Recently by Ian Palmer

Protests against dictatorial regimes may be de rigueur at the moment, but City fans risk biting off the hand that feeds their beloved club.

My decision on whether to attend Saturday's FA Cup tie against Southampton will be based upon whether I can get back from Birmingham in time after having an ill-fitting pair of trousers adjusted; certainly nothing to do with Sisu.

I understand why people want to protest. There is general perception that Sisu have mis-managed the club, and this may be true, but it is not the main cause of our dire position.

If Andy Thorn is allowed only one loan signing, then I think he should have a look at someone like Seyi Olofinjana.

The Nigerian-born midfield hard-man spent last season on loan with Cardiff and was one of the standout players when Cardiff came to the Ricoh (and beat us 2-1).

Now back with Hull City, Olofinjana hasn't had a look-in this season, but he could be just what the Sky Blues need.

As I wrote last week, playing someone like Olofinjana in the holding role of Andy Thorn's diamond midfield would free up Sammy Clingan to play a more advanced role where his abilities might be put to better use.

ANDY THORN HAS MADE no secret of the fact that the success of his preferred diamond formation depends greatly on Sammy Clingan.

But I don't think he's being played in his best position.

Clingan operates at the base of the diamond. It's a role often referred to as the 'holding role', or sometimes more specifically, the 'Makalele' (after Claude, who played there for Chelsea, amongst others).

This position carries two main responsibilities: to break up the opposition's play, and to be the initial composer of his own team's passing sequences.

The second of these roles Clingan does very well. He has the best touch and control of all the City players, affording him more time to pick out passes.

However, where Clingan falls down (sometimes literally) is on the more physical side of the game. Although not a bad tackler, he is all-too-frequently hustled off the ball by opposition players.

If one thing is clear from his candid interview in the Daily Mail, it's that Ken Dulieu has a difficult job at Coventry City.

At the same time as trying to convince Sisu that the club are still worth investing in, Dulieu is trying to convince potential investors to come aboard.

The more Sisu invests, the more attractive a proposition the club becomes. But the progress on both accounts must be agonisingly slow.

At the same time, convivial Ken has to try and make friends with people at the council and the Higgs Trust, so that one day we might be able to talk to them about buying bits of the stadium we rent.

The council in particular seem to habour a distrust of Coventry City and anyone who represents them, and perhaps rightly so given our history of boardroom disasters.

Therefore, it's Ken's job to convince them that funding from an elusive hedge fund is real and reliable. As I say, it's not easy.

But the funny thing is, the walls of distrust that Dulieu is trying to knock down are made of the same bricks that you'll find in the wall that he built between himself and the fans.

City youngsters Gael Bigirimana, Cyrus Christie, and Conor Thomas have been dazzling fans with their precocious performances this year.

They've also apparently caught the attention of Premiership clubs. Christie in particular is reportedly being courted by Newcastle and Stoke.

With this in mind, you might wonder what the contract situation with these three is. When do their contracts expire? Might we lose them for free?

Well, wonder no more. Here's what you need to know...

When Paul Clouting arrived as Coventry City's new CEO just seven months ago, he said he 'got a kick out of doing difficult jobs'. His job here ended up being impossible.

He came with a reputation as a Championship club reviver, having turned around the fortunes of Ipswich and Derby in recent times.

During his seven years at Ipswich Clouting managed to help turn gates of 4,000 into 17,000. He might have mentioned that in his job interview at Coventry. I hope for his sake he kept quiet about it.

In a funny way, I wanted Sisu to sell all our best players last week. Turner, Clingan, Jutkiewicz: As far as I was concerned they could all go. And not only that, I wanted others to follow. I didn't want a single 'saleable asset' (because footballers are no longer people on transfer deadline day) to be left at the club.

At least that way I would have been sure that my suspicions of Sisu were well founded. It would have legitimised the protests; Sisu would have been outed as the enemy we thought they were and we could all have pointed our angry accusatory fingers at them with cries for regime change.

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:

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.

I've always tried my best to tolerate Sisu. I came to terms with the sales of Scott Dann and Dan Fox; I accepted Conor Thomas's loan to Liverpool; I shrugged off losing Marlon King, Keiren Westwood and Aron Gunnarsson. I've always tried to give the owners the benefit of the doubt.

But if Ben Turner is sold then I would tolerate their decisions no longer.

Not only is Turner our best defender, he's our best player. He's the embodiment of what a Coventry City player should be: loyal, honest, and committed to the last. In my eyes, he's a future captain of Coventry City, and the one man in our squad who is indispensable.