SKY BLUES IN ‘LET US STAY’ PLEA TO WASPS

COVENTRY are appealing to Wasps not to kick them out of their ground.

Sky Blues owners Sisu are in a legal wrangle with the city council and Premiership rugby club Wasps – the Ricoh Arena’s owners.

And there is a crunch meeting in Westminster today hosted by Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright.

Coventry’s lease expires this summer and EFL clubs will vote on April 25 whether to expel the Sky Blues from the Football League if they cannot secure a new deal.

But landlords Wasps will not talk about extending Coventry’s stay until the legal dispute is resolved.

Sisu claim Coventry City Council undervalued the venue by £27million when it was sold to Wasps in 2014.

“We are at an impasse with Wasps,” said club chief executive Dave Boddy after their home win over Fleetwood on Tuesday.

“We are fighting to protect 135 years of heritage, this is a massive institution within the city of Coventry.

“There are not many families in the city who do not have a Coventry City supporter amongst them.

“There is an awful lot of emotion about the place.

“We are really appealing to Wasps, who have only moved to the city from their London base, to help our supporters. We have been to Wembley twice in the last two years and taken

40,000 supporters to the Checkatrade Trophy final and 37,000 to the League Two play-off final last year.

“When the Lord Mayor of Coventry bestowed us with a civic reception, we had an open-top bus ride through the city and there were over 50,000 people on the streets of Coventry so that is what it means to the city.”

The Sky Blues, whose fans (above) are worried about the future, spent the 2013-14 season in a groundshare at Northampton.

Now they have been told by the EFL they must play their home games within six miles of the city centre. Boddy is drawing up contingency plans to play at other venues.

He said: “It would be naive not to look at other options because time is ticking away. “We have to be prudent and we are talking to one or two people at the moment.

“The survival of the club is the most important thing.

“I believe that the EFL have said we have to be within six miles, but if it is marginally outside that perimeter then so be it.”

The row has cast a huge shadow over Coventry after Mark Robins (above) took them to promotion last term and they are currently ninth in League One – just three points off the top six.

Boddy added: “We are flirting with the play-offs, that is the sad part of it.

“On the field and behind the scenes, the club is in a good position.

“Coventry have an exciting squad – we just need to get things resolved off the field.”