I still think something different is happening, and TF's comments reinforce that in my mind. I can't remember such positive comments being made when we were relegated last time.
COVENTRY City’s chief executive Tim Fisher meets owners Sisu this week to ask for the cash to fund an immediate return to the Championship.
He says that manager Andy Thorn is “front and centre” in the restructuring proposals he will present to the owners and that he is determined to do everything possible to hold on to star asset Richard Keogh – who has just one season left on his contract – and the Academy graduates who have broken into the first team this season.
Speaking barely an hour after Coventry’s relegation had been confirmed on Saturday, the man who was thrust into the hot seat in December stressed: “It would be really easy to have the knee-jerk reaction – fire the manager, get rid of a load of players – but that’s not what this is about.
"The one thing we have lacked over a number of years is a little bit of stability.
“We’re going to review what has happened this season when there have been a number of mistakes on and off the pitch and we all know what they are. We’re going to learn from those and, following the post-mortem, we’re going to restructure.
“Sisu have asked me for a plan – ‘if we go down into League One, how do we get back?’
“We are working on that plan and we will crack on with re-assessing where we are and then rebuilding.
“It’s a negotiation between the board and the owner; we will ask for a budget, and it will be a bounce-back budget.
We want to have a robust bid to get out of League One; there’s no ‘let’s go down and consolidate for a couple of years and see where we get to’ – we are going to make a bid to get out.”
The Sky Blues need Sisu to confirm that they will bankroll the club for the next 12 months before their outstanding accounts can be signed off and their transfer embargo lifted.
“They have to look at the plan, look at the numbers,” said Fisher. “They may say that it isn’t acceptable, but I think they like the idea of bouncing back.
“Sisu haven’t signed off that budget because in effect they were waiting to see what would happen, was it Championship of League One. Talking to Joy Seppala, she’s clear in her mind – ‘if we’re going to go down, we’ve got to come back up, right?’
The Sky Blues have worked their way through ten managers since they slipped out of the top flight 11 years ago but Fisher stressed: “This is where we need to draw a line in the sand and say enough – enough of firing managers. We need to get out of that habit and, to draw a football analogy, put our foot on the ball, give Andy a chance to reorganise the resources.
“Andy is front and centre stage at the moment and we are going to work with him to make sure that he’s got all the resources lined up.
“We’re sitting down with him to decide which players he wants to keep. We need a spine, we need the key players and, as reflected in all the awards he has won, Richard has been the heartbeat of that team.
“He’s a good player and there will be intense pressure from outside to extract him, without a doubt, but this week he gave us a provisional commitment that he wants to stay and we’ll do our best to keep him.
“There is always a figure X but it would have to be a big figure; I think the value of Richard staying would far outweigh a little bit of cash with money on appearances and so on and so forth.
“Certain things we’d like to do but may be out of our hands. Some players who are out of contract, I suspect, may leave; we respect that and we’ll have to bring in some additional resources.
“It is a highlight of the year for me that those Academy boys have grown into men and it would be a shame if we were to get rid of them now.
“We’d like Ollie Norwood to stay and I think there is a chance he will.
"I suspect a Championship club will come in for Alex Nimely on loan but he has indicated that he would be delighted to stay.”
The supporters’ disenchantment has deepened after Thorn was denied any opportunity to replace stars like Marlon King and Aron Gunnarsson while Ben Turner and Lukas Jutkiewicz were sold to cut the debts.
“There is a general acceptance that mistakes were made,” said Fisher, “and one of those mistakes was letting players in key positions leave and not replacing them with talent. That is recognised by the owner.
“I’ll do my best to ensure that Sisu remain motivated to keep going; that’s one of my principal roles here – showing them the positivity.
"When we were eight points adrift and pulled it back, that was motivational for them; unfortunately we had that recent slump in form that has killed us.
“It’s difficult for Sisu to reconcile investing £40m and the antipathy that we’ve all seen.
“What happens on the pitch is the key to all of this; if you get that right what happens off the pitch becomes secondary, even tertiary. That is why we’ve got to get that bit right.
