At the outset here, it will be willingly admitted yours truly has no idea where the phrase originated but that to “Send somebody to Coventry” was a derisory term which meant to get rid of somebody or to send them to somewhere wholly unpleasant.
However, for as long as I can recall at least, in a sporting sense, Coventry always represented a passionate sporting hub which, through its own resilience, always appeared able to punch above its weight.
I know that, before my time, Coventry City FC caused a sensation or three in the FA Cup, and, even after one was properly attuned to the sporting world, those who were then resident at Highfield Road were among the founding members of the FA Premier League in 1992/’93.
More than that, not only did they hold their own therein for quite some time, but they also could lay claim to having had of the best known and loved characters the league his seen on their books and in their dugout.
Who remembers big Steve Ogrizivic in goal for the sky blues? In the era, they also had Phil Babb, Dion Dublin, Peter Ndhlovu and even a very young Robert Keane on their books.
Yet there are two others that Coventry employed at that time who will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Albeit for polarised different circumstances.
On one hand, you had the robust, tempestuous Richard Shaw who was the cause of Eric Cantona being sent off the night the flambuoyant Frenchman had an altercation with a Crystal Palace ‘fan’ Matthew Simmons and ended up being thrown under the bus for it.
At the total opposite end of that scale, mind you, was what happened to former Coventry midfielder David Busst. The big blonde midfielder sustaining the worst injury many of us have ever seen in football or any sport after what looked an innocuous coming together between the Englishman, Ireland’s Denis Irwin and Brian McClair of Scotland.
So horrific was it, however, that Peter Schmeichel actually vomitted on the Old Trafford pitch while almost every other player on that field wept openly as blood, vomit and other debris was cleaned from the surface.
You know, it may not be the biggest shock that Coventry went into something of a free fall after that. Not immediately admittedly. It was in fact another five years before Ron Atkinson chided Andy Gray and Richard Keys on Sky Sports for “Playing with (their) silly machines while (he) was trying (and failing) to keep his club up”
Even allowing for the fact that clubs often go into freefall once they drop out of the English top flight, few have plunged to the dramatic extent Coventry did. Down to and including their ceasing to exist in their original incarnation.
Their stagnation having an ironic twist to it in that, as part of their rehabilitative journey, if memory serves me correctly, at one point, they ground shared with London Wasps RFC who themselves were eventually stung out of business in very similar circumstances.
Nobody would want to be a record holder in any sport in a negative fashion in the Premier League, but then, somebody has to be. As far as can be recalled, Derby County were the quickest to go down with the lowest total.
Then, there teams which were in twerehe original Premier League lineup, got relegated and, to date, have never made it back. Including but not limited to Wimbledon, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham Athletic, Wigan Athletic, Barnsley and Swindon Town.
Then, of course, there are the yoyo teams. The ones who get promoted quite regularly but never seem to be able to sustain themselves at the higher level. Norwich City absolutely captain that lot, but, they have good company in Sheffield United, Burnley, Wolves and, most notably of all, Leicester City.
Coventry, though, I suspect, hold another sort of unfortunate record for taking the longest time (25 years) to find their way back to the top table. A feat completed last weekend just as, closer to home, the natural order of things and summer plans were upskuttled like a heap of seed after encountering the Road Runner.
Though the following might seem strange given that they appear to have hovered around the Championship table’s summit for virtually the entire season and yet – at my own expense – I was openly admit to knowing little or nothing about the recently crowned Championship winners.
Apart, that is, from the fact that their success marks another motion upwards in the career chart – in terms of management – of the architect of their success, Frank Lampard.
Undoubtedly the greatest to ever don the Chelsea blue, the iconic No. 8 has made a better start to his managerial career than he has thus received credit for.
I say start because he is young enough to be at it for decades yet. But he has already left positive influences at Derby County, Everton and Chelsea before being appointed by those formerly resident at the Ricoh Arena, among other places.
Guiding The Rams to the Play Offs and doing a highly commendable job at Everton. Indeed, it has to be said that, if it were anybody else bar David Moyes recruited to Goodison Park (back then), they would have been better sticking with Lampard.
And as for Chelsea. Anybody who agrees to be employed by them in any role other than that of a player needs psychological assesment and a medal before they even hand over their P45 because, impossible though it may seem, Todd Boley seems to be even more of a nutcase and know even less about football (Well, he is American) than Abramovich.
That said, for as much as it could, with plenty of credence, be opined that guiding Coventry City in the Premier League will be the greatest challenge he has faced in his managerial career to date.
Conversely though, it could just as easily be the greatest opportunity. Put bluntly, nobody will be expectimg him or them to achieve anything. So anything they do manage to pull off – up to and including survival in the top flight – can legitimately be considered bonus territory.
That said, the greatest unknown remains whether he will be afforded enough time once they are up there!
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