[theo_luddite]

The McGalphsmiths Stadium
It's gonna be cold again folks,
Wrap up warm.
The Unexamined has been telling us all winter,
The exact dates when we'll be up to our ying yangs in snow again.
It won't be this weekend either. 
Retch Newspapers either need new Weather Forecasters
Or reporters that don't copy and paste their same old crap every week,
And try to pass it off as news.
HD1 just past the rusty old Gasometer.

Kick-off 15:00 UK Time
Saturday 04/03/23


Just 5 weeks since our rearranged match was played at theirs, former Town manager Mark Robins brings his Coventry side up the M1 to play what will hopefully be a much more in their face Town side. Let's also hope the one that turned up for the first half at Burnley last week doesn't turn up again this season, nor the one that the deluded fool Fotheringham thought played so well at Coventry and lost 2-0. I was outside on the Stadium railway platform 10 minutes before the end of that one. I don't wish to be in the Kings Head 10 minutes before the end of this one, but you never know?

On the tellybox

Not showing anywhere at the moment other than iFollow, unless you know better 

Latest news

Reading are on the naughty step again for overspending. They agreed a business plan with the EFL after their last er, transgression, and it was pretty obvious to anyone that they took no bloody notice of it when you saw who they immediately signed (even if on loan). Possible or even likely 6 point deduction coming up which would put them level on points with Brum if applied to the current table. Brum are apparently in a not too dissimilar situation but it is rumoured any deduction will be suspended for this season. When is a points deduction not a points deduction then?

Oh yes, one that prevents you getting relegated in the same season, the EFL have previous for this.

Meanwhile, down Jimmy Hill Way

Who owns Coventry? Have they, haven't they been sold? It was as much up in the air as we are for quite a while. The only thing for certain is that everyone's favourite, er, football supporter and as popular as a fart in a space suit, Mike Trashley Ashley and his Frasers Group own the stadium and everything that goes with it. Given that previous owners (fraudulently it transpires as they defaulted on the bonds they issued) Wasps have gone bust and still haven't decided where to play next season, yet when Trashley Ashley threatened to evict Coventry (again) for not signing the new lease that SISU/Doug King forgot to sign in their rush to sell/buy 75%+ of the club shares, it would have left him with the biggest stadium in the country with no tenants. That might not be a good look. Hell, even Springsteen has decamped to Villa Park for his concert this summer.
Expect the Ricoh Coventry Building Society Arena to be rebranded as Frasers Arena or The Sports Direct Arena as soon as the CBS deal runs out, or sooner.

Doug King's CovCityCo Ltd. according to Companies House filings own at least 75% of the club shares, it doesn't say who has the rest as he's the only "person of significance."
To the best of my knowledge after this all went through in late January, SISU still have a large chunk of that other 25%-.
Doug King? Me neither, local bloke done good apparently. Sound familiar?

Town have had another charity shirt made in the colours of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, that they will wear against Norwich. So Norwich will be in anything but yellow for that game.
The gammons of Bellend Road will no doubt be up in arms again as yellow and red are not one of their favourite colour combinations, but they still don't get it.


https://www.htafc.com/news/2023/march/20...making-of/

Out Injured/Suspended/Isolating

Town - just the usual long termers by the sound of it and Martyn Waghorn, on loan from Coventry, won't be able to play against his parent club, which may be a blessing in disguise.

Coventry - Former Town loanee Kasey Palmer, who scored against us at Coventry, missed the Preston game with a torn hamstring and will be out for a while (nowt new there to be honest).
Midfielder Jamie Allen tore a calf muscle in the Preston game and won't play either. Coventry now have an injury list to envy ours, apparently.

Back training but not oven ready/Back in the frame

Lifted directly from the presser to save my brain cells - "Pearson's had a knock, Helik has been playing with a knock, Hoggy, Danny Ward. Josh Ruffels trained this morning. Hoggy bought me a bottle of champagne this week for not playing him last week, I think that's the least he could do really. We've had another illness today with one player who I won't get into. Duane Holmes is still a couple of weeks off. Knockaert had a sore foot but he's back in training. Tyreece Simpson just had a reaction to a training session and we didn't want to risk him"

Last time out

Town got battered in the 1st half at Burnley and "managed to keep the score down in the 2nd" according to Colin when Burnley barely broke sweat but we apparently played well, or was that not quite as bad? We had less than 20% possession so if we must let them have all the possession we're never gonna play that well are we?



Must go to Specsavers again for a refund. I keep getting told "Town have played well" this season, when I've seemingly been watching some other game we've played in.
Maybe I live in an alternative reality in the "Other World" as Phil Collins once called it, or maybe "I think I'm Alone Now" as Tiffany once nearly said, or was it Beyoncé? Funny how that works innit? 

Coventry beat Blunderland at home to continue their unbeaten run, then extended it with a 0-0 draw at Both Ends in midweek.



The bottom 3rd of the table continue to be consistent - crap but consistent - which means nobody is crawling off the trap door at a high rate of knots.
Certainly not at the rate of knots that QPR are heading for it, however, we continue to be 2 wins the wrong side of it. 



Musical Interlude

Ska had its roots over t'other side o't pond in that warm sunny bit between the tip of Florida, the coast of Mexico and the top bit of South America. If you dig around on YouTube you'll find Bob Marley playing some Ska stuff back in the 60's before he was "discovered" and record companies, being record companies, decided that Reggae was far more commercial.

Then in the 1970's, a bunch of yoofs from Coventy (initially, followed by Brum and that there Larndan) put the Ska rhythms to their own lyrics and, with record companies being record companies, they were still using barge poles to keep them at bay, "the legendary 2 Tone record label was founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of The Specials. Alongside the iconic tunes there was a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Britain at that time." https://culturespacecoventry.com/two-ton...hat%20time.
Thatcher's Britain, eh?

If you ever find yourself being sent to Coventry, have a spare hour or two and a fiver burning a hole in your pocket (it's cheaper for us older kids, it's free for them there whipper snappers who bring their old folk with 'em ) - there are worse places in Coventry to visit than the Music Museum.
https://www.covmm.co.uk/

To unashamedly pinch some of the script from their website .... 

For thirty glorious months 2-Tone Records dominated the charts, with its roster of ska infused talent with the likes of
The Specials and The Selecter from Coventry, Birmingham’s The Beat, and Madness and The Bodysnatchers from London.

Their infectious rhythms, and finger-on-the-pulse lyrics, inspired not only the great record buying public, but critics and journalists alike. The multi-cultural sound was hip and trendy. Punk and its phoney battle cries of “anarchy” and “destroy”, had been replaced with introspective lyrics, and songs that made you dance, made you listen, and more importantly, made you think.
Never shying away from facing issues head on, teenage pregnancy, knife crime, racism and urban decay.

The black and white imagery was the perfect foil for the multi-racial line-up of the bands and the cultural mix of musical influences, how could it fail, like the Beatles own Apple Record before it, anything on 2-Tone was a sure fire hit. Coventry previously famous for Lady Godiva and Blitz and its post-war regeneration, had arrived, we were on the music map.
“The Coventry Sound” was here. It’s here that every Rude Boy and Rude Girl will feel right at home.


You can find it here, behind the shops, down the ginnel by the crossing on the A4600, not far from Jimmy Hill Way (A444) to the east of the ring road.



This is a long'un, but a gud'un


Terry, gone, Much Too Young (sadly)



If you've nowt to do for an hour or so you could listen to this lot, or just play it in the background while watching all Town's extended highlight reels - including the afore mentioned Mr. Marley to save you all that rooting around on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...4Tm2K7rBg5

Not Ska, but definitely from Cov



Well, we all have a cross to bear (or as it's Coventry, bare, as you ride your cock 'oss to Banbury Cross).

The Sack Race

Just a few short weeks off from celebrating 5 years in charge, Karl Robinson got the boot at Oxford United on Sunday, after losing 0:3 at home to the blue and white quarters of Brizzle on Saturday. That left them 17th in League 1 and they are still looking for a replacement. You'd think after 5 years they might have had a replacement in mind by now?

Tables, Form

Whatever happens, we'll still be bottom 3 come 5pm Saturday, but enough of the good news.



There are teams with worse current form than us, 'ow is that possible? 




Innies and Outies

Coventry's hits and misses from the January Sales



Da Costa came back from a loan at Shrewsbury and went straight out to Nancy in France.

You know, there are days when I think I could handle a loan or free transfer to France. I'd probably prefer a bit further south tho'but for the skiing in winter and the warm weather in summer.
Might be expensive getting back for Town's home matches though. Just a thought. At my age it'll never 'appen.

Who's banging 'em in

The Swede with the Greek sounding name, that is actually a Hungarian pronunciation (oo'd a known? and no, I can't pronounce it properly either) is top of their charts, by a long way. He's difficult to keep quiet and surely destined for bigger things in the not too distant future. He was originally at Brighton when he moved over here from Sweden in 2018. After a few loans, including Coventry, he signed a 3 year contract in the summer of 2021. That will surely be extended soon as Prima Donna League vultures and maybe the likes of Burnley and The Blunts, start to circle for the Summer.

They can't all lose

In a bunch of games where every result, whatever they are, won't really suit us. Rotherham are home to QPR, Cardiff are at home to Brizzle City, who come to ours on Tuesday and Wigan play Brum before going to WBA, who we play next weekend. Blackpool are at home to Burnley, who we hope will play like they did last weekend and do us the favour they did everyone else last week.



At the risk of stealing the thunder of the writer of the next match thread, there's also some midweek games that affect us.



Who is writing the next thread? Oh, look, it's me. 

We've played 'em before

We've avoided them more than we've played them as their glory days (if you can call them that) of the 1970's onwards coincided with us going on a tour of every division and back again (eventually).
We have our nose in front and it will stay there after this game. Let's keep fingers and boot laces crossed we're not about to do it again.



Next up?

Brizzle City on Tuesday night then my long haul    game to West Brom next Saturday. 
Must sort a ticket for that one. Doubt I'll get a row end for that one now though.


Pressers

Warnock's Waffle - he takes a very thinly veiled pot shot at those that let Sorba the Taff go out on loan. 

https://www.htafc.com/news/2023/march/wa...ry-city-h/

If like me, you can't see the YouTube link in the Town web page in Chrome for some reason - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vfuIfdGNXE


The views from the Ricoh CBS - soon to be rebranded again as The Trashley Ashley - Arena

[Lord Snooty]

That address of the stadium is getting longer and longer.

Another cracker of a thread, theo.

What are we supposed to be looking at in the photo of the Music Museum, by the way?

I really hope Mr Warnock can wave his magic wand again this weekend. If we turn out a performance like the first half against Burnley, the crowd will turn. We need to get off to a good start, not like we did against Birmingham. The crowd stayed with the team then, but patience among Town fans is not always forthcoming.

[theo_luddite]

Typical of Coventry Snoots, they make a big song and dance (pun intended) about their history and then make things difficult to find.
Like I said the Museum entrance is down a narrow ginnel, and if you blink you'll miss the sign for it over the ginnel entrance.



You might find it a tad easier to spot now in all it's glorious pink and yellow.

[WakeyTerrier]

If we have any chance of staying up the the very minimum we need from our next two games is 4 points and depending on how other results go you could argue 6 points are needed. We are running out of games fast and writing games off like last week before we've even kicked a ball is not an option when you are adrift at the bottom.

Anyway, it's another trip to Magic Rock tomorrow to sample a few IPA's and try and get to the stage of we've had a few good drinks to not really care if the result goes our way as long as we have a good day out.

Takeover Talk: Plenty of interest in taking over Town, with at least 3 parties in the running. One far far more advanced than the others but if that should go tits up then we have others more than willing to come in. Can't say anymore than that

[theo_luddite]

Do you have to book at Magic Rock Wakey or can you just walk in like any other bar/pub? It's a bit off my usual beaten track to the ground, but if I get out of bed early enough one day I might wander round that way for a change of watering hole.

[WakeyTerrier]

You can just walk in, we book it as we have a party of 8 and want a seat inside which is reserved for us but as a rule they have plenty of seating both inside and outside(under cover) and plenty of places to put your pint on. It can get busy but it never seems to overcrowded and service is usually pretty swift.

https://magicrockbrewing.com/pages/huddersfield-taproom

[jjamez]

Not looking forward to tomorrow. Came back from my jollies yesterday and it's fekking freezing

[theo_luddite]

Well Mr. Robins finally said something, added to the end of the OP as mentioned.

[Lord Snooty]

Well Mr. Robins finally sad something, added to the end of the OP as mentioned.

Don't think I'll bother.......unless I can't get to sleep again.

[theo_luddite]

I went for a beer then to the little room upstairs halfway through. By the time I came back Tony Mowbray was prattling on. I doubt anything profound was said judging by the back pages this morning.