By AD
June 12 2011

It’s all going pear shaped at Coventry City lately. The Sky Blues have once again hit the crest of a slump and languish in an all-to-familiar 17th place. Still, at least I’m £150 up….. but would the City PLEASE start winning some games!

Bristol City (H) – Lost 4-1

ODDS: Bristol win 13/5, Draw 12/5

MATCH RETURN: £24.50 up

CUMULATIVE RETURN: £175.82 up

MOOD: Oh deary, deary me. Absolutely nothing positive to take from this game at all. Although the stats suggest this game was close in terms of possession and chances, Bristol were easily in control, with the first half an absolute shocker. The Sky Blue cause wasn’t helped with Marlon King’s stupid red-card, but serious questions are starting to be asked about Boothroyd now. The winnings almost gave me a refund, but even so this was absolutely appalling.

Doncaster Rovers (A) - Drew 1-1

ODDS: Doncaster win 5/4, Draw 5/2

MATCH RETURN: £1.25 up

CUMULATIVE RETURN: £177.07 up

MOOD: At least City managed to regain a bit of respect with this performance, although once again they failed to manage the game properly and conceded a late equaliser, although that was probably the fairest result.

Hull City (H) – Lost 1-0

ODDS: Hull win 9/5, Draw 12/5

MATCH RETURN: £18.50 up

CUMULATIVE RETURN: £195.57 up

MOOD: One step forward, two steps back as City once again fail to build on the positives of the previous game and slump at the Ricoh. If I was being kind I might say the Sky Blues may have just merited a point, but if one team had to emerge victorious Hull deserved it more. Under normal circumstances the winnings might have made this loss bearable, but with our current form it doesn’t help at all. 

Burnley (A) – Drew 2-2

ODDS: Burnley win 8/11, Draw 14/5

MATCH RETURN: £2.00 up

CUMULATIVE RETURN: £197.57 up

MOOD: With Boothroyd gone I felt that City might just get something out of this game, and so it proved with a complete change in tactics surprising Burnley and arguably Coventry may have just deserved to win this game. There was a slight irony in that we were facing Eddie Howe, who I wanted when Boothroyd was first appointed, but I’d definitely have taken the financial loss for the team to have got that morale boosting win, and hopefully the lack of a reward for this performance won’t dishearten the players further.

Preston North End (A) – Lost 2-1

ODDS: Preston win 16/11, Draw 5/2

MATCH RETURN: £15.91 up

CUMULATIVE RETURN: £213.48 up

MOOD: Most teams would have looked upon bottom-of-the-table Preston as a good chance to build on the good work from the previous performance, but as many fans know Deepdale is very much a bogey ground for the Sky Blues and many were apprehensive. And so it proved as City conceded a late goal to go home empty-handed. Preston probably just about deserved the win on the balance of play, and £16 is nothing compared to the very real fear of relegation that has started to hang over the club. 

Yet another month has passed without a win, making it a run of 1 win in 18 league games now – extremely worrying. The team are playing better without Boothroyd at the helm but have now dropped to 20^th and 7 points off relegation.

As I’m writing this the news of a transfer embargo, Ray Ranson leaving and the club nearly going into administration without a last gasp injection of £8m from SISU, and supposedly another £5m needed to get to the end of the season has just come to light. Potentially some very, very dark days ahead…..  Will I even get to finish this experiment?