A year ago I wrote that ‘Coventry City’s followers have to be pretty satisfied by the progress made by the club during their first season at the Ricoh Arena’. Sadly to say the season just ended has seen fortunes decline again. A year ago the club were probably a little flattered by their finishing position of eighth but this season they have only been above eighth for a brief fortnight in September. Most of the season has been spent in the bottom half of the table and although relegation was never really a possibility it ranks alongside the 2004-05 and 2002-03 seasons as one of the worst in living memory.
Many factors have been put forward for explaining the decline in the club’s status. One key factor was undoubtedly the failure to adequately replace Dennis Wise, such an influential character in the second half of 2005-06. Micky Adams’s signings were, in hindsight, lacking in quality, especially the strikers, and the loss of McSheffrey was hard to bear.
One of the most amazing stats in what has been a mediocre Coventry City season is that the Sky Blues never lost after taking the lead. It was the first time since 1993-94 season that they have achieved the feat and must be heartening for Messrs Dowie and Flowers.
Thirty five players were used in league games.
Goals:
Goals have been the biggest problem for the Sky Blues; they scored only 47 all season, just one more than the lowest total since they were relegated from the Premiership in 2001 and fourteen less than the previous season. 30 were scored at home but only 17 away, the worst haul for six years and the lowest in their division. City failed to score in 18 league games, the worst record since 1991-92 (the season of Don Howe when they had 22 goal less games). They kept 11 clean sheets.
Wins:
City won 11 games at the Arena, only one less than the last campaign but with a few exceptions the performances have not been as good and eight home games have been lost including the last three in a row.
Defeats:
22 games were lost, equalling the worst season in club’s Football League history – the last time they lost as many was in 1985-86 in the old Division 1.
Away Form:
The away form was poor – five wins was one more than last year which was the lowest total since relegation. After winning at QPR in November the side went 13 away games without a win, the worst run since 2000-01 when they went 22 away games without a win. The run included a dreadful six defeats in a row from December to the end of February, equalling the worst run since the team were relegated.
Biggest win:
The biggest victory was 4-1 over Barnsley in March. All five away wins were by a single goal.
Biggest defeat:
City 5-0 defeat at West Brom was the biggest defeat since the 6-1 loss at Chelsea in October 2000. The 0-4 defeat to Preston was not only the worst home defeat at the Ricoh but also the worst home reverse since Portsmouth won by the same score at Highfield Road in March 2003. When City conceded four first-half goals in the 2-4 home defeat to Crystal Palace it was the worst home first half in the club’s history.
Leading scorers:
Dele Adebola was top scorer with 9 goals (8 league, 1 League Cup) whilst Leon McKenzie ended the season with 8 goals (7 League and 1 FA Cup). It was only the third time in 14 seasons that a City player has failed to score double figures in league games.
Doubles:
City did the double over three teams – Hull, Burnley and Barnsley. Five clubs, Crystal Palace, Ipswich, West Brom, Birmingham and Plymouth achieved the feat against City. They did however have the honour to beat the eventual champions Sunderland, repeating their feat of 2004-05.
Appearances:
No Coventry player was an ever present. Andy Marshall made the most league appearances, 41, followed by Michael Doyle with 40 starts. Dele Adebola appeared in 39 games but 11 of them were as a substitute. Three players made just one league appearance, the ill-fated Ben Turner (v WBA), Stuart Giddings as a sub v Cardiff and Lee Hildreth who had one minute in the final game at Burnley. In addition to the 35 players used, five more, goalkeepers Arran Lee-Barratt and Rafaele Gonzales, defender Che Bunce, Andy Gooding and Claus Jorgensen all sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.
Records:
Marcus Hall was a virtual ever present and by the end of the season had clocked up 252 first team appearances for the club, lifting him to 25th in the all-time appearance chart. This season Marcus has overtaken luminaries such as Alf Wood, Harry Roberts and Clarrie Bourton on the chart and is close to overtaking Lloyd McGrath, Dave Clements and Ronnie Rees. Michael Doyle passed 150 appearances during the season and is now 49th on the all-time list whilst Adebola ended the season on 149 games. Stern John’s goal in the home game with Derby in November was City’s 3000th home league goal. Paul McVeigh’s goal at Turf Moor last week was the 5000th league goal conceded by City
Substitutes:
Kevin Kyle made the most appearances from the bench (13). Luke Steele sat on the bench 15 times without being brought on. Five City substitutes scored goals: Thornton, Andrews, Mifsud, McKenzie and John (FA Cup).
Average attendance:
Home 20,344 (2005-06 21,211). Away 17,801 (2005-0616,860). The home average attendance fell by 4%.
Highest home attendance:
27,212 v Birmingham, 31 October. This was City’s biggest home league crowd since the visit of Liverpool in August 1987 attracted 27,509 and the biggest for an evening league game since Brian Clough’s Forest side visited in 1978.
Lowest home attendance:
16,178 v Colchester United, 23 October. This was the league lowest crowd since the move to Foleshill.
Highest away attendance:
Away gates were boosted by large crowds at Derby and Sunderland, the latter game attracting 33,591, the largest league crowd to watch the Sky Blues since they left the Premiership in 2001.
Lowest away attendance:
5,453 v Colchester United, 10 March.
Won from behind:
(3) Sunderland (h), Southend (a), Sheff Wed (h).
Lost from in front:
(0) Stoke remain the only visiting side to come from behind to win since the move to the Ricoh Arena.
Firsts:
The home defeat to Plymouth was the first in the league to the Pilgrims since 1957.
Hat-tricks:
(0) It is five years since Lee Hughes scored City’s last league hat-trick (in a 6-1 win at Crewe). McKenzie and Adebola both scored two goals in a game.
Opposing hat-tricks:
(1) Hereford’s Stuart Fleetwood scored a hat-trick against City in the League Cup game at Edgar Street. He scored only one further goal in his next 30 games.
Own goals: For City:
(2) Sheffield Wednesday’s Madgid Bougherra at the Ricoh and Ahmet Brkovic Luton (away).
Own goals: By City:
(1) Elliott Ward (Wolves a).
Penalties: For City:
(3) Colin Cameron (Southend a), (Burnley h) and Michael Doyle (Hull h). There were no missed penalties
Penalties: Against City:
(4) Rasiak (Southampton a), Eastwood (Southend a), Kamara (WBA a), Chopra (Cardiff h). There were no missed penalties.
Fastest Goal scored:
Adebola 5 minutes v Southampton (h). Wayne Andrews scored at Barnsley 26 seconds after coming on as a substitute – the fastest ever by a City sub.
Fastest Goal conceded:
Kamara 44 seconds at West Brom. Hereford’s Fleetwood scored after 48 seconds in the League Cup tie.
Man of the match awards:
5 Marshall, Hughes. 4 Tabb, Osbourne. 3 Mifsud, Cameron, Ward, Doyle. 3 Kyle, Thornton, McNamee, Adebola, John, Page. 1 Hawkins, Hall, Turner, Currie, Hutchison, McKenzie. MOM Burnley??
Red cards: Coventry:
(2) McNamee (Crystal Palace a), Turner (WBA h). This was the lowest total since 1998-99.
Red cards: Opponents:
(6) Fuller (Stoke a), Brunt & Small (Sheff Wed h), Loovens (Cardiff h), McNamara (Wolves h), Kamara (WBA h)
Cup form:
City went out of both Cup competitions to teams from a lower division – for only the fourth time in their history. For the eighth season running City failed to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup – losing to First Division Bristol City after a replay in the third round. It was the fifth time in ten years that the Sky Blues had lost to team from a lower league. Even more embarrassing was the 1-3 defeat at Hereford in the League Cup – Hereford were newly promoted from the Conference. It was the first time the Sky Blues had been knocked out by a Division 4 team since Workington defeated them in 1961.
By Jim Brown
In the close-season the new executive team of Fletcher, Sharp and Brannigan launched Operation Premiership, a three-year plan to get the club back into the top flight. The objective was to raise around £4 million from local businesses and fans to aid the club’s drive back to the Premiership. The ambitious plans attracted a fair degree of scepticism from certain quarters but the club’s dire financial state and a business model that was unsustainable meant that innovative ideas like this had to be adopted. By November over £1 million had been raised by selling bonds to wealthy local businessmen and the majority of it was given to the manager for his transfer kitty, the first manager since Strachan to be given some reasonable transfer funds.
Micky Adams also got the green light from the board by way of a three –year contract and a glowing testimony from Paul Fletcher: ‘In Micky Adams we have one of the most exciting young managers in the league…we believe he is just the man to take us into the Premiership.’
On the whole however Adams’ summer signings did not cut the mustard and the star of the previous spring, Dennis Wise, was never adequately replaced. Wise had left to become Swindon manager. Richard Shaw had joined Millwall after almost 11 years service and James Scowcroft had moved to Crystal Palace for a useful £500,000 fee.
On the face of things the incoming signings looked useful. Wolves veteran midfielder Colin Cameron had a great scoring record and arrived on a free transfer as did goalkeeper Andy Marshall from Millwall. Four of his signings, Dane Michael Bischoff, striker Wayne Andrews, full-back David McNamee and ex-Brighton man Adam Virgo, all picked up injuries which severely restricted their appearances and had short-lived City careers. Two successes were West Ham’s central defender Elliott Ward and highly-rated midfielder Jay Tabb signed from Brentford on a Bosman. Finally on the eve of the season City paid £300,000 for Port Vale’s Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder Chris Birchall who after a promising start faded badly.
All of these transfers were overshadowed by the McSheffrey saga as Birmingham City spent the summer putting the pressure on the club to sell. Several bids were rejected but it was a case of the board squeezing the top dollar for the player. The eventual fee reported was £4 million but it would be contingent on a number of factors not least Birmingham winning promotion.
Almost immediately the board sanctioned the signing of two strikers before the transfer window closed. Kevin Kyle, the Sunderland centre-forward, and Leon McKenzie from Norwich both cost approaching £1 million and neither would set the world on fire in their first season. Despite Kyle scoring on his home debut he managed only three goals and was soon the butt of the Ricoh crowd. McKenzie managed eight goals, but looked lightweight and lacking in confidence.
The new signings did brighten up things briefly after a woeful start which included an embarrassing League Cup defeat at Hereford and three wins out four lifted the team to the top six. The away form however was poor with five defeats in their first seven trips and when the home form started to slip and an average Plymouth side won at the Ricoh there was some cause for concern. The problem, despite the influx of new strikers was that goals were hard to find with Stern John seemingly suffering a World Cup hangover and Adebola having a bad spell. At Barnsley Adams was booed by a small section of fans who chanted ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’. Adams refused to acknowledge the City supporters at the final whistle and then reacted petulantly in the local media with vague threats of resigning.
After a rumoured bust-up on the coach returning from another away defeat at Stoke Stephen Hughes was dropped and stripped of the captaincy with Robert Page taking over. In Hughes’ absence the results improved and the side put together a five-game unbeaten run lifted them to 11th. Then seven days later everything came to grinding halt at the Hawthorns when a the previously rock solid defence fell apart in a 0-5 thrashing.
This was the start of a serious slump with only one point gained from the next five games and any play-off hopes virtually extinguished. Some felt that Adams panicked after the Hawthorns and restored Stephen Hughes too quickly, others spoke of boardroom pressure to recall the former captain. A home loss to Ipswich on Boxing Day had the fans chanting ‘what a load of rubbish’. Two more home defeats in four days sealed the manager’s fate. First Crystal Palace scored four in the first half and won 4-2, then League One side Bristol City easily won an FA Cup replay. The next morning Adams became the sixth manager to lose his job since 2001.
Adams’ assistant Adrian Heath was appointed caretaker manager but he was just keeping the seat warm for Iain Dowie who wowed the board at interview. Dowie, who had started the season as the new boss of Premiership Charlton but lasted only 15 games, had been a strong favourite to take over as manager of Leicester following the club’s takeover by Milan Mandaric, before Coventry persuaded him to come to the Ricoh. The new man breezed in on the Monday after a dreadful defeat at Leicester and 36 hours later motivated his new team to a good win over Southampton. It was the start of a six-game unbeaten run which dispelled any minor fears of relegation and included four good home wins.
The new manager’s honeymoon came to an abrupt halt at St Andrews as Premiership-bound Blues coasted past a poor Sky Blues team and the season fizzled out with a run of six games without a win before a final day victory at Burnley.
One thing was certain, Dowie would want to sign a number of new players and it appeared that he expected to have a healthy transfer budget made available from the promised takeover. Without that he would have to ‘make do and mend’ as his predecessors had had to do, an unappealing prospect for Dowie.
