COVENTRY City have been forced to move tomorrow’s Carabao Cup tie against Bristol City to Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium with their own pitch still deemed ‘unsafe’.
The club were forced to postpone their league match against Rotherham United last weekend after the pitch was deemed “unplayable and unsafe”.
And the surface has not improved sufficiently since then for the game to be played at the Coventry Building Society Arena which hosted rugby sevens matches at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Coventry City Chief Executive, Dave Boddy said: “It is with regret we have had to do this, but there was no way that it can be guaranteed the pitch could be playable or safe on Wednesday and it was important this decision was taken sooner rather than later.
“Over the weekend, we have seen questions from fans about the situation and about why we did not ask for our first two games to be played away, but this was not possible under EFL fixture sequencing rules which apply equally to all clubs.
“Regardless, this does not change the fact that the pitch at the Arena is not currently playable or safe for our games last Sunday or this Wednesday.
“Following the usage at the Commonwealth Games, our first opportunity to survey the pitch in person was on Thursday due to the stadium lockdown, at which point we put the wheels in motion with the EFL and with the Arena to address this issue.
“We are in dialogue with the Arena about the situation regarding the pitch and will keep fans updated as soon as we are able to regarding the pitch.”
Home ticket-holders have been refunded and tickets for the fixture are available to buy at the gate.
The club also stressed that they hope Arena owners Wasps now have enough time to make the required improvements to the pitch ahead of the club’s next home match against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday, August 16.
Coventry’s clash with Bristol City takes place on Wednesday, August 10 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Pirelli Stadium.
