The new Coventry City boss, who is set to take charge of his first game at the weekend against Port Vale, has issued a letter to supporters...
Dear supporter,
First and foremost, I would like to say how proud and delighted I am to be the new manager of Coventry City Football Club.
I took the decision to take a year out of football management to spend some time with my family but the plan was always to return at around this time – but only when the right opportunity came along.
When the chance to manage Coventry City was mentioned to me, it got that fire in my stomach burning again and, as I said above, I am proud to be here.
I am a football romantic at heart and Coventry City, to me, means the Houchen header in 1987, big Killer playing at the back and players with the quality of Gary McAllister.
That may seem like a world away right now but just as my fire began to burn again, I want to do the same for the supporters of this great club.
I know the immediate brief is avoiding relegation but my ambition is to get this club back where it should be. Maybe a decade or so ago, that would have been the Premier League without question.
Now, with the way football has changed, I believe this club should be at least in Championship and should be one of those teams pushing for promotion to the Premier League. I look at clubs like Southampton and Norwich and think why not? The opportunity is there.
But more than that, I want to give the supporters of Coventry a team they can be proud of. A team that they will tell their mates down the pub is an attractive one to watch, wants to play with the ball and score goals.
The people there in 1987 and those supporters who watched the JPT Area Final have not stopped supporting Coventry City. They still own the scarf but, for some, maybe it’s been in the cupboard for a while. For too long.
I want to be able to light the blue touch paper that helps those supporters forget about some of the politics that have surrounded the club because they want to come and watch a team that plays good football and entertains people on a Saturday afternoon or Tuesday evening.
There’s not much time left this season to stamp that mark on the team – especially when there will be so little time on the training pitch because of the busy match schedule and the challenging situation we find ourselves in.
But I think there is a good group of players here and I hope I can help to put a bit of fire in their stomachs too to see what they can achieve for this football club.
In turn, I have no doubt that will mean the people of Coventry and beyond will come out in force to support their team.
Tony Mowbray