The Ricoh (1 Viewer)

CJparker · Jul 1, 2012

I know a few Stoke fans and none of them hark back to the Victoria Ground days in the way that Most coverntry fans look back with nostalia to our time at HR. We have one of the best grounds in the country, never mind a for 2nd/3rd tier side, and yet so many City fans can barely tolerate the idea of us playing at the Ricoh.

So why is this the case? Do people associate the Ricoh with the lack of on-field success that has ensued since we moved there? Or is the "out of town" location to blame? Or the rows of empty seats on show at most games?

As far as I see, we play at a ground to be proud of, and yet it is distinctly unloved by our fans!

Tomh111 · Jul 1, 2012

I think its because it is not a 'football ground' its a stadium that has football played in it... That doesn't really make much sense but I think the idea comes across. Highfield road was intimidating and had atmosphere the Ricoh doesn't. I think that it has too much of a clinical feel to it, like a plain white room in a brand new house rather than your cozy living room at home.

The CableGuy · Jul 1, 2012

A ground is only as good as the results at it.

1st season at CV6, we were almost unbeatable. 23,000 almost every home game. If our away form was half decent we would have made the play-offs. Since then....

Glen · Jul 1, 2012

have to perform negative results just remembered at a ground with no sucess so thatwhay and the fact its more than half empty all the time

Gray · Jul 1, 2012

nowt wrong with the ricoh, there is only a lack of atmosphere cus theres nothing to cheer about

pusbccfc · Jul 1, 2012

Stoke sell out every week and have a non-stop singing fan base.

We have a 3rd full stadium with half of that, that don't even make a squeak all game.

Grendel · Jul 1, 2012

pusbccfc said:
Stoke sell out every week and have a non-stop singing fan base.

We have a 3rd full stadium with half of that, that don't even make a squeak all game.

And that has always been the case at stoke as well as derby. These clubs have real supporters not fans who prefer to superglue themselves to an armchair and tell others they are sheep to go and support their team.

crowsnest · Jul 1, 2012

Grendel said:
And that has always been the case at stoke as well as derby. These clubs have real supporters not fans who prefer to superglue themselves to an armchair and tell others they are sheep to go and support their team.

Rubbish, stoke were getting 14000 at the start of the season before they were in the premiership.
Derby offer free season tickets thru their sponsorship with a mobile phone company.

ccfcway · Jul 1, 2012

Stoke City

Football League Championship - Runners-up: 2007–08
Play-off Winners: 2001–02

FA Cup - Runners-up: 2010–11

Football League Trophy: - Winners: 1991–92, 1999–2000

2011–12 UEFA Europa League

Cant be bothered to look at their league results, but they have reached the play offs several times

Oh, and Victoria Ground only held 25,000 and it was very rarely full

..................................................................................................

Derby County

Football League Championship - Runners-up: 1996 - Play-offs Winners: 2007

Anglo-Italian Cup - Runners-up: 1992–93

Back to back top 10 finishes and a top 6 finsih in the early 90's in the league

They give free tickets away to local businesses

........................................

Coventry City

8th in Championship - 2005

........................................

sw88 · Jul 1, 2012

It's always going to be an atmosphere thing with the Ricoh. The way it's set up, you can't generally build an atmosphere. Even our big games, I don't think the atmosphere has been what it could have been. England U21 games are probably difficult to assess whether you can get an atmosphere as they just consist of kids, and noisy bloody hooters

Covstu · Jul 1, 2012

It's justnsimply our new stadium coincided with our downfall. Stoke picked up at that stage and got stronger as a team we got relegated so of course our fond memories are going to be a high field.

Tad · Jul 1, 2012

Because of its location we lost a "togetherness" vibe when we moved. The Ricoh is great, but it just feels like a big soulless shell. Just my opinion of course.

rickyCCFC · Jul 1, 2012

Stoke had shit home support till they got promoted. 10-12k max a home game

ccfcway · Jul 1, 2012

Tad said:
Because of its location we lost a "togetherness" vibe when we moved. The Ricoh is great, but it just feels like a big soulless shell. Just my opinion of course.

sort of understand that, but also disagree (again, just my opinion)

I have never felt more "together" with cov fans as i do at away games, be it Torquay, winning 1-0 with a Elliot Ward header, or winning at Old Trafford, so I dont think we can blame moving to another part of coventry for the atmosphere.

Grendel · Jul 1, 2012

ccfcway said:
Stoke City

Football League Championship - Runners-up: 2007–08
Play-off Winners: 2001–02

FA Cup - Runners-up: 2010–11

Football League Trophy: - Winners: 1991–92, 1999–2000

2011–12 UEFA Europa League

Cant be bothered to look at their league results, but they have reached the play offs several times

Oh, and Victoria Ground only held 25,000 and it was very rarely full

..................................................................................................

Derby County

Football League Championship - Runners-up: 1996 - Play-offs Winners: 2007

Anglo-Italian Cup - Runners-up: 1992–93

Back to back top 10 finishes and a top 6 finsih in the early 90's in the league

They give free tickets away to local businesses

........................................

Coventry City

8th in Championship - 2005

........................................

So we agree that Derby have not won a trophy for 40 years - they give free tickets away - so do we - your point is?

Grendel · Jul 1, 2012

rickyCCFC said:
Stoke had shit home support till they got promoted. 10-12k max a home game

Incorrect - the lowest was 14,532 in 2002.

Ashdown · Jul 1, 2012

Highfield Road intimidating...........now thats funny !! The Ricoh suffers from a distinct lack of success and big games, its a great venue. Two main problems are distance from pitch and height of roof but basically we have only witnessed dejected and bored home fans watching second rate opposition and football.
Blackburn at home in the cup was louder than anything we had at HR since the late 70's.

Sky Blue Sheepy · Jul 1, 2012

As mentioned, think that it coincided with not only our bad results, but I think it's almost a symbol of the financial difficulty we're in - it costs us £1.2m per year and we don't get half of that back I would imagine.

rickyCCFC · Jul 1, 2012

Grendel said:
Incorrect - the lowest was 14,532 in 2002.

So similar to what we got last season then? Which defeats your point that Stoke fans are better than ours.

Grendel · Jul 1, 2012

rickyCCFC said:
So similar to what we got last season then? Which defeats your point that Stoke fans are better than ours.

Their gates rose to 27,000 on promotion. Speculation is our gates will dip below 10,000 next season. I cannot find Stoke ever going below that. In truth my main reference was Derby. Also I include Forest and Leicester. I believe the East Midland fanbase to be far more robust that the West Midland counterparts.

mark82 · Jul 1, 2012

Grendel said:
Their gates rose to 27,000 on promotion. Speculation is our gates will dip below 10,000 next season. I cannot find Stoke ever going below that. In truth my main reference was Derby. Also I include Forest and Leicester. I believe the East Midland fanbase to be far more robust that the West Midland counterparts.

We need to engage better with our fans. The fan base is there but the club need to put more time into promoting themselves. It is difficult to promote a crap product though, which is what it has been. I also think we suffer from not having a natural rival, I work in Sheffield and the fans have a lot of banter with each other. I have never seen that in Coventry with other fans. Keeps people interested.

Grendel · Jul 1, 2012

mark82 said:
We need to engage better with our fans. The fan base is there but the club need to put more time into promoting themselves. It is difficult to promote a crap product though, which is what it has been. I also think we suffer from not having a natural rival, I work in Sheffield and the fans have a lot of banter with each other. I have never seen that in Coventry with other fans. Keeps people interested.

Yes you may have a point there.

Gaz · Jul 1, 2012

I like the Ricoh and think its a very good stadium, we just havn't had much to cheer about.

wingy · Jul 1, 2012

Grendel said:
Yes you may have a point there.

with all the talk of starting from scratch and the split it causes on here i have wondered how interesting it would be if Coventry pheonix At the Butts were to evolve,imagine "Atwo team City"

Changeyourface · Jul 2, 2012

Highfield Road was a football ground. The "Ricoh" or whatever it'll be called in a few years time, is an "arena" which happens to be the home of a football team. How could I be proud of a stadium like that when I could go to dozens of other modern football grounds in the country and they'll all be exactly the same but with different colour seats. The main positive in us going down is away games will be decent trips to proper football stadiums instead of your leicester, derby, middlesborough ect. who all play in almost identical arenas.

Also Stoke maybe an exception to the rule, but a large majority of football fans regret their team moving to new stadiums, including a massive majority of West Ham supporters wanting to stay at Upton Park.

coundonskyblue · Jul 2, 2012

Last time both cov & stoke were in the same league, 2007/08 season.

Stoke finish 2nd, promoted to the prem.

Cov finish 21st, lowest finish for 40 years.

Average attendance:

Stoke: 16823

Coventry: 19123

The Ricoh is an awesome stadium, it just deserves a better team.

georgehudson · Jul 2, 2012

and,
the debate would be entirely different with backers, i.e. bet 365 (the coates family),
who, have over several years financially supported the club (stoke),
whereas CCFC have had a 'hedge fund' manoevrering finance with catastrophic results,
hardly any football persons involved,
the phrase 'speculate to accumulate' springs to mind,
however the phrase 'asset strip' may be more of a relevant present issue,
mmmm,
well done sisu,
i'm sure there are a few more who may be entranced by your efforts. ????????????
PUSB

Changeyourface · Jul 2, 2012

georgehudson said:
and,
the debate would be entirely different with backers, i.e. bet 365 (the coates family),
who, have over several years financially supported the club (stoke),
whereas CCFC have had a 'hedge fund' manoevrering finance with catastrophic results,
hardly any football persons involved,
the phrase 'speculate to accumulate' springs to mind,
however the phrase 'asset strip' may be more of a relevant present issue,
mmmm,
well done sisu,
i'm sure there are a few more who may be entranced by your efforts. ????????????
PUSB

This has nothing to do with sisu? Christ, some people seem to have an obsession with them.

pusbccfc · Jul 2, 2012

Stoke took 6000 to valencia in the Europa.
We would never take that.

ccfcway · Jul 2, 2012

We wouldn't get there in the 1st place

Astute · Jul 2, 2012

HR was a crap ground. I loved it though. The atmosphere was great in the west stand. We saw some great players over the years. We had some great escapes. We could get close to the away supporters and the banter could be good. It was even better before seats were put in.

I prefer away games as they are much more enjoyable. I am looking forward to this season as we will be going to some shite grounds. Strangely enough you seem to have a better time at shite grounds. We will be able to stand up and not risk falling over seats whilst going mental when (IF) we score at some grounds. For those that have never been to a stadium where you can stand just get to some away games this season. You will see why some of us loved HR so much.

PWKH · Jul 2, 2012

At the time of the move from HR to the Ricoh, McGinnity and Hover refused to associate themselves and the Club with anything at the Ricoh. It was suggested to them that together ACL and CCFC should do something like Southampton did at St Mary's, with large pictures of the crowds at the Dell from earliest times, framed and put throughout the Arena; that there should be a proper museum, not just a glass fronted cupboard for the history of the Club. They refused everything. They would not produce any merchandise which related the Club to the Ricoh, they would take no part in the planning of the opening and would have nothing but the match. I am afraid that sometimes the egos of little people cause damage far beyond what should be possible. There were many ideas to "link" the past and the future: all were dismissed by McGinnity and Hover to the frustration of everyone.
It was their arrogance, I am afraid, that contibuted to the Ricoh not having CCFC engrained in the texture of the place. I am sure that this contributed to the difficulty we all had in making the move from the old home, we weren't allowed to bring our memories with us. For goodness sake even the new Wembley has memories of the Twin Towers and some of the big moments from the white horse to Houchen.

LastGarrison · Jul 2, 2012

Location.
Lack of decent boozers.
Over zealous stewards.
Too far away from the away fans.

The whole day out experience is totally different at the Ricoh than it was at HR.

Don't get me wrong HR wasn't the best ground but at least it was individual and had it's own character and it was in the cente of the city.

ajsccfc · Jul 2, 2012

It's a fantastic facility and all that, but as has been said it's still an arena where football is played. A venue is made by what happens inside it really, so we'd need some good fortune to happen to get more of an attachment. Kids who've just started going in the time we've been there will have a natural affinity with the place growing up mind you.

skyblueman · Jul 2, 2012

It'll never feel like home until we own it

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