Football club considers legal action after contractor admits 拢113m Ricoh Arena will be too late for season openers

Laing O鈥橰ourke may be sued for thousands of pounds in damages by Coventry City FC after the contractor admitted the club鈥檚 new stadium is running almost three weeks behind schedule.

The delays mean that the 拢113m Ricoh Arena stadium will open on 20 August, missing the first two or three games of the football season. Coventry City says it will consider suing Laing O鈥橰ourke to recover costs if it has to find an alternative venue for its early home matches.

The revelation comes as a further blow to the UK鈥檚 stadium building programmes a week after Multiplex announced it would lose 拢45m on Wembley and could face further delays on the project.

The Football League was due to meet to discuss Coventry鈥檚 fixtures as 好色先生TV went to press on Wednesday. If it does not agree to make all of Coventry鈥檚 opening games away matches, the club will have to use its old Highfield Road site or rent a ground from another club.

A Coventry City spokesperson said: 鈥淲e have asked for the first games to be played away from home, but if the Football League says we have to play at home, it will cost the club more money as we will need to find a venue. In that scenario, an option would be to reclaim money from the contractor or from Coventry council, which is the client on the project.鈥�

Laing O鈥橰ourke attributed the delays to factors beyond its control, including poor weather. Richard Pike, its project manager, said: 鈥淲e have had particular challenges during the building of the Ricoh Arena, including bad weather last summer and a fire at the site earlier this year.鈥�

However, a source at Coventry City questioned the justification. He said: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 remember any bad weather since the project began.

It seems likely that Laing O鈥橰ourke miscalculated the requirements of the project. There is little we can do at the moment as we鈥檙e the tenants on the scheme rather than the direct client. But the club isn鈥檛 happy with the situation. We鈥檙e not just talking a few days late, we鈥檙e talking 19 days, which is a considerable amount of time.鈥�

Laing O鈥橰ourke refuted any suggestion that the project would exceed its budget. In a statement, the company said:

鈥淟aing O鈥橰ourke has agreed the new completion date of 19 August and confirms the overall scheme is within budget.鈥�