A new football season starts this weekend and the Sky Blues commence their campaign with their first visit to the King Power Stadium since 2012. The Foxes fell out of the Premiership in May after nine seasons in the top flight which saw them win the title in 2016, the FA Cup in 2021, finish fifth twice and enjoy European football. The Sky Blues record at Leicester's relatively new stadium (they moved there from Filbert Street in 2002) is poor with two draws and six defeats in eight visits and Coventry's last victory in the city was in April 2001. That day a 3-1 win gave City fans some hope that they might escape the relegation trap-door with goals from Craig Bellamy, Lee Carsley and John Hartson, but it was another false dawn in a season of false dawns. Filbert Street was a pretty happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues in the old First Division days so the form at the King Power is disappointing.
This summer has been a busy transfer season for Coventry with seven new signings so far. Jay Da Silva, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ellis Simms, Brad Collins, Bobby Thomas and Luis Binks have all joined with all but Binks on permanent contracts. An eighth, American Haji Wright, looks set to sign as I write this. The club have said farewell to Viktor Gyokeres, following two impressive scoring seasons, Tyler Walker, Michael Rose, Todd Kane, Martyn Waghorn, Sean Maguire, plus the loanees from last season. As I write this Gus Hamer is still a Coventry City player but I wouldn't bet against him leaving before the end of the window. With so many changes in the squad I just hope that the new personnel can bed down quickly.
Talking of Gyokeres, the fee for his transfer to Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed but believed to be around £20m, set a new club record with the proceeds rewarding the club for developing Viktor into one of the best strikers outside the Premiership. The fee breaks the record set back in 2000 when City pocketed £13m from the sale of Robbie Keane to Inter Milan. The record transfer fee paid could also be smashed if Wright signs for a rumoured £7.7m. That record goes back to 2000 when Craig Bellamy arrived from Norwich to replace the departing Keane – sadly he was never able to emulate Robbie!
Coventry City visit a new ground next Wednesday when they travel to South London to face AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao (League) Cup at their new ground at Plough Lane. Situated on the site of the old Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, 250 yards from their old Plough Lane ground, the ground holds just over 9,000 but I don't expect a full house on Wednesday. I remember going to the original Plough Lane ground in the 1980s when it had the feel of a non-league ground and was an intimidating ground for visiting teams and I'm sure the new ground is far superior. It will be the fifth different ground that the Sky Blues have met AFC Wimbledon or the old Wimbledon. Between Plough Lane and the new stadium, Selhurst Park was a regular venue in the 1990s, there was one game at the National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes the season before the old club became MK Dons and then, in 2013 the Sky Blues travelled to Kingsmeadow for an FA Cup tie with AFC Wimbledon.
AFC Wimbledon are managed by a former Coventry City player, Johnnie Jackson, who had a month on loan as a 21-year-old at Highfield Road in 2003-04. A strong, skilful midfield player, Johnnie made a scoring debut as a substitute at Crystal Palace, netting a last minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw. In his fifth and final appearance in a Sky Blue shirt he scored an 89thminute winner against West Brom two minutes after coming off the bench. That was his last game before he returned to White Hart Lane where he immediately went into the first team squad and made 14 appearances for Spurs that season. After a further 10 games over the next two seasons he left White Hart Lane and had a long playing career at Colchester, Notts County and Charlton, playing almost 300 games for the Valiants. Charlton appointed him as their manager in 2021 but he left the Valley at the end of that season and is starting his second season at Plough Lane.
If you missed my 2022-23 Stats review at the end of last season you can still read it and other columns at www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk
If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton
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