Much as I dislike Villa, I actually feel really sorry for Garde. He knew the task he was taking on and is having his hands tied behind his back.
Looking at the window, I wonder if the 'top' teams might have lost a bit of ground on the rest of the prem as they all seemed to do naff all, even the Spurs/Everton type teams have not overly strengthened. We might be able to steal a few more points
One of my daughters lives in Nuneaton and is a frequent visitor to the Ricoh. She has been raving about this lad for a while and was amazed that a bigger Club hadn't snapped him up earlier. Apparently ' sources at Coventry ' state that the deal was cash up front of £3.5m plus a loan back until the end of the season with us paying all of his wages. It seems that the bigger sums mentioned regarding other Clubs was a smaller down payment with add-ons based on development. The great thing is that this lad can go into the squad for the next 2 years without counting towards the 25 allowed in the squad whereas the ' year of the Cup Winners ' such as the Murphys will now be over 21. The reason we are having to nick other clubs youngsters is because our own Academy, despite coating a fortune, is producing sod all. How long before McNally gets out the axe - but that is another subject on it's own.
It's OK, 1950, the window has now officially "slammed shut" so you can throttle back on the deadline day clichés now!
You seem to have sources everywhere 1950! Looks to be an exciting prospect, especially given the ages of Wes and Naismith. I'm surprised they didn't call it an 11th hour swoop Cromer!
Interesting piece from the Coventry Telegraph about the club 'selling the family silver", alias James Maddison. Not overly enthralled that he was "snapped up" by little Norwich, rather than a top six club - but that smacks of sour grapes to me. "... is heading for Norwich City, a club who could easily find themselves facing Coventry in the Championship next season." - but true. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/sport-opinion/coventry-city-owners-need-reveal-10822933?
Unfortunately the "slamming shut" of the Jan transfer window signals the start of my other pet hate cliche when we hear there will be plenty more "twists and turns" before the end of the season. *bracing*
Well give it a week or so and the loan window will be open - I imagine there'll be much "swooping" and even a little "snapping up" occurring then
It must seem like that Rick!! It is mainly because of my Occupation which left me with friends and contacts all over the world even though I have been retired for 10 years and have Kids all over the place( Crawley, London, Australia, Nuneaton, Lincoln plus the one still at home ) all of whom, bar one, are Football mad and, out of interest, all of whom, bar one, drink proper beer!!
Have been doing some research into this lad, and everyone says that he is the real deal. Liverpool wanted to sign him next summer rather than this window, and it seems Coventry wanted money now. Fingers crossed, but I believe we have signed a true gem.
I must say, I do feel a bit sorry for Cov. Given their recent financial issues and the crazy sums of money flying around this window, I can completely understand the fans being a bit miffed with their club, and us to an extent.
It will be interesting to see how he develops and looks like we could have snatched a future star from under the noses of the bigger clubs - only time will tell.
Reminds me of when we bought Redmond. Same kind of excitement for me. (I know Redmond is one of the men to hate for people on here at the moment. I still believe in him, and that he will get better and better.)
I should have the same sympathy for Cov as in many ways they are my second team. In the 60's I lived in Coventry completing my professional qualifications for 3 years and went to many home games at Highfield Road - at one I met a local girl who I subsequently married. Hence my local connection. For many years they were a family run club who eventually managed to survive for a good while in the top tier although they did have to survive a few relegation scares. Highfield Road was a typical inner city football ground surrounded by housing and with all seater stadia compulsory the capacity dropped to about 25k. The existing owners needed time to raise funds for a new ground but the fans were impatient. Along comes a Company/Consortium promising a new 45k capacity stadium and funds for the sort of player needed to move the Club to an upper league side. You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes or look too closely at the people involved to realise the dangers but the fans fell for it hook line and sinker and following quite nasty demonstrations and campaigns the Club was sold to the new people. The old ground was sold off for housing and the new ground was built but the new ground was owned by the consortium - not the Club - and the consortium also pocketed the proceeds of the sale of the old ground.To make matters worse, the plans were changed and the ground capacity decreased to about 32k - not much of an improvement! A couple of players were bought by the Club but the money for them never arrived and the Club then lurched from one crisis to another ending up, following a rent dispute on the ground, with Cov playing their League 1 home games at Northampton. Now, as I read it, they have been forced to sell us their best asset because they needed the cash and we got in quick - well done to AN and DM by the way. I just can't get away from the thought that all their problems have been self inflicted and brought about by fan pressure so my natural sympathy evaporates.
So, I guess the moral of the story is anyone wishing / hoping for some rich benefactor to "save" NCFC's future in the top flight by agreeing to throw wads of cash at it..... Be careful what you wish for