John Fleck signing is a coup to most.
The normal procedure when a club signs a promising 20-year old for free along with a one-time International striker who has played in the top two leagues in England & Scotland for most of his career is that the fans are content and have some optimism about what is ahead.
Coventry City is not following normal procedure.
Now I realise that the club’s owners are not going to have all forgiven, I for one have been flabbergasted at times with their decisions over recent months.
But the ceiling is lowered for what is needed to be a success in the league we now find ourselves in and the additions made to the club’s playing staff aid that.
People will point to the number of departures the club has seen but for me it is somewhat hollow. We have lost a Goalkeeper who never played a competitive game for us, a striker who was a favourite with some but managed to not get in a depleted side because he was allegedly so unfit. We have also lost two loan players and a midfielder who was shown up by younger players for most of last year.
Not much damage there when we replace them with John Fleck & Stephen Elliot.
I do realise numbers were small before we let these players slip, but Fleck & Elliot and whoever follows them in will show more willing to the cause and a case of ‘buying in’ than some of the players we have bid adieu to did in our relegation year.
Elliot at 28 brings a wealth of experience to a very young City squad
That can only be a good thing.
The latest exit- Martin Cranie- was something many predicted even before the pivotal game at Ashton Gate in April.
Remember he came from a team who have been shown to splash out on wages (cc: Tal Ben Haim) and he sees himself rightly at being able to play at the higher level. But the finances freed up from the culling of Clingan, Eastwood and co saw us bring in a player of Stephen Elliot’s ilk.
If that happens now, with plenty of names being mentioned then I am on board.
This isn’t me skulking off to the side of SISU. People who have had read this blog almost from its inception know I have not been a fan of many things the owners have done to my football club. Last summer for one was an absolute embarrassment and decisions were made that will put us back some years from competing at the 2nd level for a few years.
But this summer, Thorn who bought the curtain down on his season of being guarded on his opinion of his bosses held little back and pointed the blame with both barrels at his bosses for what he was put through last season is now, even despite missing out on two of his targets because of things out of his control has now picked up a jewel in the scrap of a troubled club and a striker who I see bringing more than just a spike to the squad’s average age
Others may leave but more will come.
Richard Keogh is the next one on deck and that would be a massive loss, but have we ever been able to stop players leaving.
When we were beating Man United thanks to messers Dublin & Huckerby, we still spent a summer waiting and expecting those important cogs to leave and leave us searching for scraps and not dining on the very top table.
We are a long way removed from Bryan Richardson’s ill-informed line of ‘We’ll have a punt at it’.
We are now further on from the operating skills more often seen in a slasher movie of last summer.
Early doors in the transfer window and I would say we have got our attacking options on board, before any loan moves may occur. Now we need to strengthen the other end if Keogh leaves for pastures new or not.
If or when he does leave the angry amongst us will rise up.
But now I feel it is just, with little waiting in the wings, a case of better the devil you know.
sentfromcoventry 