ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL
Sky Blues and landlords Birmingham City go 50-50 for unique FA Cup tie at St Andrew’s
COVENTRY City and Birmingham City will share St Andrew’s in a half and half arrangement for their ‘unique’ FA Cup fourth round tie next week.
The Sky Blues eased their way through their third round replay against Bristol Rovers at their groundshare venue on Tuesday night to set up a clash with landlords Blues.
Coventry are the designated ‘home’ side for the tie, which will take place on Saturday, January 25 (3pm), after being pulled out of the hat first during the fourth round draw for the competition, meaning Birmingham will be in the bizarre situation of being the away team at their own stadium – a situation the FA have confirmed has never happened before in the famous Cup.
Officials from the two clubs met on Wednesday to confirm ticket allocation details, and tickets went on sale yesterday.
Coventry are going to have the Kop Stand where the club’s season ticket and matchday ticket holders currently sit, opposite the dugouts, and will also have the Tilton Road End – the stand that normally houses the hardcore Blues fans – to the right of that, and behind the goal should there be demand for more seats.
Blues fans will have the old Main Stand which is where the press and scouts are situated behind the dugouts, and the Gil Merrick Stand Upper and half of the Gil Merrick Lower. The away section of the Gil Merrick Stand will be closed.
The club have been averaging crowds of around 6,000 at their groundshare venue so far this season as half of last year’s Ricoh Arena average have opted not to travel the 22 miles to Birmingham. Only 2,693 watched the 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night – fewer than the 2,878 which saw them draw with Ipswich at St Andrew’s in December. Whether the stay-away Sky Blues supporters view the FA Cup tie differently remains to be seen. Blues’ average attendance so far this term is 20,313, although their third round FA Cup win over Blackburn attracted only 7,330. Meanwhile, Mark Robins’s men will use the ‘home’ dressing rooms and Pep Clotet’s Championship side will use the away team changing facilities, while the Coventry boss will also take over his opposite number’s manager’s office for the day.
Coventry will also play in sky blue while Blues will be required to wear a changed strip if deemed necessary.
But for City chief executive Dave Boddy, ‘unity’ is the word of the tie as the club are keen to please all concerned.
“Birmingham City Football Club, from top to bottom, from the owner to the tea ladies, have been brilliant to Coventry City in adopting us and making us feel so at home and welcome,” he said. “And we just want to try to make this a game of unity really with two sides, who have supported each, other coming together for what is just a great occasion.
“Without displacing our supporters, we want to give as many Blues supporters the opportunity to come to the game.
“We’ll have the home dressing room and be wearing sky blue. I don’t know what they will wear.
“It’s quite a unique game and on that basis both sides will get about half each, which is unique for an FA Cup tie, I would have thought.
“Mark will have the manager’s office and it will certainly be odd for the Blues. But the word I am using is ‘unity’ because we want the clubs to come together. “Obviously there has to be a winner over the 90 minutes but that’s the message we are putting across.” ....... Fulham v Middlesbrough (7.45) ... ........... Rangers v Stranraer (7.45) ....... ................. Arsenal v Sheff Utd .............. ............... Brighton v Aston Villa ............ ............ Man City v Crystal Palace ........ .......... Newcastle v Chelsea (5.30) ....... ........ Norwich v AFC Bournemouth ..... .............. Southampton v Wolves .......... ......... Watford v Tottenham (12.30) ..... ................ West Ham v Everton .............
............... Birmingham v Cardiff ............ ............... Bristol City v Barnsley ........... ........................ Derby v Hull .................... ............ Huddersfield v Brentford ......... ................... Millwall v Reading ............... .................. Preston v Charlton .............. ................. QPR v Leeds (12.30) ............. .............. Sheff Wed v Blackburn ........... ................... Swansea v Wigan ................
..... AFC Wimbledon v Peterborough .. .............. Accrington v Southend .......... ................ Bolton v Portsmouth ............ ............... Doncaster v Coventry ............ ....... Fleetwood Town v Shrewsbury .... ............. Gillingham v Oxford Utd .......... ............. Lincoln City v Blackpool .......... .............. MK Dons v Sunderland ........... .......... Rotherham v Bristol Rovers ...... ................. Tranmere v Ipswich .............. ............... Wycombe v Rochdale ............
.............. Bradford v Scunthorpe ........... ......... Cambridge Utd v Stevenage ...... ............ Colchester v Macclesfield ........ ................ Crewe v Cheltenham ............. .......... Forest Green v Salford City ....... ................... Grimsby v Exeter ................ .......... Newport County v Swindon ....... .......... Northampton v Morecambe ...... ................... Oldham v Carlisle ................ ............... Plymouth v Mansfield ............ ............ Port Vale v Leyton Orient ........ .............. Walsall v Crawley Town ..........
Birmingham City from top to bottom, from the owner to the tea ladies, have been brilliant to Coventry City in adopting us.
............. Aberdeen v Dumbarton .......... ................ Alloa v Inverness CT ............. ................... Arbroath v Falkirk ............... .................. Ayr v Ross County ............... ............. Bonnyrigg Rose v Clyde .......... .......... Dundee v Motherwell (7.20) ...... ......... East Kilbride v BSC Glasgow ...... ........... Hamilton v Edinburgh City ....... .............. Hearts v Airdrieonians ........... .......... Kilmarnock v Queen’s Park ....... .................. Livingston v Raith ............... ............... Partick v Celtic (5.30) ............ .............. St Johnstone v Morton .......... ........ St Mirren v Broxburn Athletic .....
............ Annan Athletic v Stirling ......... ........ Cove Rangers v Cowdenbeath .... .............. Elgin v Stenhousemuir ...........