The Opponent – Coventry City
So, the time has arrived where we can officially move on. New owners, new manager, and a bit more direction than in recent times. I don’t dread Adver Sam’s tweets as much now (Sorry Sam), I don’t hear Chris Wise on my radio with a tone of voice that spreads fear throughout me, and best of all, Red Jed has impressed me. Lets be honest, if you look at the guys Twitter profile you could be forgiven for thinking he is a bit of a wide boy, the kind of chap you would think twice about before buying a used car off him, but credit has to be given to him. The initial Press Conference on Monday was a let down, fairly vague answers that were well thought of in advance, but from that moment onwards it seems he has quietly gone about his business and has said bollocks to the headline stealing managerial appointment and gone for what would seem on the surface, a brilliant appointment for both parties. Welcome KM, you have big shoes to fill, but I honestly believe you are the man to take us forward and in to The Championship. I hope the masses travelling to the East Midlands today give him a proper welcome and when we meet Walsall at home.
And now we roll on to one of the more local away journeys of the season, Coventry City. They were first known by the name of Singers FC, named after the cycle firms employees that founded them back in 1883. Some 15 years later they changed their nane to Coventry City, and in 1896 Coventry City moved in to Highfield Road, which remained their home for 109 years before they moved in to the magnificent Ricoh Arena, which leads me nicely on to the next bit…..
The TEF’s very own Donna Porter has offered a fantastic insight in to The Ricoh Arena and has kindly shared this insight
It’s not just tactics on the pitch for visiting teams to the Ricoh. When the arena was built several things were designed to unsettle the away players. Whilst the home dressing room is spacious, a regular shape and a normal temperature with access to a warm up area that is undercover but akin to the outdoor temperature, the away dressing room is right under the kitchens making it hot and stuffy and the players only have access to the pitch for warm ups meaning, especially for winter/night games, the team is forced from one extreme of temperature to the other. To make the team talk more difficult the away dressing room is an irregular shape and has a pillar in the centre meaning not everyone can see each other. On the way to the tunnel the corridor diminishes in height so when the away team are approaching the home team they get the illusion that they’re a lot taller than they are. Finally, even if the above don’t work and the away team wins there aren’t quite enough showers for them and there’s no hooks for their towels.
Whether any of this really works remains to be seen and although some of it seems really petty there’s obviously thought been put into it and other clubs try similar tactics. The Emirates for example has a slippery surface for the away team to walk to the tunnel on. I wonder if our own County Ground employs any such methods?Coventry homes some 320’000 people, some of the more famous past and present include Record producing train enthusiast Pete Waterman, Ex Sky perv Richaed Keys, England Cricketer Ian Bell, and bands The Enemy, and my favourite, The Fun Boy Three, I’m sure they did something with Bananarama?
What are they saying about us? –
“We will get another 3 points, Swindon will fall behind the others, and the other teams are playing each other this weekend or higher mid table teams, so we have a team with no confidence, stability and a new manager who hardly knows the team yet”
http://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threads/27569-If-we-beat-Swindon-tomorrow.
Coventry Last 6 – DWLWLW (Currently 8th on 53 points)
The Irrelevant Facts – Coventry’s away form is much better than their form at home. They have played 17 games at the Ricoh this season and have only managed to win 5, hopefully we can keep it that way come 4.45pm. In the same amount of games they have conceded 21 goals and have only managed to keep 2 clean sheets.
The Threat – Last weeks threat ended up scoring the winner, not for the first time this season, which is why they are the threat I suppose. To be fair, they have goals all over the park, but Carl Baker and David McGoldrick have bagged 30 between them so far this season.
A Warm Welcome To – One of our previous managers not so great signings, Leon Clarke. With or without the Di Canio factor, I have always thought of Clarke as something of a knob.
Head to head – We have met on 65 occasions and have won 20, drawn 18, and lost 27.
The Odds – Coventy 7/4 Draw 9/4 Swindon 7/4 Looks like Bet Victor think this could be a tight one. The inevitable Clarke opening goal is 5/1 with most outlets. I won’t be putting ahything on that. Although Samsung Win a Pro Contract fella Chris Smith is an even less appealing 33/1 with Bet 365
The Son Says – 1-0 to the mighty reds by all accounts. That will do me.
The Prediction – New era? Same winning away form I predict. 2-1 to us, a James Collins double sends the 2’110 STFC fans amongst a crowd of 10’433 mental and delirious.
And Finally – The phrase ‘sent to Coventry’ apparently originated during the English Civil War. It seems that in 1647 Royalist prisoners of war captured elsewhere in the Midlands were held in Coventry. In that robustly Parliamentarian stronghold the locals treated them as if they did not exist.
