Coventry City’s followers have to be pretty satisfied by the progress made by the club during their first season at the Ricoh Arena. A year ago the club finished the season in nineteenth position with 52 points, only two points above the relegation zone and never got above 16th place all season. The final position of 8th is very heartening especially if you consider that on November 22 after the defeat at Selhurst Park the team were lying in 22nd place.
I believe that one of the key reasons for more consistency was that only 31 players were used, the lowest number in any of the past five seasons. Ten of these players were on loans or short term contracts and there were only five new contracted players. In the five campaigns since relegation in 2001, the Sky Blues have used a total of 117 different players! By comparison Jimmy Hill during his five-year stint as manager in the 1960s used only 45 players.
Goals:
The goals scored total of 62 was only one more than last season’s 61 but five short of the tally under Gary McAllister/Eric Black in 2003-04. The 39 home goals was not only the best the club have achieved since relegation to the second tier but also the club’s best since 1978-79 when Ian Wallace and Mick Ferguson were in their prime.
Wins:
City’s performances at the Arena have been excellent and 43 of the team’s points came from the 23 home games (the highest since 1986-87 when the team won 46 home points from 21 games). Twelve home wins equalled the best since that same season (they also won 12 at home in 1999-2000 and 2001-02). The run of 12 unbeaten home league games between November and April equalled the best run since 1979 when they were unbeaten in 13. The away form was poor however – four wins being the worst total since relegation in 2001.
Biggest win:
The biggest victory was 6-1 over Derby in January. It equalled the team’s biggest home league win since 1963 when Shrewsbury were beaten 8-1 in a Third Division game. (They did beat Sunderland 6-1 in 1982). All four away wins were by a single goal.
Biggest defeat:
City lost by four clear goals on two occasions (at Burnley and Watford). 4-1 defeats were endured at Crewe and at home to Crystal Palace.
Leading scorers:
For the third season running Gary McSheffrey topped City’s goalscoring charts. He netted 17 goals (15 League, 1 FA Cup and 1 League Cup) from 48 starts and three were from the penalty spot. Dele Adebola was second top scorer with 12 goals (all league) whilst Stern John ended the season with 11 goals (10 League and 1 FA Cup) – an impressive haul from 25 starts. It meant that for the first time in 26 years City had three players in double figures in league games. On the last occasion, in 1979-80, Ian Wallace scored 13 goals, Mick Ferguson 10 and Tommy English 10.
Doubles:
City did the double over two teams – QPR and Luton. Two clubs, Crystal Palace and Preston achieved the feat against City.
Appearances:
No Coventry player was an ever present. Michael Doyle, for the second season running made the most league appearances with 44 starts (his two non-appearances were when he was suspended). Gary McSheffrey played 43 games and, like Doyle, only missed games through suspension. Three players made just one league appearance, Clayton Ince (at Leicester), Youssef Sofiane, a triallist, played 45 minutes as a substitute against Palace at home and Ben Turner played about one minute at Stoke as a sub. In addition to the 31 players used, four more, goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey and youngsters Craig Reid, Ryan Lynch and Luke Webb sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.
Records:
Richard Shaw took his total appearances for the Sky Blues to 362, becoming the 7th highest appearance maker in the club’s history. McSheffrey reached the 50-goal milestone for the club and by the end of the season had scored 52, leaving him 16th in the club’s all-time scorers chart.
Substitutes:
Andy Morrell broke Patrick Suffo’s record of 22 substitute appearances in a season by coming on 27 times, including ten successive games early in the season. Ironically each of the three goals he scored were when he started a game. City substitutes scored six goals with Dennis Wise and Don Hutchison both netting twice after coming off the bench.
Average attendance:
Home 21,211 (2004-05 16,131). Away 16,860 (2004-0517,025). The home average attendance increased by over 31% and was the highest since 1978-79 season.
Highest home attendance:
26,856 v Wolves, 2 January. This was City’s biggest home league crowd since the visit of Liverpool in August 1987 attracted 27,509. City had 16 20,000 plus crowds. The visit of Middlesbrough in the FA Cup attracted an even bigger crowd – 28,120 was the largest crowd in any competition since 1981 when the League Cup semi-final with West Ham was watched by 35,411.
Lowest home attendance:
16,197 v Millwall, 10 December.
Highest away attendance:
25,355 v Norwich, 6 August. For the first time since 1967 (when 51,455 saw the Wolves game) the club’s highest home gate was bigger than the highest away crowd.
Lowest away attendance:
6,529 v Brighton, 17 September.
Won from behind:
(3) Plymouth (h), Derby (h), Hull (a). The 2-2 draw at Ipswich was the first time in nine years that the team had come from 0-2 down to draw. Later they repeated the feat at Wolves.
Lost from in front:
(3) Sheffield United (a), Leicester (a), Stoke (h). Stoke remain the only side to come from behind at the Ricoh Arena.
Firsts:
The home defeat to Hull was the first in the league to the Tigers since 1962. The win at QPR was the first league victory there since 1987 and the first ever away win on Sky TV. The 0-2 defeat at Reading was City’s first defeat at the Madejski in four visits.
Hat-tricks:
(0) Stern John came closest in the Derby game but was denied his trick by penalty king McSheffrey. Adebola and Wise both also scored braces.
Opposing hat-tricks:
(1) Vincent Pericard of Plymouth scored all three goals in Argyle’s 3-1 win at Home Park. Amazingly Pericard scored only one other goal for Argyle in 14 games.
Own goals: For City:
(2) Brighton’s Paul McShane in the 2-2 draw at the Withdean and Wolves’ Joleon Lescott in the New Year game at the Ricoh.
Own goals: By City:
(1) Adie Williams at Luton.
Penalties: For City:
(4) Gary McSheffrey (3) (Sheff Wed a, QPR a, Derby h), and Don Hutchison (1) (Southampton a). There was one missed penalty – McSheffrey at Leeds.
Penalties: Against City:
(4) David Unsworth (Sheff United a), Chris Blunt (Sheff Wed a), Graham Alexander (Preston a), David Healy (Leeds h). Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley a) and Leroy Lita (Reading h) were the only opponents to miss penalties.
Fastest Goal scored:
Adebola 2 minutes v Watford (h).
Fastest Goal conceded:
Andrews 58 seconds v Crystal Palace (a)
Most unlikely hero:
When Dennis Wise appeared against Derby County in January he became the oldest City debutant of all-time. Dennis aged 39 years 37 days broke the record set by Gordon Strachan who was 38 years 64 days. During the game ‘Wisey’ became the oldest goalscorer in the club’s history.
Man of the match awards:
7 McSheffrey, 6 Doyle, 4 Adebola, 3 Hutchison, Hall, Fulop, Page, 2 Wise, Bywater, Thornton, Williams, Hughes, Shaw, 1 Osbourne, Scowcroft, Nalis, Flood.
Red cards: Coventry:
(4) Hughes (Burnley a), Heath (Sheff United a), Jorgensen (Crystal Palace h) and Doyle (Crewe h).
Red cards: Opponents:
(6) Serioux (Millwall a), Shittu (QPR h), Lynch (Hull h), Lawrence (Millwall h), Royce (QPR a), Kisnorbo (Leicester h).
Cup form:
Whilst the club failed to reach the fifth round for the seventh season running they did at least win away in the competition. The 1-0 win at Brighton was the first away win since 2001.The draw with Middlesbrough in round four was the first time they have avoided defeat against a Premiership club since they were relegated in 2001 but ultimately it was the sixth successive Cup exit to a top flight club.
By Jim Brown
If Mike McGinnity thought that the summer of 2005 with the club safe from relegation and the move to the Ricoh Arena was going to offer some respite then he was mistaken. A summer of misery awaited. The first bit of bad news came when the Coventry Telegraph ran a story that Micky Adams’ contract was still unsigned. McGinnity had to cut short a holiday to fly back and deal with the fallout of the situation. Within days of the blunder coming to light Adams signed the contract and McGinnity was able to relax or so he thought.
Two weeks later came the news everyone feared – the new stadium was not going to be ready to be used until August 20. Despite the Football League initially refusing to allow the club to play their first three games away from home the issue was resolved when Norwich, City’s opponents on 6 August, agreed to switch the game from the Ricoh to Carrow Road, allowing QPR to be the first visitors at the Arena on 20 August.
Adams was restricted to just three summer signings. Clayton Ince, Crewe’s Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper signed on a free transfer but ended up playing just one league game (when he was judged to be at fault for a goal) and had to play second fiddle to loan ‘keepers Stephen Bywater and Hungarian Marton Fulop. The manager returned to Leicester to sign striker James Scowcroft and defender Matt Heath. Richard Duffy signed a season’s long loan from Portsmouth.
As the season commenced Adams told the fans not to expect too much and his advice looked spot on as City slumped to a 0-4 defeat at Turf Moor after away draws in the opening two games. The defeat sent City into the bottom three but the fans were unperturbed, they were gearing themselves up for the opening game at the Ricoh Arena against Queens Park Rangers.
In a perfect start the Sky Blues romped to a 3-0 win over QPR with Claus Jorgensen achieving the honour of the first goal at the new stadium. The Dane’s flying header set the blue touch paper to a memorable victory on a glorious sunny day with Dele Adebola scoring two more goals before half-time. It was to be City’s only victory in the first ten games and the storm clouds were gathering.
The stress on McGinnity finally took its toll and in November he resigned as chairman and soon afterwards it was revealed that he had suffered a heart attack. Geoffrey Robinson took over the reins on a caretaker basis and appointed a new management team. Ex-Burnley player Paul Fletcher formerly chief executive of Arena Coventry became chief executive and brought with him Australian Ken Sharp, and Mal Brannigan. By common consent it was believed that the club’s debts were around the £25 million level.
It became clear as they stuttered through the autumn that City were in danger of relegation. Only three of the first ten games at the new stadium were won. Away from home City had not won any of their first eleven games. Several short-term contract players and loanees including Andrew Impey, Lilian Nalis and French striker Youssef Sofiane failed to make an impression. The biggest enigma however was striker Stern John whose form frustrated the manager and supporters and he was loaned out to Derby. He similarly misfired at Pride Park, failing to score in seven games.
In November with City in the bottom three Adams made the first of two shrewd signings in the shape of veteran Don Hutchison. Signed initially on loan from Millwall and later on a short term contract Don made his mark in his second appearance for the club against Plymouth. Hutch almost single-handedly lifted the team up by the boot laces, and scored a classy goal in a 3-1 victory which would prove to be the turning point of the season. Two further wins followed including a first on the road at QPR and Adams breathed a little lighter. McSheffrey was switched to a wide midfield role to accommodate Stern John, back in the fold after his Rams escapade, and a New Years holiday win over Wolves heartened the fans.
If Hutchison, at 34, was old, then Adams’ second inspired signing was ancient. He offered 39-year old controversial midfielder Dennis Wise a short-term contract until the end of the season. Wise’s arrival upset many City fans who had watched his antics on and off the pitch with disdain for many years and took the moral high ground. By the time he was substituted after 77 minutes of his debut in another six goal feast against Derby, the doubters were won over.
He scored four goals in his first three games and even though he made only 13 appearances, seven of those resulted in victories to ensure the spiky Londoner earned cult status in his brief spell at the club. His presence together with Hutchison’s and a more settled and balanced team formation catapulted the Sky Blues up the league table. At one stage a place in the play-offs looked possible but whilst the team went 13 games unbeaten at home, the away form remained patchy.
The home form kept the crowds rolling into the Ricoh and there was only one crowd under 20,000 in the second half of the season. The largest crowd was reserved for the FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough at the end of January when over 28,000 set a ground record. Despite being on top of their Premiership opponents for long periods with Hutchison and John in terrific form the Sky Blues failed to finish off the Teesiders and unluckily lost the replay.
The season ended on a high note with a crowd in carnival mood celebrating a 3-1 win over Cardiff with John and Adebola scoring to ensure three City players reached double figures (McSheffrey was the third man) and Wise coming off the bench to net a last minute goal on his farewell appearance. Wise and Richard Shaw, also making his final appearance, got a memorable send-off. The result lifted the Sky Blues to a final placing of eighth, their best finish since dropping out of the Premiership.
