RumDrunkRaccoon - Comments

March 2020

News: Coventry Takeover Rumours



Leasing.com Final



This was a fiery affair that saw us pick up 8 yellows and a red, but we showed enough to win with 10 men in extra time and see our 3rd win from 3 against Fleetwood this season. It may be one of the smallest trophies but its our first bit of silverware nonetheless!

Results - March 2020



Not the best months overall after starting off with a very good win over Huddersfield in the FA Cup! We were very lucky to be drawn away to Manchester City for the second time this season, with them knocking us out of both the Carabou and FA cup without the extra financial benefits of at least a home visit on either. We outplayed Ipswich and still managed to lose, and I still seem incapable of not drawing with Accrington Stanley.

Table - End of March 2020



With only 6 games remaining we look in good position to become champions, as long as we can hold our nerve until the end.

News: Takeover Rumours



The takeover is yet again on the rocks...

League Player Stats



End of Month Snapshot




News: Takeover rumours



Seriously make it stop! Just take us over or completely cancel it please!

News: Records Broken





Finances



Fixtures for April 2020



News: New Head of Youth Development Appointed



News: New Signing



I have signed Adam Henley on a free just to provide some cover/depth at Right Back.

Yearly Youth Intake

Mark Daws:
Louis Flood:
Elliot Moore:
Owen Watkins:

This is very much the best of an average bunch, and we have a lot of work to do before we can start producing wonder-kids still.

February 2020

News: Coventry Takeover Rumours



Cup Draw: Leasing.com Final



We will have the chance to make it 3 wins out of 3 vs Joey Barton's Fleetwood in the final of the leasing.com trophy.

Results - February 2020



Wow an almost perfect month, we have definitely gained some ground here and are in a very good position pushing into the last couple months!

News - Parkinson feels they were unlucky to lose 5-2



Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson feels hard done by, and that they were the better team in their 5-2 loss against us.

Table - End of February 2020



After a fantastic month we have a nice 5 point cushion going into March.

League Goal Scorers Stats



League Assist Stats



Player of the Month Award - Matt Godden



Matt has been brilliant this month, and deserves his Player of the Month award.

Goal of the Month Award - Wesley Jobello



End of Month Snapshot



Fixtures for March 2020

November 2019

2nd November 2019



We dominated possession and had 10 shots on target but couldn't find a way through. Very frustrating result.

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3rd November 2019





After being out injured in the youth team for a while, I have now promoted both Josh Pask and Jodi Jones to the senior team as I think they are ready and this will help them develop.

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6th November 2019



I used this game mostly to rest/rotate and still got a 2-0 win to go through to the next round so I'm happy with that.

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11th November 2019



The FA Cup draw sees us play Leyton Orient in the next round

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12th November 2019



A nice win over Crawley, and my new promotion from the U23s Jodi Jones got on the score-sheet and gave a great performance.

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13th November 2019



We are drawn against Northampton in the second round of the leasing.com trophy.

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16th November 2019



We nearly threw it away at the end but a messy win is still a win and I'll take the 3 points quite happily.

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23rd November 2019



A very good win away to Sunderland thanks to a good defensive performance. Recently promoted Jodi Jones gets on the score-sheet from the bench scoring in the 69th minute. Nice.

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25th November 2019



They're still going on about the definitely-not-happening-but-maybe-if-lots-of-money-is-involved takeover deal.

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27th November 2019



Not the most glamorous of wins, but nice to end the month on a win regardless.

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End of month review



A summary of the results this month



A fantastic month has helped us climb to the top of the table, whether we can stay there is another thing but if we keep playing like we have been we will be okay.



A snapshot for the end of November 2019



The leagues top 10 scorers so far.



The leagues top 10 assist(ers?) so far.


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Looking Ahead



We have a clean bill of health in the squad currently and only one midweek game so hopefully everyone will be fit and ready to end the calendar year on a high.

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October 2019 - Coventry City

1st October 2019



The month starts with some good news regarding Jamie Allen, a few games with the reserves and he should be fit and ready to start playing in the first team again after a long 3 months out.

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2nd October 2019



A routine home win to start October off nicely.

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5th October 2019



After playing only 3 days ago the decision to rest some players backfired with a 1-0 loss here. Try as we might we failed to foul our way to some points. Our unbeaten run in the league is now over unfortunately, but we are still in a respectable position.

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7th October 2019



More good injury news with a few players starting to come back to fitness for us now.

8th October 2019



A fairly assertive win. Nice to see another late goal despite it not changing the result.

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That win sees us progress in the leasing.com trophy with a game to spare.

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19th October 2019



MK Dons' time-wasting tactics came back to bite them when the officials rightly added 7 minutes to the end, giving substitute Wesley Jobello time to pinch a 96th minute winner in a game we deserved to win.

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20th October 2019



Rumours of a takeover bid have been all but dismissed by our Chairman.

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21st October 2019



The FA Cup draw sees us face Cheltenham in the 1st Round.

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23rd October 2019



Today will see us face off against the league leaders: Joey Barton's Fleetwood. We have the home advantage but will have to play well to get something here. Fleetwood are unbeaten in the league so far this season.

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Well that went better than I expected, apart from the late red card I am very happy to put Fleetwood's unbeaten run to an end.



Fleetwood manager Joey Barton, known for his cool-headed diplomatic nature shows his restraint yet again as he refuses to comment on claims that we roughed his team up in our 3-0 victory over them.

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26th October 2019



I think we were very unfortunate not to win this game based on the match stats, however a 92nd minute equalizer takes the sting out of it a little bit.

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27th October 2019



BBC are now reporting that only a very large offer would convince the current Coventry City owner to sell up.

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End of month review.



The injury situation is looking promising, giving me an almost fully fit squad to go into November with.



A recap of the months results



This is how the table looks at the end of October. Some pressure on us to win our game in hand to stop Fleetwood steaming ahead from us.



A look at our goals scored stats and assist sources.



Snapshot at the end of Oct 19

Looking ahead



November should be a relatively comfortable month with 4 home games and two matches against teams in the league below us. However we will need to guard against complacency and make sure we get the results.

August & September 2019



Some impressive home form and a strong start to the season, going undefeated and picking up a handful of clean sheets in the process.



September saw some away wins go my way, however I unfortunately got gifted the lovely match-up of Man City away in the 3rd round of the Carabou cup, and unsurprisingly lost 4-1.

Current League Table




Squad performance update




Snapshot




Upcoming Schedule




This update was a bit rushed as I got caught up with playing the start of my season and had to backdate my updates! My next updates will be a bit more detailed with more news, updates and stats.



Thank you, I know it's a bit weird ground sharing with Birmingham, hopefully we can get a stadium sorted soon!

Pre season

Transfers In

Kayne Ramsay (Loan from Southampton)



Lucas Gafarot (Free transfer)



Transfers Out



Friendly Results



Summary

All in all I am quite happy with our pre-season. With limited funds I have signed a couple defenders in for depth and managed to keep hold of my best attacking players and stick to the wage budget. Friendly results have gone well and sends us into the season in good form.

Coventry City


Having started the millennium still in the top flight of English Football, the 2000s have not been kind to Coventry city. They slowly started declining down through the tiers, hitting League 2, the lowest league in English league football in 2017. They have since returned to League 1, however with a new manager now look to restore themselves to the heights of the Premier League.

With very limited finances, the new manager will have to be shrewd in the transfer market and utilise the great youth facilities on offer at Coventry City in order to return the Sky Blues back to the top.




Finances



Inherited Squad





Start of season schedule

September 2018

Championship - Fixture 6



A brilliant result here, 3-0 away win is exactly the kind of scoreline I'm after! Pretty even possession wise, but we took our chances.

Friendly

With the international break leaving us without a fixture, I decided to arrange a friendly to keep my players who weren't on international duty fit since we didn't have a large amount of players away. This came with the benefit of £100k profit and a nice morale boost given the result.



Championship - Fixture 7



A very even game in general, and perhaps I have goalkeeper Randolph to thank for the 3 points, making 6 important saves. A good away result again.

Championship - Fixture 8



A dominant performance from both wingers, in particular Van La Parra the loanee. We're on a good run at the moment and another large win will help wonders.

Championship - Fixture 9



We were perhaps unlucky not to win by more, but in the end needed a late penalty to snag us the 3 points against a good Swansea side.

Carabou Cup - Third Round



We dominated possession but couldn't make it count, and to make it worse had a player sent off with half an hour left. Not too disappointed to go out of the cup to a Premier League team and this is only our first loss in almost 2 months.

Championship - Fixture 10



A dominant away performance, and another great game for Marcus Tavernier who is really starting to hit some good form.



Ending the month 1st on Goal Difference, a very successful month overall. We have scored 30 goals in 10 league games, and although we have conceded 12, it's hard to lose points when you're averaging 3 goals a game.

League Overview | Clubs


League Overview | Players


Awards | Player of the Month


Awards | Young Player of the Month


A Look Ahead





A nice start to the season, and minimal injuries going into October.

August 2018


Championship | Fixture 1



(Skip to the bottom if you just want the months results summary) Millwall Away. Not an easy first game to the season, especially with various new recruits still gelling together. I have gone into my Middlesbrough career with a loss straight off the bat. It was a close game, and kind of annoyingly, we spent 83 minutes in the lead, compared to them spending 1 minute in the lead! Lost focus late on and it cost us.

Championship | Fixture 2



Our first home game and we've held a strong Sheffield United team to a 0-0 draw. A bit unlucky perhaps, as their keeper saved all 11 of our shots on target. Assombalonga didn't have a great game and failed to take his chances though. I am eagerly awaiting my other 2 strikers to come back from injury to change things up in attack when in these kind of situations.

Championship | Fixture 3



A loss, a draw, and finally a win! We dominated Birmingham in general despite needing a 92nd minute winner from Lewis Wing. New signing Bidwell got an assist and put in a man of the match performance at Left Back.

Carabao Cup | 1st Round



We nearly had an upset in what should have been a routine cup win here. George Friend received his marching orders in the 2nd minute of added time in the first half, but we managed to hold on (just) to see Crewe off with 10 men to go through to the next round. A brace from your centre back is always enjoyable.

Championship | Fixture 4



An away win still eludes us, as despite doing slightly better with possession and the amount of shots, an early double from City was enough to limit us to a draw.

Championship | Fixture 5



Wow, I have no idea where that came from but my attackers must have had their wheatabix in the morning. Poor Sam Johnstone making 11 saves and still conceding 9. I await "random" drug testing on Jonny Howson shortly.

Unsurprisingly, we broke the record for highest scoring game.



Carabao Cup | Second Round



Interesting that I get drawn in the cup against my supported team. I took the opportunity to rest some of my players, as well as to start some players that are returning from injury and are in need of match sharpness. John Obi Mikel and Paddy McNair made their returns to first team football with the latter playing a pivotal part in the game. A close game still, and we have only managed to keep 1 clean sheet in 7 competitive games. On the other hand, we have scored 20 goals in those 7 games.

A fairly mixed month of results, but in general a start that I am happy with.



8th in the League, but it is still very early in the season.

League Overview | Clubs


League Overview | Players


Awards | Player of the month


Awards | Young Player of the month




We have some tough fixtures coming up next month, so hopefully we can start to tighten up at the back.



We've had 4 players return from injury recently, and another 3 returning shortly so that should be helpful going into September.

Pre-Season 2018/2019

Transfers



Adam Ounas | Loan from Napoli | Right Winger - Can play as left winger if required |

We didn't have bundles of quality at right wing, and with a limited transfer budget a loan for the season seemed like the best choice for this position. We only have to pay £37.5k of Adams £125k wages p/m so I'm pretty happy with this deal.



Jake Bidwell | £2m (+ £1.2m after 50 games) from QPR | Left Back |

Our squad depth for the left-back position was shocking, with only aging captain George Friend really able to play there competitively. Jake Bidwell looks to have the quality for me to rotate with George. He is also a natural in the Wing-Back duty as Left Back which fits into my tactical style nicely.



Marc Navarro | Loan from Watford | Right Back / Right Winger |

Navarro will provide much needed cover/rotation at Right Back for Ryan Shotton, and can also play well as a Right Winger if needed.



Nabil Jaadi | Free Transfer | Left Winger |

Not huge amounts of quality here, but he was available on a free transfer and can feature nicely as backup / emergency cover on the left wing.



Bozhidar Kraev | £750k (+ £2m after 50 games) from Fc Midtjylland | AMC |

Will provide rotation in the Shadow Striker role I employ for my AMC's.



Jordan Thorniley | £4m (+ £5.75m after 50 games) from Sheffield Wednesday | Centre Back |

After Burnley came knocking for Ayala for £10m and Ayala wanting to leave, I needed to replace him at CB. Jordan seems like a good fairly young option with room to improve. He fits in as a Ball Playing Defender as well which suits me tactically.



Joel Perreira | £2m from Man United | Goalkeeper |

This transfer won't go through until the start of next season, as Joel is currently on Loan at Belgian side Kv Kortrijk. However at 22 and both my Goalkeepers being 31 and 34, £2m for a promising keeper sounds like a steal.



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Friendlies



No complaints from me about our pre-season, some decent results and much needed match sharpness for the season ahead. I'm quite happy with the deals I have made given the resources at my disposal and the ransacking of my best CB.