The Longside Reference

SENT TO COVENTRY

Match Report

     I know we lost, but being sent to Coventry was not something I would have missed. I’d met Paul Fletcher a couple of times in connection firstly with No Nay Never, where there is a Paul Fletcher chapter, and then secondly in connection with the Harry Potts book, now almost finished. Then there was a third meeting in connection with another book project we both fancied doing, and at that meeting came the invitation to spend the day at Coventry on the day of the Burnley game. Once I’d mentioned that to Mrs T there was no chance of not going. She has a picture of that lovely 73 to 75 team under her pillow. I have the Tiller girls under mine but you’ll need to be the same age as me to remember them. Sadly the book is on hold. Now that he is Managing Director of the football club itself, as opposed to being the departing Stadium Director, there are more urgent priorities, not the first of which is getting Coventry back into the Premiership. That was the first thing I noticed when he gave us a tour of the ground – the sign on everyone’s desk with words to the effect:
     “If I am not working to get Coventry City back into the premiership – what am I doing here?”
     Such a simple thing, but such a powerful message – if you don’t work towards this, then you’re on yer bike. If you don’t believe it’s possible then kindly go and work somewhere else. It’s a message that comes from the top down. The hospitality lounge where we ate was an area that is a partnership between Yorkshire Bank and small local businesses. It makes the club five million a year. Whether that is profit or needs the running expenses deducted wasn’t said. Whichever, even if it makes a mere three million a year, that’s pretty impressive stuff. A half time cuppa tea or coffee was a staggering £2. 500 x £2 = £1000. And that’s just in one of several corporate areas. And a lot of these punters pay for lunch, as well as paying for membership of these lounges. Food for thought.
     My immediate thought was our empty Jimmy Mac area. And Hunters our sponsors and do they have any ideas? It’s sat there empty since the stand was built. 
     I can’t make my mind up about these new stadiums, you go to one, and you’ve pretty much been to them all it’s said. I’ve not seen a game at the Reebok but drove past it for the first time ever and saw it close up a few weeks ago. It was quite a salutary moment when I saw it as part of the whole retail development set up. I looked and thought about how Bolton and Burnley were level pegging just ten years ago. And now look at the difference. It’s the same at Wigan. Is this the only way forward? A new stadium that’s linked to hotels and shops, and in the case of Coventry an exhibition hall/arena that has a casino underneath it, though the latter is not yet finished.
     Is this not possible at Burnley by redeveloping the cricket field end, by getting all parties together, investors, local businesses, the various funding agencies, the cricket club, Burnley Borough Council and the community? Can the cricket club not be provided with a new ground at Towneley Park? It needs a big new vision and willingness from everyone connected with Burnley (not just the football club, but the town as a whole) to get this dream into people’s minds, let alone implement it. And then, not the least, it needs the charismatic drive of someone with energy and boldness to lead it.
     The one thing about these new stadiums is the clear view from all parts of the ground but at Southampton there seemed far from enough exit points as we waited an age to funnel towards the one nearest to us, from our place high at the back of the stand. The second thing is they all have a superstore that IS a superstore. I hardly think ours falls into that bracket. How can it, limited in space, size, shelf and display areas. The minute fifty people are inside there’s hardly room to move. Ours is a shop geared to being in the Championship, sufficient for our needs I was advised by the manageress a while ago. Our matchday programme is £2.50; at Coventry it is £3. If that is 5000 x 50p, that’s another £2,500 thank you very much. Would there be an outcry if BFC slipped another 50p on a programme. That surely can’t be far away. A car park pass is just £75 a year. Is that not serious underpricing? How many cars are in there on a matchday, 300? If they all paid another £50, that’s £15,000 knocked off the annual debt.  
     Coventry don’t own their ground though, it is leased. That’s the one big negative. It needs a certain level of attendance to pay for itself. It’s the one downside. It won’t be long until we’re in that position if the Turf Moor ground sale goes through. Oddly enough even though a landlord will own the ground, my understanding is that it won’t be the landlord who pays for the upkeep and repairs. That puzzles me, for during the brief period that I owned a house and rented it out, it was me who paid for the shower that was pulled off the wall, the cooker that needed replacing and the outside repainting.
     Something that Coventry has, are those private boxes overlooking the pitch that are hotel rooms during the week. The bed folds away on a matchday. Out of a cupboard come extra collapsible tables and extra chairs. Each has an en suite. Neat. Nifty. The bistro/restaurant is on the ground floor in the atrium. Fancy a football club having an atrium and potted plants. Whatever next? There’s even an escalator.
     And, there’s a superb area for the handicapped, under cover, superb view, easy access. It puts the area at Turf Moor to shame. Those people who designed our stands, and those at the club who didn’t have the gumption to see that better was required, should hang their heads in shame. As a matter of urgent priority, the present facilities, where there is no cover and the worst view in the entire ground, need considerable overhaul. They are an embarrassment at the best of times and when the rain is hammering down in torrents, simply primitive.
     Ah well, after beef and Yorkshire pudding (not as good as BFC catering I am pleased to report) it was the game. Sadly it was everything we have come to expect from our team over the last few sorry weeks. Ricketts was more rickety than Ricketts. But in his defence he needs the ball to feet, not lumped up to his head. His feet remain firmly glued to the ground. We gifted them their goal. Whilst they had strikers with pace, power and impact, we had none. I never thought I would see that day that Adebola was my motm. I remember him at Burnley when Stan acquired him. This surely was a different player or a twin. Duff was our BFC motm. It was worth the long drive to see the spat between Wise and Sinclair. We were fractionally better when GNW and Lafferty came on. The latter has some pace. The former has control and can win a ball in the air. He must have been some player before his knee troubles began. But still there was never a chance that we would score, never a moment when we thought we might salvage something once we had gone behind. We didn’t even huff and puff, we just coughed and wheezed. Coventry alas had little to beat. Paul Fletcher thought I was joking when I said before the game that if Coventry scored, the points were automatically theirs.
     This was a game when Akinbyi was sadly missed. His sale was indeed the deal of the century. Good for the finances, yes. Good for results, no. And in that critical transfer window, where did Steve Cotterill vanish for several days. Didn’t someone at the club say they had no idea where he was? I suspect his mind was indeed on the Leicester City job for several days. There is the suspicion in many minds that incoming transfer prospects were lost during this strange period.
    At the club at the moment (February) there is a gloom, almost a malaise, there is no sense of anything happening, no feeling of conviction, or that we are heading in a planned, recognisable direction. We don’t progress; we lurch. With his little band of players SC is going through the motions. We won’t go down and I suspect he can’t wait for the season’s end. Football words like pace, flair, attractive, powerful, are rarely heard now. It is not so much a question of when will we win, but when will we score. Results since Boxing Day make sorry reading. And soon there begins the campaign to sell season tickets. What is a realistic target now? 7000? Worrying.
     Somebody, somewhere has to start to pull a rabbit out of the hat, or next season will be a disaster. To go down this season we must lose all of our remaining ten games and one of the bottom three must win five out of ten. That’s an unlikely scenario. So it’s the Championship again next season, but sadly it might be the last for some time without an injection of vitality and a new mindset within the corridors of power. The club does indeed talk of ambition, but I remain unconvinced that it is said with any real conviction.

Dave Thomas February 28th 2006.