Play-off heartache won’t detract from Birmingham’s efforts

By Laurie Fitzgerald

Birmingham City’s quest for promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking came to a disappointing end when they were knocked out of the play-offs by Blackpool.

Despite pulling the aggregate score back from 3-0 down to trailing 3-2 with 20 minutes remaining, the Blues were unable to get the goal needed to take the tie into extra-time as Iain Holloway’s men progressed to Wembley to take on West Ham next Saturday.

However, Birmingham’s fightback was a prime example of the character and the determination to defy the odds that they have developed under manager Chris Hughton over the past 12 months.

When City were relegated on the final day of last season, it began a summer of turmoil that would see major changes from top to bottom of the club.

Owner Carson Yeung was arrested in his native Hong Kong following allegations of money laundering, and with his assets being the subject of a criminal investigation – on top of the huge loss of revenue after falling out of the Premier League – it inevitably lead to asset-stripping at St. Andrews.

Key players in their Carling Cup triumph departed, with the likes of Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Cameron Jerome, Craig Gardner, Barry Ferguson and Ben Foster all moving on to pastures new.

It was too much for manager Alex McLeish, who decided to resign from his position. To make matters worse for Blues supporters, the Scot would eventually take charge of fiercest rivals Aston Villa.

Hughton was appointed as McLeish’s replacement, left with the task of stabilising the club following a traumatic few months and having to work with a threadbare squad preparing for life in the Championship.    

Can Coventry find a way to safety?

By Tony Alvarez

Oh what a difference a year makes in our beloved game, just over 12 months ago December the 8^th 2010 to be exact I wrote an article asking the question could Coventry maintain their excellent form and the promotion push they were on at the time.

The club were flying high in the Championship and were only 3 points behindCardiffCitywho at the time occupied the second automatic promotion spot.

As I type this article just 1 year and 11 days laterCoventrysit rock bottom of the Coca Cola Championship with just 13 points from 22 fixtures.

Of course a lot has changed since that article a year ago and not only the clubs fortunes, at the time of the previous article Aidy Boothroyd was the manager of the Sky Blue side, he has of course moved on to pastures new, another change is that of Marlon King who impressed in a sky blue shirt and has since moved on to rivals Birmingham.

This article is not to look back at what could have been for Coventry but to the future and if they can keep their status as a Championship side beyond this season and what they will need to do to get back to winning ways and keep their place in England’s second tier.

Shockingly for the club and its fans the clubs last victory was on October the 15^th when they beatNottinghamForest 1-0 at home, since that victory the club have a record of 8 losses and 3 draws means three points from a possible 33.

Of course when a club is on a run as dismal asCoventryare there are many things that can be blamed, the squad are not good enough, the managers not good enough, we can’t defend etc looking from the outside the main problem is the sides lack of goals.

Beside striker Lukas Jutkiewicz who has a respectable 8 goals not one other member of the squad has more than 2 goals to their name.

The league table shows a story on its own with the club only winning two games all season and have only found the net 17 times.

Things don’t get much easier for Coventry, over the busy Christmas and New year period they club face a rejuvenated Bristol City, a tricky Brighton side as well as promotion contenders West Ham United and Southampton.

I am also interested to know just what has happened with Freddy Eastwood the lad clearly has talent and could clearly help dig the club out of its current hole, however he has made just one substitute appearance all season and manager Andy Thorn has told him to find a new club, it appears the two have had a personal issue over Eastwood’s attitude however now is the time to put personal issues aside.

It’s a shame to say it as Coventry are a big club but its hard to see the club getting out of this rut and personally I think relegation looks inevitable, the only glimmer of hope I see is that the club are not losing heavily usually by just the odd goal meaning that there is still some optimism that the club can turn some of them results around and put up a fight for their place in the Championship.

I have always had good responses fromCoventryfans whenever I have wrote about them and would be interested to know what the fans thought on my current views.

Is Andy Thorn the right man for the job? Can you get out of the rut and maintain your Championship status? Where are the goals going to come from? What is the problem with Freddy Eastwood? In all honest do you think the squad is strong enough to stay in the Championship?

Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts, if you are on Twitter please follow us @sfts1

Coventry City 3 months on…oh how Football can change

By Tony Alvarez

On December the 8^th I wrote an article looking at the form of Coventry City who were sitting 5^th in the championship just four points off an automatic promotion, the title of this article was “Can Coventry City maintain their promotion push” we now have an answer…..No.

(http://shoutsfromthestands.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/can-coventry-maintain-their-promotion-push/)

In this article I said that I could see a lot of similarities with Aidy Boothroyd’s Colchester side of last season who were flying at the start of the season and ran out of steam towards the end of the season thus missing out on the play offs.

I receieved various responses from Coventry fans some who agreed some who never but many felt I was harsh to think that your team would suffer a second half of the season slump as Colchester did.

Now this isn’t an I told you so article because to be honest Coventry fans have been the best I dealt with so far so I have been wishing them well, but a look at their results since that December 8^th article will show huge disappointment for Coventry City fans.

Since Dec 8^th the club have played 14 fixtures winning just one drawing 4 and losing 9 picking up just 7 points. Not even the most biased Sky Blues fan can tell you this is not relegation form.

The club now lie 19^th in the Championship table, whilst their not in a relegation dog fight the club has to look nervously over its shoulder.

The question remains what has caused this slump? The results took a turn for the worse in December and that’s surely too early for fatigue to be an excuse as I highlighted in my previous article, for me looking as an outsider the major problem is the goals have dried up.

Since December 2010 Coventry have only scored more than one goal in a match once, which was in the one victory they have had. So unless the defence is water tight (more on that in a minute) there’s always going to be problems.

Now onto the defence since that December 8^th article there have been only 2 clean sheets in all competitions, if the side cannot score more than one goal a game and cannot keep clean sheets they are going to struggle.

The Sky Blues have some tricky fixtures coming up and will not be filled with confidence due to both recent form and the 4-1 hammering at the hands of Bristol City on Saturday but will need to pick up some points from somewhere to keep themselves out of the scrap.

In my last piece I predicted a comfortable mid table finish between 8^th-12^th place, if offered that now Coventry fans would bite my hand off, there is only 9 points off that 12^th spot which was the lower end of my prediction but realistically they are not going to achieve that and would probably settle for anywhere that isn’t in a relegation scrap.

Where do you think coventry’s poor form has come from? How can the club turn it around? Am I talking nonsense suggesting fatigue is an issue? Is Boothroyd still the right man for the job? Where will you finish this season?

Leave a comment and let us know your views

Can Coventry maintain their promotion push?

Lying 5^th in the table Coventry City are this season’s surprise package in the Coca Cola Championship, but can their form last?

Coventry currently lie 4 points off automatic promotion which is currently occupied by Cardiff City.

Coventry are currently in fine form winning their last 3 fixtures to recover from a three game losing streak to close the gap on the teams above them.

Following a disappointing 19^th placed finish Coventry brought in former Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd from League One side Colchester and he seems to have turned around the fortunes of the club.

Boothroyd brought in Clive Platt from his former Club Colchester former Coventry star Gary McSheffrey and the controversial signing of Marlon King to give his side a whole new strike force.

The new look front line has repaid Boothroyd’s faith in them by turning in some top notch performances.

However, Coventry’s fine form comes with a warning. The clubs next four fixtures look extremely tricky first visiting serial under achievers Reading before hosting fourth placed Norwich, visiting second placed Cardiff, before welcoming league leaders QPR.

This is a huge test of the sides character and you would have to believe that if they emerged from these fixtures with 7 or more points Coventry will be seen as series contenders for promotion.

However, there is also another warning for any over expecting Coventry fans, a quick look at last seasons league 1 table at around this time of the year will show a Colchester United comfortably in the play off spots.

Colchester finished the season in 8^th placed two places outside the play offs and 8 points off Huddersfield who finished in 6^th. Could it be Boothroyd produces teams that have end of season collapses?

My personal opinion is that Coventry will struggle to get four points from their next fourth fixtures, which will cause a dip in the sides confidence and result in them slipping down the table.

I believe Coventry do not have enough quality or a strong enough squad to maintain a promotion push and will comfortably finish in the top half of the table between 8-12^th place. Giving them a solid base to build on for next season.

For the sake of the Coventry fans I hope I am proved wrong and your push can go down to the wire.

What do you the Coventry fans think are my views acceptable or am I not giving enough credit to your side?

Where do you think you will finish? What more could Boothroyd do to strengthen your side?

Also rivals of Coventry let us know do your fear them? Or are they just in a rich vain of form?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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