Tree-mendous!
Coventry dad recreates history for Sky Blues promotion showdown
PEOPLE across the city decorated their homes with sky blue crepe paper before and after Coventry City’s momentous 1987 FA Cup win.
Thirty-six years later Mark Mancaster is recreating history to celebrate the achievements of Mark Robins’ team in reaching Wembley for Saturday’s huge promotion showdown.
Mark has lined a tree in his front garden in Broad Lane, Hockley, with two tones of sky blue crepe paper and a collection of balloons. It’s got everyone talking - even former Coventry City players!
“I had a message from David Busst,” Mark, an engineer at National Grid, told the Telegraph. “He said you can see the tree a mile away, it’s absolutely incredible. My son Max came home last night saying that everyone at his school (Heart of England secondary in Balsall Common) was talking about it.
“Because our house is on the school bus run a lot of the kids have seen it. I was out there last night making some repairs because some of the balloons had dried up in the sun and the wind.
“The cars going past getting beeping their horns and waving. It was constant.” It’s all a far cry from the underwhelmed reaction to Mark’s first paint-based decoration.
“My wife Suzy and the kids were mortified with the first one I did,” the 46-year-old added. “It looked awful to be fair. People asked me ‘is your tree dying, is that why you’re wrapping it up?’
“It’s much better now, especially after the repairs I did with my wife. She’s now more obsessed with it than me! She said to me ‘we need to make sure it’s well-maintained until Saturday.’”
That particular task will soon be the responsibility of Suzy and her eldest Leo, 17, because Mark and 14-year-old Max are off to Wembley. The idea for the tree has an another reference point in history because it harks back to Coventry’s early beginnings when the city was a Saxon village.
“It was called Coffantree, which means the tree belonging to Coffa,’ according to the Local Histories website’s A History of Coventry article. “Trees were often used as meeting places. In this case, a settlement grew up around the tree and it eventually became called Coventry.”
The Championship play-off final has long been considered the most lucrative match in club football. The winners of Saturday’s clash, with Cov up against Luton Town, is set to net around £170million in added revenue over the next three seasons.
But it’s not the club that stands to benefit. “It would be phenomenal for the city,” said Mark, who remains a Cov City member after relinquishing his season ticket because of various commitments.
“There’s reports of how much it would bring to the club, but also revenue for the city.
“Not long ago we were struggling to get 500 fans to an away game in Huddersfield. Now we’re looking at the potential for a midweek match at Manchester City or Liverpool with 5,000 fans. It really would be huge for the club and the area.”