By CovSid67
January 18 2007

It will have come as no surprise to anybody, especially Mickey Adams (Thanks to a tip-off from a friend), that his stint at Coventry City has come to an end.
As if it wasn't obvious enough after a season of dismal displays, and a recent run where we haven't even managed to fluke the odd victory, our chairman apparently chose to speak to the wrong Andy Gray about who could replace Adams, choosing friend of MA, rather than - as Geoffrey Robinson thought - the Sky Sports pundit! You could not make it up....

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As somebody that has watched Coventry City for over 30 years, I have to say football-wise this has been the worst season I have ever watched - and I've seen some rubbish! Adams had to go.

Results wise we were getting away with it before Christmas, though it was only a matter of time before we were found out. And how!

Over the last eight matches we managed to concede 22 goals (Scoring eight in reply) - appalling at any standard of football, and totally unacceptable for a side that had harboured ambitions of making the play-offs only a month or so ago....

Almost every performance has been dismal this season, and under Adams the players have played with no heart and no passion. Tactically he seemed inept, with his team selections erratic, and his substitutions downright bizarre! (And usually too late to make a difference).

His dismissal came five days short of him being Coventry boss for two years, one of the longest serving managers in the division! MA managed us for 99 games, thirty-three of which were won, 26 of which were drawn, and 40 of which were lost - six of those in his last eight matches in charge.

The positives of his reign were: keeping us in The Championship in the 2004/5 season; the fantastic send off on that last day at Highfield Road; a decent eight place finish in the Championship in the 2005/6 season; and also our decent home record in our first season at our new 'home'. The negatives have mainly come this season (Though last seasons away record was very poor), a season where, with financial backing from the board, we had hoped to build on the good work done last season.

And the negatives?

Well, some of the deadwood was released over the summer in a bid to improve the team. But others, who more often than not flatter to deceive (Hughes, John, and Adebola), were kept on. They don't do enough to justify inclusion, they don't do enough to justify being amongst the better paid players at the club, and none are the matchwinners every side needs to be successful.

Some claim Hughes is played to deep to be effective, but the truth is he has been given numerous chances at other clubs, and failed to take them too. Adebola lacks consistency, while John just looks disinterested. If they were ineffective because of the tactics (If we actually had any!), then as caption Hughes should have talked to MA About the problem.

Seemingly preferring quantity to quality in the transfer market, a fair few people think Adams has wasted the money he's been given. It's fair to say he has been an absolute failure in the transfer market this season....

The keeper position is about as important as it gets .... so what does Adams do? Seeks only loan players as back-up for Marshall, with a laughable list of acquisitions. No. 1 was a Spaniard who we couldn't play because we would have to pay his club some money; No. 2 was Luke Steele .... again. He wasn't particularly good in his last stint with us, yet we still brought him back (As somebody recently asked: 'have we ever won a game with Steele in goal?'); and No. 3, a keeper from Weymouth, who his own manager says is guilty of making basic errors!

The signing of Elliott Ward was one of Adams' few successes, to such an extent that, as has been proved since EW has been out injured, we just cannot cope without him!; McNamee looks a decent signing, though spent a lot of last season out injured for his old club - and has continued that run with us; Bischoff has been injured for years, yet, at the first sign of him being fit, we let him leave; at the first sign of Matt Heath (A 2005/6 pre-season signing) becoming half-decent, we let him leave; Clarke looked solid (If unspectacular) so we let him leave; while Richard Duffy also came back .... and left again.

In midfield, Tabb, Cameron, Birchall, Andrews and Currie (Amongst others) were brought in. Tabb has barely been given a run-out; Cameron has usually been played out wide when he's clearly uncomfortable there (Despite being an obvious, and fairly decent replacment for Wise); Birchall has done little to justify being brought in; Andrews scored two goals in his first two games but was thenloaned out to Sheffield Wednesday (Rumoured to be because he dared to laugh after Coventry had lost!); while Currie (Who can actually deliver a decent cross and set-piece) has gone 'home' to Ipswich because we won't meet their asking price, which is surely only buttons anyway? (They want Adebola! Let them have Adebola!). There was also Adams decision to release El Idrissi (Who looked OK enough) so we could 'give youth a chance' .... which we didn't!

Our goalscoring problems continued, and, in a bid to sort this, Leon McKenzie was brought in. But, like the man he replaced (Gary McSheffrey), he too seems unsure whether he's a winger or striker. Also brought in to sort our scoring problems was Kevin Kyle - much to the amusement of many a supporter from many a club. I never rated him before we signed him, I've seen little to believe he will change my opinion, and now it turns out he might be in trouble with the law, so he might not even be available for selection soon anyway!

Then there's stripping Hughes of the captaincy, dropping him from the side, then seeing results improve .... then bringing him back in to the team; moaning at supporters for daring to have an opinion (His reaction at Barnsley was probably the begining of the end for him); claiming he was happy with displays (On radio interviews) after poor performances .... the list goes on and on and on!

Adams claimed only a small section of supporters had been calling for his to leave, though the reason for this is because the rest of the fans that want him out have been voting with their feet! And I doubt Adrian Heath is the man to bring the missing supporters back, though I wouldn't be surprised if the club chose the cheap option, and kept him on as caretaker manager until the end of the season....

Adams also claims the club is in far better shape then it was when he joined - financially it might be, but football-wise I'm not so sure.

The most baffling thing about this all to common day in the life of Coventry City supporter was: why did MA take his wife and child along to what he surely knew was to be his sacking? Was it for the sympathy vote? Moral support? A very odd decision. Then again, odd decisions is fairly in keeping with MA's management style....

His decision to tell Sky Sports that he had been fired seemed to slightly annoy the club, and there were one or two telling comments in his interviews, none more so than: 'they are good players but are just not doing it for me .... for whatever reason.' This would seem to confir rumours that he had lost the dressing room.

Despite what is written above, I'm sure he genuinely did try his best (Despite claims from Leicester fans that he sometimes amnipulated situations to get his own way), and I am not ecstatic at his leaving - if for no other reason than I'm sure he will be healthily rewarded for what I see as failure, rewarded with money that could be better spent strengthening the team.