Adie Boothroyd is now in his third job as a manager after successful spells at Watford and Colchester. When he took over at Watford everyone asked Aide who? He was a young unknown but after keeping Watford up he build a fresh young side with such players as Ashley Young and Tommy Smith. They won promotion to the Premiership via the playoffs in his first season and despite being relegated at the first attempt they did reach the FA Cup semi final under Bootyroyd. After failure in the playoffs and a poor start to the following season he left the club and moved down a division to join Colchester. At the Essex club he took them to the brink of the playoffs last season before grabbing the opportunity to manage at a higher level again. Boothyroyd is an intense manager
who likes his teams to play quite direct but with some skill and
flair in the final third of the pitch. He's a deep thinker about
the game and should be a good fit at Coventry.
It was a season of disappointment for Coventry last year which really fell away at the end of the season to leave them close again to relegation. They started the season well with back to back wins but as has been the case in the last few years that proves to be a false dawn and they struggled after the bright start winning just one of the next eight games. Confidence was low and despite the goals of Morrison they struggled around the bottom half of the table until an upturn in fortune around the New Year. Chris Coleman managed to get some excellent results out of the side and after a 3-1 win over Barnsley they began to hit good form. Wins over Forest, Palace and QPR moved them into the top half and gave them a faint hope of the playoffs. They lost crucial games against Cardiff and
West Brom though to end any playoff hopes and Coleman's side went
into freefall failing to win any of their last eleven matches and
a final day defeat at home to Watford by four goals saw the manager
sacked and the club looking for another fresh start.
Coventry have flattered to deceive in recent years and since relegation to this league back in 2002 they have rarely looked like making a return to the Premiership. Recent years have ended with the team dropping in the final few weeks towards relegation and Adie Boothroyd will be keen to make sure that doesn't happen again. He has brought in some decent players this summer with Gary Mcsheffrey and Andy Keogh both excellent attacking players looking for a chance to impress after disappointing seasons last time out. Keogh I proven at this level and could prove to be the signing of the summer if he produces the level of ability he showed at Wolves in this division. They have an excellent goalkeeper and some
good young players so Boothroyd has the makings of an exciting team
on his hands. With so many changes though I think they may struggle
for consistency and have to settle for an improved season but still
no higher than mid table.
Coventry's home shirts are now always sky blue. However
this hasn't always been the case. During the 1880s and 1890s, the
club used black and red. Sky blue was first used by Coventry in
1898, the sky blue theme was then used until 1922, the colour made
its return in 1962 thanks to the then manager, Jimmy Hill. Coventry qualified for the European Fairs Cup in
1970 but lost 7-3 on aggregate in the 2nd round to Bayern Munich,
despite winning the second leg 2-1 at Highfield Road. In that same
year, Highfield Road became the first all-seater, floodlit stadium
in the country.
Leon Best had a loan spell at QPR back
in 2004 but failed to score in his month at Rangers. He has since
gone on to join Coventry and serves them well as their top goalscorer
before a move to Newcastle. Another forward to play for both clubs
is Paul Furlong. The QPR legend started his career at Coventry but
never really made it with them. He had two loan spells at QPR before
signing on a free transfer and he went on to score some crucial
goals for us including the winner in the playoff semi final and
the second goal at Hillsborough when we won promotion in 2004. Former QPR manager Iain Dowie was at
Coventry where he guided them to safety in 2006/07 and then helped
them to cup wins at Man Utd and Blackburn. Things didn't work out
though and he left the club in February 2008.
Coventry v QPR was a regular fixture back in our Premiership days but now we're both having mid table tussles a division lower. The first meeting since Coventry virtually relegated us in 1996 came at Loftus Road days after the exciting 3-2 win over Leicester City. Rangers played some of their best football of the season during the first half completely playing Coventry off the pitch and two goals by Jamie Cureton had us comfortably ahead by half time. The second half saw the visitor's comeback in it with a goal and they put pressure on us to get an equaliser. Rangers held strong though and Jamie Cureton completed his hat trick before Paul Furlong added another for a 4-1 win. The return game was Micky Adams first in charge at Coventry and our last ever visit to Highfield Road. Rangers started well and Jamie Cureton scored his first goal since his hat trick against Coventry earlier in the season. The home side got level after the break and the game
looked set to be a draw before Georges Santos header was parried
just over the line to give us a 2-1 win during injury time. In the summer of 2005 Rangers met Coventry in the
Copa De Ibiza final. The pre season tournament saw the Sky Blues
take a 2-0 lead at half time but Rangers fired back to win the trophy
with a double strike from Dean Sturridge and a late winner from
Kevin Gallen. In the league Rangers were the first ever visitors
to the Ricoh Arena and made it a good day for the home side by not
turning up and being thrashed 3-0. Dan Shittu was sent off and the
1,500 QPR fans went home disappointed. The home game was just as
bad as the Sky cameras covered a dull game which came to life late
on when Simon Royce was sent off and Gary Mcsheffrey scored from
the penalty spot to give the Sky Blues the double over Rangers. In 2006/07 season Coventry continued their good run
against us with a 1-0 win at Loftus Road to end an impressive winning
run for Rangers. The return game was all change though as we played
well and picked up a vital three points thanks to a Jimmy Smith
goal. In 2007/08 Rangers faced Coventry in De Canios second
match in charge. Akos Buzsaky scored his first goal for QPR to give
us the lead but it was short lived on a night when we lost Cranie
and Nygaard to injuries. Coventry fought back to score two late
goals with Kevin Kyle grabbing the winner deep into injury time. The return game at the Ricoh Arena was pretty dire
with neither side looking able to break the deadlock in a dull 0-0
draw. The game at Loftus Road was another dull affair.
Daniel Fox gave Coventry the lead with a brilliant free kick on
the day Wayne Routledge made his home debut. Dexter Blackstock earned
Rangers a point late on with what proved to be his last goal for
QPR. Last season the games continues to be forgettable.
At Loftus Road Rangers dominated but looked weak at the back giving
away two soft goals from set pieces. Jay Simpson and Akos Buzsaky
scored for Rangers to earn us a 2-2 draw, the last point picked
up by Jim Magilton as manager. The return game was under Mick Harford and although Rangers huffed and puffed trying to score and had several decent chances we ended up on the losing side with Coventry running out 1-0 winners. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
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