Wait nearly over to see home and away kits for new season
JORDAN ENJOYS HELPING UNDER-23S IN WOLVES CLASH
COVENTRY City have provided an update on the unveiling of their new 2020-21 kit.
The next instalment of the club’s Hummel strips are yet to be seen by supporters as the Sky Blues searched for a front of shirt sponsor
The kits have been completed since November with only sponsorship gaps left to fill before it can be put up for sale.
And due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the search for sponsorship proved harder and lengthier than ever. But the wait is almost over with both home and away strips set to be unveiled to fans next week.
“Many companies have significantly reduced their marketing and sponsorship spend due to Covid and, in this climate, we have worked hard to maximise the revenue to the club and extended our time to do this,” said Sky Blues CEO Dave Boddy in a statement.
“Thankfully, after a lot of interest, we have secured a high-value sponsorship and signed an agreement with Boylesports, a position a number of clubs are not fortunate enough to be in currently.
He added: “There will be time to add the sponsorship logo to the shirts themselves, which is an important part of the agreement and of the value to our sponsor. It is a process we are working with our partners to speed up.
And the club will also allow fans to pre-order the kit on their website from now, both home and away, despite not yet knowing what the product they are purchasing will look like.
Boddy added: “It’s similar to preordering an album of your favourite artist before hearing the songs and is a new concept for us and for fans ahead of next week’s kit reveal.”
JORDAN Shipley enjoyed helping Coventry City’s fledglings in their pre-season friendly against Wolves.
The Sky Blues were held to a 1-1 draw by the Premier League side’s under-23s team at Lilleshall earlier in the week.
Shipley was on target with a long-range strike as boss Mark Robins’ side continued their warm-up for the Championship season which kicks off in a month’s time.
And while he was pleased to be on the scoresheet, he said is excited by the young talent that is emerging at the Sky Blues.
“It’s always nice to score a goal, even in pre-season and I do like to score from outside of the box and it’s all about getting in those positions and replicating it when the big games come around and hopefully take my chances,” he said.
“It was a little bit different for me, being one of the older heads in the first half, it was different, but I enjoyed helping some of the younger lads through the
game. Obviously it was about building fitness up and the result wasn’t the main thing, its about building up the fitness towards the start of the season.
“They had a few good players and it was a good test for us to be honest and I thought we did well and we got on the ball and controlled the game.
“They had a few chances, but we had our chances and we could’ve won the game, but like I said it’s all about fitness.”
Meanwhile, Sky Blues are in a battle to sign Manchester United defender Di’shon Bernard as they look to strengthen their defence for next season’s Championship campaign.
The Telegraph claims the defender is set to leave Old Trafford this summer, but boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has yet to decide whether to allow him to leave permanently or on loan.
Huddersfield and an unnamed Belgian club are also in the race to sign the teenager who has made one appearance for United which came in a Europa League defeat at Astana in which he scored an own goal.
Sky Blues boss Mark Robins has been eager to sign a defender and has been recently linked with Jonathan Panzo of Monaco, but that deal looks increasingly unlikely.
And they may now turn their attentions to Bernard with United’s head of first-team development, and former midfielder Nicky Butt, admitting the club’s promising young players could gain valuable experience elsewhere.
“Because you do come to a point in the reserves where you bypass that and it does become too easy for you. It becomes a bit lethargic and you also want to push the younger ones up.
“But then also the flip-side of it is you don’t want to dive into the wrong spell or wrong club.
“[You might] end up thinking ‘I’ve made a complete error here, I’m going to lose six months, I’m going to lose a year of my football, I’m at the wrong club.’ So you’ve got to be very careful.”
It was a little bit different for me, being one of the older heads... but I enjoyed helping some of the younger lads.
Jordan Shipley