City move quickly and make the right call

Chris Coleman's sacking as Coventry City manager on Monday night/Tuesday morning was unexpected in terms of how quickly it happened following the final game of the season but the Welshman can have few complaints about his fate following a dismal end to the season.

No wins in eleven games left the Sky Blues with an identical record to last season and just one place higher in the table than when Coleman took over.

That made it hard for him to justify his claim that the squad had improved during his reign and that progress was being made, albeit slowly, although most fans would probably agree that City have better players now than two years ago.

Most of those supporters would have been happy with a mid-table finish and a 60-point haul from the season and Coleman can certainly not claim to be the victim of unreasonable expectations.

Neither can he say (unlike Iain Dowie for instance) that he was not told the whole picture when joining the club. The policy of signing younger, hungrier players has been laid down in stone and Coleman bought into it fully.

A number of the players he has signed, notably Keiren Westwood, have proved to be both good buys and appreciating assets in terms of their re-sale value.

Coleman's media-friendly image made him a good figurehead and the overall impression of attitudes towards him is one of frustration that he has not been able to bring a modicum of success to the club.

Ray Ranson deserves credit for putting his close relationship with the manager to one side and making a swift, clean decision that gives the new manager the whole of the summer and pre-season to hit the ground running.

Whoever takes over may not have to tweak things too much to point City in the right direction. They will be working alongside a chairman who understands the game and whose instinct seems to be to give his managers plenty of time at a club where training and matchday facilities are of a high standard.

Gratitude in abundance awaits Mr X if he can give the long-suffering Ricoh regulars a sniff of what they have been missing since the turn of the century.

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