Football Season Review

After showing signs of improvement under their high-profile boss Tony Mowbray and making some interesting signings during the summer, Coventry entered the new season with high expectations and saw the season as a good opportunity to finally start their journey up the divisions and seal a return to the Championship. It all looked good for them in the first half of the season, as they were playing some cracking football, on-loan striker Adam Armstrong was scoring for fun, and they were constantly near or in the direct promotion places. James Maddison, who was signed by Norwich but allowed to spend the remainder of the season on loan with the Sky Blues, was having a breakthrough season before picking up an injury that forced him to miss three months of action, and the young forward was never really the same after returning. Moreover, Armstrong's goals started to dry out midway through the season and the Sky Blues were also hit by a number of injuries to key defenders, with all of this contributing to a horror run of form between mid January and early April, which saw them win only two out of the sixteen games that they played during this period. These results saw Coventry go from direct promotion candidates to a side struggling for a play-off place, and they eventually lost all hopes of making the play-offs with two games to spare. They have a summer of rebuilding ahead of them, with nine players being released by the club, and some of their top talent, such as Maddison and Armstrong, not expected to be with the club next season. In Mowbray, they have a manager with the connections and the know-how to help them move back to the second tier, but it is quite clear that the experienced manager will have it all to do during the summer, as a squad rebuild will definitely be needed if Coventry are to challenge next season.

Player of the Season: John Fleck