The Lower League week - Coventry's ten points and Northampton Town's bonfire of the memories

An angry Coventry fan

‘Coventry City’ liquidated

The problem with writing about Coventry City, as I did in last week’s summer recap, is that it’s easy to underestimate how incredibly dysfunctional the club currently is.

Rumours keep swirling that Coventry could still return to the Ricoh Arena in time for the new season, and within the last week the local paper has reported that ACL, the ground’s owners, have offered to allow Coventry City to pay rent of £150,000 a year. It’s a significant drop on their previous offer of £400,000 a year, while the contract that says the club should have been paying £1.3m a year is technically still in place, if unpaid since April 2012.

But owners SISU/Otium are holding out, insisting that they buy into the stadium and share in the profits as part of any deal, refusing to budge despite the fact that their negotiating position is doing immense damage to the club on the field. The way things are going, it does seem like SISU/Otium may finally get what they want, albeit at a huge and massively demoralising emotional cost to the club.

Their continued stubbornness makes me think of the kind of conservative politician who insists on balancing the books above all else, underinvesting in areas that would bring medium-term profits, causing stress and misery, but insisting that they are right to do so because of the most marginal of economic turnarounds. They’re actually making George Osborne look relatively intelligent.

On the field, things aren’t much better. The club are effectively signed up for three years of double-away fixtures, Reuters report that a strangely specific 215 season tickets have been sold, and Coventry have a dangerously thin squad. At the weekend, for example, Coventry had two centre halves in the squad, both either 21 or younger, both carrying knocks and slightly doubtful ahead of the opening game.

Coventry City are in a mess, one that could prove even more damaging than the quagmire Portsmouth have just emerged from.

The national media could at least pretend they give a damn

On Friday 2nd, Twitter was abuzz with talk that Coventry City could be about to go into liquidation. The Express, Huffington Post, ITV.com and The Mirror all reported that the club themselves ‘risked’ or were ‘facing’ liquidation, or had gone into liquidation, with the phrasing on all of those (amongst others, I’m sure) making it sound like there was a serious chance of the club itself ceasing to exist before the weekend. In fact it was only Coventry City Ltd, one of a web of companies, that was ever in danger.

Although the names of the web of companies are probably deliberately ambiguous to confuse tax inspectors, the difference had been newsworthy back in March. When ACL first launched the process to put the football club into administration in March, SISU argued that Coventry City Ltd, the part which paid the rent, was the only part of the club that had gone into administration, and that everything of any value was owned by a different branch of the company.In fact, I did my best to understand and explain the difference between the different similarly named companies at the time.

Each of those massive media corporations should have had someone on staff who understood that Coventry City Limited were part of a web of companies – they shouldn’t really be outclassed in the quality of explanation by Born Offside. They each have hundreds of staff, travel expenses, contacts. We don’t even have a coffee machine.

I saw a number of people confused over whether or not Coventry would cease to exist, and as the national media had done such a bad job of explaining the situation, it was harder to move the debate onto more complicated matters.In fact, I’d imagine there’s a number of neutrals up and down the country who were struck by a few hours of panic on Coventry’s behalf then afterwards assumed it was all overblown, and that it’s just another of those points deduction cases, nothing serious.

In cases like this, the media have a duty to help the public to follow the story – they should either put the effort in to doing a little research, or shut up so they don’t drown out the Coventry Telegraph.

A not-so-happy Northampton Town coach

And now for some light relief

In the last week before the season started, Torquay United added Krystian Pearce to their squad, and I promise, this is how their official site reported the story:

OFFICIAL site always gets there last…I get my info from the fans’ forum or Bob in the pub….grumble, groan and moan.

Hang on a minute, briefly forgot where I was.

We can now confirm that defender Krystian Pearce has passed his medical and signed all the paperwork on a two-year deal with the Gulls.

We know this has been reported elsewhere this morning but within the club, we are reluctant to speculate on transfer dealings until everything is confirmed. Now we can climb out of this pond of self-pity, the important thing is that Krystian is fully signed up to the United cause and ready for action.

In the modern interconnected world, most transfers or near misses will have made it out somewhere – onto Twitter, forums or the pub – before a pen has been put to paper. Clubs can often get a kicking for being poor communicators when they’re desperately trying not to spread news that a player’s available, just in case of an eleventh hour bid.

It’s good to see a club willing to defend themselves, and having a bit of fun in doing so!

Fan ban

In the last week before the start of the season, Crawley Town announced they had banned a fan, Paul Prendergast, because of things he’d said towards Ian Holloway in a 3-0 pre-season victory over Crystal Palace, which included “making observations about the quality of their team.”

For whatever reason, Holloway didn’t appreciate the feedback and made a complaint to the club. Maybe Prendergast should have enquired as to the score at that point of the contest.

It does seem slightly rich for Crawley to be the team to clamp down on this, given that they stuck by previous manager Steve Evans through a ludicrous amount of touchline bans and several claims that he’d tried to wind up opposing players to put them off their game.Thankfully, Crawley rescinded the ban, which probably works out best for everyone.

Northampton Town’s bonfire of the memories

This week, Northampton manager Aidy Boothroyd revealed that after losing in last season’s League Two playoff final, he instructed players to bring a memento of last season into the first day of training… and made a bonfire of them. Though it’s childish, I like to think that one of the players brought in a shirt from their favourite performance and watched aghast as it went up in flames.

The bonfire idea is a little odd, especially as most of the season will have been very enjoyable, but Boothroyd seems the type to be consciously trying to think outside the box. He was talking about Moneyball before it was well-known in Britain, and his Watford team brought a form of high-commitment physicality to the Premier League before Stoke did.

There’s not many managers who’d find inspiration for man-management techniques in an episode of Six Feet Under. I look forward to watching Aidy Boothroyd having detailed discussions with his dead dad.

Notts County Jinx Liddle

Gary Liddle, a free signing from Hartlepool United last summer, was an ever present for Notts County, playing every minute as a ball-playing centre half. To an extent, it was understandable that the club chose him to front adverts for season tickets.

Unfortunately, he won’t be repeating his ever-present achievement this season given that on Friday, just 13 minutes into the new season, he charged in from a distance towards Chris Porter, karate kicking him in his armpit. Despite playing with ten men so long, County competed well and kept going when they went a goal behind, equalising before the Blades took the lead again.

The Notts County marketing department should have known not to tempt fate.

Robins rocked

Peterborough strolled to victory over Swindon, with fans from both sides saying Posh massively outclassed last season’s League One playoff losers. Despite the changes at Swindon during the summer, and the fact that they are currently ‘managerless’, this is a worry – they’ve made a number of loans from Tottenham among their summer signings, at least some of whom you’d assume would be good enough to hold their own at League One.

Mark Cooper, the caretaker manager and previously assistant manager, already had detailed thoughts on the players under him, and has been in charge of several clubs himself so should know a few things about the art of management. They’ve been overshadowed by Coventry this summer, but Swindon are in a bit of a mess themselves.

Leyton Orient demolished Carlisle

Opening day injuries

You work all summer to get ready for the opening day, working through the pain to prepare yourself mentally, athletically, technically and tactically. Then you get hospitalised on the first day of the season.

Cheltenham’s Jamie Cureton, racing onto a long pass that the Burton keeper failed to correctly predict, bundled a loose ball into the net to give his new side the lead 18 minutes into his debut. But Cureton was injured while scoring, pretty much as bittersweet as is possible. Reports say Cureton will be out for six weeks with a shoulder injury, so his team-mates as a whole will need to step up to replace the 37-year -old.

About quarter of an hour after Cureton’s injury, Leyton Orient were hosting Carlisle where Lee Miller rushed into Nathan Clarke on the touchline, knocking him to the floor. Miller was red-carded, though perhaps unluckily – the challenge was clumsy enough to merit a free kick, but not the worst foul in the world. The challenge did have a serious effect – Clarke needed a neck brace and an oxygen mask. He didn’t regain consciousness until he was in the hospital on the way to the hospital, but thankfully was discharged in time to be collected by the team bus.

Reports seem to agree that Clarke’s concussion was more a result of his head hitting the side of the pitch, impacting on gravel or what one report claims was concrete, round the playing area.

Orient Ley into Carlisle

Miller’s foul on Clarke came during a result I definitely hadn’t seen coming – Leyton Orient demolishing Carlisle 5-1 to go top of the League One table. During recent seasons, both clubs have been solid mid-table teams, having a few classy players with the kind of skill to prevent them being dragged into the relegation battle, but not quite enough consistency to push for the playoffs.

As much as the scoreline, what’s impressive was the range of goals – two headers from set pieces, a cross right onto the head of David Mooney, rounded off by a placed shot from 5’4? midfielder Lee Cox and a blast from the same man, which the linesman said just about crossed the line.

Of course, only Kevin Lisbie was on the scoresheet at the time of Lee Miller’s red card, so it’s no guarantee of a great season, but it can’t hurt. Amusingly, on Saturday, Twitter was abuzz with ‘Lisbians’ shouting about their tiny Cox…

It never ends for Coventry

Although both Coventry’s centre halves passed fitness tests, more bad news appeared on Saturday morning with the Daily Mail reporting that Joe Murphy, Leon Clarke and Carl Baker had been transfer-listed to save their combined £24,000 a week wages.

Between them, the trio are one of the division’s better keepers, probably the division’s most ruthless goalscorer, and a very talented creative attacker. If the trio were sold and not replaced (a serious possibility if the process for taking the club out of administration drags on, meaning the transfer embargo can’t be lifted until after the transfer window closes) there’d be strong odds of the Sky Blues finishing rock bottom of the league. This will have been what Coventry fans were thinking when they travelled to Crawley.

Coventry were two goals behind after 20 minutes, which either prompted or coincided with a pitch invasion. Though it’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s exaggeration, there were stories of punches being thrown, either at a steward, linesman or ballboy, and the suggestion that some of the fans were trying to earn the club a fine, under the assumption SISU would be the ones to pay it. Despite the deficit, the Sky Blues came fighting back, eventually equalising – the first goal being particularly dogged after several defensive blocks. However, having equalised in the 82nd minute, it was just two minutes before Mike Jones raced through Coventry’s inexperienced centre half to seal the win.

It’s the kind of tough luck Coventry don’t deserve after all they’ve been through. Fortunately for Sky Blues, Murphy has since denied the trio are leaving … so there’s that.

One hell of a Beattie-ing

A lot of people, myself included, have been sceptical about James Beattie’s prospects as Accrington’s manager, and his first game in charge, a 4-1 defeat to Newport, won’t have changed many minds. Having said that, Newport were impressive on their Football League debut. Particularly striking was Christian Jolley, with an assist for the second before cutting in from the right to blast the ball into the top corner. An acrobatic goal from League Two journeyman Chris Zebrowski will have been the icing on the cake.

Although a sunny day at Fratton Park was going according to plan when Portsmouth took the lead through a front post header from Patrick Agyemang, it didn’t end that way. Oxford had already come from behind by the time Johnny Ertl was sent off for a raised elbow, and went on to win 4-1. Both Potter and Smalley scored a brace, with neither Dave Kitson nor James Constable, who I’d expect to be a pretty formidable forward pair, required to open their accounts for the season.

Probably the biggest danger for Pompey this season is thinking that the tough work is done, and that they’re good enough to coast through the season, which they’re definitely not. I’d still expect them to at least challenge for the League Two title, and probably gain promotion – perhaps the heavy defeat is the kick up the backside they need.

Portsmouth’s Johnny Ertl was shown a straight red card

A few more impressive goals…

Rochdale’s Scott Hogan, returning to the club he was released from after two years in non-league, marked his first professional appearance with a nice flick before turning and taking a jinking dribble through Hartlepool’s defence. It proved vital – coming at a time when his side were a little on the back foot, but won by three goals to nil. Hogan was released without making an appearance the same summer returning manager Keith Hill left for Barnsley – he’ll be hoping to make more of an impression this time.

Oldham’s Christian Montano, twisting the defender at pace before dinking the ball from the edge of the six-yard box without ever bothering to stop, was the standout goal in a 4-3 win over Stevenage that wasn’t even one of the more interesting results in a pretty dramatic opening day to the season.

…And plenty of red cards

Of course there’s nothing funny about the injury that came from Lee Miller’s challenge, but elsewhere there were some enjoyable red cards.

Darren Carter, one of six debutants for Northampton, slid in slowly from behind on Ryan Jarvis’ ankles; Portsmouth’s Johnny Ertl was sent off for elbowing an opponent in the centre circle; and Gary Liddle decided to go kung-fu fighting.

Scunthorpe were so comfortably superior to Mansfield that Eddie Nolan picked up a second yellow card for throwing out his arm and giving away a penalty for handball, and they still managed to win 2-0.

Pundits will say that fans don’t want to see players get sent off, but I love a bit of deranged, misplaced commitment.

Amazing goals, dramatic, surprising results, and red cards so crudely clumsy that they’re actually pretty funny. My emotions on the opening weekend have been clouded by the fact I’m a Hartlepool fan, but overall, it’s pretty great to have football back, isn’t it?

What were the odds on that?

After losing 4-1, Accrington’s bad opening weekend continued with news on Monday that Rob Heys, Accrington’s Managing Director had been charged with breaches of betting regulations. As a result, he’s withdrawn from all footballing duties until a committee has delivered its response, expected in the next two weeks.

This is probably something unimportant and technical, as was the case with Andros Townsend betting on games in competitions he’d played in. The BBC ‘understands’ that Cameron Jerome’s charge, announced at the same time as Heys’, is of a similar nature to Townsend’s. Odds are that Heys’ charges will also be similar, though as an administrator with 11 years’ experience at Accrington, rather than a sportsman, he should have had a better understanding of what the rules allow him to do.

In 2009 four Accrington players threw a meaningless final game of the season, so there is a remote chance that there’s a larger culture of betting corruption taking place at Accrington. Odds are though, that like Townsend, Heys has just been a little daft and should have known better.

Nevertheless, if James Beattie wants to add to his squad before the end of the transfer window, the Managing Director’s absence will make things harder.

Feel for Gary Liddle, who’s never been a dirty player, but this from Notts County was bound to jinx him pic.twitter.com/aE5wDOvjXY

— David Stringer (@Joe_Bloghead) August 2, 2013