Coventry City confirm new addition from Paris Saint-Germain and key exit
Close-season rebuilding work has started at Coventry City
Coventry City have confirmed the arrival of Nicola Ibbetson from Paris Saint-Germain to take on a key new role behind the scenes at the CBS Arena.
Ibbetson is joining as chief business officer, having spent the last 12 months as global partnerships director with PSG and having previously worked in senior roles with Aston Villa, Chelsea, the FA and Marks and Spencer, as well as at Manchester United, PwC and Ernst and Young.
She will oversee all commercial, retail, digital and marketing with, Coventry say in a statement, “a focus on accelerating the club’s growth and driving revenue”. Ibbetson, the daughter-in-law of the late Coronation Street legend Liz Dawn, will start work in July
It comes as it is announced that chief operating officer John Taylor will be leaving today. He joined Coventry in January 2024 and a Coventry statement says: “He has made a valuable contribution to the success and improvements at the club in his time with us. Everyone at Coventry City thank John for this hard work at the Sky Blues and wish him the best of luck for the future.”
There is no underplaying the importance of bringing in commercial revenue in the Championship, where Coventry have to live with strict profitability and sustainability rules.
Coventry brought in £9.1 million in commercial revenue according to their latest accounts, mid-table in the division but way down on Bristol City (£25.4m) and Wrexham (£17.5m). That figure for Hollywood-backed Wrexham came when they still in League Two.
Birmingham City’s owners have been bullish in claiming that their commercial revenue alone will skyrocket to be in line even with the total income of parachute clubs. They made £12.9m on the commercial side in their most recent accounts so will have had to improve that by an unprecedented £60m to come good.
According to football finance expert Kieron O’Connor, who runs the blog Swiss Ramble, Coventry are 30th in England for generating cash apart from television revenue, with £19.2m.
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