Any positivity surrounding Coventry City seems to once again be disappearing. There was and still maybe every potential that we could do really well in League One next season.
However this is looking more and more unlikely as the pendulum swings back towards negativity.
A conclusion to the negotiations over the Ricoh Arena is still a long way off, a suggestion of a minimum of 60 days has been given and that is if everything goes to plan along the way. I think we all know that when SISU are involved things do not go to plan, so therefore we are realistically looking at this being resolved well into next season.
It is widely understood that the transfer embargo imposed on Coventry will not be lifted until these negotiations have come to a conclusion. SISU reportedly want to include the revenue, which owning a share in the Ricoh will bring, in their accounts before they file them to the Football League.
This is on the face of it, a sensible thing to be doing, however if it is going to be detrimental to the clubs success next season then surely it is not worth waiting for. There is also every chance that these negotiations may break down at some point as everyone knows relations between SISU and everyone else are not great at the best of times.
Any hope we had of making any signings that would truly improve us as a squad is disappearing quickly; not only based on the transfer embargo but also on the calibre of player that Andy Thorn is clearly looking at. Thorn has suggested that the players he is interested in are mainly free transfers.
Players who are available in this way usually fall into two categories. Firstly there are players who have issues and questionable aspects to their games. These players are often no longer wanted by their current clubs because they are not seen as good enough and not worthy of another contract when their current deal expires.
These players often include the ones wanting high wages, the ones who are not massively passionate about that particular football club and play mainly for the money. Obviously, these things usually become less of an issue as you get further down the leagues but I think these things are still very much an issue in League One. These are the types of players that we don’t need at the club, we need players who are passionate and hungry to chase success in helping Coventry rebuild in a very difficult division.
The second is an out of contract player who has become too good for their current club and instead of signing a new deal wants to move to a bigger club in an attempt to further their career. The problem here is that we can no longer be considered a big club with all of our off field problems. We are also not going to be able to compete with other clubs for these players in terms of wages that we can offer for them.
There are obvious exceptions to this and sometimes gems can be found that others have disregarded. This is what I am personally hoping for and in Thorn I trust in terms of his ability to determine whether a player has potential or not.
The main rumour going around at the minute is that of out of contract striker James Collins who scored 16 goals for Shrewsbury in their promotion from League Two this season. I don’t really know a lot about him other than he is 21 and a Coventry lad but he seems to have the potential to be a hit in League One. If this is the best we are going for though then maybe we won’t have too much competition for his signature, we will however definitely lose him if we don’t sign him soon.
No player whatever level of quality is going to wait for a club and for that reason we are in trouble. Any player who is out of contract will attract at least some interest just because there is no transfer fee involved. Any decent out of contract players won’t be on the market for long and if we continue the way we are going we will miss out on these players and probably have to go with what we already have which by the end of the transfer market is not going to be much.
Our club is clearly still on the downward slope right now and I think that is clear for everyone to see. I have been one of the people who have wanted SISU out of the club for a long time but also have always been willing to give them a chance to prove themselves. Once again though it seems like they are going to fall flat on their faces and it is going to be the club and us supporters who suffer.
PUSB!!
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