Steve Waggott expects Rovers’ game against Coventry City to go ahead – but says a decision over where the fixture will be played will be made on Monday lunchtime.

Coventry City published a statement on Friday night to say they were ‘exploring alternative back-up plans’ for Tuesday night’s home game with Rovers.

That is due to the situation at the Coventry Building Society Arena, with the period of notice of administration for Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) ending on Monday, the day before the scheduled Rovers fixture.

There are concerns therefore that the Sky Blues could be locked out of the stadium should ACL not be able to secure new funding to avoid going into administration.

While Coventry stress they want to play at the CBS Arena, circumstances out of their control mean the club will ‘explore alternative plans as this may not be possible’.

Waggott believes an alternative venue has been lined up, with Walsall FC one suggestion, but the Rovers CEO says the situation will become clear by Monday lunchtime.

“We’ve been monitoring what was going to happen ever since we heard about Wasps, who share the stadium with Coventry City," he said to BBC Lancashire.

“The chief executive of Coventry called me yesterday advising me that they were going ahead with their home game against Blackpool, however the hearing with Wasps and ACL was on Monday lunchtime so subject to the findings of the hearing, there is a possibility that they won’t be able to play their game against us at the CBS.

“They are looking at alternative venues, I think in the East Midlands, or Midlands area.

“We had a chat this morning, he’s going to update me again tomorrow.

“The EFL have been in consultation with Coventry and the decision will be made on Monday lunchtime but I’m trying to bring it forward if possible to try and give our supporters a heads up and information should it be played at a different venue.”

Coventry’s game with Blackpool this afternoon went ahead as scheduled, while they also played Rotherham United at home in midweek.

Next up is a visit from Rovers, but the chance of that being played at the Coventry Building Society Arena is in doubt.

“From what I’ve gleaned, as much as I can from Coventry, they’re trying to arrange, and I think they have, arranged an alternative venue so the game should go ahead,” Waggott added.

“Our supporters will be affected, so we have to put them at the forefront of things, and be disclosing all the information we have immediately as we get it.

“The venue I think they have gone to is probably half an hour away so hopefully it wouldn’t be too disruptive.

“There might be some issues with tickets, we had sold 460 by Friday, and hopefully we can get through that, it’s more about where we play.”

Despite the potential of the CBS Arena being unavailable, there is no chance of the game being switched to Ewood Park, with Waggott outlining that hadn’t been a suggestion put to the club by the EFL who are also involved in the discussions.

He said: “It’s a good point, we mentioned it last night, but that would have had to give us some lead time for the police, frontline services, all the operational issues around hosting a football game at Ewood.

“That’s never been discussed.

“The EFL never came to me.

“We can’t do it at this stage. We’ve had no approach from the EFL to do it.

“It does sound simplistic but there are other issues around it.

“For the integrity of the league and the competition it’ll be better for Coventry and ourselves if we played at CBS.

“Jon, Gregg Broughton and the players know that there may be an amendment to whether we can play.

“It’s not ideal, particularly at this level when the stakes are so high.

“We have to strip it all back and we have to get our players psychologically prepared to go and compete and hopefully win.”

The Sky Blues had three home games earlier in the season postponed because of safety issues surrounding the playing surface. It means Mark Robins’ side have played 15 games, three fewer than Rovers ahead of their scheduled midweek meeting.

“They played the rugby for the Commonwealth Games there, the pitch had some stress and wear on it and there was some work to be done ahead of the new season, and it wasn’t,” Waggott added.

“They were made to play away from home at the beginning of the season.

“Now they moved into a financial issue with their landlords, who have gone into administration.

“As far as I can gather, if the administration process stays then the game could go ahead at the CBS on Tuesday.

“I can’t give a definitive decision on what the hearing will say, but if Wasps were put in liquidation then the contract would be null and void for the football club I believe.

“That means they would have to play their game on Tuesday away from home.”

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