A first promotion in fifty one years enthused Channel 5’s Colin Murray from Monday’s Wembley touchline! In real terms not quite as bad as it sounds considering Coventry City spent thirty-four of these years in the top flight. But, oh, the last seventeen years. Ever since the Angel of Doom struck at Villa Park in 2001. Since Sky Blues fan John Mullaney – remember him?- raised the defiant cardboard placard ‘We’ll be back‘! This promotion marks the first upward turn in the club’s fortunes in seventeen years, including eleven miserable years under the hated stewardship of the hedge fund SISU.
The Wembley backing – nearly 40,000 strong- was as large, raucous and passionate as ever. Dare I say it ….we do Wembley rather well. Thousands of fans again turning our lucky west side into a seagull cliff of sky blue outnumbering poor old Exeter ( who are one of the best football-playing teams in this division amid lots of ‘Dark Ages’ stuff, to quote Stephen Pressley) by a ratio of 4:1. Each of our Wembley wins ( the only defeat was the wholly forgetable 1987 Charity Shield match with Everton) has featured top performances and some goals of the highest quality at this end of the stadium. In this rich catalogue you will find the ‘Horizontal Houchen’ goal; George Thomas’ exquisite drive v Oxford in last season’s Checkatrade Cup final; and now two absolutely top finishes from defenders Jordan Willis and Jack Grimmer – each one a Collector’s item.
Also at Wembley were Joy Seppala and Tim Fisher. There has been little ‘SISU Out’ of late but this toxic brand remains as unloved as ever ( “So much turmoil and ugly politics” to quote from the ‘Coventry Observer’). Fisher thought it was “ a great shame” he was booed when his face appeared on the giant screen. Others thought it was well deserved – after all who took us down in the first place?
It is now back to League One following a very brief summer break. It still remains to be seen if the owners will invest properly – I suspect they only will if gates improve from the dire figures of last season? Worryingly we now have five or six players who would command decent transfer fees , headed by the outstanding teenager Bayliss. The risk of cashing in looms large. Otherwise I feel we have the nucleus of a good side who could take us back to the Championship, which due to the Ruritanian world of the Premier League is probably where we now belong. As the last club side to play a competitive game this season, 2018-19 pre-season training can only be a few weeks away. Between now and the 9th August we will see who is still with us.
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