By AD
September 24 2010

On 20 May 2010 another new dawn appeared on the horizon of Coventry City Football Club. Ray Ranson appointed Aidy Boothroyd as the new manager, having dispensed with the services of Chris Coleman following another disastrous end to a season, which saw the club go 11 games without victory.

I must admit I wasn’t overly enthused by the announcement of our new manager. Coleman definitely had to go, but I wasn’t sure Boothroyd was the right man to replace him. He did well to get Watford promoted, and nearly kept them up too, but opinion of him is very polarised at The Vicarage, some seeming him as an exceptional manager, others as a guy who just got lucky.

AB joined the Sky Blues after spending most of last season at Colchester, leading them to 8^th in League 1. Respectable enough, but they were fourth when he took over….

With a bit of a reputation for building teams of cloggers and resorting to hoofball very quickly I didn’t expect a great deal of finesse or quality from an AB team, but if results improved then fair enough.

Of course, Boothroyd stated this wasn’t to be the case, and he’d be looking to attack and was going to use width and pace. But Coleman stated this for two years and never once looked like actually putting the words into action, so I thought I’d believe when I see it. With so many fans becoming disenchanted under Coleman last season, season ticket sales fell as a result, and coupled with a very small squad, it was clear Boothroyd would have his work to cut out to improve the numbers and the ability, but he’s had a fair go.

To my eyes, AB’s gone slightly in favour of quantity over quality. No doubt the likes of Platt and O’Donovan will put in the effort and do bring different attributes to the squad, but doubts exist about whether they’ve got the quality to be more than just squad players.

Some of the aforementioned pace and width has appeared with the signings of McSheffrey, O’Donovan and Keogh, with thin areas of the squad padded out with the signings of Stephen O’Halloran at left back and Jutkiewicz, Platt and O’Donovan added to Freddy Eastwood, the only senior striker remaining from last years squad.

A bit of experience was also added with the free transfer of Lee Carsley.  I was a big fan of the quiet contribution Carsley made during his first stint here, but with Doyle, Osbourne and Deegan all vying to play the midfield anchor role, and Clingan and Gunnarsson also available in central midfield, I was left wondering if this part of the budget could possibly have been spent elsewhere.

Boothroyd supposedly was also looking for a central defender despite having six already on the books and has spent the last week trying to add two more strikers to the four available (three of whom were signed by Boothroyd), which to me would make the squad slightly bloated, although AB will undoubtedly try and offload a few.

One thing that’s become apparent is that Boothroyd is his own man and will do as he sees fit, regardless of whose toes he stands on.

By changing the entire line-up from the first game for the Carling Cup tie, and filling the bench with academy players, angered a number of fans, especially those who travelled to the game, and felt that whilst the team put out should have been capable of beating Morecambe, to not give himself any options on the bench should it not go to plan was foolhardy.

Boothroyd has also left out a number of first team regulars from last season, such as Wood, McPake, Clingan and McIndoe, and his man-management powers will be tested to the full in keeping these players happy.

In the last week his man-management has been further called into question by his decision to drop Keiren Westwood following his refusal to sign a new contract. Apart from dropping a very good player who always shows commitment on the pitch and effectively cutting off his nose to spite his face, his argument that the player’s mind may not be fully focused on Coventry City seemed slightly hollow given that his replacement was only on loan and a week from returning to his parent club. Given that Westwood became a father during the previous week AB could easily have said publicly that he’d had a particularly eventful week which meant he wasn’t fully prepared. Westwood also suffered a bereavement a week earlier, so surely a more subtle and tactful approach would have been better? There’s almost certainly fault on both sides, but the whole incident could have been avoided, with AB’s initial comments seeming to have turned it into a bit of a public slanging match unnecessarily.

His man-management also came to the fore after Carl Baker’s sending off against Millwall, with his manager lambasting the midfielder for a couple of acts of petulance. Quite right too, but his comments of “indiscipline won’t be tolerated” rang slightly of double standards when he’s spent over a fortnight defending  disgraced striker Marlon King, a man who has long shown a lack of discipline both on and off the football field.

His decision to try and sign the hitman has also divided fans opinion, although Boothroyd’s desire to get him on board is understandable given how well he did for him at Watford.

In terms of tactics, Boothroyd has shown a willingness to make substitutions early to try and change the game, which worked to great effect against Watford, but less so against Millwall, taking off goalscorer Gunnarsson for Baker, who was sent off about 10 minutes later. However, it’s a refreshing change from the 85^th minute subs that had no time to have an impact under Coleman. Sadly the new incumbent has persisted with the former managers’ decision to bring everyone back to defend corners though.

The team has thus far continued its Jekyll and Hyde characteristics under his tenure as well, being consistently inconsistent. A good performance against Portsmouth was followed up with a abject showing for 80 minutes against Watford before somehow snatching a draw, A battling display saw off Derby, although the balance of play was probably slightly in Derby’s favour.

The first defeat of the season away at Millwall wasn’t too bad, with the sending off of Baker having a big effect on the outcome. But having started the season well (in terms of results at least) to change the tactics to hitting long balls to a (unprolific) lone striker against a newly promoted team seemed a bit negative, and was reminiscent of the ultra-defensive stance Coleman took at the league’s lowest scorers Swansea last season . In some ways the tactic seemed to be playing to the oppositions strengths, as Millwall are a physical team and relished the challenge Platt gave them, when a more skillful and pacy counter-attacking approach down the wings (which AB supposedly favours) may have reaped more benefits?

It’s still far too early to make any kind of judgement, but thus far Boothroyd seems to have shown he’s willing to make decisions, even ones which are likely to polarise opinion of him. But on the pitch things look very much like they did at this point last season, with results being picked up to paper over the cracks of overall poor performances. Hopefully AB will manage to maintain the results where Coleman couldn’t, but with the first murmurings of dissatisfaction being heard from corners of the dressing room, he’s certainly not making it easy on himself.