August (the month of honour, no honour off the pitch but the team restore the pride)
The start of the season and most fans dream optimistically about the forthcoming campaign were everyone starts equal but on the 2nd of August one team didn’t as A.C.L. refused to sign the Company Voluntary Agreement and therefore entered liquidation many feared a massive point deduction but City were find only ten points and not fifteen points Leeds were docked for the same offence.
Sisu continued to blame A.C.L. for the points deduction but what they and their supporters fail to mention was that H.M. Customs also refused to sign.
So City became only the 5th team to be docked points twice and only the 8th to start the season with minus points out of the other 8 times, three teams were relegated and only one, Leeds made it to the play offs.
The season looked already over as a transfer embargo was still on meaning the only way that City could bring in players was to get rid of one and bring someone in on 75% of his wages. The next day the season started and it was the earliest time City had ever kicked off a league campaign.
Just over a thousand City fans travelled to Crawley 31% of the crowd, in a depressed mood with rumours that the points deduction could get worse.
The home fans were amazed that the club hadn’t accepted the offer of playing at the Ricoh for £150k p.a. as Crawley play in a council owned ground. City didn’t start the season off too well as they went two down in the first half, the second from a disputed corner after that goal five fans made it onto the pitch described as a pitch invasion in the media. During the second half there was a rumour of a second pitch invasion until City suddenly got back into the game with a tap-in for Wilson before Moussa levelled it up but Crawley scored the final goal to leave City still on minus ten.
A new song was sung that day to tune of Tom Harks “Minus ten, who gives a f***, we’re Coventry City and we’re going up”. Making his debut that day was Aaron Phillips son of David and became only the 5th son to play for City of a former player.
Two distinct groups emerged amongst the City fans not attending “home” games there were the K.C.I.C. group “Keep Coventry in Coventry” who were prepared to travel to away games and didn’t mind who was in charge as long as City returned to the Rioch and the N.O.P.M “Not One Penny More” who wanted to starve the club of any income and even refused to travel away if it gave the club a single penny.
Rumours floated around that City were about to loose all the remaining senior players. Yet more drama away from football, as Sisu’s attempt to sue the Council was blocked by the courts but Sisu appealed and had another date in court dragging everything out further.
Next game was a League Cup tie away to Leyton Orient. After a brilliant Baker goal City trailed 2-1 before Baker was harshly sent off by a referee who seemed to favour the home side before Moussa scored a brilliant equaliser then the referee didn’t send off a defender despite deigning a clear goal scoring opportunity but Leon Clarke had his penalty saved before Orient won it late on.
City finally brought in reinforcements as forward Mathieu Manset was signed he was soon followed by defender Andy Webster. August 11th 2013 the day City first played at “home” away from Coventry but hours before the Rioch staged a “Legends” game and in front of around 8,0000 fans the legends won 8-3.
Meanwhile over at Sixfields, a far smaller crowd watched City take on one of the pre-season promotion favourites Bristol City. The game there was just as remarkable at the one at the Rioch as City raced into a three goal lead before half time before Bristol fought back to make it 3-3 Callum Wilson scored his third league goal of the season to make it 4-3 before they levelled again leaving Carl Baker’s replacement Billy Daniels score his second to win it at 5-4! Manset and Webster made their debuts in that game.
Only just over 2,000 turned up for the game half of them were Coventry fans but there was a hardy bunch on a hill behind the ground that could see most of the action, this hill was christened “Jimmy’s Hill” and the fans in the ground and on the hill couldn’t failed to be impressed by City’s attacking play and the form of Callum Wilson.
A couple of days later City celebrated their 130th birthday. City next visited Carlisle and strolled to a 4-0 victory with Murphy saving a penalty as the City fans sang about the Football League letting them down.
Next up was the second game in Northampton and it just avoided the lowest “home” crowd ever but it was another bizarre game after 68 minutes City had come from behind twice with goals from Leon Clark and Wilson before Wilson scored again to make it 3-2 there was only four minutes left and Preston made it 4-3 before in the fifth minute of injury time sub Manset back healed the ball home to make it 4-4!
Wilson ended the game as League One’s highest scorer and this attracted the attention of Sheffield United but the City board posted a “hands off” statement to the club.
Final game of the month was at Shrewsbury, a ground in which City surrendered the previous season 4-1. City took one and a half thousand fans but despite another Wilson goal, City came away with a point.
September (Month of atonement? City make up the points)
City started the month bottom still on minus points but we were five points from the safety zone and eleven points from the play offs. Despite rumours that Bournemouth were interested in Christie transfer deadline day passed with no player coming in or departing the club.
Just fewer than two thousand attended the next “home” game the lowest crowd ever to watch a league home game for City. The Sky Blues beat Colchester 2-0 to make into positive points and to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.
Tim Fisher claimed that the boycott would last three home games but the fourth game drew just over two thousand to the game still being played on a Sunday so not to clash with Northampton’s home fixtures who, at the delight of many City fans were struggling badly. City beat Gillingham 2-1 and moved out of the relegation zone.
Next up, a local derby against Port Vale City backed by over three thousand fans made up 35% of the crowd. Vale’s Manager Micky Adams had been a regular visitor to Sixfields and sent his team out to play a physical game against City it worked despite a brilliant Moussa goal City went down 3-2. One nice touch was the Vale P.A. requesting a round of applause from the home fans for the away fans plight, which the home fans duly, responded.
The question was, have the opposition found a way of playing against City as a very good Brentford side won at Northampton 2-0 being the first to keep a clean sheet and sending City back into the drop zone.
October (The Halloween month as City prove to be very scary)
City started the month a point from the safety zone but twelve points away from the top six. City travelled to Stevenage and kept a clean sheet and won by a single goal as Louis Garner made his debut.
Before the next game, Kev Monks was rewarded for being a “Grassroots Hero” with a day out at Buckingham Palace shaking the hands of a famous Villa fan and future king.
If one midweek cup trip this early on to Orient wasn’t bad enough, City fans had to endure another against the league leaders as City faced them in the second round of the Johnson’s Paint Trophy.
City held them with no goals but went out on penalties. It may have taken a threat from H.M. Customs but finally City filed their accounts. Next game was live on Sky Sports as City entertained struggling Sheffield United and City showed up for the cameras storming into a three goal lead with Leon Clarke and Wilson scoring before suffering a fight back City ended with a 3-2 win.
It was then a big day for England as they took on Poland needing a win to qualify and that’s what happen as England won 2-0 and book their passage to Brazil.
The largest following of the season next hit the road for the short journey to Wolverhampton backed by around 3,500 fans. City matched the team with the biggest budget all the way but were trailing by a single goal late on until sub Aaron Phillips popped up a sweetly taken shot to earn City a well deserved point.
Aaron became only the third player to score for City whose father had already scored the others were Ted and Dudley Roberts and Tony and Mark Hateley.
A couple of days later a slight change in the fans protest as a group protested outside the Council House on the involvement in the ground of the council and A.C.L, councillor Ann Lucas called for City to return to the Rioch by Christmas.
That night City took on Leyton Orient for the third time this time in Northampton and the leaders unbeaten record disappeared as brilliant goals by Baker and a even better one by Wilson coupled with a Murphy penalty save and yet another Leon Clarke goal saw City run out to a great 3-1 win.
Steven Pressley finally dipped into the loan market and brought in Jamar Loza on loan as cover for the front two.
Another short trip was next on the cards as City took 33% of the crowd to Walsall scene of the worst performance under Pressley last season but it was all different this season as City scored the only goal of the game to claim victory leaving their manager to declare City the best side his team had faced this season.
Back with the drama off the pitch as Sisu claimed they wanted talks over the Rioch.
November (The month of the bonfire as City are on fire away from home but are at damp squib at home)
City started the month in 15th place five points above the drop zone and six points behind 6th place.
The first day of the month seemed to bring good news as the two main protagonists agreed to meet and talk about the sale of the ground but it was reported that Sisu’s offer was far below the market value of the ground.
Next day the biggest ever crowd to watch a City home game outside of Coventry turned up to see City take on Notts County as just under 2,700 boosted by a large away following entered Sixfields.
This was the first time this season that City played at “home” on the traditional 3pm Saturday kick off the fans supporting the Sky Blues in the ground on the hill and listening on radio were entertained to a 3-0 stroll with the front two sharing the goals leaving the BBC Coventry & Warwickshire commentators to declare “it’s too easy for City”.
Making his debut that day was Lozar who came on for the last ten minutes, this would be his only game as Norwich were not happy for him to be sitting on the bench. Lozar became only the 47th player to play once for City and the 86th to make one appearance as a sub this includes the current manager but only the 10th to come on as a sub and never play again.
City were now in touching distance of the top six. Steve Pressley meanwhile won “Manager of the Month”. Next up was the F.A. Cup and the people at BTSports thought it would be a good idea to send City fans down to London on a Friday night to play A.F.C. Wimbledon.
Yet another Cup game in London as six out the last eight away cup games have been in London and first time ever we have had two consecutive F.A. Cup games in the capital. City had a tough game and conceded the first in the second half until a horrendous error by the home keeper gifted City a goal and another two quickly after wrapped up the tie and sent City through to Round Two.
Another game on the “box” next as City had a Sunday date against Bradford City and if there were any neutrals watching they would have been entertained by a 3-3 draw but Bradford City snatched a late draw with an injury time penalty.
All was not right on the touchline as Steve Pressley accused Bradford of “Stone aged football” and Bradford’s manager Phil Parkinson sarcastically applauded Pressley during a radio interview and claimed Pressley was lucky for “inheriting” Leon Clarke and Wilson this all followed when the final whistle went and the manger’s squared up to each other.
Next up was relegation threatened Tranmere at Northampton City were forced to kick off an hour early because Northampton’s rugby team were playing later that day but City were poor and were down to a heavy 5-1 defeat.
Before the next game, Gregor Rioch left and the head of the Academy after many successful years was replaced by Darren Murray.
In midweek City tried to bounce back as they played Rotherham at Northampton but another poor display saw City slip to a 3-0 goal defeat, since the start of the season some fans that attended Northampton had claimed playing in front so few supporters was a blessing in disguise for City this had been blown out of the water.
With injuries mounting and a response to the last two games Pressley delved into the loan market and brought in three players all from the bottom three teams in the Championship in came Danny Seabourne, Chris Dagnall and Chris Maguire.
A few days later, Sisu were in court to hear the judge give permission to allow the courts to give a judicial review of A.C.L. being funded by the council thus killing any chance of City returning to the Rioch this year and dragging the whole saga out even longer.
The end of the month saw what could only be described as an invasion as around seven thousand City fans descended on Milton Keynes almost taking half the attendance this was the biggest away league following since the Premier League days.
All three of the “new boys” in Chris Dagnall, Chirs Maguire and Danny Seaborne made their debut that day in a match that even eclipsed our last visit there from drama as City trailed at half time thanks to an extremely dubious penalty before kicking towards the vast hoards of City fans City played better and levelled via a deflected Dagnall shot not long after City won a free kick taken expertly and scored by Maguire who became the 78th player to score on his debut but only the eight to do this as a sub but it got better minutes later when Maguire did it again in front of the ecstatic away following and thus became the 5th player to score more than one on his debut the others were Robbie Keane, Jackie Lee, Mickey Quinn and George Hudson with three. Maguire looked set to be a hero at City but was recalled two games later by his parent club.
December (Month of the pantomime, City fans are the heroes whilst Sisu are the villains, boo)
Yet more spin from both sides as A.C.L. offered Sisu to play at the Rioch for £100,000 for the next two years if City stayed in League One but this was turned down.
Away from the shenanigans around the Ricoh, the World Cup draw took place, pairing England with a tricky group including Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, in an SCG meeting, Tim Fisher referred to City fans as “Lions being led by donkeys”. This was an old phrase meaning the brave being led by the incompetent and is often associated with the First World War but it was in fact an old Arab saying and was first used in Britain for the Crimea War.
At the same time, a brilliant article in a Guardian blog vilified Sisu’s running of the club. A link was placed on the Sky Blues Trust website to the anger of the club who threatened to sue the Trust if they didn’t take the link down, which they duly did - a case of something worse than donkeys suing the lions.
On a more important note, City travelled to Hartlepool for an F.A. Cup game without a recognised forward City started well in the end were happy to hang on for a replay, Courtney Baker-Richardson, a forward with a long name made his debut that day.
The next day City were the first away team “out of the hat” and faced Barnsley away in what may have been the most uninteresting tie of a fairly dull 3rd Round draw.
The lowest ever league crowd to watch a City game turned up at Sixfields next to see a disappointing 2-2 draw. An even smaller crowd turned up next as under a thousand City fans pitched up in Northampton to see scrape into the 3rd Round a late Hartlepool goal seemed to have forced a draw until a late Leon Clarke sent City though at least Wilson and Clarke were both back in the team.
This baring a Full Members Cup game back in the 80’s was the smallest ever crowd to watch a “home” game for City.
Sisu finally released some details of the new proposed ground with an artist’s impression but a capacity of 12,500 to start with was nothing short of an insult.
The last away game of the year was at Swindon. This was a tough game where City seemed to have no luck and somehow come away with a defeat despite putting in the best display for a few weeks.
City were one away win short of the record number of 11 set in 1963 and we had earned the second highest number of away points for a year with three points for a win amazing tying with last year.
To cheer fans up a touch City fans received a great honour next when BTSports’ pundit Danny Kelly elected them “fans of the year”, he quoted “The owners of Coventry City have attempted to bully the club’s fans into accepting the frankly ludicrous position of playing their home games in Northampton. "As a result, the fans, in an extraordinary uprising of the ragged-trousered, are boycotting the home games in Northampton, but going in vast numbers to away games. They have found a way to punish the club but support the team.”
Boxing Day normally provides a big crowd and even at Northampton this seems to be true as almost a thousand more City fans including Northampton fans and neutrals, than normal, went to a local derby against Peterborough pushing the crowd for the first time over four thousand and the “home” fans there were entertained as City beat promotion chasing Posh 4-2 again leaving City as top scorers in League 1 and two more goals from Leon Clarke moved him top of the scorers in the division.
Last game of the year saw City at “home” drawing disappointedly with Oldham thanks to a Baker overhead kick leaving City in 12th 9 points behind the play off places but only 7 points above the drop zone. City ended the year as top scorers with Leon Clarke top scorer in the league and Wilson joint second.
No one can say that following City is dull, certainly not this season with goals going in on a regular basis and the soap opera off the field many of a Hollywood producer would have turned the script down as being too fanciful.
So what can 2014 hold one thing it can not be as dramatic as 2013 or can it?