LATEST:Machday Memories:On This Day 2005 – Start Of Sky Blue’s Ricoh Era!

We mark an especially poignant anniversary today given CCFC’s recent return to Coventry this time four seasons ago after two seasons in ground-sharing ‘exile’ at Birmingham City’s St Andrews Stadium. On this day (20th August) in 2005 the Sky Blues began their Ricoh era. They played their first game at their brand spanking new stadium after vacating Highfield Road, their home for the previous 106 years, at the end of the 2004-05 season. Of course, the Ricoh has since become rebadged (in 2021-22) as the Coventry Building Society Stadium. That August, just as sixteen years previously, the Sky Blues announced their ‘arrival’ at their new Coventry ‘home’ with a win. We also need to remember that in 2022-23, at this point, Sky Blues fans sadly still awaited the chance to see their team in a match at their Coventry home due to the dreadful pitch conditions left behind after the Commonwealth Games Rugby 7s helped to wreck the surface! The 2005 fans also had a bit of a wait before seeing their heroes!

At an enormously emotional final home game on 30th April 2005 in front of 22,777 fans the Sky Blues went out in style sending Derby County home at the wrong end of a 6-2 scoreline with four of our goals scored by CCFPA members. ‘Cov Kid’ Association member Gary McSheffrey and Stern John each grabbed a brace each side of a strike from CCFPA member ‘Dele Adebola. The final Highfield Road Championship goal came from (Dele’s fellow CCFPA member) Andy Whing (left).

Spin forward four months and the planned August start at their new home, the Ricoh Arena, was delayed for it to be finally made match-ready. Consequently, after three successive away games without a win (two draws and a 4-0 hammering at Burnley), nerves were jangling for the 23,043 who came to see the fresh start against London club Queen’s Park Rangers.

They needn’t have worried as our member and former CCFPA committee member Claus Bech Jorgensen scored the first against the Hoops in ten minutes with a spectacular flying header.

‘Dele then became part of Sky Blue history by not only scoring at their last game at HR but also their first at the Ricoh (in fact an opportunistic brace on 23 and 43 minutes)!

So, it was 3-0 at half time and that’s how the score remained with the pumped up Sky Blues comfortable winners, especially after Rangers’ Danny Shittu was red carded four minutes after the break.

Former Sky Blue (1991-92) Paul Furlong, who was with the City as his first senior club, feaured in the Q.P.R. forward line on this day.

Former Sky Blue defender (and CCFPA member) Micky Adams managed his side to an encouraging eighth place finish in the Championship, though well short of the play-offs.