Is It Change For The Better?

Coventry City have made Neil Bryson and Alan Stephenson redundant and given jobs to Paul Fletcher,Ken Sharp and Mel Brannigan.

For Bryson,his departure is a shame as he was one of the few directors who used to sit with the Sky Blue Army at away games and join in with many of the songs. The Scot might not have been a son of Lady Godiva's City but at least he made the effort to adapt.

That is something which cannot be said of Paul Fletcher who was appointed as CEO of Arena Coventry Limited after a spell at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium.

Fletcher has run Arena Coventry Limited as some sort of closed shop with supporters and at times the club kept at a distance longer than arms length.

The former Burnley player may have got the Arena open but despite his insistance that it would be ready, City lost out on a ground opening and lucrative pre-season game as well as being forced to move their opening game of the season to Norwich.

It was clear who Mike McGinnity blamed for this and the relationship between ACL and the club has been stormy since its first date.

Fletcher, whose new post will bring him in to direct contact with supporters, may have crowed when he landed the deal that gave Ricoh the naming rights for the Arena was announced but any kudos,credibility or trust was lost when he later told stadium magazine Pan Stadia that he has "talked up figures and the actual money received was circa £10m rather than the actual figure.

Mr Fletcher will find his new role a lot easier if he is honest in his dealings with supporters,groups such as the Sky Blue Trust plus the Joint Liaision Council and shareholders from the outset.

Little is currently known about Messrs Sharp and Branigan apart from the facts that Sharp is the MD of a sports marketing firm and Branigan was at Hull City, but it is clear that none of the three new boys will be putting in any of the money that Micky Adams needs to spend in the short time the transfer window is open.

In fact,they will be taking money out in the form of salaries. How much has not been reported but you can bet your bottom dollar that they dont come cheap.

We will have to wait and see if these appointments really do benefit the club but if Geoffrey Robinson wants his loan repaid in May 2008,then a better search for investors may be something he should still be looking at.