COVENTRY City appear to have averted an eve-of-season crisis that could have forced Andy Thorn to freeze out some of his key players.
Chief executive Tim Fisher called a showdown meeting with the first-team squad last week and told them that they would have to accept a new wages structure by lunchtime today or be put on the transfer list because it was “unacceptable” that the club shelled out nearly £1million in bonuses during their relegation campaign.
The instant reaction can perhaps be gauged by the fact that barely 24 hours later City turned in a woeful performance at Wrexham and home-bred defender Jordan Clarke fired off an expletive-littered tweet complaining: “Can’t even say what I wana say on here. The frustration is building
and building.” But Fisher subsequently held a series of meetings with the players and their agents and last night said that most of them had agreed to the new terms and all had “moved their contractual position to help the club.” And in response to a series of questions from the Telegraph he said that the players could earn more in bonuses this term if they sustain a promotion challenge.
“It has been pleasing to see that the players have recognised the plight of the club
ers have recognised the plight of the club and have acted in the best interests of Coventry City,“ he said. “Ultimately, if we win promotion it will benefit them financially, too.
“We are not going to tolerate mediocrity or, indeed, reward it.“
Thorn will be relieved to hear that he can name a full-strength side for tonight's trip to Dagenham & Redbridge and he has promised that they will start as they mean to go on.
A midweek Capital One Cup tie is an unconventional opener to the season and some managers have made it clear that they regard it as an unwelcome distraction from the real business of the league.
But as he bids to improve a League Cup record that has seen the Sky Blues slump to first-round defeats against Bury, Morecambe and Hartlepool in the last three years, Thorn insisted: “We won't be holding anything back.
“Of course our main aim to get promoted but our supporters haven't had much to cheer about over the last few years so a decent cup run would be a great way to bring some pride back to the club,.
“We are aiming to go as far as we can ­ we want to make some progress and get a few big teams up at the Ricoh. But let's not get ahead of ourselves because Dagenham are a good side and anything less than our best won't be good enough.
“It's a bit strange the way the fixtures have dropped, but we've known for a while that would be the case so we'll just get on with it.
“We'll go with a good side and do our best, as we will in every competition. It's never too early to get into good habits and players will always tell you that they prefer games to training so we've been looking forward to the first game for a while and we're all ready to go.“
Thorn will be without John Fleck, who is nursing a minor injury, and Adam Barton, who has been called up by the Republic Of Ireland Under21s, and he is waiting to hear if he will be able to add trialist Steven Jennings to his list of midfield options. “Steven and his agent are in talks with the club,“ he explained, “so I'm waiting to hear how that has gone.“
Chief executive Tim Fisher called a showdown meeting with the first-team squad last week and told them that they would have to accept a new wages structure by lunchtime today or be put on the transfer list because it was “unacceptable” that the club shelled out nearly £1million in bonuses during their relegation campaign.
The instant reaction can perhaps be gauged by the fact that barely 24 hours later City turned in a woeful performance at Wrexham and home-bred defender Jordan Clarke fired off an expletive-littered tweet complaining: “Can’t even say what I wana say on here. The frustration is building
and building.” But Fisher subsequently held a series of meetings with the players and their agents and last night said that most of them had agreed to the new terms and all had “moved their contractual position to help the club.” And in response to a series of questions from the Telegraph he said that the players could earn more in bonuses this term if they sustain a promotion challenge.
“It has been pleasing to see that the players have recognised the plight of the club
ers have recognised the plight of the club and have acted in the best interests of Coventry City,“ he said. “Ultimately, if we win promotion it will benefit them financially, too.
“We are not going to tolerate mediocrity or, indeed, reward it.“
Thorn will be relieved to hear that he can name a full-strength side for tonight's trip to Dagenham & Redbridge and he has promised that they will start as they mean to go on.
A midweek Capital One Cup tie is an unconventional opener to the season and some managers have made it clear that they regard it as an unwelcome distraction from the real business of the league.
But as he bids to improve a League Cup record that has seen the Sky Blues slump to first-round defeats against Bury, Morecambe and Hartlepool in the last three years, Thorn insisted: “We won't be holding anything back.
“Of course our main aim to get promoted but our supporters haven't had much to cheer about over the last few years so a decent cup run would be a great way to bring some pride back to the club,.
“We are aiming to go as far as we can ­ we want to make some progress and get a few big teams up at the Ricoh. But let's not get ahead of ourselves because Dagenham are a good side and anything less than our best won't be good enough.
“It's a bit strange the way the fixtures have dropped, but we've known for a while that would be the case so we'll just get on with it.
“We'll go with a good side and do our best, as we will in every competition. It's never too early to get into good habits and players will always tell you that they prefer games to training so we've been looking forward to the first game for a while and we're all ready to go.“
Thorn will be without John Fleck, who is nursing a minor injury, and Adam Barton, who has been called up by the Republic Of Ireland Under21s, and he is waiting to hear if he will be able to add trialist Steven Jennings to his list of midfield options. “Steven and his agent are in talks with the club,“ he explained, “so I'm waiting to hear how that has gone.“