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Ray Ranson recently fronted a consortium that bought Coventry at the eleventh hour to keep them out of administration, and it really was the eleventh hour. It ended a nationwide search for former Manchester City player Ranson whose desperate bid to buy a football club has seen him make bids for a good many others before he landed at Coventry.
The club has been in such a state that secret meetings behind the back of Managing Director Paul Fletcher MBE forced him out of the club, a move that Burnley have now benefited from by bringing Paul back to Turf Moor.
And for manager Iain Dowie, he was blocked from dealing in the transfer market because of their failure to keep up with payments to Southampton for Leon Best. That transfer embargo has only been lifted this week.
They made a bright start to the season, and sat in top place at one time, but a recent run of just two wins in their last eleven league games has seen them drop to seventeenth in the table and no side in the league has a worse goal difference than their minus 13.
One recent win was enjoyed by the Burnley fans as well as the Coventry fans. That was their 4-1 FA Cup win against Blackburn at Ewood Park. It has given them a home tie against Millwall and should they win that will force our home game against them to be played in midweek.
hey won their last home game against Ipswich and that brought to an end a run of six at home without a win.
Burnley have always had a good record at Coventry, that was until they moved to the Ricoh. We've suffered two 1-0 defeats there and so will today be looking not just for our first points there but also our first goal.
Coventry will welcome back captain Michael Doyle after suspension whilst Jay Tabb will also be back in midfield after recovering from illness.
Stephen Hughes and goalkeeper Andy Marshall are definitely ruled out with injury whilst Trinidad & Tobago international Chris Birchall is doubtful with a hamstring injury.
It is all change again for Burnley following the departure of Andy Gray and once more Owen Coyle has just about enough players to select from. Ade Akinbiyi is back in training and should replace Gray whilst there might be a place for Steve Jones ahead of his potential loan move back to Crewe.
Our team could be: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Stanislav Varga, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Steve Jones, Robbie Blake, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs: Gabor Kiraly, Stephen Jordan, Garreth O'Connor, John Spicer, Joey Gudjonsson.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1999/2000 | FAC | a | 0-3 | 22,774 | . |
2001/02 | 1 | a | 2-0 | 16,849 | Taylor Little |
| . | . | h | 1-0 | 18,751 | Taylor |
2002/03 | 1 | h | 3-1 | 13,470 | Blake(pen) Grant Davenport(og) |
| . | . | a | 1-0 | 13,659 | Cox |
2003/04 | 1 | h | 1-2 | 10,358 | Blake |
| . | . | a | 0-4 | 12,953 | . |
2004/05 | C | h | 2-2 | 10,919 | Blake(pen) Branch |
| . | . | a | 2-0 | 13,236 | Oster Moore |
2005/06 | C | h | 4-0 | 11,683 | G O'Connor Thomas Akinbiyi(2) |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 19,641 | . |
2006/07 | C | a | 0-1 | 18,362 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 12,830 | McVeigh |