Cast your
minds back to the morning of the 18th of August, just over 2000 City supporters
were preparing for the three and a half hour trip down to Yeovil for the club's
first game in the third tier of English football for 48 years. There was a
sense of optimism in the air which was justified following three friendly wins
and a narrow victory over Dagenham and Redbridge in the League cup. With nine
new players having been signed, the majority of fans were expecting a good
start to the campaign with a win over relegation favourites Yeovil Town. Fast
forward nineteen days and the club find themselves manager-less, in 18th
position in the league and having just scraped through 10-9 on penalties
against League 2 Burton Albion in the club's first ever appearance in the
Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Compare this to our opening day counterparts Yeovil
who have had their best start to a season in recent years and sit 2nd in the
table. A lot can happen in nineteen days especially at Coventry City Football
Club.
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| Cody makes it 1-0 |
On arriving at Huish Park the reality of what we were about to
embark upon slapped you right in the face. Huish Park epitomises what you would
expect from a lower league ground, a small stadium with a tight, compact pitch
and a stand with no roof on it. The official programme highlighted how
our reputation as a 'big club' had taken a big hit as it claimed Adam
Barton to be former Notts County winger Ishmel Demontagnac (God Knows How) and
Gary McSheffrey to be former skipper Sammy Clingan. The game itself started in
a frantic fashion with both teams trying to work each other out, then in the
tenth minute summer signing John Fleck curled a free-kick into the Town box and
it was met by the head of Cody McDonald, cue calls of 'We are going to walk
this league' and 'That's the first of many for Cody'. For the next ten minutes
this talk seemed valid, only for Yeovil centre half Richard Hinds to head home
from a corner and silence the noisy Sky Blue fans and in turn bring us back
down to earth. 1-1 it remained with Yeovil probably playing the better football
and us having the better chances but there were positives to take from the game
and every reason to look forward to the next two home games.
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| Malaga's despair |
Those games were on paper against the promotion favourites
Sheffield United and relegation certainties Bury, despite
the apparent differences between the two teams both games
drew similarities. These similarities being; one half of awful football
and another of good football, letting a lead slip and pace changing the game.
The Tuesday night game against United saw City bumble through the first half
with only a Richard Wood goal line clearance the difference between the teams.
After the break City came out rejuvenated and started to pass the ball with
more urgency and direction, opening up the United defence with Carl Baker
starting to influence the game and it should have been 1-0 when Frenchman Kevin
Malaga on debut appeared to head in from a corner only for the United defence
to scramble the ball off the line. The breakthrough came from a Murphy
kick down-field which was flicked into the path of Stephen Elliott by
Cody McDonald, Elliott smashing the ball past Mark Howard and the Sky Blues
were ahead for the second time in four days. The game ebbed and flowed for the
next twenty minutes, with United looking dangerous on the break with the pace
of John Cofie and Nick Blackman causing concern for a tiring City midfield. Rather
than freshen the team up by taking off the fatigued Adam Barton and Kevin
Kilbane Thorn hesitated, cue a Stephen Quinn break down the right side of the
City defence and United front man Blackman burst past Hussey and Kilbane to
finish and bag the Blades a point.
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| John Lewis completes the comeback |
Roll on Saturday was the call from the fans, the hypothesis was
simple perform like we did in the second half and a win will follow. For 45 minutes
this appeared true, free flowing football saw us take a 2-0 lead through Barton
and Baker and show Bury up as a very average side. The second half started in a
rather stagnant fashion; similarities from Tuesday night were beginning to show
again without Thorn even contemplating a sub. Then in the 55th minute Richard
Wood bundled over David Healy in the box and the Northern Ireland forward
scored the resulting spot kick, this was a sign for Thorn to freshen things up
but yet again he did nothing unlike his counterpart in the opposition dugout
Peter Shirtliff. He realised City were on the rack and went for it, bringing on
the pacy duo of Marcus Marshall and Lenell-John Lewis. Every time they got on
the ball our defence looked worried and John-Lewis delivered the
goods as his header flew past Murphy in the 69th minute and The Shakers were
level, what had seen impossible at half time had become a reality. Of course
now Thorn freshened things up with a double substitution but nothing changed
and we just about hung on for the point. Once again we had witnessed a
combination of Thorn's inadequacies and the pace of the opposition result in us
giving up a lead.
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| Thorn during better times |
The very next day many were shocked to hear that after three
league games Thorn had been given the bullet. I had defended Thorn throughout
last season for the simple fact that trying to manage a club under such owners
as SISU was an impossible job. However it had become evident from the first
three games that tactically Thorn was limited, he would speak of wanting to
play the right way which we did do during his time with us in the Championship.
But this season the aimless booting of the ball to our two small strikers,
playing a young striker in defensive midfield and failing to add any pace to
the squad showed Thorn up to be what he really was or wasn't - a manager. As
Chief Executive Tim Fisher put it, “To me
the second half against Bury, abjectly losing two points from a position of
strength, was a symptom of an underlying problem that we had aimed to correct
during the summer and that
progression hadn't happened".
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| Thinking of a masterplan? |
With Thorn gone the baton had been passed over to
club legend Richard Shaw whilst the process of finding a new manager took
place. Shaw admitted that he wanted the job but that he was only focussing on
the next game which was the League Cup second round tie against
neighbours Birmingham. His audition for the job was very much enhanced
during this game in which City won 3-2 after extra time. Shaw stuck with the
diamond formation, giving William Edjenguele his debut at centre half. Despite
going behind early on, the Sky Blues hit back through Cody McDonald and Kevin
Kilbane and led up until the 44th minute when that underlying problem struck
again and Jonathan Spector made it 2-2. Despite this set back there was no
second half capitulation from the team with Carl Baker basically running the
show as the game drifted into extra time. Baker topped off one of his best
games in a city shirt by bagging the winner. The duo of Shaw and Carsley had
started well and raised hopes for the league game against Crewe on
Saturday.
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| TACTICS GAFFER? |
For many it was a case of; turn up, win the game,
go home. However anyone thinking Crewe would lie down and take the defeat were
very much mistaken. Just over 1500 fans had made the short trip to Crewe and we
made ourselves heard dwarfing any noise the Crewe fans could muster.
Despite the atmosphere the fans were making the team didn't perform,
there appeared to be no philosophy behind what Shaw was trying to do. It was neither
Aidy Boothroyd style long ball or Andy Thorn style passing football, there was
just no direction or game plan which in the end amounted to booting the ball
aimlessly up to McDonald and Elliott who had no chance of winning the
ball off the Crewe centre backs. Crewe on the other hand played an attacking
4-2-3-1 formation with the pace and skill of Moore, Clayton and Leitch-Smith
causing havoc in the City defence and that was where the winning goal came
from. Despite rallying early in the second half with both Cody
and David McGoldrick going close, City's toothless display
was personified by Kevin Kilbane's late altercation with a fan in which
Killer told him in no uncertain terms to eff off. Personally I don't blame
Killer for objecting to the abuse from the fans, I am of the opinion that it is
fine to voice your displeasure at the end of the game but during the game the
team need the fans to stay onside and support them. It appears that a small
minority of our fans are mindless idiots who wouldn't know Kevin Kilbane
from Zinedine Zidane, this minority was showcased by one genius who abused a
ball boy so much that he made him cry once again dragging our great club
through the mud.
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| Murphy celebrates scoring the winning spot kick |
On Tuesday it became clear that all applications
for the manager’s job had been taken and the club were now following a process
to appoint a new manager. This was now Richard Shaw's last chance to show his
credentials to the board by getting a thumping win over League two Burton in
the JPT.........or not. What can only be described as 90 minutes of the most
mind numbingly dull football to ever grace the Ricoh Arena was followed by a
tight 10-9 win on penalties for City. There was no tactics; direction, game
plan or anything that suggested Shaw has what it takes to get the job and that
small minority of fans again showed themselves up as the idiotic
simpletons they are by booing players throughout the game, if only to
destroy their confidence even more. Don't get me wrong it is of course the
players that go onto to the field but any instructions they were given clearly hadn't come
through. I have a lot of respect for both Shaw and Carsley and would love them
to stay on as coaches but this team needs a change of mentality and a huge kick
up the backside.
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| The man to take us forward? |
Earlier in the week it appeared that Oxford United manager Chris
Wilder was the favourite to get the job although any approach has
been denied by the Oxford chairman. For me however the choice has to be Dennis
Wise, a man with unfinished business in football management
having previously managed Millwall, Swindon and Leeds before taking
an obscure role at Newcastle United which only served to damage his reputation.
Wise was a winner as a player mainly with Chelsea during the pre Roman
Abramovich reign, during his career he won the F.A Cup three times, the League
Cup, the UEFA Cup winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup. He has a 46.95% win ratio
throughout his managerial career which is much better than Chris Wilder,
Paul Ince or Kevin Blackwell. I just hope the club make the right decision as I
still believe this squad is more than good enough to get promotion. At least we
get to see what a ‘successful club’ is like when we face the mighty Arsenal at
the Emirates in the League Cup in a few weeks.
For those of you who still aren't sure this is Kevin Kilbane
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| Kilbane |
And this is Zinedine Zidane
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| Zidane |
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