With Tony Mowbray now confirmed as the next man to sit in the hotseat at City, it’s time for the club to support the latest incumbent and finally settle on a method and identity on and off the field, by supporting the new man charged with steering it forward.
Since the team formerly known as the London Wasps swooped in and took over the dressing rooms, exterior walls and most of the backpages. Coventry City Football Club has been without an identity- again. No real ‘home’, renting out a property they should own and any sign of it’s purpose-built diminished next too over-enhanced Wasps on stadium walls.
Now, this is no slight on Wasps, who since flying in have shown how a team with a budget such as theirs can operate a smart- if not occasionally grating- marketing strategy.
Billboards and hoarding around the surrounding area at the Ricoh sweep through into the centre of the city. Everything is thought of, when for too long in our first rent-paying stint such things were an afterthought for City.
Now, with another well-intentioned manager on the heap the club has to find their identity and it starts at the top, with the owners.
The past few managers when their argued ‘care’ of the club has been constantly called into question have all fitted a mold of being young, somewhat unproven and with a stock on the rise.
Mowbray is the antithesis of that and it’s equally surprising and encouraging- if not with tentative steps given the past two plus years.
But Tony Mowbray is a manager with a good track record. His brand of football seems to lead to excitement having spoke to a few people who watched his previous stops.He has Premier League experience and has long been a well-thought of manager.
The owners seem to of grasped, in some fashion, the predicament we found ourselves in 10 days ago. They can’t afford this club to fall into the land’s fourth tier of football. They have since acted swiftly and, in Mowbray, differently.
When Pressley was sacked a week ago, it seemed a foregone conclusion that David Hockaday (or another cheap option) would be swiftly charged with keeping City in League One. Any other name touted seemed wild and misguided given the recent record of cost-cutting decisions made by the owners.
Pressley worked an absolute wonder last year with attractive football with plenty of chances created and thanks to Callum Wilson, Leon Clarke and Carl Baker- goals galore. It was fun to go to an (away) game and watch this team with a ‘Cov Kid’ spine go about their buisness. He did marvellously to keep the club in this division with all put on his plate.
He had a formula and for a while it worked. Then Leon Clarke sulked and left for Wolverhampton.
Then Moussa. Then Wilson. Then Murphy and before the toughest to take, Carl Baker, who walked on down to Milton Keynes, much to his seeming want to see this out.
Pressley’s formula and footballing identity he seemed to be working towards at the start of his reign, was in dissaray, and as he replaced 50+ goals with freebies and deal sweeteners. Something changed, the identity it seemed he was trying to instill had gone. He was scrambling around for a formation and style that either didnt work or didn’t fit the players in the holes he was putting them. The free-flowing goal scoring of late 2013 had gone.
By the time Jamie Murphy netted for Sheffield United last week, it probably ended his chance to do what he wanted to do here.
The owners had soured on him, as did- if rumours from striving to be relevant sources were true- the players had.
Pressley left with the good graces of the fans and the owners stepped in to bring in a different approach.
Appointing Mowbray, you would hope at the very least, sees a change in approach from SISU. On the pure face of it, Mowbray would likely not come here if the conveyor of youth loans and cast-off freebies were to continue. You have to expect something of a investment that Pressley never had.
At Middlesbrough it appears he was charged with reducing the wage bill and for the most part, he was able to keep them competitive in the Championship. He left when that was no longer happening and now he finds himself charged with a even tougher challenge.
But, if successful, the coup it seems to some at the moment will reap rewards few likely expect. It has now been 45 years since this club finished in the Top 6, that is unacceptable.
Once survival is hopefully acheived, that will be his main perogative for next season. On the field, Mowbray will bring his own methods and form the Coventry City he wants.
But past that, the owners have to change their spots. They have to back their 3rd manager in 3 years. They must make either the Ricoh as much theirs as they can or finally come good on this seen-to-be-believed new stadium.
Either to give this club a hand on the rung. The floating mess it has been off-the-field can not go on.
You would expect Tony Mowbray to have pressed for assurances on that and likely wouldn’t of taken a job he didn’t apply for if those weren’t alleviated. If it continues, he will likely have plenty of suitors should the situation be untenable.
Past that- please start playing the Sky Blue Song before the players emerge. Supposed ‘detatched from reality’ clubs like Chelsea and Man City still keep that tradition, so get us doing that. Please.
Otherwise, welcome Tony Mowbray, the appointment few likely saw coming. But the majority are on board with.
PUSB