In keeping with Coventry City’s recruitment policy, the January transfer window saw the Sky Blues thinking ahead as well as addressing the here and now.
While Leicester City’s Matty James and Brighton’s Viktor Gyokeres were drafted in on loan to help fill gaping holes in Mark Robins’s first team at the midway point of the Championship campaign, two youngsters joined on permanent deals, very much with an eye to the future.
Promising Rochdale striker Fabio Tavares is hoped to add pace and goals further down the line after a spell in the development squad, while full-back Josh Reid will be looking to fast track his way into the senior squad after breaking through at Scottish Premier club Ross County this season.
The 18-year-old has had a meteoric rise to first team football in his young career to date, and poses the mouth-watering prospect of taking his progress to the next level with City next season.
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One position that will need addressing in the close season will be the left-back/left wing-back berth, currently occupied by on loan Sam McCallum, with no senior back-up following the departure of Ryan Giles.
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New City striker assessed
It came as no surprise that Coventry City’s deadline day signing Fabio Tavares was issued with a squad number and named on the bench at the weekend.
With Mark Robins having just two fit senior strikers in his squad, the striker from Rochdale helped make up the nine man bench for the goalless draw with the Hornets.
Joining the Sky Blues for an undisclosed fee and signing a two-and-a-half year contract, the 20-year-old has initially been brought in as a development player.
But with plenty of senior experience with Dale, having made 39 appearances for the club since coming through the ranks at Spotland, making his debut at the start of the 2019/20 campaign and scoring four goals, he’s clearly a player who could be fast-tracked to the first team depending on how he settles.
Back in the development fold this week, Tavares was handed his first game for Luke Tisdale’s Under-23s on Monday for a 1-0 defeat to Hull City at a cold and snowy Alan Higgs Centre.
So how did the No.30 get on?
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(Image: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
New City talent spotter appointed
Coventry City have expanded their recruitment department with a new full-time appointment to boost Chris Badlan’s staff.
The Sky Blues head of recruitment is currently assisted by Stuart Bentham, the club’s recruitment analyst who was already at City prior to Badlan’s appointment in May 2018.
The pair have been responsible for identifying a number of quality signings from the likes of loan stars Liam Walsh and Callum O’Hare last season, to permanent recruits such as Gustavo Hamer and Sam McCallum, to name just a few.
And with the club constantly looking to unearth new and exciting talent to join the hugely successful Academy and development squad that acts as a feeder to Mark Robins’s first team, a specialist for the 16-20 age groups has been added, with the appointment of Pete Wilding, who arrives with seven years of experience with former Premier League and now City’s Championship rivals Stoke City.
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Schmeichel Doyle’s new nicknames
Former Coventry City skipper Michael Doyle has a couple of new nicknames after his heroics as an emergency goalkeeper for Notts County.
Magpies fans immediately took to social media dubbing their Captain Fantastic ‘Schmeichel Doyle,’ and mocking up pictures of the Sky Blues’ legend’s head on the Manchester United great’s body, while the evergreen 39-year-old revealed how his team-mates nicknamed him the “Monk” at half-time of their remarkable 3-1 win over Dagenham and likened him to Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.
Doyler, as he’s affectionately know by City fans, played 75 minutes of the National League clash in goal after Sam Slocombe was sent off for a lunge on Darren McQueen which handed the visitors a penalty, revealing that he took inspiration from legendary Liverpool joker Bruce Grobbelaar’s wobbly knees antics to put off his opponent in the European Cup Final of 1984 against Roma.
And it clearly worked as Paul McCallum smacked the upright from the spot which meant Notts preserved their 1-0 lead which had been given to them by Kyle Wootton’s early strike.
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Beware the new boss bounce
Mick McCarthy could not hide his excitement after his Cardiff City side snatched all three points against Coventry City’s rival relegation battlers Rotherham United.
The Bluebirds, whom the Sky Blues face in the Welsh capital this weekend, took the lead through Sheyi Ojo, but were pulled level on the hour after the Millers’ Matt Crooks equalised.
It looked as though both sides were going to come away with a share of the spoils, but Joe Bennett’s header ensured City’s record now reads eight points from four games under the new manager.
And in his post-match press conference, McCarthy’s infectious happiness was written all over his face as his new boss bounce continued at the Championship club.
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