Amidst takeover rumours, financial restraints, the sale of key players, and a chaotic situation surrounding the worst new stadium in the country, Mark Robins continues to work miracles as manager of Coventry City, and our man there Dominic Jerams (@SideSammy) says the team is starting to click after three wins and clean sheets in a row.

What a mental start to a season, how's it been for you?

It has been very strange. Cov looked an absolute shambles in the first couple months of the season it seemed like the team had no way out of the mess it found itself in. Somehow, this team has got itself out of the mire very quickly and things are looking rosy — albeit we’re not completely out of the woods yet.

Coventry league results so far…
Sunderland 1-1 Coventry Clarke 12 — Gyokeres 84
Millwall 3-2 Coventry Cooper 36, Honeyman 53, Saville 85 — McFadzean 2, Godden 28
Hull 3-2 Coventry Estupinan 11, 42, 56 — Godden pen 29, 69
Coventry 0-1 Preston Riis 73
Norwich 3-0 Coventry Pukki 14, Sargent 45, Dowell 81
Luton 2-2 Coventry Morris 4, 15, Gyokeres 11, Hamer 61
Birmingham 0-0 Birmingham
Coventry 1-0 Middlesbrough Gyokeres 17
Bristol City 0-0 Coventry
Coventry 0-1 Burnley Tella 39
Cardiff 0-1 Coventry Gyokeres 34
Coventry 1-0 Sheff Utd Waghorn pen 87
Stoke 0-2 Coventry Allen 51, Hamer 65
Coventry 2-2 Rotherham Hamer 76, Gyokeres pen 90 — Bramall 43, Washington 79
Coventry 1-2 Blackpool Palmer 40 — Madine 53, Yates 80
Coventry 1-0 Blackburn Allen 41
Watford 0-1 Coventry Gyokeres 50
Coventry 2-0 Wigan Hamer 77, Gyokeres 90

To what extent is the team's low league position down to the upheaval, the uncertainty, the games in hand etc?

The poor start was the culmination of a few things, amplified by left adrift at the bottom of the table due to the fixture backlog.

Firstly, there was an element of a hangover from last year where we had started very well but had struggled to pick up results from November onwards. Secondly, the club had seemingly been hanging their hat on selling one of the team’s star players for a big fee over the summer, when that didn’t happen, Mark Robins had almost nothing to work with in the transfer market to address last season’s shortcomings. Thirdly, the team was without both Callum O’Hare and Gustavo Hamer for most of the first ten games or so due to injury or suspension.

Even those three factors don’t quite explain just how poor Coventry City were in the first seven or so games and it’s hard not to feel like the players were affected by the sense of uncertainty around the club. Performances were lacking in the purpose and vigour of last year and goals were being let in left, right and centre. It didn’t help that the team was behind the rest of the league in terms of games played, but Coventry were genuinely playing like one of the worst teams in the division.

Assuming/hoping for a more settled home and fixture list after the World Cup would you expect a significant improvement?

A lot will depend on what the team looks like at the end of January. As mentioned earlier, the club were probably banking on selling one of the team’s star players in the summer and the cash flow issues caused by the fixture postponements can’t have eased that requirement. With Viktor Gyokeres, Callum O’Hare and Gustavo Hamer all only contracted to 2024, January may be seen as the last opportunity to sell one of them for a decent fee.

As it stands, this current set of players should have their sights on a comfortable mid-table finish and maybe even better. Losing one of Gyokeres, O’Hare or Hamer would be hard for this team to absorb and would likely make staying up the primary ambition. In fact, I’m still spooked enough by our start to the season that staying up another year would do me nicely right now.

What is the latest state of play with the stadium, ownership, Mike Ashley etc?

There’s a lot to delve through on this and it’s probably not the right time to ask as to what the upshot of everything will be.

The key development has been that Wasps rugby club, who owned the CBS Arena, have gone into financial meltdown, and it looks very unlikely they will be seen in Coventry again. That has put the stadium up for grabs, which had raised the possibility of SISU — the owners of Coventry City — achieving their long-term aim of unity the football club with the stadium and maybe even selling the two as one package.

However, Mike Ashley has unexpectedly come onto the scene and has reportedly been named the preferred bidder for the stadium. Just what that means is not clear at this stage. The early reports are that Ashley is only interested in the stadium, personally, I find it hard to believe that he would buy a football stadium without a football team — it’s not like he doesn’t have the money to.

Were Mike Ashley to buy the CBS Arena, it is a question of what his timescale of eventually purchasing the football club is. Is he trying to purchase the stadium because he has a deal for Coventry City lined up very quickly, or has been given the impression that it wouldn’t be much of a hurdle? Or is his plan to put pressure on the current owners via dictating unfavourable terms as landlord and attempting to force them out? The worry is that it could be the latter and Mike Ashley may be underestimating just how stubborn SISU are, which may lead to yet another spell in exile or weaken the club to such an extent that, by the time Ashley picks up the pieces, he will have caused such pain that he would have made himself the villain at another football club.

Right now, no-one knows how this is all going to play out, not least because it’s not 100% certain who will become owner of the CBS Arena. The next few months could see Coventry City’s prospects change dramatically, for either good or bad.

Ins >>> Kasey Palmer, 25, AM, Bristol City, Free >>> Jonathan Panzo, 21, CB, Forest, Loan >>> Callum Doyle, 18, CB, Man City, Loan >>> Tayo Adaramola, 18, LB, Palace, Loan

Outs >>> Dom Hyam, 26, CB, Blackburn, £1.7m >>> Jordan Shipley, 24, LM, Shrewsbury, Undisclosed >>> Josh Pack, 24, CB, The New Saints (Wales, isn’t it), Free >>> Julian Da Costa, 26, RB, Shrewsbury, Loan >>> Jodi Jones, 24, RW, Released

And presumably through all of this Mark Robins' stock and reputation just continues to rise, he seems to be doing an unreal job in the circumstances?

Back to the football, it has been very impressive how Mark Robins has lifted this team out of the mire it was in around six weeks ago. Most impressive has been how he has fixed a defence made up of a combination of holdovers from the club’s League One days and completely inexperienced youngsters. A large part of that has been down to sitting deep and not taking risks, but that has proven a good way to keep goals out and has meant that the team’s attacking players have been especially devastating.

A lot of managers would have allowed the situation that the club is in to overwhelm, it is remarkable just how Mark Robins not only puts up with it but keeps on finding ways to put out competitive teams.

Stand out players and weak links in the team?

The stand-out part of this team are the attacking options of Viktor Gyokeres, Gustavo Hamer and one or both of Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer.

Gyokeres is a unique kind of centre-forward who excels at carrying the ball up the pitch, running at defenders, but also competing physically to give opponents a torrid time on a pretty consistent basis. Hamer, when he’s not getting himself sent off for impetuous tackles, is such an exhilarating player to watch with his desire to get on the ball and pick out difficult passes, while also wanting to get forward to get shots off on goal too.

The addition of Kasey Palmer over the summer has provided the team with a valuable option just behind the strikers of someone who can either dovetail with Callum O’Hare or to rotate to keep things fresh. Palmer is another manic, energetic presence in the attacking midfield position who loves to get in the faces of opponents, but he is also increasingly showing moments of guile with his through balls. With O’Hare providing similar qualities — although, O’Hare is more of a dribbler than the passer Palmer is — it allows Mark Robins to have a fresh, energetic and skilful creative player in the team at all times.

As for weaknesses, I still think our defence is gettable at, despite the recent improvement. Kyle McFadzean’s lack of pace is probably the key area to try and target, but Coventry City may well sit deep in this game to cover that up. If not McFadzean, then Jonathan Panzo’s inexperience at left centre-back could be exploited, while Josh Eccles at right wing-back can struggle with opponents running directly at him.

On top of that, I just don’t think that Ben Wilson is a Championship-quality goalkeeper. His biggest issue is that he struggles to time coming off his line right, which can be exploited if teams get in behind Kyle McFadzean. His other weakness is just how poor his kicking is, some good pressing could lead to some joy for QPR here.

Revised expectations for the season?
There is so much up in the air about both this Coventry City team and the club itself that staying up is the primary aim this year. Given the circumstances, anything around 12th or above would be remarkable.

Links >>> Coventry City — Official Website >>> Coventry Telegraph — Local Press >>> Sky Blues Talk — Forum >>> Sky Blues Blog — Blog >>> Sideways Sammy — Blog >>> The Lonely Season — Blog >>> Sky Blues TV - Classic Match Highlights >>> Access All Areas — Podcast

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francisbowles added 10:04 - Nov 12 Thanks to Dominic and Clive for this insight into a club that is chaotic off the pitch but steady on it. Going to be a difficult game, especially with Stroud running it, or not.
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TacticalR added 14:23 - Nov 12 Thanks to Dominic. Gravity-defying management from Mark Robins. I can imagine the stadium uncertainty dragging down a lot of other clubs.
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