What Doug King has said about dealing with Mike Ashley for Coventry City's CBS Arena deal | OneFootball

Coventry City recently completed the purchase of the CBS Arena

Coventry City owner Doug King has opened up on how tough negotiations with Mike Ashley were to secure ownership of the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues have enjoyed a phenomenal start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign, bouncing back brilliantly from the heartbreak of their failed play-off campaign from last season.

Frank Lampard’s side sit top of the table after nine matches and have scored a remarkable 27 goals in that time. The second-highest goalscoring total in the league behind them is 15, which highlights just how strong their offensive line has been.

Coventry have been ruthless in their approach to dispatching teams, recording 7-1, 5-0 and 4-0 victories over the likes of QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall.

There has been good news for Coventry off the pitch during this time as well, as it was announced in late August that the Sky Blues had purchased their stadium, the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Over the past 20 years, Coventry’s stadium situation has been a large source of ill-feeling and pain among their fanbase, with groundshares and instability being nightmare factors for any supporter.

The Sky Blues bought their ground from the Frasers Group, which is run by former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

Coventry City owner Doug King opens up on negotiations with Mike Ashley

Ashley purchased the CBS Arena for £17 million in 2022, but just three years later, managed to rake in almost £40 million for its sale.

Coventry City owner, Doug King, opened up on how negotiations went with the former Newcastle United chief whilst on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Getting a deal done to actually bring it into the football club took a while,” admitted King. “It was a hard negotiation but I think both of us realised it was the right thing that should happen and I was so glad that we could actually execute it and get it done.”

As for the fee, King stated: “I won’t mention that. I know those questions come up but I don’t like to really sort of talk about financial things like that. But listen, is the figure of £40million that has been reported close to the mark or far off?

“I think what I’m trying to do here is do things properly, get us competing where we need to be competing, which is in the Premier League, and understanding that’s incredibly difficult to do; understanding it needs a lot of commitment and a lot of focus and a lot of luck, if you like, because we know that we haven’t got a fair league in the Championship with the parachute payment distortion.”

Coventry City will hope to bring Premier League football to the CBS Arena

As King eluded to, the ultimate ambition for Coventry City is to end up in the Premier League and then compete in the division for many years.

The Sky Blues have the supporters and facilities to do so, and now that they own their stadium, there is nothing stopping them from bridging that gap from an off-field point of view.

Lampard’s side have started this season brilliantly, but most importantly, the clubs that came down from the Premier League have struggled to really get going.

In previous years, those teams have started to stretch their legs at this point in the season and start to build an advantage over the rest of the division, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this season.

Therefore, the 2025/26 campaign might be Coventry’s best bet for securing a return to the top-flight, because it’s unknown when they will be in a similar position again.

The Sky Blues have shown they have immense quality and are capable of massive victories, but it is still to be seen whether they can sustain such form over 46 matches.