CYRILLE HAS A DIAMOND DAY 24/9/09
Former Coventry City striker Cyrille Regis was the guest speaker at the third lunch of the year of the Coventry City Diamond Club.
The lunch attended by members and guests who packed out the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena, first held a minute's silence to mark the sad loss of Committee Member Derrick Barnett. A number of the Diamond Club Committee attended his funeral and on behalf of the Diamond Club, a cheque has been given towards a charity of Derrick's family's choosing.
Happier news was the awarding of a Coventry Good Citizen award to Joe Elliott, who has done so much for the Diamond Club, as well as Coventry City and all the charities he is involved with.
Among the guests who enjoyed a splendid lunch in a Legends Lounge packed full of members and guests, were Cyrille Regis, Diamond Club President John Sillett, Associate Director Mark Georgevic, Tony & Jackie Clarke, Ron Farmer, Lol Harvey, Brian Nicholas and Ian Wallace. Another former player in Eddie Brown was too ill to attend and best wishes for a speedy recovery were sent to him.
Tony & Jackie Clarke were the first guest speakers. They are the parents of Jordan Clarke, who again has been called up for England U19's.
Quite rightly they are very proud of their son stepping up into the City first team squad a year early. Jordan started at City in the Under 8's and is also an accomplished cricketer.
Tony paid tribute to Chris Coleman and Steve Harrison who had given him the chance of first team football as well as Steve Ogrizovic, Greg Rioch and Richard Stevens for the job they have done in helping Jordan and the other players to progress to the first team.
Coventry Music Historian Pete Chambers spoke briefly about the More Than Two Tone exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and his new book about Coventry Market which will be released in November, before Mark Georgevic
was introduced.
Mark, is a massive City supporter with a unquenchable thirst for knowledge about what his going on with his beloved Sky Blues, whom he first saw in 1970. He is an Associate Director at the club, a London Supporters Club member and runs Scrivens Opticians as well as a highly accomplished table tennis player.
Next up was John Sillett. The President of the club for Coventry City supporters with 50 more years service of watching the Sky Blues, spoke about his visit to see Jimmy Hill, who sadly is not in the best of health and spoke about Cyrille Regis being the best centre forward he ever worked with.
Ian Wallace making his second visit to the Diamond Club and said that he had four years at City and four at Nottingham Forest but had not been back to Nottingham whilst he comes down to Coventry seven or eight times a season and will be at the game against Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Coventry City is in Wallace’s heart and he said that he had yet to see the City lose at the Ricoh.
Then came the main speaker. Many Diamond Club members had wanted Cyrille Regis as a guest speaker and today he was able to attend the lunch. A qualified electrician and now an agent, Cyrille played non-league for Mossley and Hayes before being signed to West Brom for £5,000 in 1977. He spoke about the team spirit under John Sillett, the social spirit and camaraderie, which helped City win the FA Cup in 1987.
Back then, most of the City players lived not far from each other and were always round one another’s houses but today many players spend two hours travelling to training and shoot off afterwards so any team spirit has to be brought in the manager in the form of race days and golf days.
He felt that managers nowadays are under pressure to get results with many Championship managers only in a job for around eighteen months. This meant that they were often reluctant to bring in young players and like many on the room, he advocated City having a reserve team once again so the young players could have experience playing against older players.
What he called for was a reserve league with a large financial prize which meant that managers would place emphasis on reserve teams.
Cyrille received a big cheer and good applause from the City supporters and a highly enjoyable lunch ended with a raffle and bingo.
WALLACE WOWS THE DIAMOND CLUB JUNE 18TH 2009
Members and guests at the Coventry City Diamond Club Lunch today in the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena were thrilled to have City legend Ian Wallace as a main guest speaker.
Over 150 members and guests of the City Supporters Club for those who have been supporting the Sky Blues for fifty or more years, enjoyed a splendid lunch whilst listening to first City's Commercial Director Nathan Kosky, Arena Coventry Limited CEO's Daniel Gidney and Ian Wallace.
Mr Kosky told the audience that over 9,000 ordinary season tickets had been sold and the club were pushing to break the 10,000 barrier. Add that to the corporate figure of around 2,000 and the club were looking at around 12,000 season ticket holders in total.
He spoke about the Hartlepool League Cup home game admission prices which were announced this morning and the renovations going on in the JSB Conconcourse which is being transformed into a family zone, one of the first in the country.
Meeting companies as well as working with supporters is in Mr Kosky's brief and he said that relationships are starting to be formed with blue chip companies in the city which will hopefully be mutually benefical.
Arena Coventry Limited's Daniel Gidney was joined by HR Director Jackie Isaac. Mr Gidney who was delighted with the way things went for the three Take That gigs and spoke about the upcoming events at the Ricoh including Britain's Got Talent and the sell out Oasis gig before the football season starts with the home game against Ipswich Town on August 8th. He also mentioned about the Abba Mania show which is coming from London's West End to the Ricoh Arena for two nights on December 18th and 19th.
Jackie said that 1200 staff had been on site for the Take That gigs including casual staff and they had been fed from 6am until they closed.
The Ricoh Arena has won plenty of praise this year for its events including conferences, one of which was attended by 2,000 Whitbread staff.
Ian Wallace then was invited to speak by MC Joe Elliott. The Rangers supporting Scot had been at a Coventry City Former Players Association Golf Day in Nuneaton yesterday and decided to stay over and attend this event.
He does some scouting and football agency work but is going in hospital next week for an operation after already having two replacement knee operations but is back after a bad spell in his personal life.
Wallace, who said he was the first million pound player (Trevor Francis' transfer to Nottingham Forest when tax etc was deducted took the figure below £1m) but as he was sold also to Forest, the fee was £1.25m which after deductions was still over the £1m mark, drew loud applause when he said "No matter where I have been, Coventry is my home.".
He spoke about Scottish football and admitted that there was only two teams in Scotland in Rangers and Celtic and thought that both clubs would struggle playing in the same league as Coventry. He said he would love to see that happening and that it would fill the stadiums as games would attract 20,000 Rangers or Celtic fans.
Wallace was thought Gordon Strachan was an excellent manager and was full of praise for Chris Coleman. Wallace, who described himself as a City fan said: "The club are going in the right direction. Coventry City finishing higher than they did the previous season is a result for me.
"Clubs are struggling but City are progressing. "You have got to be patient but the club is heading in the right direction even if it is going to take a couple of seasons to get promoted."
Wallace who felt that everything in the club was heartfelt, received tremendous applause before rejoining some of the former players in attendance including Dietmar Bruck, Ronnie Farmer, Lol Harvey and Brian Nicholls.
The theme of the lunch was "Ladies Day At Ascot" and the members and guests had fun bets on three races. Being Ladies Day, female members and guests were invited to wear hats for the occasion and as usual there was some superb designs and efforts gone to by some members.
This made judging for Ian Wallace and Dietmar Bruck. However, a winner and runner up were decided upon.
There was a raffle to end a highly enjoyable afternoon.
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DIAMOND CLUB AGM 19TH MARCH 2009
Coventry City Diamond Club held their Annual General Meeting and lunch this afternoon at the Ricoh Arena.
Over 150 members and guests attended the event, which started with the AGM. This saw a welcoming speech from Chairman Tom Dentith with the minutes of the last AGM read out by Secretary Alf Abbey.
The Diamond Club had nine Committee Meetings and four lunches in the last year with 150 attending the last AGM who were able to meet Coventry City Chairman Ray Ranson as well as Ron Farmer, Norman Pilgrim, Kev Monks, Lionel Bird and Coventry Music Historian Pete Chambers.
The Summer Meeting with its Ladies Day at Ascot theme was attended by 132 members and guests. With George the bookie and the races on the big screen, no money was won but everyone enjoyed the day and the hats worn by many of the female members were superb.
On October 2nd, Coventry City manager Chris Coleman and Steve Kean were the guest speakers in front of an audience of 160. A good question and answer session was enjoyed by everyone who attended including a member from Australia.
The Christmas Party on December 4th was attended by 179 members and guests and saw a performance by the Coventry Blue Coat Choir in front of Diamond Club President and Lady President John and Jean Sillett. Guest speakers on the day included ACL’s Daniel Gidney, Nathan Kosky and Bob Wesson.
Treasurer Maureen O’Neill revealed that the accounts showed a small profit which would help to sustain the club over the coming year. The cost of the meals had increased but thanks to Joe Elliott who has done so much for the Diamond Club, increases will only rise by a pound.
The Election Of Officers saw Chairman Tom Dentith and Committee Members Barbara Cassey and Alan Bateman re-elected to the Committee for another three years which will be kept at its current ten members. However, there is now provision for more members to help the Committee when the need arises.
From April, membership will rise to a one off payment of £5.
The AGM closed and it was onto the lunch and the guest speakers.
The Diamond Club prides itself on its guest speakers and today was no exception. First up was Marcus Hall.
Marcus said that he enjoyed playing against Chelsea and found it a great experience
Speaking to Joe Elliott, he talked about his time at City’s Youth team from 1992-1994 when every player had to stay at the Lodge at Ryton even if like him they came from Coventry.
Earning £29.50 a week, he played under Trevor Gould and won the Floodlit Youth Cup beating Leicester who had Emile Heskey in their side in the Final.
He admitted that he never wanted to leave City and as soon as he was able to, got the Stoke Chairman to agree to him leaving and re-joined Coventry.
This year is Marcus’ testimonial season and the first event is a race night at the Isle Of Capri Casino on Tuesday night. Marcus said it was his birthday that night so he did not know what his organising committee had planned.
On his testimonial match, he said that this would be in August the week before the start of the season and in the next few week, he hoped the opposition would be in place.
Marcus also closed by saying that he was very pleased to be offered a new deal by the club.
Nathan Kosky’s City’s Commercial Director said that things were going well off the field. The recent up turn in form off the pitch has helped bring in interest from businesses and companies.
The big push is on with season tickets and the club are hoping to increase the numbers from last year. He added that it was the money from season tickets that is being used to fund the buying of new players.
We then moved onto our main guest speakers for the afternoon. Today, the speakers were Academy boss Gregor Rioch and players Adam Walker and Curtis Wynter.
Gregor spoke about his playing career which included spells at Luton, Peterborough, Hull, Macclesfield, Shrewsbury before he dipped into non-league and then coaching.
It is nearly two years since he was appointed as Director of City’s Academy and said that the Alan Higgs Centre where the Academy are based had a great indoor facility and some excellent grass pitches.
He admitted that last season was difficult and the production of players into the first team squad which is the main function of the Academy had only seen two players get a professional contract.
This season , three have been offered professional contracts and two of those – Curtis Wynter and Adam Walker. The seventeen year olds have been with the club since they were eight years old and said how good it was to train with the first team twice a week.
There was news today, that Chris Coleman is considering starting a couple of Academy players if the team are in a safe position Adam, who coaches City’s U8’s thought it would be good if a couple of Academy players were on the pitch at the same time as it would show the younger players what could be achieved.
Both players will be part of the first team squad next season as well as being eligible to play for the U18’s as an overage player and will use the summer to keep fit.
City U18’s are a few points behind Tottenham in the FA Academy League Group B table and one point behind Aston Villa. Joe Elliott praised Gregor for some superb results this season which have seen the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City beaten whilst a draw at Arsenal who have qualified for the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final.
Gregor said that the best result however, was Academy players making their first team debuts as that will be remembered longer than any result.
On the younger age groups, things look good with good players from the U16’s and U15’s coming through.
All three received a tremendous round of applause before the raffle ended what had been a highly enjoyable afternoon.
CHRISTMAS IS A DIAMOND DAY BY KEV MONKS THURSDAY DECEMBER 4TH 2008
Christmas was celebrated a bit early by over 170 members and guests of the Coventry City Diamond Club at their Christmas Lunch this afternoon.
Proceedings started with a minute's silence for 90 year old Committee Member Fred Griffin, who sadly passed away yesterday and member Brian Harvey, who sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago.
As usual, those in attendance were treated not only to an excellent lunch but to a number of guest speakers. Diamond Club President John Sillett was first up and the former City Coach (John disliked the term manager as they were always getting sacked), is now heavily involved along with his wife Jean in race horse training.
Two of their seven horses are with top Trainer Nicky Henderson and one Petit Robin is a tip for Cheltenham.
In front of a replica FA Cup brought in by John Feeney, Sillett said that although he had sleepless nights, he always got the response he wanted from his players and had a team he was rightly proud of.
Like the former players who were there including Dietmar Bruck, Lol Harvey, Bob Wesson, Ronnie Farmer and Brian Nicholls, he always gave 100% and said with City's current injury worries, all the players had to do the best they can.
Next up was City's Commercial Director Nathan Kosky. A Tottenham fan, he has been in the job five months after helping transform the Millennium Dome into the O2 Arena.
Nathan said that although this was a tough time, he was hoping that things would progress on the pitch and bring spin-offs for the club which help the club get back to the Premier League.
Jon Strange was one of three authors in the room along with CCFC Historian Jim Brown and Coventry Music Historian Pete Chambers. Jon wrote Keith Houchen's book A Tenner And A Box Of Kippers and is a professional violinist as well as the Chairman of Coventry City London Supporters Club.
After Jon has spoken, we were entertained by the award winning Blue Coat School Choir. In a brilliant half hour set, the Choir who are to appear on Songs Of Praise at the Royal Albert Hall, sang carols, a bit of barbershop and some modern day classics which started with a cracking rendition of the Sky Blue Song.
The final guest speaker was Arena Coventry Limited's CEO Daniel Gidney. Daniel said that the Ricoh Arena would be very busy over Christmas with a number of events and into next year with events such as the Rugby Union and gigs for bands such as Take That and Oasis with others to be confirmed and announced.
He felt the Arena was a great venue for the City of Coventry and he said that ACL were helping to support the club into the future.
There followed the customary raffle with some cracking prizes donated by members and guests as well as the bingo before Chairman Tom Dentith wished everyone a Merry Christmas and looked forward to seeing everybody next year.
COLEMAN & KEAN WOW DIAMOND CLUB BY KEV MONKS THURSDAY OCTOBER 2ND 2008
Coventry City manager Chris Coleman and Assistant Steve Kean were the guest speakers at the Coventry City Diamond Club lunch.
With 156 members of the club for supporters who have been following City for fifty or more years and guests, including one member all the way from Australia and former players including Bob Wesson and Ron Farmer, filling the Legends Lounge, those assembled enjoyed a sumptuous lunch.
With City Director Joe Elliott in charge of the microphone, Chris Coleman told the audience that he loved being at the club and although things were a bit nervous last season, the club had the infrastructure, stadium and fan base to help the team get into the Premier League.
When they attended the interview for the job back in February, much of what Chairman Ray Ranson said matched plans they had written down and the pair felt that they would be mad to turn down the opportunity to manage Coventry City.
He was full of praise for the City support who journeyed to Cardiff on Tuesday night saying "the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow". He added that the support on the night was great and we all deserved something from the game
Both Coleman and Steve Kean, now have CV postcodes,feeling that it is important to be close at hand. Chris handles the Board &,Media side of things,whilst Steve is in charge with the day to day training and working with the players in liasion with Chris.
Whilst, Rome was not built in a day, like the supporters, the City boss is pleased with the progression being made. "We have been hard to beat", said Coleman, who agreed with the view many of us hold that Keiran Westwood is the best keeper in the division. "We have a strong spine and Freddie Eastwood and Clinton Morrison will get us goals," he added.
Questions from the floor were taken with Aron Gunnarsson's long throws and his techniques being raised.
After answering the questions,Chris and Steve posed for photos and autographs and chatted to members before leaving them to get on with the bingo and raffle and discuss two very enjoyable guest speakers.
HATS OFF TO THE DIAMOND CLUB BY KEV MONKS THURSDAY JUNE 19TH 2008
It was Ascot and Ladies Day as the Coventry City Diamond Club enjoyed it's Summer Lunch.
Around 130 City supporters, some of whom have been following City for over seventy years, enjoyed an excellent lunch with wine before enjoying the guest speaker and former Sky Blue Bob Wesson.
Bob joined City in 1958 and enjoyed his time at Coventry under the Jimmy Hill years even if he was not first choice keeper.
He mused about the City support which travelled in large numbers in the 1960's and commented on that FA Cup game in 1963 against Manchester United which the third United goal still rankles him.
He was sold to Walsall in September 1966 and played for the Saddlers for seven seasons before he had his shoulder kicked out in an FA Cup tie at Kettering.
He retired from the game and started wondering what to do for a living. Along with his wife, he became a licensee in Appleby Magna and stayed in the pub trade for twenty years. When asked what he does now. "As little as possible", was the reply.
Then came the racing. No money was involved with the betting which was a shame as yours truly had the winner of the first race!
Now being Ascot, female Diamond Club members and guests were invited to wear their hats. There were some excellent entries. One entitled "Hat Trick Hero" and included pictures of George Hudson, Clarrie Bourton and Colin Stein, caught my eye.
However, the panel of judges which included former Sky Blue and Diamond Club member Ron Farmer and guest Bob Wesson can be seen on our Lunch Pictures page with the winning entry.
The next Diamond Club lunch will be in September and members will be written to with full details.
THE LAST MEETING REPORT BY KEV MONKS WEDNESDAY MARCH 13TH 2008
The Annual General Meeting of the Coventry City Diamond Club was held in the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena today.
Chairman Tom Dentith gave the following speech after Secretary Alf Abbey had read out the minutes of the previous AGM in 2007.:
Before I start the Chairman's report, we really must take this opportunity to congratulate the man behind our successful events during 2007, our great friend Joe Elliott on his recent appointment on becoming a director of Coventry City Football Club. a very well deserved and popular appointment, we wish you every success Joe.
"I hope I speak for all Diamond Club members here today when I say that we have all enjoyed another year of fantastic events in these wonderful facilities here at the Ricoh Arena and have appreciated the interest shown by Coventry City Football Club officials in the Diamond Club in accepting our invitations to our events on numerous occasions as special guests."
Reports of the meetings can be found below.
Treasurer Maureen O'Neill presented her report which saw the Diamond Club make a small profit that helps pay for all the stationary
There were no questions on the report, so the AGM continued with the Election of Officers. Mr Dentith said: " It is mandatory that we hold our AGM where 3 of the members of our committee retire by rotation, namely Alf Abbey - Secretary/Registrar, Derek Barnett and Kath Griffin. (all three members are agreeable for re- election). All three were duly re-elect, Ray Stephens was also voted on to the committee as where Kev Monks and Geoff Lewis. Retiring Committee Member Jim Grant who had served for nine years was given a round of applause and thanked by the Chairman for his help and encouragement.
Mr Dentith then continued and said:
"I cannot end my report without mentioning the fantastic way we have been looked after here at the Ricoh, I would like to take this opportunity to give our most grateful thanks to the Manager and his staff for the meals and service they have so wonderfully provided for us, also for the raffle prizes they have given at our events. Thanks also go to everyone else connected with making our events so successful and enjoyable, the people who bring along something for the raffle so we always have a lovely selection of prizes, but these fantastic social occasions that we have together at the Diamond Club would not be possible without having the wonderful support and commitment of Joe, so on behalf of the Diamond Club, we give our special thanks to Joe Elliott.
"We also thank Coventry City Football Club Board for their kind support of the Diamond Club. Thanks also go to Kevin Monks for all his input on the CCFC Diamond Club website. It has enabled many members here and overseas to keep in touch with us when unable to attend our events.
And finally - our commitee meet on seeveral occasions during the year sharing thoughts and ideas on improving our events so my grateful thanks to all the committee members, to our Secretary Alf Abbey, our Teasurer Maureen O'Neill , Jim Grant, Derek Barnett,Fred and Kath Griffin, Barbara Cassey,Alan Bateman and Ray Stephens for their committment given at meetings and these events held during the year.
One spot of Any Other Business saw John Sillett voted as President.
Those who enjoyed an excellent lunch witnessed Joe Elliott introduce Ray Ranson to the club. It was clear that the duo get on famously,with Joe Elliott describing Ray Ranson as the man to take the Sky Blues back into the top flight. Mr Ranson spoke about his 18 year playing career and managed to sum it up in less than two minutes.
Coventry City was the right club for Ray Ranson and SISU,he said whilst Mr Elliott admitted that the club was twice close to going into administration.
When asked about SISU Equity, Mr Ranson, who got the chance to talk about some of his playing days with Sky Blues Legend Tommy Hutchison, said that £7m had been invested in the first eight weeks and that although SISU,are secretive investors, they are specialists in turning businesses around.This he hoped to do with the integration of ACL and CCFC which will eventually lead to the club having full control of the Arena.
Mr Ranson admitted to being a huge believer in youth and said that he was trying to bring players to the club but it was proving very difficult but he would not see any Coventry City money squandered again.
Mr Ranson was given good applause as was the next guest Ron Farmer. The Sky Blues penalty king, he was born in Nottingham and played for Notts County after leaving City,then Grantham before returning to Coventry as Youth Team coach and working at Massey Ferguson. He spoke about missing that penalty and remembered George Curtis fondly.
Former City physio Norman Pilgrim also spoke. Norman was physio from 1964 to 1976 and believed that the game has changed so much since his time.
The guest speakers were not finished there and Coventry Music Historian Pete Chambers, Jim Brown, Lionel Bird and Kev Monks all spoke before the bingo and the raffle took place to end a very successful and hugely enjoyable afternoon.
THE LAST MEETING REPORT BY KEV MONKS WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 5TH 2007
Over one hundred and fifty of our senior supporters attended the Diamond Club lunch in the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena.
Coventry City Chairman Joe Elliott attended along with Guests and former players Lol Harvey and Brian Nicholls.
After an excellent lunch, Joe Elliott spoke about the rollercoaster ride that City are currently on. He said that he was "Happy with where we are today".
"I'm hopeful that a deal will not be too long now that Mr Ranson is showing great interest and the bank are being more friendly. The Ricoh needs bringing together and the takeover is virtually there with ACL. Everyone is saying the right things and Ray appears to have found the club he wants. "We don't want administration but there will be people snaffling us up if we do end up with it."
Other speakers included Ray Stephens who spoke about the Sky Blue Trust and Pete Chambers - the man behind the Coventry Walk Of Fame.
One of the older members Fred Griffin was ninety today and he was presented with a signed shirt by Mr Elliott and a birthday cake from the club.
The entertainment was provided by singer Dawn Carmichael before the members settled down to a game of bingo and a raffle.
Pictures from the lunch can be found on our Lunch Pictures page
The Last Meeting Report By Kev Monks Thursday October 4th 2007
One hundred and forty City supporters attended the Diamond Club lunch at The Ricoh Arena today.
With those assembled watching a dvd of the League Cup win at Manchester United, guest speaker John Sillett. The man who led us to FA Cup glory in 1987,said it was good to see Coventry back in business.
Hero of the Diamond Club and many of its members George Hudson was mentioned with Snoz commenting: "What a man,what a player.".
Iain Dowie also received praise. "A manager is always worth his salt when he can change a result," said Sillett,commenting on City's fight back against Charlton.
Nowaday's,John is involved with race horses and has seven with three trained by his wife Jean who also attended the lunch.
He was pleased to be welcome back by the club who now look after former players. One of the men responsible for our heroes being welcomed back to the club is Paul Fletcher.
The Club's MD told us about his young grand-daughter learning a few swear words whilst sat amongst the City support at Manchester United.
"Operation Premiership" to him had three main facets. The first was a manager and in Iain Dowie,he believed we had the right man.
Two is the structure of the club which means that the club is now run better than it has been in years.
Three is new investment and Mr Fletcher said that the club must buy back its shares in the arena.
This has proved a stumbling block and he said that talks with four bidders were still on-going but he was hoping for business to be concluded in two to three weeks.
A quiz followed before those assembled were introduced to Pete Chambers - Coventry Music Historian and author whose fourth book "Godiva Rocked To A Backbeat" is now available.
Pete spoke about the Coventry Walk Of Fame which will see plaques erected to honour those over the years who have served our city in a wide variety of fields including music and sport.
Lionel Bird's whose new book about the history of the Coventry City Supporters Club which did so much for the club at Highfield Road between 1920 and 1970 is likely to be available in November, also spoke as did Covsupport's Kev Monks.
After the bingo and a raffle,the lunch finished with a tour of the Isle Of Capri Casino.
The Diamond Club's next lunch is on Wednesday December 5th and members will be informed in writing.
The Last Meeting Report By Kev Monks Wednesday June 20 2007
The Coventry City Diamond Club held it's Summer Lunch today at the Arena. Those long serving City supporters gathered in the Legends Lounge and heard from guest speaker Paul Fletcher.
City's Managing Director explained about the various parties involved in the takeover and hoped to have some news at the end of the month.
He also spoke about the Isle of Capri Casino which has £37m spent on it. It is a different set-up to most other casinos in that the American Company running it have built it as an entertainment centre where the likely spend has been predicted between £20-£25 but a venue to cater for the high rollers as well.
The Jaguar Club at the Arena which will be the new Presidents Club,is due to open in the next couple of months was also mentioned.
Like many of us, Mr Fletcher was not happy with the PA system at the Arena. Thankfully,a new system is currently being put in. Paul Fletcher said it had to be right and if it wasn't it would be ripped out and an new one introduced. With that he was off with Ken Sharp to another meeting aimed at boosting the club's finances.
The theme of the day was Ascot and those assembled enjoyed a sumptous summer lunch had fun bets on three races on the big screen. Being Ascot,hats were the order of the day and it was pleasing to see that many females had donned some fine and fancy headwear for the occasion. Joe Elliott praised those who wearing hats and awarded first prize to Mrs Jaynes.
The next Diamond Club meeting is on October 4th.
The Last Meeting Report By Kev Monks Thursday March 1st 2007
The Coventry City Diamond Club held their AGM and Social in the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena today. The supporters club for those who have followed City for fifty or more years, re-elected their committee and planned to hold four meetings in the coming twelve months.
Again,a lovely lunch was provided for members who listened to an impressive array of guest speakers which started with Joe Elliott. Joe having retired from his motor parts business two and a half years ago spends around seventy hours a week working on behalf of the club and is involved on many fronts. He is still a massive City supporter and remembers his first game in 1955 which was a friendly against Preston.
The Diamond Club were then pleased to welcome new manager Iain Dowie and his assistant Tim Flowers. Both had taken time out of training with Flowers admitting that the players were now stopping late and training for longer on their own free will.
Mr Dowie reported that the players had opened their mind to his ideas and was happy to report that every player had embraced his ways. He went on to say that his early morning routine now involved the first team plus youth players having breakfast together and the whole squad were having training sessions together. Some of the new training methods include swimming and boxing and at a time when others are looking to scrap their Academies,Mr Dowie said that he believed in the system which he hoped would provide many more first team players.
Described by one supporter as "infectious", it was pleasing to hear Iain admit that if he would do the job for nothing such is his love for the game and felt very lucky to be able to do this for a living. He said that his first ten days or so in charge had been a laugh and there is a good spirit amongst the players.
Although he admitted that the squad will need tinkering with,he felt that we have a squad of talented players and players who give everything. He said that as long as every player gives everything we cannot ask for anymore and that everyone will get their chance.
Dowie was quick to praise Tim Flowers and John Harbin describing both as people he would want by his side and admitted that he had absolute trust in them both. He received an excellent ovation before shaking hands with supporters and signing autographs before heading back to the training ground.
Next up was Kirk Stephens and the former defender said that he is involved in Walsgrave Construction and Crystal Vision a company making LCD TV's. He is also involved in the Academy and believed that the future of the club is in schools. This was backed up by Ken Sharp who spoke about schools coming into the club on a match day and instead of going onto the concourses, having a kickabout and something to eat in the Jaguar Exhibition Centre before watching the game.
Micky Gynn was then introduced to those assembled. Now a postman whose round includes Ryton, Micky joked that he gets up at 3.30am every work morning and Iain Dowie was more than welcome to join him on his round! He felt that Mr Dowie and his team would do well at the club and also mentioned about the relaxed time on the night before the FA Cup Final which included a few beers and a game of cards.
Covsupport's Kev Monks spoke about the reserves and getting back into a reserve league next season with Lionel Bird talking about the headstone appeal for Singers FC founding father Willie Starley who lies in an unmarked grave in London Road Cemetery.
A raffle and game of bingo finished what was a highly enjoyable afternoon.
If you would like more information on the Diamond Club please email dentithtom@aol.com
December 2006 Meeting Report By Kev Monks December 8th 2006
The Coventry City Diamond Club for City supporters who have been following the club for fifty years or more had a successful Christmas luncheon in the Legends Lounge at the Arena.
Over one hundred City supporters were introduced by MC Joe Elliott and Diamond Club Chairman Tom Dentith to guests who included The CT's Andy Turner, Covsupport's Kev Monks, club statistican Jim Brown and historian Lionel Bird as well as City's Senior Management trio of Paul Fletcher, Mel Branigan and Ken Sharp over an excellent lunch.
Entertainment was provided by bell ringers from Fillongly who played a selection of carols and City MD Paul Fletcher who performed a couple of George Formby numbers on the ukulele.
If you have been supporting City for more than fifty years and would like more information on the Diamond Club, please contact Tom Dentith
DIAMOND CLUB LUNCHES
