Time to lay off Coventry City chairman Ken Dulieu

His 'interview with the council' clanger in his first press conference as City chairman was an awful first impression. Honest misapprehension or toe-curling fib, either way it was a most unfortunate attempt to ingratiate oneself, and it still sticks in the memory.

Since then Dulieu has kept out of the media spotlight, until Gary Hoffman decided to announce his interest in buying the club.

Dulieu's clear frustration at Gary Hoffman's attempted takeover, aired in terse, sporadic statements on the official website, stems from the fact that the importance placed on it is undermining his tenure at the club.

City fans see Hoffman as the club's panacea, a last hope. In fact, there's a sense of deja vu in the air as promises of cash for players and the stadium breeze through the city once more like leaves in the wind.

Dulieu is viewing Hoffman's consortium through the same sceptical prism that City fans have set before their eyes for Sisu. Once saviours, now apparent enemies, Sisu are blamed for failings that Hoffman's people are assumed to be immune to.

All the while, Dulieu and his fellow board members are seen as gatecrashers who have stolen the keys and won't give them back. Minds have been made up about Sisu, and fans want the board swept away with them.

I've no love for Sisu - they hopelessly fell short of an investment target with which one can expect to drastically and quickly change a football club's fortunes - but I think they've every right to take their time to do their homework on Hoffman's bid.

Now, let's face it, if he was pasty-white skinned, and lived in a two-bedroom semi in Canley, Ken Dulieu would probably garner little attention from City fans. But he's rich, tanned, and lives abroad. The swine.

With the closure of the transfer window in just over a week's time, Dulieu is apparently working hard. And I'd sure prefer him to concentrate on transfer targets rather than takeover bids that would leave us as we are squad-wise until January at the very least.