Let Down
Winston Churchill was fond of a soundbite. And to paraphrase him, "Never in the history of football conflict have so many been let down by so few." For despite the fact Coventry City "want a Ricoh
return" tomorrow's Carling Cup tie with Cardiff is set to take place at a meagrely attended Sixfields. It will be overshadowed by a strong presence on the nearby hill, set to climax with a 35th
minute protest, in and outside the ground, the difference in miles between Coventry and Northampton.
Both clubs have a lot more in common than sharing exactly the same initials. You could almost label the match, the CCFC crap owners derby. Both clubs are in the heavy grip of custodians who care
not one jot about tradition and history. Cardiff disgracefully had their famous blue strip turned red by Vincent Tan, as well as getting rid of a seemingly perfectly good manager.
Fitting then, that the travelling support from South Wales are set to join in the protests by holding up, "Let Down" placards together with Sky Blues fans in the designated minute. Cardiff too,
have experienced the arrogant indifference of owners who simply refuse to listen or budge. With The Football League displaying a mixture of weakness and indifference, it's made for a cocktail of
calamity.
Let down, is about right because there are times in any walk of life when you have to hope the authorities step in. If they don't, then that is clearly a recipe for anarchy. But the game's rulers
which have long waged war on hooligans, seem to take a different approach when havoc is wreaked in the boardroom. So we get patronised, fobbed off, the general idea from the hierarchy being that
they hope things will somehow sort themselves out.
But they won't. Even in SISU's sudden change of heart about returning to the Ricoh, there is sub text. "Until we own our own stadium." is the new mantra. The word "own" has subtlety replaced the
word, "build." Hardly surprising in that, well over a year has passed since the announcement of an intention to construct a new ground in the Coventry "area."
A hazy location that simply isn't good enough for most fans. It has to be in Coventry where a state of the art underused stadium already exsists. Not that it matters, not one singie acre of land
is yet to be purchased. For it would appear, the hedge fund SISU still have designs on the Ricoh and perhaps more importantly, the adjacent development friendly land.
So on in circles in goes. It is left to a Sky camera to pan to a hill where fans stand, refusing to enter a alien ground, denied one of the basic rights of a football fan, to watch your home club
in your own location. It is left to fans to hold little banners, blowing in the hilly wind, proclaiming, "Let Down." All to cast a shadow of the Sky TV image that modern football is all sweetness
and light. To give the message, it isn't, it's a bitter and dark place for Coventry fans right now.
We have been let down big time. But there is a famous song at the heart of the club containing the line, "Fight till the game is won." And in a spirit Churchill would be proud of, the battle goes
on until the land we play on is once more in our cherished home City.