City Fail to get the Sofa?or the Lamp!

Asked about his club’s transfer activity when coach of Valencia, Rafael Benitez once famously commented that he had ‘asked for a sofa and been given a lamp’ by those in charge of recruitment.

Rafa would surely struggle with the meagre furnishings on offer at Coventry City during the January transfer window and it is hard to see how Russell Slade can cobble together a side capable of putting in the kind of run that is needed if the Sky Blues are to avoid relegation to League Two at the end of the season.

Chris McCann is a veteran of over 300 league matches at the age of 29 while Marvin Sordell was the club’s main (only) goal threat for much of the season.

Allowing Sordell to leave was clearly the key to getting Stuart Beavon in return but what a shame it is not to see the two of them playing together and trying to forge a partnership.

McCann was also one of the better performers in a dismal season and his departure, which was known about from the day he signed as he links up with MLS newcomers Atlanta United, leaves the midfield seemingly well short of the quality needed to win the all-important battle in that area of the field.

Slade made strengthening the defence his early priority and at least managed to draft in players to those positions with good experience behind them, Nathan Clarke and Kevin Foley being particularly well-versed in League One football.

But the late, loan additions of young strikers Charles Vernam and Michael Folivi, from Derby County and Watford respectively, have failed to convince many that the squad now is stronger than it was at the end of December, a time of course when City were already on a long, losing run of games.