IS FANTASTIC BIG INCENTIVE’
Now go for promotion too, urges boss
that a successful team in the Championship would fill the Ricoh to its 32,000 capacity, although if Covid-19 restrictions are still in place next season, capacity might be limited initially to 17,000.
Coventry have nothing but praise for the way Birmingham City welcomed them and helped them, but it still isn’t home.
The coronavirus and its impact on the balance sheets of both Wasps and Cov has been a big incentive in getting this latest deal over the line with West Midlands Mayor Andy Street keeping the two camps talking for 12 months.
“It has been a rollercoaster of a year trying to get this deal done, but I want to say thank you for sticking with discussions and coming back round the table even when it looked like any homecoming was dead in the water,” says the Mayor.
It’s a ten-year deal with a break clause at seven years for Coventry to leave when their planned new stadium and training facility is ready near Warwick University.
Cov have got a better, undisclosed, match day revenue and that will help the club stabilise.
Buzzing
0Manager Mark Robins has done a remarkable job, against so many odds, in getting Coventry from League Two to the Championship in three seasons, but he is working on the second lowest player budget in the second tier with only Wycombe’s players earning less.
French striker Max Biamou, 30, who has scored four of his five goals this season at St Andrew’s, says: “The Ricoh Arena is our stadium and it is very important to go back.
“And at the same time I hope the fans are coming back.
“We know we didn’t have enough fans coming when we were playing at St Andrew’s last season, so it is very important for the club and the city.
“To have a Championship side in that stadium, it will definitely be buzzing.”
The rough and ready pitch was a problem the last time Coventry played at the Ricoh but there is a resolve to sort that out with a new surface to be laid in the summer.
Negotiations to get back to the Ricoh began almost exactly a year ago, brokered by Mayor Street. The first Covid lockdown stopped football club owner Joy Seppala and Wasps owner Derek Richardson meeting in Birmingham, but Zoom made its bow for initial talks and then Coventry chief executive Dave Boddy and Wasps counterpart Stephen Vaughan took over.
“It’s a very positive deal for the football club, not only being rightly back in Coventry but also putting us on a strong footing to continue our development,” claims Boddy.
There is a possible ironic twist. What odds on Birmingham City groundsharing with Coventry at the Ricoh next season while the £1m safety rebuild of two St Andrew’s stands goes ahead?
SALFORD lifted the first major trophy in their history as they won the 2020 Papa John’s Trophy by seeing off Portsmouth on penalties – with boss Richie Wellens challenging his players to use the victory as a catalyst to earn promotion.
With Salford co-owners Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs watching while Gary Neville provided television punditry, Jason Lowe would hammer home the decisive penalty to secure a 4-2 win in the shoot-out following a goalless draw which they dominated.
Taking place 342 days after the original date for the tie due to coronavirus pandemic, both sides had to wait a further 120 minutes to decide who would be victorious, with League One side Pompey falling to their rivals from the third-tier.
Salford only had their hands on the trophy until they departed Wembley, leaving with a replica as the original is sanitised and prepared for either Tranmere or Sunderland today.
Wellens, said: “The players now should take a hell of a lot of confidence and we should use the momentum for Colchester on Tuesday and then kick on for the remainder of the season.”
Salford started the quicker of the two sides and James Wilson’s shot from the edge of the penalty area was pushed behind by Craig MacGillivray, who would go on to have a man-of-the-match display in the Portsmouth goal.
Portsmouth had begun like a team who had lost their last three and Salford got another
chance as Brandon ThomasAsante forced a low save out of MacGillivray.
Salford continued to create the chances, Jordan Turnbull the next to be kept out by MacGillivray, this time the Scot getting down to his right to prevent the Ammies taking a deserved lead.
Pompey boss Kenny Jackett responded with a triple half-time change as Lee Brown, Ronan Curtis and Marcus Harness were introduced.
MacGillivray kept his man-ofthe-match performance intact with another fine save, pushing away a close-range header from Salford skipper Ash Eastham after the break.
Vaclav Hladky would be called into action as the first period of extra-time wore on, matching the magnificence of MacGillivray to keep out Ryan Williams.
Salford substitute Mani Dieseruvwe struck the angle of the goal frame with a vicious strike, with their efforts summed up by the fact they lost both Richie Towell and Tom Clarke through injury in extra-time.
As with the initial 90 minutes, it was the holders who were looking most likely to win it at the death but, as with the 2019 final some 713 days ago, the contest would be decided on penalties.
If MacGillivray had been the hero during the goalless two hours, his counterpart Hladky would surpass him in the shootout. Williams ballooned Portsmouth’s first spot-kick over the crossbar with Luke Burgess sending MacGillivray the wrong way to give Salford the early advantage.
Hladky would make a superb stop to save Curtis’ effort and Salford would move further clear through Dieseruvwe’s cool penalty. Brown made no mistake with his emphatic penalty but
Thomas-Asante would score for Salford, maintaining their perfect run.
Raggett had to score for Pompey and obliged with a good strike, meaning Lowe could win it for Salford. He would lash it home to win the shoot-out, leading to jubilant celebrations on the Wembley pitch.
Jackett was taking charge of an unparalleled third EFL trophy final, but came into the game under pressure following a poor run of league form.
He said: “Going into the penalty shoot-out and missing the first two has made it such a mountain to climb after that.”
BRIAN Barry-Murphy believes his Rochdale side can achieve something special this season after their shock victory at Lincoln City.
Dale went into the game at the foot of the table following four successive defeats, while Lincoln were third, knowing victory would take them into the top two.
But the Imps could have no complaints about the result – with Ollie Rathbone and Stephen Humphrys on target for Dale, and Morgan Rogers’ superb strike the Imps’ only bright spot – and could have lost by a greater margin.
Barry-Murphy said: “I thought we continued where we left off on Tuesday night [in the 2-0 loss to Shrewsbury].
“We created some real good chances against a very good team. It was a high level performance from our lads.
“It fills us with confidence and hope as we head towards an exciting end of the season.
“The supporters are probably sick of me saying we created chances and should have won. But at some stage you want to get a result for the players and the supporters.
“There’s a real confidence in the dressing room that we can achieve something special this season.”
Dale could have put the game to bed in the first half, but had just one goal to show for their efforts, which arrived after 36 minutes.
A long throw from Conor Shaughnessy was cleared to Rathbone, who made space for himself on the edge of the box before firing a low shot beyond Alex Palmer.
The game followed a similar pattern early in the second half, with Dale on the front foot. Palmer denied Humphrys, while Conor McGrandles cleared Gabriel Osho’s header off the line.
City drew level on the hour mark, though, thanks to a moment of brilliance from Rogers, who exchanged passes with Callum Morton before unleashing an unstoppable effort into the top corner of the net.
However, Humphrys got the goal his performance deserved after 74 minutes when he shrugged off a couple of challenges before finding the net via the inside of a post.
City manager Michael
Appleton could not argue with the result, his side’s third defeat in five games.
“We got what we deserved – nothing. It was 2-1 and probably should have been more,” he said. “We know we’ve got players who can hurt teams and, on our day, we can beat teams up at times.
“But the game is about more than that, it’s about earning the right to play.
“We lacked any really urgency in the early part of the game. I don’t know how many second balls we lost out on in the middle of the park. That was part of the reason we went behind.
“A team with real, real desire to get out of the league and be successful goes on to win that game.
“It looked like it was a game too far for us.”