Coventry City manager Steven Pressley says the League One outfit have been boosted by their imminent return to the Ricoh Arena.

A long-running rent row has seen the Sky Blues exiled from their stadium since the start of last season, with "home" games played at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium and average attendances plummeting to 2,364 as many supporters chose to boycott their team.

But an agreement reached with Arena Coventry Limited, the owners of the Ricoh, means that Coventry will be playing in their own city for at least the next two years, and Pressley hopes the visit of Gillingham on 5 September will be the start of better days for a club who played in the Premier League as recently as 2001.

"Everyone's taken a huge lift from the news, it was a great day," he told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.

"It's a chance for us to show the world what Coventry City football club means to the city, we're truly excited."

The former Hearts defender, whose side were hit by 10-point penalties in each of the previous two campaigns as a result of their financial issues, added: "This has to be the start of, hopefully, a new period for the club. We can unite and bring some real positivity to the city.

"To encourage high-profile players, there's no doubt the Ricoh is a fantastic selling point and it can only benefit us going forward.

"It's up to us try and encourage the fans to continue to come back and we can only do that by playing fast, entertaining football which we'll try and do.

"The fact that the Gillingham game is live on television is a fantastic opportunity to show everybody what a great club we have."