Thorn makes a last stand as relegation door swings shut behind City

Well this is a depressing reason to re-boot this blog.

After a few months of desolation where I felt I would only be treading on old ground. I feel impulsed to now.

But after tonight’s results, City will be treading on ground we haven’t traipsed on for nearly 48 years.

I’ve been a City fan for all my life. Born and bred in the city walls, almost bought up on the West Terrace and then made street smart through experiences at the Ricoh, but a City fan through all of it.

From Dion Dublin to Gary McSheffrey; Darren Huckerby to Carl Baker; Gordon Strachan to Andy Thorn;

As the incorrect graffiti art goes- I woz there.

But through all that, this is the lowest.

A club run by owners, apparently. It’s hard to stay restrained, something Andy Thorn has managed to do when in the public sphere on TV & Radio.

Thorn’s own future will be questioned between now and August but for me, he may just get a shot at bouncing this side back into the Championship.

He was someone who earnt plaudits from his predecessors for unearthing talent like Aron Gunnarsson, Gary Madine, Danny Fox & Scott Dan to name a few but fell into a job in a situation no-one would wish upon themselves.

He saw a player leave to a rival due to money and security. He saw his mid-season top scorer leave for 7 figures and was replaced by an untried youth from football’s money rich-on loan.

A image which sums up the season for City. Ken Dulieu on the bench. Photo from Coventry Telegraph.

He has fought against the tide from almost the get go. He has got things wrong, he would probably admit it himself, but with the vultures circling on the best the squad has to offer. The youth could prosper in the 3rd tier.

His earlier mentioned restraint (minus tonight’s post-match presser) has been exemplary. When his bosses sat behind him, he somehow kept the air clean when the fans’ eyes were on him.

The club which once boasted wins over the powerhouses of the country’s game on a yearly basis now dwindles along unspectacularly with a worrying fall from grace seeing no upturn on the horizon.

There are some clubs’ fans who will revel in this fall, but the self-depricating Sky Blue Army will be at the Huish Park’s, Banks’ Stadium and Griffin Park’s of the world next season.

That means more than anything at a time where spirits are low in mind but are being cracked open to soothe.

The off-the-field plight of the club will be the focus of the incredibly loyal Sky Blue diehards, some are already writing obituaries, this could even be construed as one.

I’m writing an hour after the loss against Milwall and the wound is open. I followed from afar in recent times with Univerisity priorities keeping me away from a spring night at the Ricoh, but calls from my dad at the game and from friends on social network showed it all.

A mix of depression to then finding positives in this plight.

Whatever happens, Thorn who has kept us in the fight for survival until the penultimate week of the season, with a side stripped of most of its worth and his back rarely had by his bosses.

He may be given his orders as the ‘owners’ look for a way of trying to show they are doing something to fight this fall.

He has been able to add 3. Count them. 3 players on ‘full time’ deals. Two being Goalkeepers. One being a striker who has had fitness problems all year.

When we went to Bristol last week, they made 6 changes with the options they had, we made 2 with the options we had. One being a walking wounded striker who could barely move.

Thorn will probably get ‘future endeavoured’ but, that isn’t the move the fans want more than anything. The hierachy are more than aware of what is wanted, but I fear. Unless they call in help, it may be as we are come early-August or worse.

If that is the case then the loyalty will be further tested and the body-blows which comes with being a CCFC fan in recent years will come with more ferocity and regularity.

We'll always be there. SBA

It’s likely that some of the players are already planning their exit routes out the club, but we’ll see what happens. Professional hurt will stick with this set of players no matter if they are here or not next year.

I’m going to blog more over the summer and will look at the squad we may have in the coming weeks and the outlook for next season.

But for now this slightly emotional, untethered thoughts and opinion on the running of MY club. But this is MY club and come August, I’ll be going to places I probably couldn’t of found on a map as a kid watching messers Huckerby, Dublin and co.

But here I sit, researching the away day experiences I will face next season.

I’m listening to talk radio and the national spotlight is on the club once more as our manager makes a last stand it seems.

Calls for off-the-pitch overhaul, players overhaul have been long standing. But as ever, falling on deaf ears and finally it seems it’s come to one thing.

Apologies for the low spirit of this blog and roundabout way of going about this, but it’s what this club does to you!

CTID

PUSB

City troubles continue with nothing seemingly on the horizon

A common sight at the Ricoh for far too long.

There’s a song by a band called Death Cab for Cutie (look them up, they are immense!) that has a lyric which goes ‘If heaven & hell decide that they are both satisfied, illuminate the NO’s on their vacancy sign’. At the minute, you could play that line continuously when examining the goings on, again, at City.

Hell it seems would be taken up by owners who are accused of doing little more but hide behind four letters which bring fear to those remaining in the Sky Blue Army and keep quiet about whatever is that they have as a plan or look to communicate with what is an increasingly frustrated fan base.

Hell could also be described as what might just happen if the exit door continues it desperate cycle and other senior figures leave the purgatory state that is the Ricoh and we are left in a not too dissimilar situation to Darlington are, where they are clamouring for anyone with gloves, boots or a healthy bank balance.

Hoffman has gone about his buisness quietly in recent weeks

Heaven, well, some see it as Gary Hoffman rolling in at the last second and getting his hands dirty and delving into his wallet and saving the club from infamy and desolation.

But, we’ve dined there before haven’t we?

Staying alive in the Championship has become an after-thought for this season.

If by May, City find their selves still in the second tier still. Fans will be relieved by a little non-plussed if this almost satirical state and melodrama of a football club and its operations is still going on.

The final tolls of the January Sales are nearing and we have already seen the no mean feat of signing a player who quite possibly started his career before some of his team-mates could walk.

Hriedarsson at 37 has added some needed experience to City's ranks.

We have seen the predictable sale of Lukas Jutkiewicz to Middlesboro and the touted arrival of Alex Nimely from Man City’s youth/reserve side on a 3-month loan along with a spike in average-age arrival of Herman Hriedarsson on a free transfer from Portsmouth, but what next.

With around 10 days remaining of the Transfer window, we might yet see some new faces in and possibly some out. The likes of Clingan, Keogh and Christie are rumoured to of stoked interest from further afield than Phoenix Way and the twitch most City fans have at this time of the year will return.

With a eerie quiet on the takeover front after a somewhat alleviating Christmas period which saw us almost double our wins total for the season and calendar year. The death knell for the ownership of the club seems, despite the somewhat ‘educated guess’ of a certain ex-Sky employee  is no closer to coming to fruition.

Until then with both the ownership and limited in numbers playing staff, the vacancy signs are showing no indication adding the ‘NO’ to it and it is that what worries most when it comes to following this most-of-the-time-unfathomable football club more than anything.

PUSB!

25 years on: City still bask in the Wembley Sun as Saints come to town

The Boys of 1987. Copyright of BBC.

It’s that time when most City fans usually think this is the year.

Managers come to the club and say their aim is to get the fans talking of something else but 1987.

This year though it seems to be the least of the worries for the City faithful.

I was born little under a year after that day in May. But being bought up a City fan, it was drummed into me and given a few minutes I would be able, like many City fans of my age. To name that City team that beat the Spurs team of Hoddle and co.

But with Championship leaders Southampton the opponents this weekend, the cup run might not get going this time around.

Although without leading scorer Rickie Lambert and on a run of form not befitting Champions, the St Mary’s side come to the Ricoh clear favourites in the tie. But as with that day in Wembley sun, City would be demons to bet against in this competition.

Andy Thorn will surely send his players out to play with freedom without the pressures of league position on the young side. The fitness of Lukas Jutkiewicz, who is thought to be a January target for Saints, will also be key to how City tackles the league’s top team.

A scene a long way from the current situation at CCFC.

In the league fixture in November, Southampton could have had a hatful in the first half but after the ringing words of Thorn, City gave them a fright in the 2^nd half to storm back level at 2-2, before naivety at the back fronted up and cost City the points in a 4-2 defeat.

As well as the annual comparisons to the cup run in 1987, the club has taken the smart marketing idea of releasing a replica shirt to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the biggest trophy the club has won.

Replica shirts and the rebirth of memories from the older generations of those Sky Blue fans which the FA Cup brings, will amount to little if the club finds itself playing in the earlier stages of the competition next season.

Outside of reminiscing there is a secondary tag to this weekend’s cup tie.

A protest, which is putting the national spotlight on the current situation of the club even more so this weekend will give the game, still held in fondness to those who were there in 1987 an unfamiliar feeling of being the subplot to a bigger and more important story- the long-term future of the Football Club.

City sent into raptures at Wembley. Mabbutt cant bare to look up. Photo credit to Popperfoto

Whilst some will protest at the club’s owners in one way, some will also harp back to the days of Houchen and the lung-bursting runs of McGrath which will rekindle some smiles on the faces of the dwindling crowds at the club.

Taking part or not in the protest matters little as the thoughts of most City fans are the same on the current plight.

But this weekend in one turbulent season for City and the fans will be a welcome reason to smile as the outstretched leg of Gary Mabbutt continues to put a musty tear in the eye of those who call themselves members of the Sky Blue Army.

PUSB.

Festive positivity dampened by McPake’s plea to leave

Jutkiewicz's goal briefly lifted City off the bottom. Photo Copyright of BBC Sport

So 2012 was welcomed in with the anomaly of back to back wins for City. A happy Christmas was had by most in Sky Blue as a 1-0 win over Bristol City and a impressive 2-0 win against Brighton certainly brightened moods around the Ricoh, if only temporarily.

Monday’s defeat against title contenders West Ham was one which showed it seems the battling spirit of Andy Thorn’s side and with the encouraging form of Joe Murphy in between the sticks and Gary McSheffrey in a more-advanced role in the side reaping goalscoring rewards. The senior players are showing glimpses of what was missing earlier in the season from them.

But it seems, not all is right in the camp as James McPake, much to the clear disappointment of Thorn has decided he wants to up sticks and return home to Scotland and the SPL.

Well, let him.

He would not have been my pick for who would look for the exit first this month, but his reasons are understandable.

A wish to go home being one of the main factors behind his request. McPake who got married last summer has a different life to cater for to the one which he had when he came from Livingston a few years ago.

McPake's injury problems have meant his City career has never got going. Picture copyright SkySports.com

The Scot has had a horrid run of injuries and despite recently signing a one-year extension at the club, he clearly feels he’l be better suited back closer to his roots north of the border although he is denying that he has asked to leave.

McPake, following another spell in the physio’s room has found himself behind Richard’s Keogh and Wood as well as Martin Crainie in the backline. Being 4th choice is something McPake obviously didn’t forsee when he made the move to City.

But, he can’t begrudge the players in front of him their run in the side as Keogh & Crainie are providing a debate for the club’s player of the season award.

Last week against Brighton I said that I hadn’t seen a more complete marking job on a striker this season compared to the one Keogh & Crainie put on the presumed absent Craig Mackail-Smith.

He hardly had a sniff for 90 minutes and while his side had a lot of the ball, the defensive duo along with Wood and the ever improving Cyrus Christie at right back the Seagulls all but relented in the second half as City wore them down and closed out the game with ease.

So McPake’s plea for football, barring injury would not be met at the club in the coming weeks so he is left with no choice but to look to play, given his current bout of match-fitness.

Thorn has seemed to be at his most positive during recent upturn in results. Copyright of Yahoo Sports UK

The reported transfer request from McPake has again seemingly exasperated Thorn as he once more watches a player he bought to the club see his future elsewhere and not wanting to fight for a place, it seems in what is a depleted squad.

After the goings on of the past summer where he trusted the word of Marlon King and was not able to persuade Westwood and Gunnarsson to stay, he has been left in the defensive lurch again.

Reinvigorated over the festive period, Thorn gave the aura of someone finally ready to face the challenge of keeping City in this league. The departure of Ken Dulieu is, in my mind no coincidence to this new optimism and with the financial state and future of the club still in situ with closure rumoured to be close for the castigated owners SISU. The coming months and 2012 as a whole may get going just as positively as 2011 ended.

National exposure laments troubles for City

Dulieu (r) & Oggy. Photo copyright owned by Coventry Telegraph.

Well, It’s happened. The season all City fans are willing to end has hit the national papers. This morning’s (Thursday) Daily Mirror has one of the biggest write up on City in years and as typical, it’s not good.

It took one of the most disbelieving things to occur at City in a very long time for the national press to take notice of something which has had the City faithful worried and rattled for too long.

Head of Football Operations Ken Dulieu sat himself on the bench this past Saturday in one of the most pressing examples of undermining a manager in City’s history.

Andy Thorn, to his credit managed to keep a tight lip when asked post-game but although his lip remained tight on the matter, his mannerisms and body language spoke volumes. Since Saturday talk Radio has took it on themselves to look at the situation Thorn and City and the fans find their selves in.

The consensus being one of dismay at the state of the club on and off the pitch.

Dulieu’s decision at the weekend was alarming. An another log for the fire which is building to see the back of the current club owners sooner rather than later.

Following on from Brody’s text ‘idea’ this past weekend’s activity on the bench behind Thorn again showed what most City fans have as a main gripe towards SISU. They just are not footballing people and have no inclination as to how to right the ship at this time.

But let me digress a little.

Mustapha Hadji, one part of the side dubbed 'The Entertainers'

I have been a City fan since 1994, been a season ticket holder for most of them up until University out of the confines of the City came calling two years ago. I was there when Huckerby scored against United, when Mifsud did a number on Gerard Pique at Old Trafford ten years later and when for 45 minutes, despite being 5-0 down away from home to West Brom, the City support never relented in a amazing rendition of ‘Twist n Shout’.

I have also experienced relegation as a fan. The disbelief when Eric Black left the club when he had us playing the best football since ‘the entertainers’ era of Hadji, Keane & McAllister left town. I have sat through cup defeats to the Rochdale’s and Hartlepool’s of the world.

But it all pales into comparison to the prominent deflation and resignation which comes with being a City fan at this time.

A core of around 10,000fans seat themselves at the Ricoh, a number likely to dwindle in the coming weeks and months.

No matter what, SBA will be there.

The planned protest of the upcoming Cup game at home to Southampton will most probably fall silent in the higher reaches of the club. But it’s coming to a point now where fans feel they must do something of this nature to save the club, just by doing anything we can.

Whether it proves to be enough and as I stated before in previous posts, the fall has yet to hit the floor. But with rumours of a takeover coming, although sparse, seeming to come with some conviction, the light is there for City fans.

It’s just a case of if there will be anything left once the endgame is reached for City and the Sky Blue Army.

Me, like Andy Thorn on Saturday. Trying to remain restrained.

PUSB!!

A Look Back: The Transylvanian inspired Cup run

Moldovan's brief stay at City highlighted by that goal at Villa Park

With the FA Cup Third round draw now drawn and the assault on the most famous club competition in the world underway for City. I lookback on what the FA Cup has given City fans since that day in 1987.

16th May 1987. A date etched in the minds of every City fan.

A surging run by Lloyd McGrath down the right wing who’s cross clips off of Gary Mabbutt’s knee and loops up over the scrambling Ray Clemence and into the net.

3-2 Coventry City; Twenty minutes later Kilcline is holding that trophy aloft and Steve Orgizovic is falling down a couple of the Wembley steps.

Ten years later, by this time I myself a fan for four or five, the cup dream was nearly realised once more. In this post I will look back on that unerring season which saw many of the top dogs of English football laid low by a small, angry Scotsman at the helm and a strike partnership which is still missed to this day.

A hobbled Kilcline with a image many will never forget

Now first back to 1987, I was born nearly a year later, so didn’t experience the joys of that day. But I like most City fans of a similar age, have had that day and our elders experiences of it recalled back to us numerous times. It’s something that never gets old.

But in 1997, I was there.

The season before, with a lot of help from Bryan Robson’s decision not to bother with a game at Blackburn and a fine of 3 points, City stayed up on the final day thanks to heroics on that final day by Steve Ogrizovic.

We were once more cannon fodder pre-season.

An inspired opening-day home win against Chelsea which saw Dion Dublin hit a hat-trick against a side which boasted the likes of messers Zola, Poyet and Wise. But that was one of very few highlights in the opening salvo of the season for City. Just two more wins came before I got the chance to open my advent calendar for the year.

We sat 15th going into the Christmas month and our annual defeat at Villa Park came home to roost to see a three-match losing streak. Then a 4-0 triumph at Highfield Road against Spurs lifted City and spirits.

Then the FA Cup draw was made. Liverpool away; Ten years and counting it was to be then since we had a date at Wembley.

With the draw we faced a tough week with the Champions, Man United coming to town before the trip to Anfield.

Then, this happened…(Jump to 6:00)

The Dion & Hucks partnership had worked wonders, we had done to the champions what they do to so many. Turn a late deficit into three points.

Bring on Liverpool!

Me, along with my dad, a mate from school who was a Liverpool fan and his Arsenal supporting dad made our way up to Anfield.

Ten minutes in Redknapp curls a free kick in. 1-0 Liverpool. It’s going to be a long day.

Then just like he had done a week earlier, Huckerby delivered. With pace which probably still gives Carragher and Harkness cold-sweats looking back, he ran down the left and hit it low past David James in front of the Kop. 1-1.

Huckerby, Whelan & Dublin led City's attack in the 1997/98 season. Copyright of Coventry Telegraph

Which soon turned into 2-1 with that man Dublin popping up again; Ten minutes into the 2nd half saw Paul Telfe bang in the third. Arms aloft with the biggest grin you will ever see. 3-1 City and the cup dream for another year was underway.

Following a good 2-0 win over Derby in the next round, the draw saw another pearler, Aston Villa away.

Tickets were like gold dust. But City put up a big screen for those without tickets to watch under the East stand. Crammed in we stood and watched as City tried to end the 63-year Villa hoodoo.

We watched as for 70 minutes, City looked to break the hoodoo. Mark Bosnich, Villa’s keeper on the day was in the form which saw the big guns come calling in later years. Chance after chance came and went.

Then as the clocked turned past 71 minutes, a new recruit to the club, 22-year old George Boateng collected the ball around half way. Surged forward, Lloyd McGrath-esque past three Villa challenges and shot with a common theme of the day, thwarted by the Aussie stopper. But this time he’d failed to hold, and someone in sky blue and black striped shirt had pounced and put it, City led!

Was it Dion? No he had gone to centre-half following a injury to Richard Shaw. Viorel Moldovan?!

The £3.25m recruit and Romanian international, obviously not aware of the hoodoo which was present and what the script said had poppedup with a goal.

One quarter of Villa Park erupted.

The East Stand at Highfield Road went bonkers.

Eleven years on from Houchen’s diving header, Gary Mabbutt’s Knee and Killer’s swearing. The FA Cup & CCFC had re-connected to find a new folklore hero. Viorel Moldovan.

Those last twenty minutes went on forever. But the whistle came and the exit did soon after for Brian Little at Villa. He was the name who had seen a 63-year hoodoo broken. But more importantly it was a Transylvanian native who had bitten through the seeming curse and put City two games away from Wembley.

Boateng's run had echoes of Lloyd's in 1987

We all know what happened, another gathering at Highfield Road watched as David Holdsworth popped up in added time to force Extra-time and then penalties in the Quarter-final replay against Sheff Utd.

Heartbreak, the best chance since 1987 to return to FA Cup glory had slipped away. Newcastle were in the wings waiting at the semi-final stage.

But ask any City fan who was going to games back then, the way that team was playing in the early part of 1998, we would have beaten them and returned to Wembley to face the other North London heavyweight, Arsenal.

What for the Romanian who ended the Villa Park hoodoo?

He never really set the world alight at City, struggling to get in the side past Dion and Huckerby. He left City soon after and headed to Fenerbache. He scored just two goals, the other coming in a league game against Crystal Palace.

But his name is etched in City folklore because of one of them. All down to the energy and strength of Boateng, something City fans would grow used to before he also joined Villa a few years later.

Fans growing restless as City hit bottom

Thorn has had little to smile about since taking over as Manager.

It’s a time of the year where the fixtures come thick and fast and fans up and down the country get a better idea of where there team is heading as they are stretched by the festive calendar.

But for City and the Sky Blue Army, it’s already coming home to roost.

An awful 2011 where points have been so hard to come by is nearly at and end but 2012 isn’t showing many signs of being much improved.

With the owners of the club scrambling, in some form or another for a quick buck, it is almost definite that some of the big-hitters in the squad will have a new place to call home soon enough.

Lukas Jutkiewicz and Sammy Clingan look most likely to see an end to their City careers in the coming weeks, much to the growing despair of the City faithful as they continue to pay their money to watch a stripped out squad of players.

This past weekend City hit one of their lowest points in a thoroughly dour last few years. They fell to 24th & bottom of the nPower Championship due to results elsewhere.

City, now with 2 wins from their first 20 games and no wins from their travels are looking desperate on the field.

Gardner's arrival was one positive move for CCFC

Recent loan signing Gary Gardner has popped up with a debut goal but, as most City fans knew before Gardner’s arrival ten days ago he wasn’t going to right the ship single-handedly. The side is such it needs some investment and not a favour from a former Premiership foe.

Names were banded about but nothing came to the fore apart from the last-gasp deal for England U21 Gardner. But with the exits as mentioned above possible in January, what happens after.

A sale of the club is something most City fans would like to see, but despite a game of musical chairs happening at the power-hub of the club with Chairman becoming Head of Football Operations and a director becoming chairman etc, the ownership are reluctant to sell. Instead insisting that all they need is investment.

The business side of the club is for someone with a trained eye and brained on such matters to comment on, but from the outside. It doesn’t look great.

Pressure is now curtailing round to the incumbent manager Andy Thorn.

To one question, what else can the guy do?

He is a rookie manager who as time goes on it seems misjudged the task at hand when he accepted the job at the end of last season. He had three players, two he had spotted and had a hand in bringing to club, turn their back on him and walk out with a minutes thought. He has had a catalogue of injuries, in particulary to Martin Crainie and where he has to bleed young players far too early in their development whilst watching the senior players falter.

The senior players who he would have surely hoped could have helped mould the team and help get his message across. But watching a sorry highlights package at an ungodly hour on BBC, it seems the mistakes are coming from those who have no excuse, much to the growing exasperation of Thorn.

Something we have all felt, where some players get the ‘oh he’s learning/young’ treatment there are some who simply can not hide behind the excuse as they have been there and done it and, frankly should know better.

It’s that feeling of exasperation. Of what more can we do that will follow the Sky Blue Army around and with the outlook of a cup run to distract from a miserable league campaign looking bleak with the leaders coming back to town, it’s going to be a long few months for those that slip through the turnstiles at the Ricoh

Three points adrift with the rest of the league pulling away from City with ease and alarm, the bottom may have been hit in the statistical sense for the 2011/12 season. But I, like many fear that the bottom is yet to completely fall out.

PUSB!