Doug King speaks out on magnificent statue after Coventry City and CBS Arena ‘complications’
Doug King gives his take on the club’s new statue of Sky Blues’ legends George Curtis and John Sillett and what it means for the relationship between the club and the Mike Ashley owned stadium
Doug King has given his seal of approval to Coventry City’s magnificent new statue of club legends George Curtis and John Sillett which he believes “cements” the relationship between the club and the stadium.
The Sky Blues have had an often difficult relationship with the Arena’s various owners since it was built for the football club back in 2005, and while the Championship outfit still doesn’t own the 32,000 seater ground – which belongs to Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group – the connection between the club and where they play is clearly the strongest it has ever been.
Asked what he thinks, first of all, about the statue of City’s FA Cup winning management duo who are joined together by the iconic trophy that they won at Wembley in 1987, King said: “It’s very impressive. You always look at a statue and hope you are going to be wowed, and I think everyone has been wowed. And that means everything because it’s obviously going to be here for a long time and it really fits the bill.”
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Asked if it re-enforces the club’s identity at the stadium after an historically fractured relationship with the Arena and cements that connection, the executive chairman quipped: “Well, we have got it surrounded now haven’t we, with Jimmy Hill at the front and George and John at the rear. We have got the Sky Blue Army inside the ground and the legends outside but look, it is our home.
“The ownership is different and we know the complications but the reality is I think everyone knows it’s our home.”
He added: “I remember all those discussions when I bought the football club two and a half years ago about a different stadium, a 25,000 seater and all those kinds of things and here we are tomorrow with over 31,000 coming in for a Championship game (against West Brom) and a huge game for us to try to cement our position in the play-offs.
And that’s what this city and community can do, and this statue adds a real togetherness between the club and the Arena, and just cements the fact that the fans know it’s our home.”
Former City chairman Joe Elliott – one of the driving forces behind the fund raiser for the statue by esteemed sculptor Douglas Jennings – performed the unveiling with the family of Curtis and Sillett in attendance as well as several members of the ’87 cup winning squad including Brian ‘Killer’ Kilcline who made a short speech to the fans and guests who had gathered for the event.
Frank Lampard said of the statue: “It’s a brilliant thing for clubs that respect their legends. The fans love the story of the club. I’ve been here a really, really short time in the history of Coventry so I’m not going to claim to have huge understandings of this but I understand football and I understand a passion that’s in the CBS at the minute every time we’re playing.
“So anything you can add to that that adds to the legends that helped build this club and who are in everyone’s memory is a huge thing. And I think it’s great work from the club and absolutely right, and I’m really pleased.”
He added: “I love going to the CBS, I love the atmosphere we’ve created and those things are huge. They may seem like smaller details in the bigger picture, but for me they’re not. I know that I’ve worked at big clubs that respect their legends and this club does.”
