Coventry moved out of the Ricoh Arena for second time in 2019 and have played at Birmingham's St Andrew's stadium since; club were original tenants at the Ricoh but the ground was sold to rugby union side Wasps in 2014
Thursday 4 March 2021 12:50, UK
Coventry City are set to return to the Ricoh Arena next season after the club reached an agreement on a 10-year deal to move back to their old stadium.
Terms have been agreed between the club's owners SISU and rugby union side Wasps, who own the stadium, after more than a year of talks.
The English Football League board is set to approve Coventry's return on Thursday before the deal is officially signed and announced on Friday.
The move will bring an end to Coventry's tenancy at Birmingham City's St Andrew's stadium, where they have played for the last two years.
There is another season left on the deal for Coventry to play at St Andrew's. While the Sky Blues are not contractually obliged to play in Birmingham next season as the contract contains a break clause, it is likely they will have to pay compensation to end the agreement.
In addition, Birmingham announced in December that significant structural repairs need to be carried out on two of the ground's four stands.
Coventry moved out of the Ricoh Arena in 2019 after a dispute with Wasps over the legality of the sale of the ground to the rugby club in 2014.
They also left the Ricoh Arena in 2013 and played their home games in Northampton for over a year due to a disagreement over rent with the stadium's previous owners, Arena Coventry Limited (ACL).
On Tuesday, Coventry fell to a 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough, whose 87th-minute winner came through substitute George Saville.
Saville poked home from close range two minutes after being brought on. Following the completion of the Championship's midweek fixtures, Boro now lie five points outside the play-off places.
Grant Hall had earlier opened his Middlesbrough account with a fine header from a Paddy McNair free-kick to cancel out an early own goal from Anfernee Dijksteel that had given Coventry the lead.
Boro have now won three of their last five games, a run which has put their top-six hopes back on track having slipped off the pace with five defeats in their previous seven.
Coventry now lie 20th in the table, three points above the relegation zone.
