That happened to me as well was brought over and the club was floated on the stock exchange. I got them debt free but now loaded with debt as they've decided on their own to go and build a new stadium which you'll see in the next update haha
A Coventry City/Sky Blues Special
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That happened to me as well was brought over and the club was floated on the stock exchange. I got them debt free but now loaded with debt as they've decided on their own to go and build a new stadium which you'll see in the next update haha
Summer 2022
So he I go into my 7th year as manager of Coventry City. Last season was definitely our best year as we finished 11th in the Premier League and topped it off with taking home the EFL Cup and going into the qualifying rounds of the Euro Cup.
Announcements
First of two announcements we have. The club has decided to splash out on the cash and upgraded the training facilities which is always a bonus as we already have excellent facilities. Moving onto the major announcement and it is a biggen! The board have decided we have outgrown our stay at the Ricoh Arena and have gotten planning permission to build a brand new 45,261 seater stadium! This will allow us to garner extra income but I am a little bit worried about the newly added debt being added to the club but oh well, on wards and upwards.
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Preseason
Preseason started with a training camp in the States where we played 3 games before returning home. We won two games, a 3-1 win at Atlanta United and 2-0 at Charlotte, whilst drawing 1-1 with Louisville. Wouldn't be our last trip to the States however as we came back and played a friendly against North Carolina winning 3-0. Our other friendlies consistent of a mixed bag of results overall. We had wins at Everton, SLB and Valencia whilst losing to Barcelona, Sevilla and Leiria and gaining a very credible draw at Juventus to leave us well prepared for the season ahead.
Euro Cup
We begin our European adventure by making the short trip up to Scotland to face the 'mighty' Rangers over two legs to see who will progress to the Euro Cup Playoff. The first leg was a home and was a rather dull affair as we drew 1-1, as we opened the scoring via an Adam Maher penalty before we conceded a late equaliser from Robert Harris. The second leg was a different affair though as we ran out 3-1 winners thanks to a cracker of a goal from Pereiro to set us on our way with other goals from Gallagher and Uzochukwu before Rangers pulled one back via Jordan Rossiter. This set us up with Nacional de Madeira in the Playoff round.
Moving into the Euro Cup Playoff we face off against Portuguese side Nacional de Madeira. Another good game was had as we came out 3-0 winners to set up a potential Euro Cup main draw. Bigirimana sent us on our way before the game was closed out via goals from Gallagher and Rahman. We went to sunny Portugal for the second leg and came home with a hard earned 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Gallagher and Jones.
Onto the draw and we've been drawn with Sporting, Dinamo and Lech. This is a decent group and would bank us on getting out of it but as always anything can happen but lets go and see where it takes us!
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League Action
I said last season we had our best ever start? Well we've just went and knocked it out of the bag. We started the season with a daunting game against Man City but after a magical defensive display we game away with a 1-0 win thanks to Adam Maher penalty. Our next game up was at Aston Villa were we game away with a draw after conceding a last minute equaliser. We finished August off with a 1-0 win at West Brom thanks beaut of a free kick from Bigirimana. This unbeaten start to the season has left us in 5th place on 7 points, 2 points of 1st place currently occupied by Sunderland who are the only team 3 from 3.
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Transfers
We had pretty quite summer in the transfers in side as we only signed 4 players as there is some depth in the u23's who will play some point in the coming season. Incoming players Dani Olmo, Hachim Mastour and Joe Wildsmith come straight into the senior squad and will play their parts throughout a potential long season and Abdou Diallo goes into the u23's and may get a few games throughout the season. In the outgoing transfer the two major players leaving were Joe Allen who signed for Las Palmas and back up Gabriel only spending one season at the club before leaving for Corinthians. Squad players Prestia, Suliman, Fernandes, Lucio and Telfer also left on paid transfers after not being able to nail out a permanent fixture in the team. Several others left on loan or on frees as we cleared out some space for future transfers.
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Next update will include September through to December and will be up either tomorrow night or Monday night but don't quote me on it haha
So he I go into my 7th year as manager of Coventry City. Last season was definitely our best year as we finished 11th in the Premier League and topped it off with taking home the EFL Cup and going into the qualifying rounds of the Euro Cup.
Announcements
First of two announcements we have. The club has decided to splash out on the cash and upgraded the training facilities which is always a bonus as we already have excellent facilities. Moving onto the major announcement and it is a biggen! The board have decided we have outgrown our stay at the Ricoh Arena and have gotten planning permission to build a brand new 45,261 seater stadium! This will allow us to garner extra income but I am a little bit worried about the newly added debt being added to the club but oh well, on wards and upwards.
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Preseason
Preseason started with a training camp in the States where we played 3 games before returning home. We won two games, a 3-1 win at Atlanta United and 2-0 at Charlotte, whilst drawing 1-1 with Louisville. Wouldn't be our last trip to the States however as we came back and played a friendly against North Carolina winning 3-0. Our other friendlies consistent of a mixed bag of results overall. We had wins at Everton, SLB and Valencia whilst losing to Barcelona, Sevilla and Leiria and gaining a very credible draw at Juventus to leave us well prepared for the season ahead.
Euro Cup
We begin our European adventure by making the short trip up to Scotland to face the 'mighty' Rangers over two legs to see who will progress to the Euro Cup Playoff. The first leg was a home and was a rather dull affair as we drew 1-1, as we opened the scoring via an Adam Maher penalty before we conceded a late equaliser from Robert Harris. The second leg was a different affair though as we ran out 3-1 winners thanks to a cracker of a goal from Pereiro to set us on our way with other goals from Gallagher and Uzochukwu before Rangers pulled one back via Jordan Rossiter. This set us up with Nacional de Madeira in the Playoff round.
Moving into the Euro Cup Playoff we face off against Portuguese side Nacional de Madeira. Another good game was had as we came out 3-0 winners to set up a potential Euro Cup main draw. Bigirimana sent us on our way before the game was closed out via goals from Gallagher and Rahman. We went to sunny Portugal for the second leg and came home with a hard earned 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Gallagher and Jones.
Onto the draw and we've been drawn with Sporting, Dinamo and Lech. This is a decent group and would bank us on getting out of it but as always anything can happen but lets go and see where it takes us!
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League Action
I said last season we had our best ever start? Well we've just went and knocked it out of the bag. We started the season with a daunting game against Man City but after a magical defensive display we game away with a 1-0 win thanks to Adam Maher penalty. Our next game up was at Aston Villa were we game away with a draw after conceding a last minute equaliser. We finished August off with a 1-0 win at West Brom thanks beaut of a free kick from Bigirimana. This unbeaten start to the season has left us in 5th place on 7 points, 2 points of 1st place currently occupied by Sunderland who are the only team 3 from 3.
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Transfers
We had pretty quite summer in the transfers in side as we only signed 4 players as there is some depth in the u23's who will play some point in the coming season. Incoming players Dani Olmo, Hachim Mastour and Joe Wildsmith come straight into the senior squad and will play their parts throughout a potential long season and Abdou Diallo goes into the u23's and may get a few games throughout the season. In the outgoing transfer the two major players leaving were Joe Allen who signed for Las Palmas and back up Gabriel only spending one season at the club before leaving for Corinthians. Squad players Prestia, Suliman, Fernandes, Lucio and Telfer also left on paid transfers after not being able to nail out a permanent fixture in the team. Several others left on loan or on frees as we cleared out some space for future transfers.
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Next update will include September through to December and will be up either tomorrow night or Monday night but don't quote me on it haha
September - December 2022
Things are currently going well for Coventry even with a few surprises as we continue on and are now approaching 2023 and have way through the season.
Domestic Cup Action
This is a pretty brief update with only the EFL Cup to cover at this point and it has only been one game. We were paired with Southampton in the 3rd round and went out in the 3rd round. It was a tight game and unfortunately we fell to a late 3-2 defeat thanks to a 88th minute winner from the spot for Southampton coolly put away by Gabbiadini.
FA Cup 3rd round draw has also been made and we are taking a brief trip to Wales as we face Cardiff.
Europa League Action
This is were the surprises happen. Although we were given a relatively easy enough group with Sporting my only main worry its FM and anything can happen. However not to worry as we ended the group stage on top winning 4 and drawing 2 to remain unbeaten. With it being the clubs first appearance in Europe we started off with a 2-1 at Dinamo before following it up with a 2-0 win against Lech. We moved onto the double header with Sporting, travelling to Portugal and coming home with a 3-2 win before drawing 3-3 at home more or less securing our progression to the knock out rounds. We welcomed Dinamo to the Ricoh Arena and came away with a handy 3-3 draw. Our final game of the group stage we needed a win to secure top spot but had already qualified regardless and we went to Poland and thrashed Lech 7-3 to secure top spot.
We will travel to the Fatherland for the first leg of the first knockout round as we have been paired against Wolfsburg.
League Action
After an impressive start to the season we move into September with only 3 games to play thanks to a pesky international break. We started off with welcoming Huddersfield and we walked away with a 5-1 win thanks to 4 first half goals. Next up we welcomed West Ham but could not follow up the impressive win as we lost out 2-0 after travelling back from Croatia. We ended the month with a visit to Sheffield Wednesday and we went back to Coventry with a 4-2 win thanks to doubles from Mastour and Gallagher. This left us in 6th place early on as look to keep up our early pace.
October however was a different matter as it wasn't a great month as we finished the month with 2 draws and 2 loses. First up we went to Southampton and came back with a 0-0 draw before following it up with a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool thanks to a late Jodi Jones own goal. Next up we welcomed Arsenal who beat us 3-1 thanks to two late goals from Dembele and Firmino. We ended the month with a visit to Everton and came back with a 2-2 draw thanks to a late equaliser from Jodi Jones. This unkind month left us in 10th place in the league still well above expectations.
November was another quite month as we had another international break. Month game wise wasn't that bad as we lost 4-1 to Spurs before bouncing back with a 2-0 win at Middlesbrough thanks to goals from Doria and Ruiz. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth as they equalised late on through Deeney after Molumby opened up the scoring with his first goal for the club. We moved up a place into 9th as we continued our good start to the season.
December as always is a busy month in the league with a total of 7 games being played across the month. We opened up with a 1-0 defeat at Stoke before getting a fantastic draw at Chelsea thanks to some superb defensive work. Next two games were against Newcastle and Sunderland and we crashed to a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle before losing again 2-0 to Sunderland. We welcomed Leicester to the Ricoh Arena for the M69 Derby and we went riot winning 6-0 thanks to doubles from Ruiz and Maher before Mastour and Olaleye finished it up. We welcomed Ma United to the Ricoh Arena for the Boxing Day game and went on to lose 2-1 thanks to a defensive mix-up at the end. Final game of the year saw us take the trip to Aston Villa and came away with a 1-1 draw to end the year. This left us on 24 points after 20 games in 13th with Spurs and Man United fighting it out at the top.
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Other Announcements
I ******* absolutely without a doubt hate international football.
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No ******* **** Sherlock
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Things are currently going well for Coventry even with a few surprises as we continue on and are now approaching 2023 and have way through the season.
Domestic Cup Action
This is a pretty brief update with only the EFL Cup to cover at this point and it has only been one game. We were paired with Southampton in the 3rd round and went out in the 3rd round. It was a tight game and unfortunately we fell to a late 3-2 defeat thanks to a 88th minute winner from the spot for Southampton coolly put away by Gabbiadini.
FA Cup 3rd round draw has also been made and we are taking a brief trip to Wales as we face Cardiff.
Europa League Action
This is were the surprises happen. Although we were given a relatively easy enough group with Sporting my only main worry its FM and anything can happen. However not to worry as we ended the group stage on top winning 4 and drawing 2 to remain unbeaten. With it being the clubs first appearance in Europe we started off with a 2-1 at Dinamo before following it up with a 2-0 win against Lech. We moved onto the double header with Sporting, travelling to Portugal and coming home with a 3-2 win before drawing 3-3 at home more or less securing our progression to the knock out rounds. We welcomed Dinamo to the Ricoh Arena and came away with a handy 3-3 draw. Our final game of the group stage we needed a win to secure top spot but had already qualified regardless and we went to Poland and thrashed Lech 7-3 to secure top spot.
We will travel to the Fatherland for the first leg of the first knockout round as we have been paired against Wolfsburg.
League Action
After an impressive start to the season we move into September with only 3 games to play thanks to a pesky international break. We started off with welcoming Huddersfield and we walked away with a 5-1 win thanks to 4 first half goals. Next up we welcomed West Ham but could not follow up the impressive win as we lost out 2-0 after travelling back from Croatia. We ended the month with a visit to Sheffield Wednesday and we went back to Coventry with a 4-2 win thanks to doubles from Mastour and Gallagher. This left us in 6th place early on as look to keep up our early pace.
October however was a different matter as it wasn't a great month as we finished the month with 2 draws and 2 loses. First up we went to Southampton and came back with a 0-0 draw before following it up with a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool thanks to a late Jodi Jones own goal. Next up we welcomed Arsenal who beat us 3-1 thanks to two late goals from Dembele and Firmino. We ended the month with a visit to Everton and came back with a 2-2 draw thanks to a late equaliser from Jodi Jones. This unkind month left us in 10th place in the league still well above expectations.
November was another quite month as we had another international break. Month game wise wasn't that bad as we lost 4-1 to Spurs before bouncing back with a 2-0 win at Middlesbrough thanks to goals from Doria and Ruiz. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth as they equalised late on through Deeney after Molumby opened up the scoring with his first goal for the club. We moved up a place into 9th as we continued our good start to the season.
December as always is a busy month in the league with a total of 7 games being played across the month. We opened up with a 1-0 defeat at Stoke before getting a fantastic draw at Chelsea thanks to some superb defensive work. Next two games were against Newcastle and Sunderland and we crashed to a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle before losing again 2-0 to Sunderland. We welcomed Leicester to the Ricoh Arena for the M69 Derby and we went riot winning 6-0 thanks to doubles from Ruiz and Maher before Mastour and Olaleye finished it up. We welcomed Ma United to the Ricoh Arena for the Boxing Day game and went on to lose 2-1 thanks to a defensive mix-up at the end. Final game of the year saw us take the trip to Aston Villa and came away with a 1-1 draw to end the year. This left us on 24 points after 20 games in 13th with Spurs and Man United fighting it out at the top.
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Other Announcements
I ******* absolutely without a doubt hate international football.
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No ******* **** Sherlock
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January - March 2023
Moving into 2023 we continue to progress and do well in the league but the big news is our European adventure still continues strongly as we have made it into the Quarter Finals.
FA Cup Action
We begin our FA Cup adventure against Cardiff and progressed to the 4th round thanks to a goal from Ocampo in a 1-0 win. Next up we faced Watford in the 4th round and we progress to the 5th round in a hard fought 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Maher after Molumby was sent off and we played 65 minutes with 10 men. Our FA Cup journey ended in the 5th round as round as we crashed out against Arsenal 3-2 despite a late double from Abel Ruiz. This left us to concentrate our efforts elsewhere.
League Action
We begin 2023 by welcoming Man City to the Ricoh Arena and we came out with a 4-1 win thanks to a late 10 minute hatrick from Sam Gallagher. We then faced off against West Brom and Huddersfield and overcame them both in hard fought victories winning 1-0 and 3-2 respectively. We ended the month with a 2-1 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday with Ben Hur opening his Coventry account which turned out to be nothing more than a consolation, this left us in 10th place as we move on to February.
We had a mixed month in February as we came away with 2 wins and 2 narrow losses. We started off with a 2-1 win against West Ham thanks to a Gallagher double. We followed this up however with back to back 1-0 losses to both Southampton and Liverpool as we suffered a set back as we try and grab another adventure in Europe next season. We finished the month with an impressive victory at Everton winning 1-0 thanks to a late Maher goal to leave us in 11th place.
It all went balls up though in March as we only played two league games thanks to a pesky international break but in those two games we conceded 7 goals and only scored 1 as we suffered a major set back. First up we faced Spurs who are keeping up a fight as they try to pip Man United to the title and rightly hammered us 4-0 as we were completely outplayed. We followed this up with a slightly improved performance against Middlesbrough but lost out 3-1 as we squandered our chances with Gallagher getting a consolation and Rahman getting the boot late on as we finished with 10 men. This left us dropping a further place and down into 12th on 39 points, 7 points behind Chelsea who occupy the last European spot.
European Action
We continued on our European adventure as we faced off against Wolfsburg in the 1st Knockout round and after a tense 2nd leg we progressed to the 2nd Knockout round after overcoming Wolfsburg 8-5 on aggregate. We won the first leg comfortable 3-1 thanks to goals from Gallagher, Ocampo and Windass before returning for the second leg as we overcame a determined Wolfsburg 5-4 with goals from Mastour, Gallagher and Maher sending us through.
We were drawn against Portuguese opposition again as we came up against Maritimo. After a 5-0 first leg triumph thanks to a hatrick from Gallagher along with Ocampo and Mastour we knew unless a horror show we will progress to the Quarter Finals. We travelled to Portugal and came home with a 2-1 defeat but still progressed 6-2 on aggregate as we heavily rotated. We were drawn against Liverpool in the Quarter Finals so unless there is a miracle that's the end of our European journey.
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January Transfer Window + Youth Intake
First up we have the January transfer window and it was an extremely quiet one for the club. We had no one coming in during the transfer window as the only transfer I was targeting in Kieran Tierney fell through. We had a few loans renewed in January and only Francesco La Celso leaving permanently as he joined Valenciennes FC.
Moving onto the youth intake and it was another good year for the club, we had several players coming in who could definitely play a part in the future.
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Below are probably the best two players of the intake with Waters being retrained into a central attacking midfielder as in none of my current formations do I have any width in my team.
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Moving into 2023 we continue to progress and do well in the league but the big news is our European adventure still continues strongly as we have made it into the Quarter Finals.
FA Cup Action
We begin our FA Cup adventure against Cardiff and progressed to the 4th round thanks to a goal from Ocampo in a 1-0 win. Next up we faced Watford in the 4th round and we progress to the 5th round in a hard fought 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Maher after Molumby was sent off and we played 65 minutes with 10 men. Our FA Cup journey ended in the 5th round as round as we crashed out against Arsenal 3-2 despite a late double from Abel Ruiz. This left us to concentrate our efforts elsewhere.
League Action
We begin 2023 by welcoming Man City to the Ricoh Arena and we came out with a 4-1 win thanks to a late 10 minute hatrick from Sam Gallagher. We then faced off against West Brom and Huddersfield and overcame them both in hard fought victories winning 1-0 and 3-2 respectively. We ended the month with a 2-1 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday with Ben Hur opening his Coventry account which turned out to be nothing more than a consolation, this left us in 10th place as we move on to February.
We had a mixed month in February as we came away with 2 wins and 2 narrow losses. We started off with a 2-1 win against West Ham thanks to a Gallagher double. We followed this up however with back to back 1-0 losses to both Southampton and Liverpool as we suffered a set back as we try and grab another adventure in Europe next season. We finished the month with an impressive victory at Everton winning 1-0 thanks to a late Maher goal to leave us in 11th place.
It all went balls up though in March as we only played two league games thanks to a pesky international break but in those two games we conceded 7 goals and only scored 1 as we suffered a major set back. First up we faced Spurs who are keeping up a fight as they try to pip Man United to the title and rightly hammered us 4-0 as we were completely outplayed. We followed this up with a slightly improved performance against Middlesbrough but lost out 3-1 as we squandered our chances with Gallagher getting a consolation and Rahman getting the boot late on as we finished with 10 men. This left us dropping a further place and down into 12th on 39 points, 7 points behind Chelsea who occupy the last European spot.
European Action
We continued on our European adventure as we faced off against Wolfsburg in the 1st Knockout round and after a tense 2nd leg we progressed to the 2nd Knockout round after overcoming Wolfsburg 8-5 on aggregate. We won the first leg comfortable 3-1 thanks to goals from Gallagher, Ocampo and Windass before returning for the second leg as we overcame a determined Wolfsburg 5-4 with goals from Mastour, Gallagher and Maher sending us through.
We were drawn against Portuguese opposition again as we came up against Maritimo. After a 5-0 first leg triumph thanks to a hatrick from Gallagher along with Ocampo and Mastour we knew unless a horror show we will progress to the Quarter Finals. We travelled to Portugal and came home with a 2-1 defeat but still progressed 6-2 on aggregate as we heavily rotated. We were drawn against Liverpool in the Quarter Finals so unless there is a miracle that's the end of our European journey.
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January Transfer Window + Youth Intake
First up we have the January transfer window and it was an extremely quiet one for the club. We had no one coming in during the transfer window as the only transfer I was targeting in Kieran Tierney fell through. We had a few loans renewed in January and only Francesco La Celso leaving permanently as he joined Valenciennes FC.
Moving onto the youth intake and it was another good year for the club, we had several players coming in who could definitely play a part in the future.
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Below are probably the best two players of the intake with Waters being retrained into a central attacking midfielder as in none of my current formations do I have any width in my team.
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End of season run in 2023
I have a team full of absolute bottle jobs!
Europa League
We were drawn against Liverpool in the quarter finals with the first leg taking place at Anfield. We went there with great expectations hopefully being able to return with a low scoring defeat or lucky enough to get a draw. However it wasn't to be as we were completely outplayed and lost 3-0. Going into the 2nd leg we knew our backs were against the wall but managed to fight it out a bit drawing the 2nd leg 3-3 thanks to goals from Molumby and Gallagher. Competition was eventually won by West Ham as they beat Anderlecht 4-1 in the final.
League Action
Going into April we were still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe against as we were 7 points behind 6th place but it wasn't to be as we went into a full on meltdown. We played 5 games in total in April, drawing two and losing the other three. We drew 1-1 against Bournemouth and Sunderland respectively with Mastour getting the opening goal in the Bournemouth game and Ruiz getting an injury time equaliser against Sunderland. We then went on to suffer heavy defeats against Arsenal (3-1), Chelsea (2-0) and Stoke 5-0 as we conceded 4 in the second half after Molumby was sent off. This left us in 15th place in the league well off the pace and no chance of qualifying for Europe.
Going into May we had 3 games remaining in the league and managed to win one as it was our first win in 7 games. We started the month visiting Leicester for the m69 derby and came out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Mastour and Gallagher. Next up we faced Newcastle who were chances continental football and beat us 1-0 before we finished the season off at Man United who had already been crowned champions and beat us 2-0. We ended the season in 14th place, 3 down on where we finished last year but well clear of the relegation places in terms of points despite our melt down.
Man United, Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal all finished in the top 4 in that order as Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Huddersfield all were relegated to the Championship. Liverpool and Man United took home the EFL and FA Cup respectively.
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I have a team full of absolute bottle jobs!
Europa League
We were drawn against Liverpool in the quarter finals with the first leg taking place at Anfield. We went there with great expectations hopefully being able to return with a low scoring defeat or lucky enough to get a draw. However it wasn't to be as we were completely outplayed and lost 3-0. Going into the 2nd leg we knew our backs were against the wall but managed to fight it out a bit drawing the 2nd leg 3-3 thanks to goals from Molumby and Gallagher. Competition was eventually won by West Ham as they beat Anderlecht 4-1 in the final.
League Action
Going into April we were still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe against as we were 7 points behind 6th place but it wasn't to be as we went into a full on meltdown. We played 5 games in total in April, drawing two and losing the other three. We drew 1-1 against Bournemouth and Sunderland respectively with Mastour getting the opening goal in the Bournemouth game and Ruiz getting an injury time equaliser against Sunderland. We then went on to suffer heavy defeats against Arsenal (3-1), Chelsea (2-0) and Stoke 5-0 as we conceded 4 in the second half after Molumby was sent off. This left us in 15th place in the league well off the pace and no chance of qualifying for Europe.
Going into May we had 3 games remaining in the league and managed to win one as it was our first win in 7 games. We started the month visiting Leicester for the m69 derby and came out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Mastour and Gallagher. Next up we faced Newcastle who were chances continental football and beat us 1-0 before we finished the season off at Man United who had already been crowned champions and beat us 2-0. We ended the season in 14th place, 3 down on where we finished last year but well clear of the relegation places in terms of points despite our melt down.
Man United, Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal all finished in the top 4 in that order as Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Huddersfield all were relegated to the Championship. Liverpool and Man United took home the EFL and FA Cup respectively.
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2022/23 Season Review
So we come to the end of yet another season and it has currently had its highs and lows. We did alright in the league despite our late meltdown and made an effort in the domestic cups. Our biggest high was making it to the quarter finals of the Euro Cup before crashing out to Liverpool. Anyway on the awards and so on.
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First up is the seasonal awards.
Doria took home the Fans Player of the Year after getting 54% of the vote, with the Gael Bigirimana (19%) and Sam Gallagher (16%) joining him the top 3. This was a bit of surprise as I thought Gallagher would have got more of the vote share due to the amount of goals he scored or assisted but ah well fans are fickle. Abel Ruiz took home the Young Player of the Year which again was well deserved as he came in when needed and got the team some important goals. Carlos Ocampo took home the Goal of the Season after a cracker in the Euro Cup against Maritimo and Hachim Mastour took home Signing of the Season after coming in on a free and making his way in the side and staying there after a slow start.
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Moving onto the commercial summary and again the club has done well. We have seen an increases in everything apart from the broadcasting revenue which has dropped again down 14m from last year. We have seen a slight increase in the competition revenue with isn't much but is counts despite our poor showing in the league and finishing down on last year. Doria sold the most shirts this year at the club with Bigirimana, Jones, Gallagher and Molumby joining him in the top 5 selling shirts.
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On the last note there has been a sizeable record broken which is the average attendance which is now 29,352 up on the high of 27,971 which was set in 2020. This bodes well as we will be moving into a brand spanking new stadium at the end of next season so onwards and upwards for the club attendees.
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Goals for next season
So we come to the end of yet another season and it has currently had its highs and lows. We did alright in the league despite our late meltdown and made an effort in the domestic cups. Our biggest high was making it to the quarter finals of the Euro Cup before crashing out to Liverpool. Anyway on the awards and so on.
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First up is the seasonal awards.
Doria took home the Fans Player of the Year after getting 54% of the vote, with the Gael Bigirimana (19%) and Sam Gallagher (16%) joining him the top 3. This was a bit of surprise as I thought Gallagher would have got more of the vote share due to the amount of goals he scored or assisted but ah well fans are fickle. Abel Ruiz took home the Young Player of the Year which again was well deserved as he came in when needed and got the team some important goals. Carlos Ocampo took home the Goal of the Season after a cracker in the Euro Cup against Maritimo and Hachim Mastour took home Signing of the Season after coming in on a free and making his way in the side and staying there after a slow start.
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Moving onto the commercial summary and again the club has done well. We have seen an increases in everything apart from the broadcasting revenue which has dropped again down 14m from last year. We have seen a slight increase in the competition revenue with isn't much but is counts despite our poor showing in the league and finishing down on last year. Doria sold the most shirts this year at the club with Bigirimana, Jones, Gallagher and Molumby joining him in the top 5 selling shirts.
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On the last note there has been a sizeable record broken which is the average attendance which is now 29,352 up on the high of 27,971 which was set in 2020. This bodes well as we will be moving into a brand spanking new stadium at the end of next season so onwards and upwards for the club attendees.
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Goals for next season
- Hold onto the best players at the club
- Finish in a higher position than we did this season
- Attempt to win another cup or qualify for Europe via the league
Good season up til April then! I hate finishing poorly, but go again next season, I'm sure a few good signings in the transfer window will enable you to reach that next level, enjoying this story though so keep it up
Cheers Aj! Had a load of niggle injuries and suspensions so didn't help at all but could've been worse.
Preseaon + August 2023
Here we go into another season as we continue our onward march in the Premier League, this will cover the summer and up until the end of the summer transfer window!
Preseason
This year our preseason trip we went to the states again as we have done last year. We lined up games against Colorado, San Jose and Vancouver before we left and beat both Colorado and Vancouver 1-0 before drawing at San Jose. This would not be our last trip to the states as we returned just before the start of the season and played both Philadelphia and North Carolina drawing 1-1 and winning 4-0 respectively. We also had other games against Liverpool and Man City winning 2-1 and drawing 2-2 respectively whilst beating Ballymena 3-1 and losing 2-1 to Gelsenkirchen as we finished off our preseason and prepared for the new season ahead which will be our last at the Ricoh Arena.
League Action - August
We started the 2023/24 season by visiting our M69 rivals Leicester and unfortunately crashed to a 2-1 defeat with Ruiz getting us an equaliser before we conceded late on. Next up we welcomed Aston Villa and drew 1-1 thanks to a first goal from new signing Cesinha, we then travelled to the south coast to visit Southampton and came away with a 2-0 defeat as we lost our first choice keeper Wildsmith to a 10 minute injury and had McCarthy in nets who hasn't played much. These opening 3 games in the league left us on 1 point in 17th place just outside the relegation places on goal difference.
EFL Cup Action
We entered in the 2nd round and were drawn away against Peterborough. We went their on the back of a poor start to the league hoping to give us a kick start and we did. I heavily rotated the team and got a reward as we ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Windass, Gallagher and Winks. This got us into the 3rd round in which we will face Watford.
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Transfers
The summer transfer window was alright for the club and I got in some promising u23 players ands and strengthened in 2 positions along with getting rid of some deadwood. Ricky Higgins, Wayne Sear, Tommy Burns and Stephen Williams-Jarvis go directly into the u23's whilst Cesinha comes in to strengthen midfield/attacking midfield, Winks comes into midfield and Friis comes into strengthen the defence and add additional cover.
The four major outgoings were Fontana, O'Reilly, Dumic and Ben Hur who all just strops towards the end of the season due to lack of playing time as I could not fit them in. Greg Olley finally left the club after being making a killings thanks to poor foresight from myself and not being part of the club the last two years after being on loan at Rangers and St Johnstone but I wish him well haha!
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Next update will probably run from now to end of December. Peace out
Here we go into another season as we continue our onward march in the Premier League, this will cover the summer and up until the end of the summer transfer window!
Preseason
This year our preseason trip we went to the states again as we have done last year. We lined up games against Colorado, San Jose and Vancouver before we left and beat both Colorado and Vancouver 1-0 before drawing at San Jose. This would not be our last trip to the states as we returned just before the start of the season and played both Philadelphia and North Carolina drawing 1-1 and winning 4-0 respectively. We also had other games against Liverpool and Man City winning 2-1 and drawing 2-2 respectively whilst beating Ballymena 3-1 and losing 2-1 to Gelsenkirchen as we finished off our preseason and prepared for the new season ahead which will be our last at the Ricoh Arena.
League Action - August
We started the 2023/24 season by visiting our M69 rivals Leicester and unfortunately crashed to a 2-1 defeat with Ruiz getting us an equaliser before we conceded late on. Next up we welcomed Aston Villa and drew 1-1 thanks to a first goal from new signing Cesinha, we then travelled to the south coast to visit Southampton and came away with a 2-0 defeat as we lost our first choice keeper Wildsmith to a 10 minute injury and had McCarthy in nets who hasn't played much. These opening 3 games in the league left us on 1 point in 17th place just outside the relegation places on goal difference.
EFL Cup Action
We entered in the 2nd round and were drawn away against Peterborough. We went their on the back of a poor start to the league hoping to give us a kick start and we did. I heavily rotated the team and got a reward as we ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Windass, Gallagher and Winks. This got us into the 3rd round in which we will face Watford.
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Transfers
The summer transfer window was alright for the club and I got in some promising u23 players ands and strengthened in 2 positions along with getting rid of some deadwood. Ricky Higgins, Wayne Sear, Tommy Burns and Stephen Williams-Jarvis go directly into the u23's whilst Cesinha comes in to strengthen midfield/attacking midfield, Winks comes into midfield and Friis comes into strengthen the defence and add additional cover.
The four major outgoings were Fontana, O'Reilly, Dumic and Ben Hur who all just strops towards the end of the season due to lack of playing time as I could not fit them in. Greg Olley finally left the club after being making a killings thanks to poor foresight from myself and not being part of the club the last two years after being on loan at Rangers and St Johnstone but I wish him well haha!
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Next update will probably run from now to end of December. Peace out
September - December 2023
So after a more or less dreadful start to the Premier League season we have a lot to improve so that we can shoot up the table and move away from a relegation fight. Again as usual everything that happened up to the end of December 2023 will be covered separately.
Domestic Cup Action - EFL Cup + FA Cup Draw
After being defeating Peterborough in the 2nd round we visited Watford in the 3rd round and over game them on penalties after drawing 1-1 with McCarthy the hero as he saved 2 penalties in the shoot out. We were then drawn against Swindon in the 4th round and ran out 4-2 winners thanks to doubles from Ruiz and Mastour. In the quarter finals we were drawn against Liverpool, we changed the formation a bit and went with a 5-3-2 which paid dividends as we ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Winks, Gallagher and Molumby. We have been drawn against Brentford in the semifinals do hopefully we'll have another cup final appearance under our belts with it being a Manchester derby in the other semi final.
In the FA Cup we have been drawn against Arsenal in the 3rd round as we hope for yet another cup upset and another run in a cup competition.
League Action
September
So after a shocking start in August we had our backs against the wall as we tried to improve on our league standing. We started the month off against Watford losing 2-1 despite taking the lead through Sam Gallagher, next up we faced off against Liverpool and lost 2-0 as we lost more ground in the league. We welcomed Man United to the Ricoh Arena for the last time and so how beyond belief ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Molumby and Ruiz as we hit United twice on the counter. We finished the month off against Arsenal and lost 5-0 after a horror breakdown in the 2nd half as we conceded 3 goals in 6 minutes. This left us in 19th place in the league on 4 points with a **** of a lot of work to do.
October
Going into October we only had 3 games due to the usual pesky international break. We started the month as we left off beginning with a 3-1 defeat against Chelsea with Ruiz grabbing nothing but an equaliser. Our fortunes did turn around though as we finished the month with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle as we came back at the death and grabbing the draw thanks to two 90th minute goals from Ocampo and Winks. We finished the month then with a 4-2 win against Bournemouth thanks to a double from Winks along with goals from Doria and Ruiz. This left us now in 17th place in the league on 8 points as we slowly start to climb up the table.
November
After a good end to October we came into November and again only had 3 games as yet another international break. We ended the month unbeaten as we won two games and drew one. We started the month off against Derby and prevailed 4-2 thanks to a hatrick from Pereiro and a goal from Winks. Next up we faced Middlesbrough and drew 1-1 thanks to a 4th goal in 2 games from Pereiro and we finished the month with 3-0 win at Swansea thanks to two goals from Jones and another Winks goal. We finished the month in 14th place on 15 points.
December
Moving into the last month of 2023 we faced a busy festive period as we played 7 games. We picked up 3 wins against Everton (3-1), Stoke (4-1) and Leicester (3-2). We went on a three game losing run thanks to defeats from Spurs (3-0), Sunderland (1-0) and West Ham (2-1) and drawing 0-0 with Man City. We finished the month/year in 12th place on 25 points.
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Next update will be January and February including the transfer window and hopefully another cup final.
So after a more or less dreadful start to the Premier League season we have a lot to improve so that we can shoot up the table and move away from a relegation fight. Again as usual everything that happened up to the end of December 2023 will be covered separately.
Domestic Cup Action - EFL Cup + FA Cup Draw
After being defeating Peterborough in the 2nd round we visited Watford in the 3rd round and over game them on penalties after drawing 1-1 with McCarthy the hero as he saved 2 penalties in the shoot out. We were then drawn against Swindon in the 4th round and ran out 4-2 winners thanks to doubles from Ruiz and Mastour. In the quarter finals we were drawn against Liverpool, we changed the formation a bit and went with a 5-3-2 which paid dividends as we ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Winks, Gallagher and Molumby. We have been drawn against Brentford in the semifinals do hopefully we'll have another cup final appearance under our belts with it being a Manchester derby in the other semi final.
In the FA Cup we have been drawn against Arsenal in the 3rd round as we hope for yet another cup upset and another run in a cup competition.
League Action
September
So after a shocking start in August we had our backs against the wall as we tried to improve on our league standing. We started the month off against Watford losing 2-1 despite taking the lead through Sam Gallagher, next up we faced off against Liverpool and lost 2-0 as we lost more ground in the league. We welcomed Man United to the Ricoh Arena for the last time and so how beyond belief ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Molumby and Ruiz as we hit United twice on the counter. We finished the month off against Arsenal and lost 5-0 after a horror breakdown in the 2nd half as we conceded 3 goals in 6 minutes. This left us in 19th place in the league on 4 points with a **** of a lot of work to do.
October
Going into October we only had 3 games due to the usual pesky international break. We started the month as we left off beginning with a 3-1 defeat against Chelsea with Ruiz grabbing nothing but an equaliser. Our fortunes did turn around though as we finished the month with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle as we came back at the death and grabbing the draw thanks to two 90th minute goals from Ocampo and Winks. We finished the month then with a 4-2 win against Bournemouth thanks to a double from Winks along with goals from Doria and Ruiz. This left us now in 17th place in the league on 8 points as we slowly start to climb up the table.
November
After a good end to October we came into November and again only had 3 games as yet another international break. We ended the month unbeaten as we won two games and drew one. We started the month off against Derby and prevailed 4-2 thanks to a hatrick from Pereiro and a goal from Winks. Next up we faced Middlesbrough and drew 1-1 thanks to a 4th goal in 2 games from Pereiro and we finished the month with 3-0 win at Swansea thanks to two goals from Jones and another Winks goal. We finished the month in 14th place on 15 points.
December
Moving into the last month of 2023 we faced a busy festive period as we played 7 games. We picked up 3 wins against Everton (3-1), Stoke (4-1) and Leicester (3-2). We went on a three game losing run thanks to defeats from Spurs (3-0), Sunderland (1-0) and West Ham (2-1) and drawing 0-0 with Man City. We finished the month/year in 12th place on 25 points.
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Next update will be January and February including the transfer window and hopefully another cup final.
January - February 2024
Moving into a new year and the second half of the season we have FA Cup and league action along with a little EFL Cup semi final to contend with as we go for our second final in three years.
FA Cup Action
As we enter into the FA Cup in the third round we were drawn against Arsenal which is a bit of a disaster as I had hopes of a bit of a run in the cup. Anyway, we welcomed Arsenal to the Ricoh Arena and managed to earn ourselves a replay as we drew 1-1 thanks to an equaliser from Sam Gallagher just after half time. Going into the replay we knew that if we progressed we would face Man United in the next round but it wasn't to be as we lost 2-0 with Arsenal hitting us with 2 goals late in the second half. That's us for this year as we go again next year.
EFL Cup Action
After somehow beating Liverpool 3-0 in the quarter finals we dodged a bullet and drew Brentford in the semi finals with it being a Manchester derby in the other semi final. Going into the first leg we were missing several players due to a sudden outbreak of a mysterious illness, anyway we visited Lionel Road and came back with a credible 0-0 draw. Going into the second leg we knew that if we progressed we would probably be facing Man United in the final as they had won the first leg 4-1.
Going into the second leg we welcomed back Ocampo and Molumby into the team and it paid massive dividends. We fell behind after 20 minutes as Brentford went ahead through a Osako goal. It took us 6 minutes to get back on even terms thanks to a cracker of a free kick from Ocampo and we went into the second half in level terms. Second half began quietly but it did finish dramatically as Joe Evans-McCrum seen red for a second bookable offence on the 76th minute but then 3 minutes later we took the lead as Sam Gallagher poked in after a goalmouth scramble. The game finished 2-1 as we won and progressed to the final to face off against United who won 8-1 on aggregate against Man City.
League Action
Going into the New Year we had a lot going on. Going into January in the league were there or there abouts for the season so far but still had time to improve. We started off the year with 2-0 win against Southampton thanks to goals from Pereiro and Ocampo, we followed this is up with a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa with Winks getting nothing more than a consolation. We welcomed Liverpool to the Ricoh Arena for what will be the last time and we came out 2-0 winners thanks to a double from Abel Ruiz. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal as they equalised in the 93rd minute. We finished in the month in 12th place as we still have hopes of finishing in the top half.
Moving into February we had yet another lovely international break and it did us no favours. We went into the month with four games scheduled and ending it with 3 points from 4 games. We faced off against Man United first up and went home empty handed despite United going down to 10 men after 5 minutes as they won 2-0. We followed this up with a 2-2 draw at Chelsea with goals from Gallagher and youth prospect Babangida and a 3-3 draw at Watford with a double from Abel Ruiz and Joe Evans-McCrum got his first goal for the club to secure the draw. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth with Winks getting a late equaliser to leave us in 13th place on 35 points.
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Transfer Action
Outgoings
January as per usual is a quiet transfer period for the club as I don't like to make any moves in I don't need to but I was forced to make a move due to a major outgoing. Prince Uzochukwu left the club and moved to Bayern Leverkusen for 12 million euros with a 15% add on for any future fee received by Leverkusen, this was disappointing as The only other major outgoing was club stalwart Gael Bigirimana leaving on loan to Getafe as he decided he has felt he has achieved all he has at the club as they also have a clause to make the deal permanent for 4 million euro.
Incomings
After Uzochukwu left the club we needed to bring it a decent replacement to bridge the gap in defence as we bring in our promising youth. We signed Ricardo Farcas from FC Groningen for 3 million euro as he came in to provide competition for Guneysu and Friis to pair with Doria in defence.
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Next update will be the EFL Cup final.
Moving into a new year and the second half of the season we have FA Cup and league action along with a little EFL Cup semi final to contend with as we go for our second final in three years.
FA Cup Action
As we enter into the FA Cup in the third round we were drawn against Arsenal which is a bit of a disaster as I had hopes of a bit of a run in the cup. Anyway, we welcomed Arsenal to the Ricoh Arena and managed to earn ourselves a replay as we drew 1-1 thanks to an equaliser from Sam Gallagher just after half time. Going into the replay we knew that if we progressed we would face Man United in the next round but it wasn't to be as we lost 2-0 with Arsenal hitting us with 2 goals late in the second half. That's us for this year as we go again next year.
EFL Cup Action
After somehow beating Liverpool 3-0 in the quarter finals we dodged a bullet and drew Brentford in the semi finals with it being a Manchester derby in the other semi final. Going into the first leg we were missing several players due to a sudden outbreak of a mysterious illness, anyway we visited Lionel Road and came back with a credible 0-0 draw. Going into the second leg we knew that if we progressed we would probably be facing Man United in the final as they had won the first leg 4-1.
Going into the second leg we welcomed back Ocampo and Molumby into the team and it paid massive dividends. We fell behind after 20 minutes as Brentford went ahead through a Osako goal. It took us 6 minutes to get back on even terms thanks to a cracker of a free kick from Ocampo and we went into the second half in level terms. Second half began quietly but it did finish dramatically as Joe Evans-McCrum seen red for a second bookable offence on the 76th minute but then 3 minutes later we took the lead as Sam Gallagher poked in after a goalmouth scramble. The game finished 2-1 as we won and progressed to the final to face off against United who won 8-1 on aggregate against Man City.
League Action
Going into the New Year we had a lot going on. Going into January in the league were there or there abouts for the season so far but still had time to improve. We started off the year with 2-0 win against Southampton thanks to goals from Pereiro and Ocampo, we followed this is up with a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa with Winks getting nothing more than a consolation. We welcomed Liverpool to the Ricoh Arena for what will be the last time and we came out 2-0 winners thanks to a double from Abel Ruiz. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal as they equalised in the 93rd minute. We finished in the month in 12th place as we still have hopes of finishing in the top half.
Moving into February we had yet another lovely international break and it did us no favours. We went into the month with four games scheduled and ending it with 3 points from 4 games. We faced off against Man United first up and went home empty handed despite United going down to 10 men after 5 minutes as they won 2-0. We followed this up with a 2-2 draw at Chelsea with goals from Gallagher and youth prospect Babangida and a 3-3 draw at Watford with a double from Abel Ruiz and Joe Evans-McCrum got his first goal for the club to secure the draw. We ended the month with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth with Winks getting a late equaliser to leave us in 13th place on 35 points.
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Transfer Action
Outgoings
January as per usual is a quiet transfer period for the club as I don't like to make any moves in I don't need to but I was forced to make a move due to a major outgoing. Prince Uzochukwu left the club and moved to Bayern Leverkusen for 12 million euros with a 15% add on for any future fee received by Leverkusen, this was disappointing as The only other major outgoing was club stalwart Gael Bigirimana leaving on loan to Getafe as he decided he has felt he has achieved all he has at the club as they also have a clause to make the deal permanent for 4 million euro.
Incomings
After Uzochukwu left the club we needed to bring it a decent replacement to bridge the gap in defence as we bring in our promising youth. We signed Ricardo Farcas from FC Groningen for 3 million euro as he came in to provide competition for Guneysu and Friis to pair with Doria in defence.
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Next update will be the EFL Cup final.
EFL Cup Final 2024
So here we go, our second final in three years and again its in the EFL Cup as we face off against Man United this time around. As expected any history we have Man United is heavily weighted in their advantage given the nature of our clubs anyway here we go.
Build Up
Going into it we both have came through some difficult games to get here with us obviously having to play a game more than United as we entered the 2nd round whilst they entered the 3rd round. Below is both teams journey to the final.
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1st Half
First half started off extremely slowly whilst United start straight out the blocks and put us under pressure from the off. Even with this pressure from United there was no clear chances in the first half with us only having 1 shot in total and it wasn't even on target.
2nd Half
Going into the 2nd half we started off straight out the blocks after a stirring team talk as we pushed United back for the 1st 10 minutes and we had our only clear chance of the game as Gallagher came close with him chipping the keeper only for the ball to rolling agonisingly wide. United finished the half strongly and could've and should've won in in the last 5 minutes as Morata slammed a shot wide whilst one on one with Wildsmith as it ended 0-0 in ordinary time.
Extra Time + Penalties
Extra time went through like a blur as there was no real chances for both teams and the game petered out and went to penalties. Going into the penalties it was all up in the air but unfortunately it wasn't to be as United ran out 4-3 winners. Doria, Ruiz and Rahman all converted for us but Molumby and Hamilton had theirs saved, whilst United converted 4 of theirs and Wildsmith saving Zuccarelli.
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Anyway on to next year.
So here we go, our second final in three years and again its in the EFL Cup as we face off against Man United this time around. As expected any history we have Man United is heavily weighted in their advantage given the nature of our clubs anyway here we go.
Build Up
Going into it we both have came through some difficult games to get here with us obviously having to play a game more than United as we entered the 2nd round whilst they entered the 3rd round. Below is both teams journey to the final.
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1st Half
First half started off extremely slowly whilst United start straight out the blocks and put us under pressure from the off. Even with this pressure from United there was no clear chances in the first half with us only having 1 shot in total and it wasn't even on target.
2nd Half
Going into the 2nd half we started off straight out the blocks after a stirring team talk as we pushed United back for the 1st 10 minutes and we had our only clear chance of the game as Gallagher came close with him chipping the keeper only for the ball to rolling agonisingly wide. United finished the half strongly and could've and should've won in in the last 5 minutes as Morata slammed a shot wide whilst one on one with Wildsmith as it ended 0-0 in ordinary time.
Extra Time + Penalties
Extra time went through like a blur as there was no real chances for both teams and the game petered out and went to penalties. Going into the penalties it was all up in the air but unfortunately it wasn't to be as United ran out 4-3 winners. Doria, Ruiz and Rahman all converted for us but Molumby and Hamilton had theirs saved, whilst United converted 4 of theirs and Wildsmith saving Zuccarelli.
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Anyway on to next year.
End of season run in 2023/24
Here we go into the end of the season as we try to get over the disappointment of losing the EFL Cup final against United.
Youth Intake
First up we have the annual youth intake and it was another good year for the club as we welcomed in some potentially good players via the youth intake. We've secured two central defenders, a right back and a central midfielder who all have the potential to make it at the club.
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League Action
March
We started March by welcoming Newcastle to the Ricoh Arena and lost out 2-1 as we took the lead through Guneysu before Newcastle hit back with two late goals. Next up we went to Derby and lost the complete plot as we melted away and were hammered 3-0 as we were never in the game. After that defeat we followed it up with another one as we lost out 1-0 to Swansea thanks to old club legend Michael Folivi who scored just after half time. We ended the month at Everton and performed well as we ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a double from Ocampo and a wonder goal from jones. This left us in 13th place on 38 points with 6 games to go.
April
April began very quietly due to another international break as we only played 3 games during the month. First up we visited Middlesbrough and we prevailed thanks to a 3-2 victory with a double from Winks and a late winner from Ruiz. We then visited Man City and after a good defensive display we drew 0-0 and we finished the month by welcoming Spurs to the Ricoh Arena and we lost out 4-2 as Doria and Ruiz got nothing more than consolation goals after Spurs scored 4 in the first half. We finished the month in 13th place on 42 points with 3 games to go we could still make the top half.
May
Going into the final 3 games of the season we have a tough end but could still come out with a top 10 finish if results go our way. We started off against Stoke and lost 4-1 as Berahino scored all 4 as Ruiz got nothing more than a consolation for us. We then travelled to West Ham who hammered us 3-0 as they took the driving seat in the race for the title over United with West Ham having two to play and United 3 to play. Final game of the season saw us face off against Sunderland who boast a 34 year old Gareth Bale and a 32 year old Christian Eriksen and we drew 0-0 and we squandered plenty of chances. That's us for this season as we finished in 12th place on 43 points.
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Other announcements
In other news in April I was offered an interview for the vacant Spurs job. The job itself is vacant due to Spurs sacking Jurgen Klopp after he was deemed not to up to standards this season.
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Here we go into the end of the season as we try to get over the disappointment of losing the EFL Cup final against United.
Youth Intake
First up we have the annual youth intake and it was another good year for the club as we welcomed in some potentially good players via the youth intake. We've secured two central defenders, a right back and a central midfielder who all have the potential to make it at the club.
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League Action
March
We started March by welcoming Newcastle to the Ricoh Arena and lost out 2-1 as we took the lead through Guneysu before Newcastle hit back with two late goals. Next up we went to Derby and lost the complete plot as we melted away and were hammered 3-0 as we were never in the game. After that defeat we followed it up with another one as we lost out 1-0 to Swansea thanks to old club legend Michael Folivi who scored just after half time. We ended the month at Everton and performed well as we ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a double from Ocampo and a wonder goal from jones. This left us in 13th place on 38 points with 6 games to go.
April
April began very quietly due to another international break as we only played 3 games during the month. First up we visited Middlesbrough and we prevailed thanks to a 3-2 victory with a double from Winks and a late winner from Ruiz. We then visited Man City and after a good defensive display we drew 0-0 and we finished the month by welcoming Spurs to the Ricoh Arena and we lost out 4-2 as Doria and Ruiz got nothing more than consolation goals after Spurs scored 4 in the first half. We finished the month in 13th place on 42 points with 3 games to go we could still make the top half.
May
Going into the final 3 games of the season we have a tough end but could still come out with a top 10 finish if results go our way. We started off against Stoke and lost 4-1 as Berahino scored all 4 as Ruiz got nothing more than a consolation for us. We then travelled to West Ham who hammered us 3-0 as they took the driving seat in the race for the title over United with West Ham having two to play and United 3 to play. Final game of the season saw us face off against Sunderland who boast a 34 year old Gareth Bale and a 32 year old Christian Eriksen and we drew 0-0 and we squandered plenty of chances. That's us for this season as we finished in 12th place on 43 points.
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Other announcements
In other news in April I was offered an interview for the vacant Spurs job. The job itself is vacant due to Spurs sacking Jurgen Klopp after he was deemed not to up to standards this season.
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2023/24 Wrap Up
So we've finished yet another season in the Premier League and did well to finish mid table after yet another end of season meltdown. We finished the season in 13th place in the league whilst making the final of the EFL Cup before crashing out in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. West Ham won the league whilst United won the EFL and Chelsea took home the FA Cup. Derby, Aston Villa and Bournemouth were all relegated whilst West Brom, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley are all promoted from the Championship.
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Going to the end of season awards they were much the same as last year. Doria took the Player of the Year award again with 49% of the vote with Jodi Jones coming second on 23% and Baba Rahman made the top 3 for the first time with 17% of the vote. Carlos Ocampo took home the goal of the season after a cracker of a free kick against Everton in the 3-0 win towards the end of the season. January buy Ricardo Farcas took home the signing of the season after coming in and slotting in the back line to partner Doria after January. Finally Abel Ruiz took home the Young Player of the Year as he notched up 19 goals as he took on the role as the main striker as Sam Gallagher spent most of the season in the physio room.
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Commercially the club has down well again. Sponsorship rose to just over 26 million euro whilst competition prize money, corporate and hospitality and match day commercial and retail income did drop which is to be expected as we have no European football this season. Broadcast revenue has decreased again but still it did generate 116 million euro for the club to leave us well set. Doria sold the most shirts this season with Jones, Winks, Molumby and Gallagher joining him in the top 5.
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Finally we have changes to our facilities, due to them good oul technology advances our youth facilities have dropped a level so the board have sanctioned an improvement which should hopefully do our players no harm. We'll end it with us getting some fantastic news as we officially say goodbye to our old home the Ricoh Arena and move into the brand new 45 thousand seater Coventry Stadium.
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So we've finished yet another season in the Premier League and did well to finish mid table after yet another end of season meltdown. We finished the season in 13th place in the league whilst making the final of the EFL Cup before crashing out in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. West Ham won the league whilst United won the EFL and Chelsea took home the FA Cup. Derby, Aston Villa and Bournemouth were all relegated whilst West Brom, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley are all promoted from the Championship.
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Going to the end of season awards they were much the same as last year. Doria took the Player of the Year award again with 49% of the vote with Jodi Jones coming second on 23% and Baba Rahman made the top 3 for the first time with 17% of the vote. Carlos Ocampo took home the goal of the season after a cracker of a free kick against Everton in the 3-0 win towards the end of the season. January buy Ricardo Farcas took home the signing of the season after coming in and slotting in the back line to partner Doria after January. Finally Abel Ruiz took home the Young Player of the Year as he notched up 19 goals as he took on the role as the main striker as Sam Gallagher spent most of the season in the physio room.
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Commercially the club has down well again. Sponsorship rose to just over 26 million euro whilst competition prize money, corporate and hospitality and match day commercial and retail income did drop which is to be expected as we have no European football this season. Broadcast revenue has decreased again but still it did generate 116 million euro for the club to leave us well set. Doria sold the most shirts this season with Jones, Winks, Molumby and Gallagher joining him in the top 5.
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Finally we have changes to our facilities, due to them good oul technology advances our youth facilities have dropped a level so the board have sanctioned an improvement which should hopefully do our players no harm. We'll end it with us getting some fantastic news as we officially say goodbye to our old home the Ricoh Arena and move into the brand new 45 thousand seater Coventry Stadium.
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Preseason - End of transfer window 2024/25
Moving into a new season we have also moved home, into a brand new 45 thousand seater stadium after moving out of the Ricoh Arena.
Preseason
For our preseason tour this year we decided against going to the States for the training camp as we went to Hong Kong this time around. We played a total of 12 games this time around with games in Hong Kong during the camp and then the usual friendlies including a game against North Carolina. We ended with 8 wins, 1 draw and 3 loses as we lost to Man City, AC Milan and Spurs and drawing against Swansea. We ended up scoring 43 goals and conceding only 15 as we had a decent enough preseason.
League Action
August
First game of a brand new season was at home in our brand new stadium against Spurs as we drew 1-1 thanks to a late equaliser from Sam Gallagher. Next up we visited Old Trafford and lost out 3-2 despite goals from Gallagher and new boy Molina. We finished the month up by visiting Newcastle as we got our first win on the board, winning 2-1 with goals from youngster Chris Stewart and Molina. This left us on 4 points after 3 games in 11th place.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
This year again we entered the EFL Cup in the 2nd round and we were drawn against Doncaster at home. We progressed to the 3rd round with a 2-0 victory thanks to a double from Pereiro, drawing Walsall in the 3rd round.
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Transfers
The summer transfer window was a busy one for the club as we welcomed 5 new players and 18 players left the club under various guises as we made a profit of just under 10 million.
Outgoings
We had 8 players leave the club permanently with 7 moving on to new clubs whilst Seamus Coleman decided to call it a day as he retired. Goalkeeper Wildsmith left to join Liverpool for 2 million with Gael Bigirimana and Hachim Mastour also joining him in leaving permanently as they left to join Sampdoria(3.5 million) and Basel(5 million) respectively as the major players to leave as Maher, Casal, Olmo and Diallo left permanently as well.
Incomings
As before we had welcomed 5 player join the club with 4 going into the first team squad and 1 going into the u23s. We see a new keeper join in Manuel Roffo and defender Rob Holding as the only outgoing money. We signed Javier Molina on a free after he left Liverpool and Anxo Herrera on a free after he also left PSG. Aaron Jenkins joins the club and goes into the u23s as he signed after being released from Man United.
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Other Announcements
Last up we have some job news. Two international positions came up as both France and Italy came asking for me to take up the vacant managers jobs currently available but as always I declined them.
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Next update will be September through to end of December
Moving into a new season we have also moved home, into a brand new 45 thousand seater stadium after moving out of the Ricoh Arena.
Preseason
For our preseason tour this year we decided against going to the States for the training camp as we went to Hong Kong this time around. We played a total of 12 games this time around with games in Hong Kong during the camp and then the usual friendlies including a game against North Carolina. We ended with 8 wins, 1 draw and 3 loses as we lost to Man City, AC Milan and Spurs and drawing against Swansea. We ended up scoring 43 goals and conceding only 15 as we had a decent enough preseason.
League Action
August
First game of a brand new season was at home in our brand new stadium against Spurs as we drew 1-1 thanks to a late equaliser from Sam Gallagher. Next up we visited Old Trafford and lost out 3-2 despite goals from Gallagher and new boy Molina. We finished the month up by visiting Newcastle as we got our first win on the board, winning 2-1 with goals from youngster Chris Stewart and Molina. This left us on 4 points after 3 games in 11th place.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
This year again we entered the EFL Cup in the 2nd round and we were drawn against Doncaster at home. We progressed to the 3rd round with a 2-0 victory thanks to a double from Pereiro, drawing Walsall in the 3rd round.
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Transfers
The summer transfer window was a busy one for the club as we welcomed 5 new players and 18 players left the club under various guises as we made a profit of just under 10 million.
Outgoings
We had 8 players leave the club permanently with 7 moving on to new clubs whilst Seamus Coleman decided to call it a day as he retired. Goalkeeper Wildsmith left to join Liverpool for 2 million with Gael Bigirimana and Hachim Mastour also joining him in leaving permanently as they left to join Sampdoria(3.5 million) and Basel(5 million) respectively as the major players to leave as Maher, Casal, Olmo and Diallo left permanently as well.
Incomings
As before we had welcomed 5 player join the club with 4 going into the first team squad and 1 going into the u23s. We see a new keeper join in Manuel Roffo and defender Rob Holding as the only outgoing money. We signed Javier Molina on a free after he left Liverpool and Anxo Herrera on a free after he also left PSG. Aaron Jenkins joins the club and goes into the u23s as he signed after being released from Man United.
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Other Announcements
Last up we have some job news. Two international positions came up as both France and Italy came asking for me to take up the vacant managers jobs currently available but as always I declined them.
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Next update will be September through to end of December
September - December 2024
Here we go down to business now that the summer transfer window is over we have to make do with what we have until January unless we pick up another gem on a free like we did with Baba Rahman.
League Action
September
It took us until the middle of September to get another league game due to the first international break of the season as we faced off against Chelsea as we lost 3-0 as we finished the game with 10 men with Molumby seeing red. We followed this up with another 3-0 loss to Burnley as we completely lost the plot as we went 2-0 down within 14 minutes. Things didn't get much better as we finished the month with a 2-0 defeat against Man City as we went 0-3 for the month conceding 8 goals and scoring zilch! This left us in 18th place and we have plenty of ground to make up in the league.
October
First up we face Sheffield Wednesday as we try to turn around our form after a disappointing September and we started well with a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Cesinha, Ocampo and a late winner from Gallagher. We continued the turn in fortunes as we came away with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough thanks to a late equaliser from Ocampo. We finished the month as we started with a 1-0 win against Stoke thanks to yet another late goal from Ocampo this left us at the end of the month in 12th place as we have turned it around.
November
We began the month by welcoming Liverpool as they came away with a 1-0 win after grabbing a late winner through some slack defending on our point. Next up we faced Arsenal and after a better defensively display we came home with 0-0 draw to make up for the previous defeat. After another international break we faced off against Leicester in the M69 derby and lost out 3-2 as we started dreadfully as Rahman saw red and Leicester then went 2-0 up after 25 minutes but some improvement saw us bring it back to 2-2 via goals from Cesinha and Holding but Roffo scored an OG as we lost it late on. We finished the month with a 3-3 draw with Jones grabbing himself a double and Gallagher also chipping in as it left us in 16th place going into the festive period.
December
Going into the Festive period we play a total of 6 games in December with yet another packed period as we played 5 games in the space of 15 days. We started the month off with a 3-1 victory over Swansea thanks to a double from Stewart and Pereiro grabbing a goal to seal the win. We then went to Southampton and came home with a 4-3 victory with Winks, Hamilton, Cesinha and Gallagher all getting themselves on the scoresheet. We welcomed Watford as we lost out 4-2 with Doria and Rahman netting for us as we then went to Everton and drew 0-0 before welcoming West Ham for the Boxing Day game losing out 2-0. We ended the year with a 4-1 win against West Brom thanks to a double from Cesinha and Ocampo chipping in with a goal along with an OG to seal the win, this left us in 12th place at the end of the year.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
After progressing to the 3rd round after victory against Doncaster we faced off against Walsall and progressed to the 4th round with a 3-1 win as Cesinha, Hamilton and Stewart all got on the scoresheet. We were faced off against Arsenal and changed back to my 5-3-2 as we progressed 2-0 with Gallagher and Stewart netting in extra time thanks to two impressive counter acting goals. We were drew against Stoke in the quarter and we stuck with the 5-3-2 formation with Jones netting the winner shortly after Stoke went down to 10 men. We were drew against Spurs in the semi final with Bournemouth and Swansea facing off in the other semi final for a place in the final.
FA Cup
3rd round drew for the FA Cup see's us drawn against QPR for a place in the 4th round.
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Other news
As always I absolutely without a doubt ******* hate internationals! We lost both Molumby and new boy Molina with both picking up damaged achilles tendons.
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Here we go down to business now that the summer transfer window is over we have to make do with what we have until January unless we pick up another gem on a free like we did with Baba Rahman.
League Action
September
It took us until the middle of September to get another league game due to the first international break of the season as we faced off against Chelsea as we lost 3-0 as we finished the game with 10 men with Molumby seeing red. We followed this up with another 3-0 loss to Burnley as we completely lost the plot as we went 2-0 down within 14 minutes. Things didn't get much better as we finished the month with a 2-0 defeat against Man City as we went 0-3 for the month conceding 8 goals and scoring zilch! This left us in 18th place and we have plenty of ground to make up in the league.
October
First up we face Sheffield Wednesday as we try to turn around our form after a disappointing September and we started well with a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Cesinha, Ocampo and a late winner from Gallagher. We continued the turn in fortunes as we came away with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough thanks to a late equaliser from Ocampo. We finished the month as we started with a 1-0 win against Stoke thanks to yet another late goal from Ocampo this left us at the end of the month in 12th place as we have turned it around.
November
We began the month by welcoming Liverpool as they came away with a 1-0 win after grabbing a late winner through some slack defending on our point. Next up we faced Arsenal and after a better defensively display we came home with 0-0 draw to make up for the previous defeat. After another international break we faced off against Leicester in the M69 derby and lost out 3-2 as we started dreadfully as Rahman saw red and Leicester then went 2-0 up after 25 minutes but some improvement saw us bring it back to 2-2 via goals from Cesinha and Holding but Roffo scored an OG as we lost it late on. We finished the month with a 3-3 draw with Jones grabbing himself a double and Gallagher also chipping in as it left us in 16th place going into the festive period.
December
Going into the Festive period we play a total of 6 games in December with yet another packed period as we played 5 games in the space of 15 days. We started the month off with a 3-1 victory over Swansea thanks to a double from Stewart and Pereiro grabbing a goal to seal the win. We then went to Southampton and came home with a 4-3 victory with Winks, Hamilton, Cesinha and Gallagher all getting themselves on the scoresheet. We welcomed Watford as we lost out 4-2 with Doria and Rahman netting for us as we then went to Everton and drew 0-0 before welcoming West Ham for the Boxing Day game losing out 2-0. We ended the year with a 4-1 win against West Brom thanks to a double from Cesinha and Ocampo chipping in with a goal along with an OG to seal the win, this left us in 12th place at the end of the year.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
After progressing to the 3rd round after victory against Doncaster we faced off against Walsall and progressed to the 4th round with a 3-1 win as Cesinha, Hamilton and Stewart all got on the scoresheet. We were faced off against Arsenal and changed back to my 5-3-2 as we progressed 2-0 with Gallagher and Stewart netting in extra time thanks to two impressive counter acting goals. We were drew against Stoke in the quarter and we stuck with the 5-3-2 formation with Jones netting the winner shortly after Stoke went down to 10 men. We were drew against Spurs in the semi final with Bournemouth and Swansea facing off in the other semi final for a place in the final.
FA Cup
3rd round drew for the FA Cup see's us drawn against QPR for a place in the 4th round.
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Other news
As always I absolutely without a doubt ******* hate internationals! We lost both Molumby and new boy Molina with both picking up damaged achilles tendons.
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January - February 2025
New year, new Coventry? Naw just plodding along in the league and challenging the establishment in the cups.
League Action
January
We started the new year with a visit to Spurs and we came away with a credible 0-0 draw to set us up well for the semi final encounters late in the month. Next up we faced off against United again drawing 0-0 thanks to a defensive masterclass before beating Newcastle 3-0 with Winks netting a double and Sawyer also getting on the scoresheet. We finished the month with a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea and a 5-1 defeat against City despite us taking the lead as we capitulated in the second half shipping 3 quick fire goals. We remained in 12th place as we did solidify our position as we opened up a 6 point gap over 13th place which is currently occupied by Burnley.
February
February began with us welcoming Burnley and we came away with a hard fought 1-1 draw thanks a goal from Winks with Burnley getting a late equaliser. We followed this up with a 3-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday with Gallagher netting a double and Oliveria also netting himself a goal. We picked up another 3-0 victory this time over Middlesbrough with Gribbin getting a double and Gallagher netting again. We ended the month unbeaten as we picked up a 1-1 draw against Stoke with Stewart netting a late equaliser keeping us in 12th place with us 1 point behind Watford who occupy 11th.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
We go into the semi final knowing a place is up for grabs in the final against either Bournemouth or Swansea but before that we have a 'simple' task of overcoming Spurs. First up we welcomed Spurs and went with a 5-3-2 formation and came away with a 0-0 draw as we controlled most of the game but couldn't finish our chances.
We lost Molina for the 2nd leg as we drew 1-1 in normal time with Cesinha getting an equaliser early in the 1st half after Sane opening the scoring for Spurs. We went into extra time knowing if we held on we would progress to the final and we did it as I went contain with the 5-3-2 formation in extra time and we progressed to our second EFL Cup final in a row. We will face off against Bournemouth as the progressed after beating Swansea 2-1 on aggregate. During our run to the final we also have set a new record of 12 games unbeaten which is good for the history books.
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FA Cup
With a 3rd round tie against QPR we finished up with a 0-0 draw as we couldn't unlock their defence as we struggled to create chances. In the replay we performed better with Gallagher opening the scoring before QPR went down to 10 men but they did grab an equaliser to finish 1-1 in normal time, Pereiro pulled us out of a hole as he netted in in extra time as we won 2-1 to set up a 4th round tie with Manchester United. Our FA Cup journey ended in the 4th round as we crashed out with a 2-1 defeat as Stewart got nothing more than an late consolation as the fightback came too late.
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Winter Transfer Window
We had an interesting January transfer window as we made big moves to strengthen the team. Carlos Ocampo started window off by wanting to leave so a duly obliged but couldn't get him a permanent move as he left on loan to Salzburg. We brought in two new faces to the club Callum Gribbin from Derby and Rui Oliveira from OM as they provide strength and depth to the starting line up.
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This also meant we smashed two transfer records as Callum Gribbin is now the clubs most expensively purchased player at 11 million euros and we have spent the most this season at 21.5 million euros.
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New year, new Coventry? Naw just plodding along in the league and challenging the establishment in the cups.
League Action
January
We started the new year with a visit to Spurs and we came away with a credible 0-0 draw to set us up well for the semi final encounters late in the month. Next up we faced off against United again drawing 0-0 thanks to a defensive masterclass before beating Newcastle 3-0 with Winks netting a double and Sawyer also getting on the scoresheet. We finished the month with a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea and a 5-1 defeat against City despite us taking the lead as we capitulated in the second half shipping 3 quick fire goals. We remained in 12th place as we did solidify our position as we opened up a 6 point gap over 13th place which is currently occupied by Burnley.
February
February began with us welcoming Burnley and we came away with a hard fought 1-1 draw thanks a goal from Winks with Burnley getting a late equaliser. We followed this up with a 3-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday with Gallagher netting a double and Oliveria also netting himself a goal. We picked up another 3-0 victory this time over Middlesbrough with Gribbin getting a double and Gallagher netting again. We ended the month unbeaten as we picked up a 1-1 draw against Stoke with Stewart netting a late equaliser keeping us in 12th place with us 1 point behind Watford who occupy 11th.
Cup Action
EFL Cup
We go into the semi final knowing a place is up for grabs in the final against either Bournemouth or Swansea but before that we have a 'simple' task of overcoming Spurs. First up we welcomed Spurs and went with a 5-3-2 formation and came away with a 0-0 draw as we controlled most of the game but couldn't finish our chances.
We lost Molina for the 2nd leg as we drew 1-1 in normal time with Cesinha getting an equaliser early in the 1st half after Sane opening the scoring for Spurs. We went into extra time knowing if we held on we would progress to the final and we did it as I went contain with the 5-3-2 formation in extra time and we progressed to our second EFL Cup final in a row. We will face off against Bournemouth as the progressed after beating Swansea 2-1 on aggregate. During our run to the final we also have set a new record of 12 games unbeaten which is good for the history books.
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FA Cup
With a 3rd round tie against QPR we finished up with a 0-0 draw as we couldn't unlock their defence as we struggled to create chances. In the replay we performed better with Gallagher opening the scoring before QPR went down to 10 men but they did grab an equaliser to finish 1-1 in normal time, Pereiro pulled us out of a hole as he netted in in extra time as we won 2-1 to set up a 4th round tie with Manchester United. Our FA Cup journey ended in the 4th round as we crashed out with a 2-1 defeat as Stewart got nothing more than an late consolation as the fightback came too late.
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Winter Transfer Window
We had an interesting January transfer window as we made big moves to strengthen the team. Carlos Ocampo started window off by wanting to leave so a duly obliged but couldn't get him a permanent move as he left on loan to Salzburg. We brought in two new faces to the club Callum Gribbin from Derby and Rui Oliveira from OM as they provide strength and depth to the starting line up.
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This also meant we smashed two transfer records as Callum Gribbin is now the clubs most expensively purchased player at 11 million euros and we have spent the most this season at 21.5 million euros.
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EFL Cup Final 2025
So here we go our 2nd appearance in a row and people say its a mickey mouse cup, but I suppose it is if your teams not in it you can't win it as we face off against Bournemouth for a place in Europe next season. First up we have both teams journey to final with both teams having a tough tests enroute to the final.
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I went with my trusty 4-2-3-1 and entrusting Sam Gallagher to lead the line in place of Christ Stewart who had worked himself back into fixture after a bout of flu. Bournemouth on the other hand went with a 5-3-2 formation employing wingbacks with Danny Ings and Callum Wilson leading the line for them.
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Going into the game we knew it was going to be a struggle but if we played well we could win it. The first half itself was a quiet affair as we couldn't quite unlock the Bournemouth defence as we struggled to not only get away shots but also shots on target as we only troubled twice in the first half as Doria and Hamilton both picking up yellow cards for us and Bournemouth also seeing two yellows in a scrappy half. The second half was a different story however as we changed to a more attacking mentality and it couldn't have started better as Winks won a penalty just after the restart but Gallagher couldn't put it away. Things got better as Winks this time got on the ball and fired into the top left had corner to put us in the lead after 66 minutes as we finally made the breakthrough and 7 minutes later Gallagher picked himself up after winning his own penalty and coolly slotted past Soriano to double our lead as he made amends for missing the first. The game petered out as Evans-McCrum picked up a yellow in the 78th minute as we held on for a deserving 2-0 victory with Winks deservedly taking home the MOTM award.
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Lets go back to Europe lads!
So here we go our 2nd appearance in a row and people say its a mickey mouse cup, but I suppose it is if your teams not in it you can't win it as we face off against Bournemouth for a place in Europe next season. First up we have both teams journey to final with both teams having a tough tests enroute to the final.
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I went with my trusty 4-2-3-1 and entrusting Sam Gallagher to lead the line in place of Christ Stewart who had worked himself back into fixture after a bout of flu. Bournemouth on the other hand went with a 5-3-2 formation employing wingbacks with Danny Ings and Callum Wilson leading the line for them.
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Going into the game we knew it was going to be a struggle but if we played well we could win it. The first half itself was a quiet affair as we couldn't quite unlock the Bournemouth defence as we struggled to not only get away shots but also shots on target as we only troubled twice in the first half as Doria and Hamilton both picking up yellow cards for us and Bournemouth also seeing two yellows in a scrappy half. The second half was a different story however as we changed to a more attacking mentality and it couldn't have started better as Winks won a penalty just after the restart but Gallagher couldn't put it away. Things got better as Winks this time got on the ball and fired into the top left had corner to put us in the lead after 66 minutes as we finally made the breakthrough and 7 minutes later Gallagher picked himself up after winning his own penalty and coolly slotted past Soriano to double our lead as he made amends for missing the first. The game petered out as Evans-McCrum picked up a yellow in the 78th minute as we held on for a deserving 2-0 victory with Winks deservedly taking home the MOTM award.
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Lets go back to Europe lads!
March - May 2025
Here we go back to normality again after successfully going a step further and winning the EFL Cup we turn our attention back to league as we try and push for a top 10 finish.
League Action
March
We travelled to Anfield after our victory over Bournemouth but couldn't kick on as we lost 3-1 as Molina scored a late consolation goal and we saw Rahman sent off as we ended the game with 10 men. We followed this up with a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal as we travelled down the M69 to Leicester as we came home victorious in a 3-2 win thanks to a double from Gribbin and Molina capping off the win. We finished the month off maintaining out place in the league in 12th.
April
We started the month off with a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland before having to settle for a 2-2 draw with Swansea as Molina and Gallagher gave us the lead before Folivi equalised late on. We finished the month off with a 2-0 win at home to Southampton with Gribbin grabbing both goals as we secured 12th in the league as the lowest we will finish this year in the league.
May
With the last few games of the season we started off with a 2-2 draw at Watford with Gribbin and Gallagher getting on the scoresheet we followed this up with a 4-3 win against West Brom with Molina and Olaleye picking up goals as West Brom also shipping 2 O.G's. The penultimate game of the season saw us visiting West Ham and getting hammered as we shipped 5 goals before Molina got a late consolation. We finished the season off with a 3-1 victory over Everton as Stewart grabbed himself a double and Molina getting himself on the scoresheet as finished the season in 12th place on 50 points.
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Youth IntakeWe had our annual youth intake in March as well and again it has been an exceptional intake for the club with some potential good players coming in.
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Below are the two stand out players from the years intake with Lewis Hirst being retrained into a central attacking midfield position.
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Other News
Shortly after leading the club to their second EFL Cup trophy, Roman came looking for me and asked for my attendance at an interview for the vacant managers job at Chelsea but I duly decline as I work to take Coventry from a stable mid table team into a top half challenging team.
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Here we go back to normality again after successfully going a step further and winning the EFL Cup we turn our attention back to league as we try and push for a top 10 finish.
League Action
March
We travelled to Anfield after our victory over Bournemouth but couldn't kick on as we lost 3-1 as Molina scored a late consolation goal and we saw Rahman sent off as we ended the game with 10 men. We followed this up with a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal as we travelled down the M69 to Leicester as we came home victorious in a 3-2 win thanks to a double from Gribbin and Molina capping off the win. We finished the month off maintaining out place in the league in 12th.
April
We started the month off with a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland before having to settle for a 2-2 draw with Swansea as Molina and Gallagher gave us the lead before Folivi equalised late on. We finished the month off with a 2-0 win at home to Southampton with Gribbin grabbing both goals as we secured 12th in the league as the lowest we will finish this year in the league.
May
With the last few games of the season we started off with a 2-2 draw at Watford with Gribbin and Gallagher getting on the scoresheet we followed this up with a 4-3 win against West Brom with Molina and Olaleye picking up goals as West Brom also shipping 2 O.G's. The penultimate game of the season saw us visiting West Ham and getting hammered as we shipped 5 goals before Molina got a late consolation. We finished the season off with a 3-1 victory over Everton as Stewart grabbed himself a double and Molina getting himself on the scoresheet as finished the season in 12th place on 50 points.
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Youth IntakeWe had our annual youth intake in March as well and again it has been an exceptional intake for the club with some potential good players coming in.
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Below are the two stand out players from the years intake with Lewis Hirst being retrained into a central attacking midfield position.
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Other News
Shortly after leading the club to their second EFL Cup trophy, Roman came looking for me and asked for my attendance at an interview for the vacant managers job at Chelsea but I duly decline as I work to take Coventry from a stable mid table team into a top half challenging team.
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Season Review 2024/25
So here we are at the end of a successful season, finishing 12th in the league and taking home the EFL Cup as make another European tour next season. In regards to competitions United took the league title as Arsenal, Man City and West Ham all finished in the top 4 in that order, Liverpool and Chelsea will join us in the Europa league as they finished 5th and 6th respectfully. We of course won the EFL Cup and United took home the FA Cup as they beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final. At the other end of the table Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Middlesbrough all seen their stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were all relegated.
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Moving on the awards Doria took home the Fans Player of the Season award again with a massive 74% of the vote with Rob Holding(10%) and Javier Molina(9%) filling out the top 3. Sam Gallagher took home Goal of the Season with a thunderbolt against Sheffield Wednesday and Javier Molina taking home the Signing of the Season award. Finishing it up Ethan Leek took home the Young Player of the Season after making the move to replace Rahman as our starting left back.
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Finishing up we have the commercial summary. All but TV revenue has seen an increase on the previous year with sponsorship seeing a near 10 million increase whilst corporate and hospitality seeing a 50% increase in income. Finally we have shirt sales with Doria taking the number one selling shirt with January signing Gribbin really impressing the fans to take the second highest selling shirt as Jones, Winks and Molina joining them in the top 5.
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So here we are at the end of a successful season, finishing 12th in the league and taking home the EFL Cup as make another European tour next season. In regards to competitions United took the league title as Arsenal, Man City and West Ham all finished in the top 4 in that order, Liverpool and Chelsea will join us in the Europa league as they finished 5th and 6th respectfully. We of course won the EFL Cup and United took home the FA Cup as they beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final. At the other end of the table Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Middlesbrough all seen their stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were all relegated.
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Moving on the awards Doria took home the Fans Player of the Season award again with a massive 74% of the vote with Rob Holding(10%) and Javier Molina(9%) filling out the top 3. Sam Gallagher took home Goal of the Season with a thunderbolt against Sheffield Wednesday and Javier Molina taking home the Signing of the Season award. Finishing it up Ethan Leek took home the Young Player of the Season after making the move to replace Rahman as our starting left back.
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Finishing up we have the commercial summary. All but TV revenue has seen an increase on the previous year with sponsorship seeing a near 10 million increase whilst corporate and hospitality seeing a 50% increase in income. Finally we have shirt sales with Doria taking the number one selling shirt with January signing Gribbin really impressing the fans to take the second highest selling shirt as Jones, Winks and Molina joining them in the top 5.
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