Coventry City fans were in vocal and defiant mood during the 2-0 defeat at Reading yesterday. Several rousing choruses of their signature Eton Boating Song rang out and the raw commitment that perhaps only comes with adversity and temperatures hovering around zero degrees was on full display. Among the targets for opprobrium were the club's owners since 2007 – Sisu Capital – a cabal whose very mention led the comments section to combust after Ian Palmer so expertly picked apart Coventry's parlous financial state during our recent Turmoil Week.

Stage 3 of our examination of the financial architecture of the Football League's clubs sees us head to Coventry. Ian Palmer is a friend and associate of Neil Allison, custodian of the Sky Blues Blog and here provides his thoughts on the slough of despond facing the Sky Blues, a situation that has been allowed to develop both on and off the pitch.

P TIMES PG 1 West Ham United 54 2 Southampton 50 3 Cardiff City 50 4 Middlesbrough 45 5 Hull City 43 6 Blackpool 42 7 Reading 42 8 Leeds United 42 9 Brighton & Hove Albion 41 10 Derby County 41 11 Birmingham City 40 12 Burnley 40 13 Crystal Palace 37 14 Barnsley 36 15 Leicester City 35 16 Portsmouth 32 17 Peterborough United 31 18 Watford 30 19 Bristol City 30 20 Millwall 29 21 Ipswich Town 26 22 Nottingham Forest 24 23 Doncaster Rovers 23 24 Coventry City 22

Coventry City's Alex Nimely celebrates scoring their second goal of their terrific win against Middlesborough

Every week, my brother places an accumulator on various Football League results, only a few quid, but enough to make it fairly interesting. To this date, he has never won.

Landon Donovan is coming off an outstanding match in Everton's 1-1 draw vs. Aston Villa last week, and he will look to post an even better performance against struggling Blackburn today.

Donovan will look to jump-start an offense that has has its share of struggles, but an offense that could have a field day against struggling Rovers.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

For the U.S. men's and women's national teams, it's a big weekend.

The women kick off their qualifying campaign for the 2012 Olympics Friday night in Canada, going up against the Dominican Republic. Just a couple of days later, Pia Sundhage's charges are at it again, facing Guatemala and hoping to secure maximum points before a final group showdown with Mexico.

Friday, January 20
2:30pm Borussia M'gladbach vs Bayern München GolTV
2:30pm Sablé vs PSG ESPN3
8pm Altamira vs Universidad Guadalajara GolTV
8pm Mexico vs Guatemala Telemundo, CONCACAF, Sportsnet.ca
9:10pm Morelia vs San Luis Azteca America
10:30pm Dominican Republic vs USA Telemundo, CONCACAF, UniversalSports.

P TIMES PG 1 West Ham United 51 2 Southampton 50 3 Cardiff City 47 4 Middlesbrough 45 5 Hull City 40 6 Derby County 40 7 Blackpool 39 8 Burnley 39 9 Reading 40 10 Leeds United 39 11 Brighton & Hove Albion 38 12 Birmingham City 37 13 Crystal Palace 37 14 Barnsley 36 15 Leicester City 35 16 Watford 31 17 Portsmouth 32 18 Peterborough United 31 19 Bristol City 27 20 Millwall 26 21 Ipswich Town 26 22 Nottingham Forest 24 23 Doncaster Rovers 23 24 Coventry City 19

Robbie Keane is the latest MLSer to eschew a winter siesta for a short term loan overseas. In case you were wondering, Wikipedia tells us...

Wolves, Coventry City, Inter, Leeds (loan), Leeds (buy), Tottenham, Liverpool, Tottenham, Celtic, West Ham, LA Galaxy, Aston Villa.

That's not a career that's an intimacy problem.

By FRANCO PANIZO

If Brad Guzan retains his spot in Aston Villa's starting lineup this weekend, we are in for a treat.

Guzan and the Villans host Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Everton on Saturday in arguably the biggest match-up involving Americans this weekend.

Matches in the Third Round of The FA Cup frequently draw attendances that are lower than they would be otherwise. The simple fact that tickets are not usually provided as part of annual season tickets combined with the possibility of people feeling the pinch in the weeks after Christmas is usually enough to keep many away.

Matches in the Third Round of The FA Cup frequently draw attendances that are lower than they would be otherwise. The simple fact that tickets are not usually provided as part of annual season tickets combined with the possibility of people feeling the pinch in the weeks after Christmas is usually enough to keep many away.

Resultados FA Cup 2011/2012 Tercer Ronda Ida
Viernes 6 de enero de 2012 5 Liverpool vs Oldham Athletic 1Sábado 7 de enero de 2012 0 Birmingham vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 00 Dagenham & Redbridge vs Millwall 02 Barnsley vs Swansea City 41 Brighton vs Wrexham 11 Coventry City vs Southampton 21 Crawley Town vs Bristol City 01 Derby County vs Crystal Palace 00 Doncaster Rovers vs Notts County 22 Everton vs Tamworth 01 Fleetwood Town vs Blackpool 54 Fulham vs Charlton Athletic 01 Gillingham vs Stoke City 33 Hull City vs Ipswich Town 12 Macclesfield Town vs Bolton Wanderers 21 Middlesbrough vs Shrewsbury Town 01 Milton Keynes Dons vs Queens Park Rangers 12 Newcastle United vs Blackburn Rovers 14 Norwich City vs Burnley 10 Nottingham Forest vs Leicester City 00 Reading vs Stevenage 13 Sheffield United vs Salisbury City 12 Swindon Town vs Wigan Athletic 13 Tottenham Hotspur vs Cheltenham Town 04 Watford vs Bradford City 24 West Bromwich Albion vs Cardiff City 21 Bristol Rovers vs Aston Villa 3Domingo 8 de enero de 2012 2 Manchester City vs Manchester United 34 Chelsea vs Portsmouth 01 Sheffield Wednesday vs West Ham United 00 Peterborough United vs Sunderland 2Lunes 9 de enero de 2012 1 Arsenal vs Leeds United 0 Gracias por tu visita Estadísticas de Fútbol

By JOHN BOSCHINI

FA Cup ties are the major draw in England this weekend, while Italian and Spanish sides return to action for the first time in nearly a month as winter breaks draw to a close.

Manchester United and Manchester City are still the heavy favorites to take home the Premier League title this year, but it's the FA Cup that provides another exhibition of one of the most heated rivalries in the world.

Coventry City are set to wear their 1987 Retro Shirts in Saturday's FA Cup 3rd Round encounter with Southampton, to mark their 25th anniversary of their 3-2 extra-time win over Tottenham. So what has become of the history making men behind their one and only major trophy success.

Steve Ogrizovic GK (54): Oggy as he is known at the Ricoh Arena is still part of the Coventry set-up where he is currently the clubs Goalkeeping coach.

English Football Championship side Coventry City FC has launched a limited edition PUMA jersey for use in this season's FA Cup. According to the club website: THE Sky Blues will...

English Football Championship side Coventry City FC has launched a limited edition PUMA jersey for use in this season's English FA Cup. According to the club website: THE Sky Blues...

Evening falls over Sutton, and with it comes the final match of the Second Round of this year's FA Cup. Gander Green Lane has been here before, of course, in 1989 when the team in amber and chocolate knocked Coventry City out of the competition the last time that a non-league club knocked one from the top division out of the FA Cup and also in 1970, when a scarcely-credible 14,000 people packed in here to see Sutton United lose 6-0 against Leeds United in the Third Round of the competition.

The draw for this season's FA Cup 3rd round was made today with Manchester City drawn Manchester United at hom in what is the draw of the round. There will be only one other all Premier League tie with Newcastle at home to Blackburn, while non-league Tamworth got a dream tie with Everton at Goodison Park.

P TIMES PG 1 Southampton 42 2 West Ham United 41 3 Cardiff City 35 4 Middlesbrough 32 5 Leeds United 31 6 Leicester City 29 7 Brighton & Hove Albion 29 8 Blackpool 27 9 Reading 27 10 Crystal Palace 27 11 Birmingham City 26 12 Hull City 25 13 Derby County 25 14 Burnley 24 15 Barnsley 24 16 Peterborough United 22 17 Millwall 22 18 Portsmouth 21 19 Watford 21 20 Bristol City 20 21 Nottingham Forest 20 22 Ipswich Town 18 23 Coventry City 13 24 Doncaster Rovers 13

Jay Bothroyd will retire from football with a stash of cash in the bank, a luxurious mansion, one or two flash motors and a ton of memories. He made it. He is one out of all the thousands of budding stars grafting to become a professional.

He is a Premier League striker with QPR.

1 Southampton 36 2 West Ham United 32 3 Middlesbrough 30 4 Cardiff City 28 5 Leeds United 26 6 Blackpool 25 7 Crystal Palace 25 8 Derby County 24 9 Brighton & Hove Albion 23 10 Leicester City 22 11 Hull City 22 12 Birmingham City 21 13 Reading 21 14 Peterborough United 20 15 Portsmouth 20 16 Burnley 19 17 Millwall 18 18 Barnsley 18 19 Ipswich Town 18 20 Nottingham Forest 17 21 Watford 16 22 Bristol City 13 23 Coventry City 12 24 Doncaster Rovers 12

photo by Florian Eisele/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

If you came away from the U.S. men's national team friendlies wanting to see more of Fabian Johnson, you'll likely get your chance on Sunday.

Johnson should make his way back into TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's lineup when it takes on relegation-threatened Hamburg SV.

Name: Regis Genaux In his 1990s prime for: Coventry City Lowdown: When Regis Genaux joined Coventry City from Standard Liege in the summer of 1996, he became only the third Belgian to play in the Premier League (prizes for getting both Philippe Albert and Marc Degryse as the other two). Having played for Standard Liege [.

John Nyen on illusions of the Euro game

The guy on left easily carries the American Express Black card...and nothing can dent it.

"I am a fan of the American model. The European model cannot be sustained without new parameters, commercial parameters that allow competition, that allow revenue distribution, and that will allow talent to continue to prosper.

‘Football fans have been exposed to the type of policing historically that is probably unfair and untargeted. I think it's evolved, I think it's moved on. My football unit police with the best interests of football fans that are around safety and that's our principle driver. It's not you and us at all.

According to today's Daily Mirror, Liverpool is still interested in Coventry City's talented midfielder Connor Thomas.
When Thomas was sent to Liverpool on loan last January, it was the catalyst that causes a board room struggle to come to a head and ended up with a change of chairman and vice chairman.

Name: Jean-Guy Wallemme In his 1990s prime for: Coventry City Lowdown: Although Jean-Guy Walleme isn't exactly a household name in Premier League terms, he was seen as something of a coup for Coventry when they bought him from Lens in 1998, where he had captained the French club to the league title the previous season.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Michael Bradley may not currently be a starter on the U.S. men's national team, but he'll have a big chance to show head coach Jurgen Klinsmann that he's ready for more minutes.

Bradley and Chievo Verona take on league leader Juventus this weekend in a match that the U.

P TIMES PG J V E D GM GS SG 1 Southampton 19 8 6 1 1 20 10 10 2 Derby County 19 9 6 1 2 14 6 8 3 West Ham United 18 9 5 3 1 16 7 9 4 Middlesbrough 18 8 5 3 0 13 5 8 5 Brighton & Hove Albion 17 9 5 2 2 15 11 4 6 Hull City 14 9 4 2 3 7 8 -1 7 Cardiff City 13 8 3 4 1 10 7 3 8 Crystal Palace 13 9 4 1 4 12 10 2 9 Blackpool 13 9 3 4 2 11 9 2 10 Leicester City 12 8 3 3 2 9 9 0 11 Peterborough United 11 9 3 2 4 16 13 3 12 Leeds United 11 8 3 2 3 16 15 1 13 Reading 11 9 3 2 4 11 11 0 14 Ipswich Town 11 9 3 2 4 11 16 -5 15 Portsmouth 10 9 2 4 3 10 11 -1 16 Watford 10 9 2 4 3 9 12 -3 17 Burnley 9 8 2 3 3 12 12 0 18 Barnsley 9 9 1 6 2 7 9 -2 19 Birmingham City 8 7 2 2 3 10 12 -2 20 Nottingham Forest 8 9 2 2 5 9 18 -9 21 Coventry City 7 9 1 4 4 6 11 -5 22 Millwall 7 9 1 4 4 7 13 -6 23 Bristol City 6 9 1 3 5 8 15 -7 24 Doncaster Rovers 5 9 1 2 6 4 13 -9

P TIMES PG J V E D GM GS SG 1 Southampton 19 8 6 1 1 20 10 10 2 Middlesbrough 18 8 5 3 0 13 5 8 3 Derby County 18 8 6 0 2 13 5 8 4 West Ham United 17 8 5 2 1 16 7 9 5 Brighton & Hove Albion 17 8 5 2 1 14 8 6 6 Cardiff City 13 8 3 4 1 10 7 3 7 Hull City 13 8 4 1 3 6 7 -1 8 Blackpool 12 8 3 3 2 9 7 2 9 Leicester City 12 8 3 3 2 9 9 0 10 Leeds United 11 8 3 2 3 16 15 1 11 Peterborough United 10 8 3 1 4 14 11 3 12 Crystal Palace 10 8 3 1 4 9 9 0 13 Ipswich Town 10 8 3 1 4 11 16 -5 14 Portsmouth 9 8 2 3 3 8 9 -1 15 Reading 8 8 2 2 4 8 9 -1 16 Birmingham City 8 7 2 2 3 10 12 -2 17 Barnsley 8 8 1 5 2 6 8 -2 18 Nottingham Forest 8 8 2 2 4 8 13 -5 19 Watford 7 8 1 4 3 7 11 -4 20 Millwall 7 8 1 4 3 6 11 -5 21 Burnley 6 7 1 3 3 7 11 -4 22 Coventry City 6 8 1 3 4 4 9 -5 23 Bristol City 6 8 1 3 4 6 12 -6 24 Doncaster Rovers 4 8 1 1 6 3 12 -9

During Ipswich's game with Coventry last night, both Jimmy Bullard and Keith Andrews wanted to take a free kick. How did they settle who got to take it? Like men with a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors... I'm not a fan of the game because whenever I have a kickabout with friends, we always do rock-paper-scissors [.

By Chris Wright

In which Ipswich pair Jimmy Bullard and Keith Andrews rile manager Paul Jewell by undermining a week's worth of set-piece training by deciding free-kick duties with an impromptu game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' during the Tractor Boy's 3-0 win over Coventry in the Championship last night.

• Kop That: What are the odds Fernando Torres doesn't start next weekend after THAT miss? Derek McGovern's Bets of th... http://t.co/NCjhf1j1 22:19:13, 2011-09-19
• The Kop That Daily is out! http://t.co/wGgamxUf ▸ Top stories today via @anfieldindex 20:04:31, 2011-09-19
• Kop That: Liverpool's worst defeats in recent years: Spurs, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Coventry City (twice) http://t.

Liverpool's worst defeats in recent years: Spurs, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Coventry City (twice)

Six of the best (or worst, depending who you support) Liverpool defeats

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-09-19 17:02:38 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

After the jump, you'll find some movie pictures from a couple of youth matches over the past week or so. Thanks, as always, to EskWeston for the contributions. This guy does fantastic work so be sure to subscribe to his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter.

Old youth team photo

Black 5-3 Blue
14 September
This was a game featuring mixed teams of Under-18s and reserve players.

The unmistakeably musty scent of stagnation has been in the air at Coventry City of late. As memories of the club as mainstays of the top division of English football fade to become little more than a memory, this is a club that feels shiftless, as if it hasn't successfully asserted a new identity since leaving Highfield Road for The Ricoh Stadium in 2005.

The unmistakeably musty scent of stagnation has been in the air at Coventry City of late. As memories of the club as mainstays of the top division of English football fade to become little more than a memory, this is a club that feels shiftless, as if it hasn't successfully asserted a new identity since leaving Highfield Road for The Ricoh Stadium in 2005.

P TIMES PG J V E D GM GS SG 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 16 6 5 1 0 11 4 7 2 Southampton 15 6 5 0 1 15 8 7 3 Middlesbrough 14 6 4 2 0 12 5 7 4 West Ham United 13 6 4 1 1 15 7 8 5 Derby County 12 6 4 0 2 8 4 4 6 Cardiff City 11 6 3 2 1 9 6 3 7 Blackpool 11 6 3 2 1 8 5 3 8 Crystal Palace 10 6 3 1 2 9 7 2 9 Hull City 9 6 3 0 3 4 6 -2 10 Leicester City 8 6 2 2 2 8 9 -1 11 Peterborough United 7 6 2 1 3 12 9 3 12 Birmingham City 7 5 2 1 2 8 7 1 13 Leeds United 7 6 2 1 3 11 11 0 14 Portsmouth 6 6 1 3 2 7 8 -1 15 Millwall 6 6 1 3 2 6 8 -2 16 Barnsley 6 6 1 3 2 4 6 -2 17 Watford 6 6 1 3 2 6 9 -3 18 Ipswich Town 6 6 2 0 4 8 16 -8 19 Coventry City 5 6 1 2 3 3 5 -2 20 Burnley 5 5 1 2 2 5 8 -3 21 Nottingham Forest 5 6 1 2 3 6 11 -5 22 Bristol City 5 6 1 2 3 4 9 -5 23 Reading 4 6 1 1 4 5 8 -3 24 Doncaster Rovers 1 6 0 1 5 2 10 -8

By Alan Duffy

It always seemed a rather strange decision by the Venkys bigwigs to jettison Sam Allardyce for not playing attractive enough football only to promote his second in command, Steve Kean, to the top job.

Prior to jumping into the hot-seat at Ewood Park, the 43-year-old Scot had never managed a team himself, instead racking up a number of assistant manager gigs at the likes of Fulham and Coventry City.