August 2011 Archives

TODAY is the final day of the transfer window and all us Sky Blue fans will be hoping we bring in at least two new players and to keep hold of Clingan and Jutkiewicz.

It's a very nervy time of the season your like an expectant father pacing up and down waiting to see what you've got and even more so this season with all the goings on and off the pitch at Coventry City.

But we know that Ben Turner is off to Cardiff City and not it seems to Birmingham City his home town team which will come as a blow to many fans as he was a favourite with a lot of City supporters.

Ben Turner agrees three-year deal with Cardiff City

BEN TURNER is expected to become a Cardiff City player today after agreeing a three-year deal with the Welsh club.

Coventry City make late swoop for Cody McDonald

COVENTRY CITY are poised to make a late swoop for Norwich City's Cody McDonald, the Telegraph can reveal.

* For more Coventry City news and gossip click here.

Middlesbrough make £1m bid for Coventry City's Lukas Jutkiewicz

MIDDLESBROUGH are believed to have waded in with a £1million-plus bid for Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Ben Turner passes Cardiff City medical but holds out for Birmingham move

BEN TURNER has passed a medical at Cardiff City but would prefer a move to his boyhood team Birmingham City, the Telegraph understands.

* For more Coventry City news and gossip click here.

Pantomime season seems to have arrived early at Coventry City with the latest saga at the Ricoh. With SISU, the villains seeming to have won the day over the Fairy Godmother in Gary Hoffman (bet he has never been called that before!).

But the whole show saga leaves more questions than answers.

Why did SISU publically name some of the investors when they knew they wanted to remain anonymous? It seems to me that it served no other purpose than to deliberately upset the consortium and eventually lead to them withdrawing their bid?

If SISU had not wanted to entertain a bid from Gary Hoffman's consortium, then why have a meeting with them in the first place. Why not say no?

Gary Hoffman also doesn't come out smelling of roses either. Why would a man who is supposed to be a high flying business man not know that if you put an offer in on anything you always do it formally in writing? It took weeks for his verbal offer to be submitted on paper and then only after a further meeting.

Why did the consortium withdraw their bid once a few of their identities became known? Their identities would have come out eventually during the due diligence phase as they needed to prove they had the finance in place and that they were fit and proper to run the club?

To me it does sound a bit like they were not that serious in the first place?

As I say the whole thing leaves more questions than answers that one day may be answered.

If Sisu are to keep control of Coventry City, they really must start looking after the club in a responsible way.

Believe what you will about the reason for the collapse of Gary Hoffman's takeover, Sisu clearly are not going to make any deal a straight forward affair. And quite right too, these things take time and care, but Ken Dulieu's name-dropping of Ken Bruce at the weekend did not seem a mere slip of the tongue.

Hoffman's investors have fled like scared rabbits at the thought of having the spotlight shone and them, leaving Hoffman looking isolated and silly. A shame for Hoffman, who no doubt put a lot of effort into the deal, but whether it's a shame for the club in the long term remains to be seen.

So, for the time being, we're stuck with Sisu. But if you thought Sisu were serious about running Coventry City, wait until you hear what they're reportedly about to do:

UPROAR will no-doubt be the order of the day once Ben Turner's inevitable move away from the club is sealed.

I am of course being fairly presumptuous, given that Turner is currently only on the verge of leaving the Sky Blues. We know all too well that transfers can have an irritating tendency to crumble at the eleventh hour, as we've often found out to our detriment.

If he is to leave, he can do so with his head held high.

Coventry City may be set for busy transfer deadline day, says Andy Thorn

SKY BLUES boss Andy Thorn is predicting "lots of activity" involving Coventry City on next week's transfer deadline day.

Andy Thorn: I want points not praise

COVENTRY CITY boss Andy Thorn is relishing Saturday's trip to Middlesbrough - and this time he hopes to return from the Riverside with points as well as praise.

* For more Coventry City news and gossip click here.

Gary Hoffman happy to answer Coventry City board's takeover questions

GARY Hoffman and his investors have said they are more than happy to answer all the questions Coventry City require in order to get his proposed takeover back on track.

Coventry City closing in as Adam Le Fondre makes transfer request

COVENTRY City have stepped up their interest in Rotherham United striker Adam Le Fondre who, it is understood, slapped in a transfer request on Wednesday.

* For more Coventry City news and gossip click here.

We still need answers, says Coventry City board over takeover offer

COVENTRY City have asked for more information before they are willing to get down to business with Gary Hoffman's takeover bid.

Leonard Brody: Coventry City fans have not driven me off Twitter

COVENTRY City director Leonard Brody insists that he has not been driven off Twitter by a torrent of internet abuse.

* For more Coventry City news and gossip click here.

While a lot of City fans want to make Ken Dulieu the poster boy for everything that's wrong with the club, I'm left wondering just what he has done to provoke such ire.

His mere association with Sisu doesn't help his cause. On hearing of his appointment to the board earlier this year I recalled his association with Southampton, lazily associating him with all the tumults of their failed Sisu takeover back in 2007.

Nevertheless, Dulieu's role in that affair was, by all accounts, above board.