Wonder what the future holds for Coventry City now that Wasps RFC, who own what I still call the Ricoh Arena, have gone into administration? Coventry certainly have plenty of grounds to rue their rugby connection this season as it can, justifiably, be said that they owe their position at the bottom of the Championship to that sport when you consider that their first four scheduled home matches were postponed because of problems with the pitch caused by hosting the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens tournament there just days before the start of the football season.
I hope and believe that Coventry can start climbing the table once they start playing the games they have in hand on the rest of the league, but, for this weekend, I want them to get nothing when they come to Cardiff to face a City side looking for a third straight win.
Here’s seven Coventry related questions.
60s. It sounds like this Coventry forward from this decade knew all about a certain form of precipitation, can you name him?
70s. Starting off right at the centre of things in the city of his birth, this defender didn’t go all oriental at his second club even if you might have thought that given the name of their ground. His performances at this second club attracted the interest of Coventry who he spent four years with as a semi regular before signing for Londoners who had not yet taken flight. He was unable to stop what was a pretty spectacular slump for his new side and he moved back home after a couple of years although, this time, to the other side of the tracks so to speak. After a short time looking east out to sea, he ended his playing days back in the midlands with a non league Boro, who as I describing?
80s. Who is this passage describing – additional clues, an arthritic knee meant he had to retire from full time football at a young age and he scored one goal for Coventry – against Manchester United.
‘COVENTRY-born footballers who have made it in the top flight are few and far between. The obvious ones are Bobby Gould, Reg Matthews and Gary McSheffrey, but Caludon Castle- educated………….. was one another Cov Kid who lived the dream and played for the club he had supported as a boy. He vividly remembers the first time he ran on to the pitch in 1982. “
90s. Although you would never have guessed it by his name, this forward scored twenty five times (including one against England in a World Cup Tournament) for a country which was a regular in such tournaments around then, but has fallen on hard times in recent years. Coventry were one of ten different clubs he played for in six different countries and they hardly represented the finest hour of a career in which he scored at a rate better than one in every three matches. He just managed one in the league for Coventry, against Crystal Palace, and only stayed for a year – can you name him?
00s.. During this decade, one of them played for Coventry City and the other one for Cardiff City, one of them won sixty three caps for their country, the other got no further than an under 20 cap. Both of them played all of their club football in the UK and USA apart from a loan spell each on mainland Europe – what else links these two forwards?
10s. This forward had spells with Coventry at the beginning and end of this decade scoring eleven times in forty four league games for them, since then he’s played for two clubs and has scored seventy seven times in one hundred and forty one league games, who is he?
20s. New head wine slob messed up and is sent to Coventry! (3,6)
Answers:
60s.Ken Hale.
70s. Edinburgh born Ron Barry began his career at Heart of Midlothian before moving on to Dunfermline (home ground East End Park). Barry was at Coventry between 1969 and 1973 and then joined Crystal Palace (they were still a few years off being called the Eagles) as they dropped from Division One to Division Three in a couple of seasons. Moving back to Scotland with Hibs. Barry than played a few games for East Fife (home ground Bayview Park) and then finished his career at Nuneaton Borough.
80s. Peter Hormanschuk had a run of matches at right back in the Coventry first team when Bobby Gould was manager, but was displaced by Brian Roberts who moved over from the left when Stuart Pearce arrived. Hormanschuk played twenty nine times in all competitions for Coventry, but his career was effectively ended by a serious knee injury that became arthritic.
90s. Viorel Moldovan scored twenty five times in seventy caps for Romania and was a scorer against England in the 1998 World Cup. He signed for Coventry in 1996 and, besides that goal against Palace, also scored the winner in an FA Cup tie against Villa.
00s. Their names, Coventry’s Eddie Johnson began his career at Manchester United and spent the 04/05 season on loan at Coventry, the other one had what I’ll call a mixed loan spell with City in 08/09.
10s. jonson Clarke-Harris never played a game for Coventry when he was there as a youngster in 2010/11, but found the net at a decent rate for them, first on loan and then when signed permanently in 18/19. Since leaving Coventry, he’s been prolific for both Bristol Rovers and Peterborough.
20s. Ben Wilson.