Safety Confirmed as City’s Only Target

The tight nature of the League One notwithstanding, Coventry City’s only target for the 2016/17 season is surely now just to survive in the division after three successive defeats.

Much improved, in the second-half at least, on their display against Oxford United at the weekend, the Sky Blues still left Greater Manchester without anything to show from their game at Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening.

Gradual improvement under Mark Venus’ interim management had put the top-half of the table within sight but the defeats against Bolton and league leaders Scunthorpe (being charitable and putting the Oxford game down as an aberration) show that City do not have what it takes at present to chisel out the results needed for a sustained push up the league.

Both Tony Mowbray and Venus himself have admitted that the current squad does not contain the depth or quality needed to compete on a regular basis in League One, both sharing responsibility for that regardless of the actual budget they had at their disposal.

That is not to say that progress hasn’t been made on the recruitment front, from a base that was almost non-existent when the duo came to the club.

Signings such as Jodi Jones and Jordan Turnbull, on longer-term contracts, hint at a better future and City are putting out sides this season mostly consisted of players who are contracted to the club.

That, and a season of relative stability on the pitch, would be ok if there was confidence that the squad will be gradually improved as each transfer window opens.

But Venus himself was downbeat on the prospects of new signings when asked after the Oxford game and there is no sign of any of the off-field issues resolving themselves until the owners have exhausted all of their legal battles.