HOW times have changed.

Manchester City may be the richest club in the world nowadays.

A team packed with superstars, who can outbid Chelsea for the likes of Robinho.

A club who can make £150million worth of transfer bids in one single day.

But money can't change your history. And the Manchester Sky Blues were well and truly humbled by the Coventry Sky Blues in February 1983.

COVENTRY City supporters have been frustrated over the past few seasons with the amount of managers who have played just one man up front.

So when Chris Coleman started with four strikers against high-flying Preston, there could be no complaints about the Sky Blues boss' tactics not being positive enough.

But even with a plethora of riches in attack they failed to get on the scoresheet for the third league game running despite playing some of their best football of the season - particularly in the first half.

Even Preston manager Alan Irvine had to admit that he'd struggled to work out before the game how Clinton Morrison, Freddy Eastwood, Leon McKenzie and Leon Best would fit into the same team.

Coleman's plan was a continental style 4-2-1-3 with the outstanding Eastwood in the hole between midfield and attack - with Best as an out-and-out front man.

It started brightly and the City fans thought they were going to be in for a treat as they dominated one of the
Championship's form sides early on.

But in the end, Coventry could be thankful for a point because, in spite of their dominance in territory and possession, it was Preston that went closest to scoring but were denied by both the woodwork and the classy goalkeeping of Keiren Westwood.

The visit of preston north end should give us fans a firmer guide as to our hopes for a successful season. With a defeat against a workmanlike Bristol city team only showing that they will be there or there about's again come the season's end, it should prove a better indicator, this weekend against an unbeaten preston team.

If we are to have any play-off aspirations, a victory would seem imperative towards achieving that goal. Whilst a draw would probably be acceptable, a defeat would probably consign us to the also rans in the championship.

I know it is early days, and you souldn't really look at the league table until xmas, but it will prove to be a true test of our new signings and possible standing amongst the pretenders to the title.

One worry is still the lack of a recognised right back, with the de la cruz deal looking dead in the water, i would expect osbourne to be drafted in, at least the midfield will have more balance with gunnarson back!

HHMMM.

It seems that Coventry City's pursuit of Owls' captain Richard Wood has upset Sheffield Wednesday a tad.

The Sky Blues tracked the defender throughout the summer and made a late £1million plus bid to take Wood to the Ricoh just before the transfer deadline closed.

And the Wednesday hierachy are fuming, apparently.

The Sheffield Telegraph reports that there is "much displeasure in the Hillsborough hierarchy about Coventry's tactics" in the battle for Wood's signature.

COVENTRY CITY 4 Liverpool 0. 1983.

Terry Gibson bangs in a hat-trick and sends the likes of Rush and Daglish back to Merseyside empty-handed.

Be warned: The quality of this footage is not great but it's worth watching all the same.

The goals may not have won too many awards but it's an incredible result against the team that - along with their neighbours - dominated the 80s.

With the Sky Blues enjoying a week off, how enjoyable it was to see an England team, put on such a spirited and committed performance, as they did against Croatia last night.
The sight of the croat's attempting to cajole the referee at every turn, and diving as if shot by a hidden sniper whenever an english player went near them, whilst attempting to stop young "theo Walcott" with any means open to them, showed a complete disregard for any thought of fair play, and proved that they could not handle an England team, clearly a match for them in every department.
Let's not forget, that was their first ever home defeat in a qualifier, adds to the kudos of a seemingly (if you believe the papers) at-odds england side. With some of the "red tops" already looking for a derogatory nickname for the manager, almost as if they were willing him to fail.
Well fail they did not, in fact so refreshing was the passing and movement; it almost made you forget about the stuttering performance against Andorra at the weekend.
And what was the key to this turnaround? In my opinion it had a lot to do with the recall of emile heskey. He will never score enough goals to allow himself to be compared with the likes of shearer or lineker, but he has the ability to hold the ball up and bring other players into the game. An ideal foil for wayne rooney and joe cole.
I know theo will get all the plaudits for his hat-trick, and deservedly so, but when was the last time an england manager decided to leave michael owen out of the squad and start heskey up front on his own, giving rooney the freedom to dictate the game from a deeper position, from where he found acre's of space to control proceedings.
I have a feeling that mr capello is very much his own man, with his own idea's, and he will not be persuaded by any pressure from the media, who to play when or where.
The King is dead, long live the King!

THESE are words not written too often.

The international break has helped a football club, no end. Coventry City, to be exact.

Every few months, the inevitable club v country question is always raised.

Thankfully, not all players think like Jamie Carragher (I can barely bring myself to type those evil letters) and actually want to play for their countries - much to the frustrations of the likes of Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson.

But this time, the break has proved a blessing in disguise for the Sky Blues and their walking wounded in particular.

Chris Coleman should be on the phone, thanking Sepp Blatter for the handy break in fixtures which has provided some vital time for R&R in the Sky Blues' ranks.

CHRIS COLEMAN has today revealed that Stephen Wright may remain on the sidelines for another six weeks.

The Coventry Ciy right-back, who signed from Sunderland in the summer, has been sidelined for most of the season with an achilles problem.

And hopes of a quick return for the experienced defender were dashed by Coleman's verdict this morning.

IAIN DOWIE'S spell in charge at Coventry City seemed to be more about doom and gloom than delight and glee.

Granted, it wasn't all his fault. Takeovers can be tricky things - particularly when collapsing quicker than Didier Drogba in the penalty area.

But two amazing cup performances stand out. One was the famous victory at Old Trafford, where Michael Mifsud put Manchester United to the sword in an amazing 3-0 win.

Staggeringly, they then followed it up with this thrashing of Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park only three months later.

ARON GUNNARSSON and Michael Mifsud both suffered defeats for their respective countries last night (Wednesday).

The Coventry City official site reports that Gunnarsson was named in the starting line-up for the Iceland's Group Nine World Cup qualifier with Scotland.

Goals from Kirk Broadfoot and James McFadden secured a 2-1 win for George Burley's men. Eidur Gudjohnsen grabbed a consolation goal from the penalty spot after Scottish skipper Stephen McManus handled in the area.

Mifsud's Malta side went down 3-0 away to Albania in Group One.

After losing to Portugal 4-0 at the weekend, the result leaves Malta at the bottom of their group.