Blue skies over Coventry

My eldest's home at Ryton is just down the road from the Coventry City training ground.   Not so long ago it was a forlorn sight, but now it is surrounded by high wooden fences to obstruct the view.  A cluster of Sly Blues fans can usually be seen hanging around outside in the hope of seeing one of their stars or perhaps even Frank Lampard himself.

Lampard was greeted with some scepticism when he was appointed manager by fans given his track record, but he has set the Sky Blues on the road to promotion.

Coventry fans have been through the mill.   Owned for many years by a hedge fund who seemed to have no strategy, they were reduced to watching their team at Northampton and even Birmingham City.  Now they are back in the excellent CBS Stadium, once used by the Wasps rugby team which went bust.

The club has been acquired by a Stratford upon Avon businessman and, no, he didn't make his money by selling Shakespeare tat.  There is some very serious money in Stratford.   I have only once been invited into one of the multi-millionaire homes along the River Avon (as you come in from Tiddington past the Home Guard ground) and it was very impressive.    In return for some free advice on the consequences of Brexit, I got a nice lunch and a chance to sample the lifestyle of the really opulent.

Stratford is associated with a particular kind of Englishness.    When I was freelancing for Sky I was asked on a slow news day to get down in front of the Shakespeare birthplace and talk about Englishness which I did as Japanese tourists clicked their cameras.

Now the Birthplace Trust has had to make big redundancies and close some premises, while all is not well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.    For now, howver, half an hour after leaving home (in winter) I can enjoy world class theatre.

Quite a lot of central Stratford is owned by the town council and they paid for a new ground for the Bards (Stratford Town) with a nice stand and artificial training pitches.   I well remember Leamington beating Stratford at their old ground and starting a chart of 'Two-nil or not two nil?' after that became the score.  Bemused tourists were then greeted by a victory parade through the centre of Stratford.

There are some Coventry City supporters in Leamington, but many local residents would never go near Coventry which they refer to in unflattering terms.   Historically it was Villa territory, but there now seem to be a lot of Baggies supporters around.

I correctly forecast the result at Stoke at the beginning of the season and containment has to be the emphasis on Saturday to avoid a thumping.   The one thing that might help us is that Coventry feel that they just have to turn up on the pitch to claim three points, but that is clutching at straws.