That Was The Season That Was

I thought for a while about how best to write a summary to reflect the season. First of all I thought of just doing a page of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz to show just how turgid and dull the season has been....

Then I considered just putting a link to my summary for last season, firstly because it would pretty much all still be relevant, secondly to highlight the lack of progress on the pitch and thirdly as a protest that if the players couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort why should I.

Sid has acknowledged that this site hasn’t had as many articles as he’d like, but for me it perfectly highlights the mood of Coventry City fans – we just can’t be bothered anymore. We’ve heard it all before just to end up going round in the same old circles time after time.

Another yo-yo season where we started the season brightly and went top after a couple of games, with wins against a hotly-tipped Ipswich and Barnsley, before having an inconsistent patch followed by a woeful run of 10 games without a win.

Three wins against ‘lowly’ opposition in Peterborough, Plymouth and Doncaster (which admittedly the Sky Blues tend to lose) managed to stem the tide and placate the supporters, which turned into a decent run of 31 points from 15 games and a short-lived time in the play-offs.

However once again, as per last season, the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion, failing to win for the remaining 11 games and nose-diving to 19^th, finishing with a truly awful 4-0 home defeat against Watford. A lot of fans were once again left thankful the season ended where it did, as a few more games may well have seen City slip towards relegation.

There were a few decisions that didn’t help that run – a ‘goal’ given to Leicester that didn’t cross the line, a late penalty given to Cardiff that was clearly outside the area and a perfectly good goal being disallowed against Derby denying us a draw.

But in many ways I suppose I shouldn’t be overly disappointed or surprised. I predicted a finish of 17^th before the start of the season, fearing the squad was too light in terms of numbers and having lost some of the quality in Fox and Dann. Players were brought in with sufficient quality, but all too often have either failed to show their full ability or have shone briefly before settling into mediocrity.  Given that we managed to fall from potential play-off candidates with all the momentum to near-relegation in such a short space of time can only leave you worried. Once again the team failed to win more games than it lost and finished with a very poor goal difference of -17.

Part of that goal difference was caused by the style of play – it was dull, defensive stuff for most of the time. Of our 13 victories only two were won by more than one goal (if fact both were two-goal margins against Barnsley) and failed to score at all in 15 games, with one of the poorest goals for records in the division. If we took the lead we almost instantly went onto the defensive rather than trying to extend the advantage.

Ray Ranson decided that after three consecutive poor finishes to the season and final positions of 21st, 17^th and 19^th that Chris Coleman’s time in the CCFC hotseat was up and has started looking for a new manager. Let’s hope he chooses someone who will at least put the excitement back into watching the team, because the fans are in danger of being christened the Shy Blue Army given the number that have become so disillusioned and decided not to renew their season tickets.

Ø      Going top of the season after wins in the first two games

Ø      Going into the play-offs for ten minutes in March

Ø      Winning three on the bounce for the first time in ages

Ø      Eastwood’s hat-trick against Peterborough

Ø      Two good wins against Barnsley

Ø      Exciting 3-2 wins over Sheffield United, Watford and Peterborough

Ø      A small child getting SO close to winning the £1k kick-for-cash competition.

Ø      10 game winless run from October to early December

Ø      11 game winless run from mid-march to finish the season

Ø      Poor 3-0 defeats at Blackpool and Reading

Ø      Losing to Ipswich after equalizing in time-added on to injury-time

Ø      A 4-0 drubbing in a debacle of a final game at home to Watford

Ø      Deciding the best tactic against the league’s lowest scorers was all-out defence

Ø      Losing to Portsmouth in the FA Cup right at the death.