[jjamez]

Mr Robins, I've been expecting you.



Mark meets Mark this weekend in a fixture that has been arranged, cancelled, rearranged and re-rearranged. In all fairness it isn't really down to Town as such, maybe a touch in that they agreed to the rearrangements but really its all on Coventry and the powers that be that control the ground, or used to. The original fixture was planned for early in the season but was postponed due to the state of the pitch at the Coventry Building Society Arena. The ground had played host to the Rugby 7's fixtures during the Commonwealth games and had become irreparably damaged. The Sky Blues had already postponed home games against Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United, and the Carabao Cup first-round tie with Bristol City - which was switched at short notice to Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium before we were supposed to travel there. Now this caused disruption for a lot of Town fans who had booked travel and maybe accommodation for the fixture with some feeling that they should have been forced to concede the fixtures, but as we know from our experiences with the EFL on situations regarding not being able to play a game, it was never going to be the case (see Blackpool pitch invasion) instead they have been given a suspended points deduction after three Championship games had to be postponed because of the state of their pitch. Should it occur again either this season or next, they will face a 5 point deduction, I'd have said 9 points with it being three games that they had cancelled in the first place but hey ho. The second rearranged fixture was due to take place on the Tuesday night, but with both teams out of the FA Cup, it was moved to the Saturday, personally I can understand it from both clubs perspectives, both were expecting to be playing the weekend before and it would just give that extra bit of time between games, obviously our game got cancelled so we have had a relatively long period between the Hull game and this one.

Coventry have had their own issues off field, something I really hope we can avoid going into ourselves, although at times it seems like that could be a pipe dream. Coventry were owned By SISU, a group that caused a lot of protests from Coventry fans, due to numerous things, lack of investment, a complete balls up of the stadium (we'll touch on that a bit more later) and an inability to pay what was needed, when it was needed. Sky Blues fans have wanted SISU out of the club for a long while and they got their wish this season, although it was slightly more muddier than originally thought. Originally John McEvoy, an American billionaire was looking at buying both the club and the ground. He is the founder of a San Diego-based mobile device distribution company, already holds ownership stakes in US National Hockey League team Nashville Predators and Major League Baseball outfit Colorado Rockies and would have been working with a Sky Blues fan in John Dawkins. The administrators for the stadium reportedly never responded to the bid from Dawkins despite it being back by a consortium containing the American billionaire (rumours are that there is a consortium of Americans interested in Town, we'll see if McEvoy's name appears there) instead the issue rolled on longer.

Loughborough businessman Doug King and the founder of an energy drink William Storey became the next two names to be linked with buying the club. Storey believed he had exclusivity over the takeover. The deal was supported by Origin Sports Group - with BTC Racing owner Steve Dudman providing financial backing. Storey said his board would have included former England striker Mark Hateley, who began his career with the Sky Blues in the 1970s, and ex-Coventry Building Society chair Gary Hoffman. Storey claimed to have brought together £9m worth of annual sponsorship contracts, with five major corporations and had secured arrangements for tens of millions of pounds worth of players to come in in January. Doug King meanwhile made his money trading grains and also co-founded an investment firm worth over 300 million. He was named the preferred bidder and later acquired 85% of Coventry City and the deal cleared all the debt that the club owed. The ground meanwhile went into administration and despite a late bit from Coventry City and King, the stadium was sold to preferred bidder Mike Ashley and the Fraser group. Since then the club has received an eviction notice and has since renegotiated the terms of their stay at the ground.

Told you it was messy, and lets be fair, ours ain't exactly clean either, at the moment we are struggling to determine who actually owns the club and thats before we get into ground ownership, that itself could go into a separate set of hands if it goes into administration before we get our house in order. Hopefully the future takeover deal is a lot more straightforward than any of this other stuff!



Coventry as a place finds itself as a bit of a joke in some regards, with the phrase being sent to Coventry not being the most favourable To send someone to Coventry is an idiom meaning to ostracise someone, or act as if they are not present. The origins of the phrase are not known though it is likely its roots are in some historical event involving Coventry. The main idea is that if you are sent to Coventry you will be ignored and forgotten that you even existed, although with some of the levelling up funds it would seem as if you are anywhere North you will be treat as if you don't exist, unless you plan on building a large greenhouse in Morecambe, because what the cold North needs is Alan Titchmarsh's wet dream and not a modernisation of its railways, help with the NHS or even a bog standard roads upgrade. It was on the news that if the North of England was a country of its own, it would be pretty much bottom in regards to spend on improvements for its own people, but we would be near the top in the Olympics but even those sports hubs get shut or run down now. What ever happened to the sports venue Rotherham used to call home?



It is a common belief that the phrase refers to a particular situation that arose during World War II. British intelligence had deciphered encrypted German communications indicating that a devastating air raid on Coventry was being planned. But the government were reluctant to inform the general public in Coventry about the planned attack in case the Germans discovered their cover had been blown and developed a more sophisticated form of encryption. Hence the people of Coventry were kept in the dark. However, people who were alive before the war will attest that the phrase was in usage before. The origin of the phrase may be in the 17th century, arising from incidents in the Civil War in the 1640s. Royalist troops were captured in Birmingham and taken to Coventry, where they were ostracised by the Parliamentarian-leaning Coventry population.

Largely rebuilt after the 1940 wartime bombing of the Coventry Blitz, Coventry was the birthplace of the British motor industry and is also known for the legend of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom. The short of that story goes like Today, she is mainly remembered for a legend dating back to at least the 13th century, in which she rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to in a plea to her husband, Leofric, to stop enforcing such high taxes on the citizens. This apparently came after Leofric told her she would have to do so before he changed his mind, obviously believing that she wouldn't dare do such a thing. Before beginning this quest to help Coventry, Godiva told everyone to stay in their homes to preserve her modesty. She then rode through the streets, her long hair draped so that it covered almost her whole body, allowing only her legs and eyes to remain visible. However, one man, now known as Peeping Tom, disobeyed her instructions and couldn’t help looking out at Godiva riding through Coventry on the horse. Upon doing so, the legend goes, he was instantly blinded.

Lady Godiva is a legitimate historical figure, born in 990 A.D. It is unknown when she died, although it was assumed to be between 1066 and 1086, in the time of the Norman conquest and King William I's reign. The real Godiva was known for being generous to the church. However, despite this historical legitimacy in regards to the existence of the town and Godiva herself, there is doubt on her ride through Coventry due to a lack of records about it. The story only first appeared approximately one hundred years after her death, and the monk, Roger of Wendover, who recorded it was known for stretching the truth in his writings, much like Oliver Stone and numerous other film directors. The Peeping Tom character was added to the story in the sixteenth century and later became a common term for a voyeur, leading the tale to become a fable much like Humpty Dumpty and ring a ring of roses.



Now to the football...

Coventry began the season with a trip to the North East to face newly promoted Sunderland, Jack Clarke opened the scoring for the hosts but a late Gyokeres goal levelled things up and gave Coventry a deserved point. August was a poor month for Coventry, they failed to win a game all month and coupled with the games postponed due to the ground issues, they found themselves bottom of the league come the end of it. The month began with a league cup tie against Bristol City played at Burton Albions Pirelli Stadium, Coventry found themselves on the receiving end of a 4-1 thrashing with Kal Naismith and a Tommy Conway brace seeing Bristol 3-0 up at half time, Jamie Allen pulled one back at his old stomping ground before Andi Wiemann made it 4-1 in injury time. The Sky Blues then made the journey to The Den to face Millwall and raced into a 2 goal lead thanks to efforts from Kyle McFadzean and Matt Godden. The Lions hit back with goals from Jake Cooper and George Honeyman before Hamer received a two yellow cards. George Saville scored 5 minutes from time to complete the turnaround. It was another 5 goal thriller as Coventry left the Lions Den only to be thrown to the Tigers of Hull. Oscar Estupinan scored a hat-trick for Hull and whilst Godden scored a brace for Coventry, they were unable to rescue a point. A positive for Coventry was they were able to face Preston back at the CBS Arena, the negatives, they lost, thanks to a second half Emil Riis goal. It would be nice to say September picked up for Coventry, but it began with a trip to Norwich and they left with 0 points and a 3-0 defeat, goals from Teemu Pukki Pie, Josh Sargent and Kieron Dowell sealed a comprehensive victory for the Canaries. Still winless, Coventry travelled to Luton and quickly fell behind thanks to a Carlton Morris goal. Gyokeres equalised not long later, but parity wouldn't last long as Morris doubled his tally minutes later. Hamer would score midway through the second half to give Coventry a valuable point. The Sky Blues rounded the month off with a trip to the Blues of Birmingham and played out a goalless stalemate, with the only notable incident being a late red card for Hamer.



October began with Coventry finally getting their first win of the season thanks to a solitary Gyokeres goal against fellow then strugglers Middlesbrough. They followed that up with a goalless draw away at Bristol City before being edged out by Burnley 1-0 at the CBS Arena thanks to a Nathan Tella goal. The next three games of October saw Coventry pick up 9 points as they moved away from the drop zone. The first three points came thanks to a 1-0 win away at Cardiff, Gyokeres being the obvious scorer, next was a 1-0 win at home to Sheffield United with Waghorn scoring a late penalty and finally a 2-0 win away at Stoke thanks to goals from Allen and Hamer. The final two games of the month saw them draw 2-2 at home to Rotherham, Cohen Bramall and Conor Washington scored either side of a Hamer goal before Gyokeres levelled late on from the penalty spot, they finished with a 2-1 defeat at home to the hands of Blackpool. Kasey Palmer opened the scoring for Coventry but goals from Gary Madine and Jerry Yates saw the Tangerines leave with 3 points. November saw Coventry win each game as they continued to rise up the league. It began with a 1-0 win at home to 10 man Blackburn, Jamie Allen scoring the only goal of the game, before another 1-0 win this time away at Watford, the trusty Gyokeres scoring the goal there. Next a 2-0 win at home to struggling Wigan, with Hamer scoring late and Gyokeres scoring even later. Gyokeres was back at it again as he scored a brace in a 2-0 win at home over QPR. The World Cup came at the wrong time for Coventry as they begun the restart with a 1-0 defeat away at Reading with Amadou Mbengue scoring his first senior goal. They thought they were back to winning ways when they went into a 3 goal lead at home to Swansea, goals from Panzo, Allen and Gyokeres making the three points seem inevitable, however, Swansea mounted a comeback when Joel Piroe, Jay Fulton and Liam Cullen all scored late on to grab a share of the spoils. Carlos Corberan was next up for Coventry and a 93rd minute penalty from Gyokeres saw Coventry win all three points. Boxing day saw an eventful game occur at Bramall Lane, James McAtee would open the scoring for the Blades, before Gyokeres missed from the spot, Ciaran Clark would double the lead for United before Tommy Doyle made it 3-0. Gyokeres would grab a goal back for City before Sheffield were reduced to 10 men with John Egan receiving his marching orders for a second yellow but Coventry were unable to mount a comeback. They finished December off with a boring 0-0 at home to Cardiff. January has so far been a bit of a poor month for the Sky Blues as they begun with a 1-1 draw at home to Bristol City, Jake Bidwell scoring for Coventry and Antoine Semenyo scoring for the Robins, next was the FA Cup as they welcomed the attention of Hollywood as Ryan Reynold rolled into town with Wrexham. Early goals from Sam Dalby and Elliot Lee got Wrexham off to a dream start before Ben Sheaf halved the deficit. Thomas O'Connor got a third for the non league side, before Panzo received a straight red card ahead of a 4 goal coming from former Town academy player Paul Mullin. Wrexham must have felt they had the tie sealed but goals from Gyokeres and Palmer made for a nervy finish, but in the end Coventry were dumped out of the cup. Any attempt to bounce back was ended as Jordan Beyer's late header saw below-par Burnley edge out Coventry before Coventry welcomed David Wagner's Norwich to the CBS Arena. They rolled out the welcome mat as Norwich raced into a 3 goal lead thanks to an own goal from Michael Rose and strikes from Onell Hernandez and Josh Sargent. Coventry fought back moments later through goals from Allen and Palmer to make it 3-2 but Kieran Dowell scored a 4th for Norwich to make January winless so far for the Sky Blues.




In terms of head to heads, Town have won 9 with Coventry winning 5 and there being 5 draws. Last season saw Town draw at home 1-1, it was a lunchtime kick off where we took the lead and then tried to defend and hold on for the rest of the game. Danny Ward opened the scoring for Town after 18 minutes but we were well and truly battered by Mark Robins' side with Lee Nicholls being the only thing stopping them making the dominance count. The away side had 65% possession and registered 22 shots 12 on target, Town could only muster 2 shots on target out of the 10 they had. It looked like the smash and grab would work but in the 93rd minute Matt Godden scored a much deserved equaliser. The return fixture saw goals from Harry Toffolo and Tino Anjorin lead Town to a 2-1 win with Viktor Gyokeres scoring late for the Sky Blues.

In terms of incomings this season, Coventry were more active in Summer than they have been so far in January. Summer saw them bring in former Terrier Kasey Palmer from Bristol City on a free transfer, former Monaco defender Jonathan Panzo on loan from Nottingham Forest, fellow defender Callum Doyle joined on loan from Manchester City. January saw left back Josh Wilson-Esbrand join on loan also from Manchester City, whilst on the right Brooke Norton-Cuffy joined on loan from Arsenal having spent the first half of the season on loan at Rotherham. Luke McInally also joined the Sky Blues from fellow Championship side Burnley on loan, whilst Sean Maguire is rumoured to be joining from Preston, they have also been linked with a move for former Town loanees Jamie Paterson and Danel Sinani.

As for out goings Jordan Shipley and Julien Da Costa both joined Shrewsbury, Da Costa being on loan, centre half Josh Pask joined TNS on a free transfer and Jodi Jones left for Oxford United after his contract expired and he has since joined Notts County. Dominic Hyam made the move to Blackburn for 1.75 million in the main deal of the Summer. As for Winter, Todd Kane joined Charlton on loan, whilst Martyn Waghorn was a surprise arrival at Town, with not many expecting that to happen, it still appears to be somewhat of a weird transfer but we shall give him a touch of time, although does it look like Bromby has found the transfer wishlist from the summer we got promoted? most the signings seem like they would have been top players at around that time but have since gotten old or dropped off.



In terms of team news, Town could welcome back Ollie Turton after he has spent time on the training pitches with the first team, Matty Pearson after featuring against Hull could play possibly play the full 90 this weekend. Anjorin remains a long term injury, whilst Pat Jones is nearing a comeback but will still be a few weeks away. Danny Ward remains out with a muscle injury and with Martyn Waghorn unable to feature against his parent side, Jordan Rhodes is likely to be leading the line alone, with the likes of Tyreece Simpson, Kian Harratt and B team beanpole poacher Kyle Hudlin all candidates to sit on the bench. Sorba Thomas has left the club strangely on loan to Blackburn meaning his spot in the squad could be taken by new signing Josh Hungbo, Anthony Knockaert had yet to train before the Hull game so it remains to be seen whether he will be fit enough to feature at all. Keeper Lee Nicholls will be out after shoulder surgery, so at the moment it appears that young Nicholas Bilokapic will be donning the gloves this weekend.

I'd do a predicted line up but my idea would be different from what the next Alex Ferguson would pick. Hey ho- My line up would be: Bilokapic; Lees, Helik, Pearson; Lowton, Hogg, Kasumu, Jackson; Rudoni, Rhodes, Holmes in a 3-4-3 formation. My sneaking suspicion is that Ruffles will definitely feature, along with Scott High, with Kasumu and Turton both being on the bench along with Hungbo and Boyle. Diarra is also likely to get a spot on the bench and after a few goals in the B team, it wouldn't surprise me if Koroma gets a spot too.


As for Coventry, Callum O'Hare is out for the rest of the season after picking up an ACL injury against Sheffield United on boxing day, he is expected to miss 9 months, fellow midfielder and key player Gustavo Hamer limped off at the weekend but Mark Robins is hopeful that he will be fit for Saturdays game (maybe another reason they got the game moved????) The Coventry Telegraph predicts the Sky Blues will line up: Ben Wilson; Luke McNally, Michael Rose, Jonathan Panzo; Fankaty Dabo, Gustavo Hamer, Ben Sheaf, Josh Wilson-Esbrand; Kasey Palmer, Jamie Allen; Viktor Gyokeres in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Ones to watch

Kasey Palmer- We know what the guy can do on his day. He was a different level when he was here on loan in the Championship, especially the first half of the season, struggled a little after he picked up an injury against Leeds and never really got going again. Struggled even more when we got to the Prem and ended up having his loan here cut short to go back to the Championship. Since then he's been a bit nomadic with numerous loans to the likes of Swansea, Blackburn and Derby. Left Chelsea  to join Bristol City following a loan there but never really got going scored as many goals here as he did there in less than half the games. Joined Coventry in the Summer and at 26 will be looking to finally settle down.

Viktor Gyokeres- Swedish international who joined the Sky Blues from Brighton, although he never actually played a league game from Brighton's first team. He also had loans out and about at the likes of German club St Pauli, Welsh club Swansea as well as Coventry. Goals seemed hard to come by as he could only muster 7 in Germany and none at all in Wales in the league anyway. In his initial loan at Coventry he could only manage 3 goals in 19 games, but Robins had obviously seen enough to take a punt and was rewarded last season with 17 goals in 45 appearances, this season he has 12 so far in 27 and it will be a surprise if he doesn't get one this weekend and also if he is still a Coventry player come next season, there will be a fair few Premier League clubs that will be taking an active interest now.

Gustavo Hamer- The diminutive Dutchman was born originally in Brazil. One of the main creators for Coventry, he joined back in 2020 from PEC Zwolle in Holland having originally beginning his career at Feyenoord. He played two games for the Dutch giants and had a loan out at Dordrecht. He has played over 100 games for Coventry and has scored 12 goals. He is also known for being a flair player as well as being a fairly fiery customer.



Anagrams

1) Inconceivably A Torrent Guy Dies

2) Baron Smirk

3) Zoo Evicts Giver

4) Videotaping A Mad Pony Geld

5) Clearly Big Ma

6) I Broken A Bee

7) Sherry Or Art

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, jjamez. Very informative.

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1) Inconceivably A Torrent Guy Dies - Coventry Building Society Arena

[theo_luddite]

I'd heard it had been a bit windy up north, shit, didn't realise it was that bad. What's the rest of Rotherham look like? Did Barnsley cop for any of that Snoots? Anyone would think Putin was involved.

Nice one jjamez, Look I've got Snoots's thing to do to try and do two good weeks on the trot on in January (I know, it won't happen, it never does) afore I come back and read it all proper, like. He sends me uppity messages if I don't get 'em in on time. Sure you've had some too.

I see Snoots has started answering quiz questions I've yet to find, nowt new there then.
Oh, there they are.

[Lord Snooty]

Wigan have sacked Kolo already.

[theo_luddite]

So I've just seen too - have to wonder how much that FA Cup Final win v The Blue Mancs raised their expectations given their (lack of) player investment since? That and playing with the big boys for a few seasons. How many more silk purses do they expect to make from sows ears down by the Pier?

When do we play them again?

Oh look, would you Adam and Eve it? Two weeks on Saturday ... just enough time for .....

[WakeyTerrier]

Our glorious leader has confirmed that Nicholls is out for the season....a whole 17 days after i was told exactly the same thing

[theo_luddite]

He's also finally admitted what we suspected for many a week, that Tino is also out for the rest of the season and back at Chelsea.

[WakeyTerrier]

Don't forget we need players who are ready to go....erm Anthony Knockeart is still injured

[theo_luddite]

.... but, but him being here means that Sorba can't get a kick, so we've loaned him out to get him minutes on the grass. For a Jock this this guy is as thick as Irish mist.

[Lord Snooty]

Schofield straight back in tomorrow?