like others have mentioned, too isolated, poor parking, lack of local decent ale houses and soulless when gates are low. I definitely think that the railway station will seriously improve the matchday experience with City fans enjoying a town centre drink and then boarding the "Sky Blue Express" to get to the ground

However the Richo is massively geared up for when the good times return when we are in the Prem - don't forget HR capacity was only 23,500 The Ricoh 32,500 so we can cope with the top six visiting teams.

To conclude I would say I was reluctant to leave HR and was a bit overawed with the Ricoh at first but pushed for a choice I think the Ricoh just shades it for me.

PUSB

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

i keep reading about cov getting back in the premership on this thread. Its not going to happen for a long time. Yes the Ricoh in the Premership would be great but seriously, on and off the pitch were miles away.

johnniericoh · Oct 20, 2011

M&D

Please don't destroy my vision and dreams.

Having follwed CCFC from the fourth division to the Prem and back out again we are only one good season away from the playoffs or straight promotion. I know at the moment that seems impractical/impossible but look at other unlikely/unfashionable clubs who made it; Norwich (blasting though two divisions), Blackpool (ridiculously low gates), C Palace (bottom three at X-mas) etc

I am not saying this year but you never know - we must keep the faith, seize the day, onward march etc or if we don't what's the point being a CCFC fan.

PUSB

Houchens Head · Oct 20, 2011

I haven't been near the old Highfield Rd site since it was torn down. Just couldn't bring myself to go near there now that the old ground has gone (*wipes away tear*).

Mumford and Daughter · Oct 20, 2011

johnniericoh said:
M&D

Please don't destroy my vision and dreams.

Having follwed CCFC from the fourth division to the Prem and back out again we are only one good season away from the playoffs or straight promotion. I know at the moment that seems impractical/impossible but look at other unlikely/unfashionable clubs who made it; Norwich (blasting though two divisions), Blackpool (ridiculously low gates), C Palace (bottom three at X-mas) etc

I am not saying this year but you never know - we must keep the faith, seize the day, onward march etc or if we don't what's the point being a CCFC fan.

PUSB

I know what you mean but were not that lucky. 10 years in this league and not even a sniff of a playoffs really. With all the parachute payments nowadays and teams with investors it would take a minor miracle to get us promotion back to the top flight.
If we somehow get to the Premiership by 2015 (10 years on from the opening of the Ricoh) then i’ll gladly it take it but i cant see it occurring.

Astute · Oct 20, 2011

Houchens Head said:
I haven't been near the old Highfield Rd site since it was torn down. Just couldn't bring myself to go near there now that the old ground has gone (*wipes away tear*).

Know the feeling. One day I will go back, but only when our new home feels like a home

Astute · Oct 20, 2011

johnniericoh said:
I loved HR for its accessibility and location of surrounding ale houses (I used to use the Con Club corner of Swan Lane) great banter with the away fans - never any trouble.

Did we go to the same HR or the same pubs?

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