Cov Rugby Chairman rules out promotion this season? Plus, BPA development...and, oh, there's still a Plan B

Be careful where you're walking

You might step in something rough

Be careful when you're talking

And saying all that stuff

Take care when you are breathing

Something's funny in the air

There's some things they're not saying

'Bout what's happening out there

It's inside out

When your outside's in (Inside out)

And your downside's up (Upside down)

Yeah, your upside's right (Right side up)

Inside Out - Traveling Wilburys

Last Thursday on CWR's Sport at Six, Clive Eakin featured an extended interview with Jon Sharp, Chairman of Coventry Rugby.

JS offered plenty of insight into the current situation with regard to the Championship this season and beyond and was upfront about the club's current prospects of promotion, as well as providing some addition information regarding development of the ground.

Given the significance of what he had to say, I was really surprised so few of those I chatted to at the ground on Saturday were even aware of the broadcast and of those who were, only a couple had listened to it.

As a result, I thought I'd outline the key points to come out of the programme for those who may want to get up to speed on what they missed and would rather read a summary instead of listening to the entire program.

In short:

1. Impossibility of Coventry Rugby Club meeting the January deadline re: Premiership membership criteria. Cov won't be promoted this season even if they win the Championship;

   
   

2. Cov's objective is to still play in the Premiership but there is a Plan B, if needed, which involves playing elsewhere;

   
   

3. Current funding is disproportionately in favour of Premiership sides and more work needs to be done on the small print;

   
   

4. Current costs involved in achieving full planning approval for stadia are prohibitive - capital investment required is just too high given there is no guarantee of promotion (and it could be all for just a single year of prem rugby anyway);

   
   

5. Plans for redevelopment of the BPA are in an advanced stage, with the later life living apartments already attracting plenty of interest from the council. Income generated from this project would help finance the building of a 2000 capacity stand opposite the current main stand.

   
   

Longer version:

I've bullet pointed Jon's comments so it's easier to skim through them:

• JS believes Cov has a decent chance of challenging for the top spot in the Championship this season. Cov's objective is to win this, something that it owes the fans and the players. There's still plenty of 'polishing to be done on the way' and he expects the club to lose one or two games in the process, but he's delighted with the strong start the team has so far made;

  
  

• He regards Cov as being a 'proper rounded rugby club' rather than one that has just 'bought in a bunch of players'. Players were queuing up to join Cov on the back of the club's success last season;

• JS stressed that it was Coventry's intention to get promoted 'back to where we belong' - that was made very clear;

  
  

• However, this year despite the fanfare about the restoration of promotion and relegation and the relaxation of ground capacity limitations, there are still major obstacles in Coventry Rugby's way;

  
  

• Clubs have to submit their applications by January 2025, so that has given Cov just 3 or 4 months to 'get the job done'. Cov has to ensure there are plans afoot to provide a stadium capacity of 5000 in Year 1 (already met), 7500 in Years 2 and 3 (which JS is quite prepared to commit to) and 10001 in Yr 4;

  
  

• All is well and good until you read the small print;

• Before any application can be approved, there has to be a contract in place to build the10000 seater stadium and he questions 'who on earth would risk the sums of money involved without the guarantee of promotion?';

  
  

• With a backlog of planning applications, timing is very much against Cov;

  
  

• Pre-planning approval is in place (the city council has been very supportive and JS was quick to acknowledge this);

  
  

• At least a further £500,000 is still required to ensure all the necessary surveys are completed in order to get full planning approval - hence JS' previous comment about no one being prepared to gamble that sort of money without the certainty of promotion first;

  
  

• JS made it clear he would not risk the financial security of the club with that level of capital investment - it 'flies in the face of the RFU's requirement of sustainability';

  
  

• It would cost tens of millions to build a 10000-seater stadium - why make clubs spend that sort of money when they won't be able to fill these stadia anyway?

  
  

• And even if a club is promoted into the Premiership, with the inequality of funding for newly promoted sides, it might well be just one season anyway;

  
  

• More work has to be done with the RFU to closely define these rules and work on the small print which currently just isn't clear enough;

  
  

• Another obstacle is the current proposal for funding. Under the new PGP (Professional Game Partnership) each Premiership club receives £3.3m, each Championship club receives just £83K net;

• The promoted side - i.e. the team that wins both the Championship and the play-offs - would only get half of the £3.3m, the other half would go to the club relegated, giving the relegated club £1.65m, or around 20 times more than the other teams in the Championship. This disparity is just too great;

  
  

• JS argued that this could even be argued as restraint of trade and he is 'aware that people are talking to lawyers' about it in these terms (this later becomes 'we are talking to lawyers' - see below);

  
  

• JS believes it is designed to ensure the promoted side goes straight back down again and the relegated club goes back up - it's simply not a level playing field;

  
  

• JS believes broadcasters want to see some real jeopardy;

  
  

• In short, there is no way Coventry Rugby can make an application in January 'it's physically impossible'. Regulations need to be changed - we do have lawyers looking in to it;

  
  

• As to whether Coventry Rugby make the application next year, well, 'we'll wait and see'. But it remains Coventry's intention to play in the Premiership.

  
  

• Interestingly, when Clive Eakin remarked that it would be a great shame if Cov won the league but didn't go up, Jon Sharp replied 'there's many a slip between cup and lip' - so read into that what you will!

  
  

• A positive move to come out of recent changes proposed for 2025/26 is the formation of a Tier 2 Board. 7 members, in all - 3 from the RFU 3 from the Championship and an as yet to be appointed independent chair;

  
  

• This group will oversee the destiny of the Championship. Still a lot of work to be done on defining the rules of engagement but the expectation is that there'll be a league of 14, possibly 16 teams.

  
  

• The RFU argues that the resurgence (?) of Wasps, London Irish and Worcester would add a 'commerciality' to the Championship, attracting broadcasters and widening support for the league;

  
  

• That's fine but there are those who take the moral high ground - these clubs have gone bust and should go to the bottom of the national league pyramid and work their way back up, as Richmond and London Welsh have had to do;

  
  

• These clubs have to meet minimum standards which include paying all rugby-related creditors (former players/backroom staff etc) but many more debts don't have to be paid - JS jokingly comments that there'd be 'civil war' if Wasps returned to Coventry;

  
  

• The Tier 2 board should have a say in the makeup of the new Tier 2 and should be the ones to sign off on which teams are included in the new league structure;

  
  

• Clive Eakin asked JS if Cov would cooperate with these phoenix clubs should they be in the Championship (previous comments elsewhere have suggested Cov wouldn't) - JS didn't reply to this directly but said there had to be a Plan B and it would involve fairly drastic action that would include the possibility of going 'somewhere else';

  
  

• 'Quite a few of the clubs' (so not all, then?) aligned with this idea of a Plan B, but everyone is trying to make Plan A work first;

  
  

• Discussions continue all the time, including lengthy talks on the commerciality of the league - at the moment it remains under supported, despite its attractions. The commercial group is run by Cov CEO, Nick Johnston. JS is confident of a good outcome there!

  
  

• Plans for the development of the Butts Park Arena include the building of a block of about 100 apartments for later life/assisted later life living ('assisted' being around 5 hours a week). The council has already identified 60 people who would be suitable for such accommodation;

  
  

• Another 30 or so are needed, these being those who either receive government support or who can pay their own way;

  
  

• On the back of these 90 nominations, there are funds 'waiting in the wings' to finance the block, the income from which will go towards the building of a 2000 capacity stand, standing only (so the much-lamented Cowshed would make a long overdue return) with room for expansion. This 2000-capacity stand would obviously then help fulfil the RFU's requirement of 7500 in Years 2 and 3, should the club gain promotion in the future.

Up the Cov...

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