Sky Blues versus…Portsmouth

Coventry City enter their 10th successive season at Championship level with another new manager at the helm in the shape of Aidy Boothroyd.

The former Watford and Colchester boss will lead his new team into action against 23 opponents, who Vital Coventry will be looking at over the next few weeks.

Head-to-head: Only 6 meetings between the clubs this century but plenty of drama and excitement, not least in last season`s FA Cup replay at a freezing cold Ricoh Arena which set Pompey on the way to an eventual Wembley date with Chelsea.

Transfer dealings: Martin Cranie will face his former club this season after moving from Fratton Park last summer.

The route that Cranie took will be well-known to his fellow defender Richard Duffy who spent four separate loan spells with City while contracted to Pompey.

While both Cranie, Duffy and before them Lee Mills have and did make decent contributions, the less said about Tim Sherwood, Courtney Pitt and Sebastian Olszar the better!

The man in charge: Steve Cotterill was strongly linked with the Sky Blues job earlier in the summer but chairman Ray Ranson strongly denied he was offered the post.

Now the former Burnley and Notts County
boss has taken on the challenge of reviving the crisis-hit south coast club.