Smurthwaite: Vale could ‘accommodate’ Coventry
Port Vale co-owner Norman Smurthwaite has told the Sentinel that he would be happy for Coventry City to play at Vale Park providing any deal was ” a commercial arrangement for the benefit of this club.”
We could accommodate them on a pay-as-you-play arrangement, as long as it didn’t conflict with our schedule…
League One outfit Coventry could be looking for an alternative ground after a disagreement with their stadium owners over unpaid rent.
Coventry-born Smurthwaite has already offered to help with talks between the club and the stadium owners and he has now told the Sentinel that he would also be prepared to let Coventry play at Vale Park.
“If City end up needing a stadium, I’d be prepared to do a ground share,” he said.
“They haven’t asked, but I’d to do it until the end of this season, though I wouldn’t do it next season because we’ll be playing them in League One.
“We certainly wouldn’t let them come for free. But I would enter dialogue with them.”
“I wouldn’t make them an offer of using our ground – they’d have to come to me,” he added, “but it would put us in a better place from a networking point of view.
“We could accommodate them on a pay-as-you-play arrangement, as long as it didn’t conflict with our schedule.
“I grew up in Coventry, but it wouldn’t be a decision I make with my heart. It would be a commercial arrangement for the benefit of this club and it applies to any club, not just them.”