David Lacey soccer
Coventry City_s departure from the premiership must surely send a chill of apprehension through those finishing just above them. If the great survivors can
no longer hang on, then what chance will there be next time for others of limited means who suspect even now that they are in for another season of toil
and tears.
Everton are not about to break the British transfer record this summer and nor
are Derby County, although with Middlesbrough one never knows. West Ham, whose
manager Harry Redknapp quit this week, are still one short of the 40-point safety margin; 39 should be enough this time but they have still cut it fine.
And while 45 points were enough to keep Leicester City in fifth place at the
beginning of March, the subsequent loss of eight successive league games by Peter Taylor_s side has left Filbert Street counting its pre-Christmas blessings.
In the premiership, it seems, there is no longer any such thing as middle-class,
mid-table respectability. Either a team is mixing in high society or it is panhandling on skid row.
When Coventry were promoted in 1967 they were a breath of fresh air. Their rebuilt stadium was a gleaming example of grounds to come (although sadly most
did not come until after Hillsborough and the Taylor report).
Jimmy Hill was a new breed of media-friendly, fan-focused football manager, even
if he did switch to television soon afterwards.
Above all, Coventry confirmed the strength of English league football_s drift
away from its roots in the Lancashire industrial towns, the mines and shipyards
of the north-east and the steel foundries of Sheffield _ a process hastened by
the earlier successes, in league and cup, of Ipswich Town and Norwich City.
This season the continued revival of Ipswich and their precocious challenge in
the premiership has struck a similar chord. And long may Southampton stay up
for, if they were ever relegated, there would no longer be a first-class football presence south of London.
Yet it will be of little comfort to next season_s relegation possibles to know
that of the clubs coming up from the Nationwide at least two, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers, will enjoy the sort of financial backing that the Derbys, Southamptons, Leicesters and, yes, the Evertons can only dream about.
At Ewood Park Jack Walker_s legacy should enable Graeme Souness to consolidate a Rovers team that must still have a few wrinkles left over from the halcyon days
of the mid-90s.
Fulham, bankrolled by Mohamed Al Fayed, can buy anything they want _ apart, that
is, from a British passport for the chairman.
Maybe money cannot buy success but, when it comes to staying up or going down,
it can go a heck of a long way. Any chance Bradford City had of confounding the
odds against them for a second time vanished when they had to start selling players they still needed.
Coventry_s 34-year defiance of Isaac Newton_s law has bucked a growing trend;
they have usually sold more expensively than they have bought. Theirs was a worthy innings and the natural disappointment of their supporters should be mingled with feelings of exaltation for having stayed up so long.
Football, however, is not like that and at Highfield Road this season Gordon
Strachan has been subjected to fist-in-the-face abuse by the sort of fan who
leaves his brain at home.
It is to be hoped the Coventry board appreciate that Strachan represents their
best chance of a quick return.
For all his touchline histrionics, the little Scot is one of the game_s more
profound thinkers, as much off the pitch as he was on it.
Coventry could do worse than follow the examples of Charlton, Sunderland and
Ipswich, all of whom have kept faith with their managers after going down, all
of whom have since returned to the premiership and all of whom look like finishing in the top half now.
Coventry leave the premiership with a side of comparable strength to the one
that on a sunny April afternoon in 1967 beat Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had
won promotion with them, 3-1 at Highfield Road to win the second division championship.
The crowd that day was 51 455 and kids sat six deep around the running track.
After the game a reporter asked Jimmy Hill if he thought a team containing such
worthies as George Curtis, Ernie Machin, Bobby Gould, Mick Kearns and Dietmar
Bruck could hack it in the first.
_I consider that an impertinent question,_ sniffed Jim and the last 34 years
have proved him right, even if Coventry did set a trend the following season
when they were a point away from going straight back whence they came.
Hill once suggested firing a sky-blue rocket every time his team scored but Birmingham air traffic control objected.
Perhaps, if Coventry return to the top division, Elmdon should beware low-flying
pigs in a pastel shade.