On The Road
THIS WEEK: BEHIND THE SCENES AT COVENTRY AS THEY DEAL WITH LIFE IN THE FOURTH TIER
DO YOU remember the good old days before the Ghost Town? When they danced and sang and music played as they disturbed the natural order of English football with a Sky Blue Revolution?
Probably not, it’s been some time, but a twist in the calendar came complete with this slap across the face on the 50th anniversary of Coventry City’s first game in the top-flight.
Bumping down the pyramid, each step comes with its defining result. Do you remember losing at home to Newport County in an unremarkable game settled by a goalkeeping howler from Liam O’Brien?
Did it come to signify the bottom of the slide?
In truth, 2017 has been a better year for Coventry: a glorious day- out with 40,000 fans at Wembley as they won the Checkatrade Trophy and an upturn of results under Mark Robins.
It wasn’t enough to escape relegation in May but the club’s first campaign in the fourth tier since 1959 started with a newlook team and two wins.
After 47 years without a topsix finish in any division, however, supporters are too smart to be carried away. ‘ We’ve started well before,’ warns Moz Baker, chairman of the Sky Blues Trust, on his way to a shift at the Fan Zone, where volunteers strive to engage the next generation.
It is no easy task when the club is searching for its lost soul. Coventry don’t run out to The Specials but the Two-Tone anthem of urban neglect in 1981 could be the soundtrack for a team haunted by its owners, SISU Capital Limited.
The Ricoh Arena ought to be drenched in images from a rich history, but it is owned by Wasps rugby union club and they are in dispute with SISU with the lease set to expire at the end of this season.
Fans fear ‘Sixfields Mk II’ when Coventry were exiled to Northampton in 2013- 14, a damaging episode which severed the bonds with many long-suffering supporters.
‘People who’ve been watching for a long time, going back to the 1950s and 60s have stopped coming,’ says Baker.
‘Disillusioned, too many false promises, people cannot see a future. I think a lot of older fans realise this club will never move on while these owners are here.
‘At the same time, there’s a lot of faith in Mark Robins as a manager. Good football, winning, he did well before, albeit for a very short period, and people like his honesty. Generally, people are optimistic, but they should be in the fourth division. We’re playing Newport County and Accrington Stanley and Forest Green Rovers when we used to play Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal.’
Coventry come out to a cheery pre-match blast of Mr Blue Sky by ELO. Please tell us why you had to hide away for so long (so long). Where did we go wrong?
It is heavy going until a low, hopeful effort from outside the penalty box by Newport’s Reece Cole, on loan from Brentford, somehow slithers from O’Brien’s grasp and into the net, early in the second-half.
Travelling fans rejoice. Four months ago, County were braced for a return to nonleague before Michael Flynn conjured the sort of miraculous escape once the trademark of their hosts. Now, they are winning at Coventry for the first time since 1957.
Home fans sigh as a familiar feeling descends. ‘ It’s been difficult times,’ admits Robins, still sore from the first setback of the season. ‘We can all dwell on the difficult times and make it negative but we want to make it more positive and it’s going that way.
‘Defeats will punctuate the feeling but we know we’re a decent side. Wembley galvanised everybody and that was a barometer of where the club can go.’