From hope to despair?

After a consistent run of good news concerning Coventry City, Tuesday's newspaper reports make for grim reading at first glance with the Coventry Telegraph quoting an 'expert in the business side of football' as saying that the club's financial accounts give cause for 'grave concern' while the Birmingham Mail suggest that Birmingham City are confident of agreeing terms on a £15,000-a-week deal for Marlon King, a week after his verbal agreement with the Sky Blues was made public.

The state of Coventry City's finances however are nothing new. When the financial storm broke over the Ricoh Arena early on in 2011 it was made clear that further investment was needed from outside while falling gates and poor results were damaging the income generated by the club.

That situation remains exactly the same today as it did six months ago with the difference being that optimism has been generated by the on-pitch improvement which, to their credit, the club have been working hard to exploit both in terms of season tickets, sponsorship and revenue generating and also in the search for outside investment.

'castigated'

Reporting that Marlon King has given verbal assurances that he would sign a new contract has already generated some negative press in the wake of his agent's denials and now the interest from Birmingham but after being (rightly) criticised for not communicating with supporters the club can not be castigated too much for relaying what they believed to be the current situation with the player.

The reality is that Birmingham can offer more money and a better chance of promotion next season but City have tried their utmost to keep the player within the current financial constraints and if he walks away then so be it.

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