The First Day of the Rest of our Season

Clive Platt

It was today when it really dawned on me that Coventry City were in the 3rd tier of English football. As the fixtures appeared at 9AM and it materialised that our first game would be against Yeovil Town at Huish Park, how far our 'mighty' club had fallen. You'd now expect me to say, 'however there are many reasons why the club can be confident of an automatic return to the Championship', what I'm actually going to say is the very opposite. Since the 4-0 thrashing by Southampton the City have been in a period of stagnation (if it wasn't already) so much so that even the tree that is Clive Platt has been uprooted and jumped ship to link up with former City boss and full-time long ball merchant Aidy Hoofroyd. The club doesn’t appear to know what direction there going in and as June 1st nears we look no closer to removing the transfer embargo, for me it is clear there are several big decisions to be made .

The defensive duo

Firstly the whole will they won’t they Richard Keogh and Martin Crainie saga, needs to be given some level of clarity. We are all aware that the club have offered both of them new contracts and that Steve Waggott is even taking sense on the matter, "I've told them that we aim to bounce back at the first attempt which is easy to say and hard to do, although we’d certainly stand a much better chance of realising that aim with players of their capability on board", with respect Mr Waggott - no shit, Keogh and Crainie are the only two players to come out of last season with any credibility, so of course they need to stay. Nevertheless with clubs like Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Cardiff City sniffing around it wouldn't come as a surprise if we were without them come the 18th of August.

Ah Freddy so many memories.........or just the one 

This leads me onto the others that have left already; Sammy Clingan, Freddy Eastwood, Herman Hreidarsson, Clive Platt and both James McPake and Roy O'Donovan looking increasingly likely to depart. There was a lot of dead wood left from last season and the club have at least made the decision to get rid of it. For me there are not many complaints about letting this lot go; only McPake could be missed if the aforementioned Keogh and Crainie leave. As regards the rest, Sammy severely underperformed last season and Conor Thomas, Bigi and Gary Deegan can do his defensive midfield role just as well if not better. Freddy promised so much and has delivered so little, he will always be remembered for the Hat-trick against Peterborough and not much else. Platt, Plattini, The Tree, that big donkey up front whatever you call him he was never good enough . Roy hasn't played and so as you'd expect seeks pastures new, personally I hope he finally starts to play some football as his career could go the same way as the City. With these players leaving the question remains who is coming in?

Transfer Target No.1 - Deadly Dele

Transfer Target No.2 - Cool Clinton (You get me bruv)

This business with the transfer embargo has gone on for far too long, it has already cost us two players in Bradford's Dave Syers and Shrewsbury's James Collins who have joined our league one rivals Doncaster and Swindon. The situation with SISU hasn't appeared to have changed and so Thorny won’t have much to work with if the embargo ever gets lifted. It is vital that it does and fast as even without money there are so many free agents out there that are so much better than what we've got. For example Danny Webber, Justin Hoyte, Mikael Forssell, James Harper, Paul Green, Dele Adebola (jokes), Simon Gillett, Giles Barnes, Clarke Carlisle, Lee Naylor, Tommy Milller, Brian Howard, James Beattie, David Cotterill, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Clinton Morrison, Lloyd Sam, George Boateng and Emile Heskey (Not a joke as Heskey jokes are not funny anymore) to name but a few. With wages being available following the exit of Sammy Clingan and Freddy Eastwood, why not try and sign a few of these. Many of them have that key attribute of PACE, that in the past ten years we have only ever had once in Marlon King and he despite leaving us for the Yam-Yams last year was quite good. 

Transfer Target No.3 - Georgey Boy

The situation with SISU has been well documented as has the situation with the takeover. As I see it between now and the start of the season action needs to take place. If Gary Hoffman is serious about a takeover, and I don't doubt that he is, he needs to enter into negotiations with SISU and place his cards firmly on the table. In recent weeks one of Hoffman's potential investors has been revealed as 57-year-old businessman Wang Jianlin, president of Wanda Group. He is the sixth richest man in China with a personal fortune of £4 billion, the maths is simple: Wang Jianlin = MONEY, SISU = NO MONEY. If this takeover is too happen it needs to take place before the start of the season, if it does not happen by then Gary and his investors may have to call it a day.

Wang Jianlin

So there it is, if by the start of the season Keogh and Crainie are City players, we have Adebola and Heskey up front and Wang Jianlin is the new owner we could have great season and dominate the league. However as it stands now the only change the club have made is to get rid of Steve Harrison

      

Bye bye Steve