It’s fair to say that the Doug King honeymoon period is over. Coventry City’s owner earned a great deal of credit for the way he handled Viktor Gyokeres ’ s protracted move to Sporting Lisbon, playing hardball to get £20million – a more than decent return for the striker who cost City just over a million. Gustavo Hamer’s exit was another inevitability in a summer of transition, and the only way to respond was to get the best price possible.
The ambitious businessman then shelled out significant sums of money to buy players in a bid to replenish and strengthen the Sky Blues squad to the tune of around £22.3m from the transfer fees we know, and slightly in excess of that when taking into account the undisclosed fees for Brad Collins from Barnsley and compensation paid to Swansea for Joel Latibeaudiere.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing, however, and the new kit fiasco that left hundreds of fans disappointed and frustrated at not receiving their pre-ordered shirts on time followed difficult and unpopular decisions made about increased season ticket prices and corporate box fees. But on each occasion he's fronted up, explained his decisions and taken feedback from the fans on board.
READ MORE: Mark Robins admits City 'dilemma' after injury timescales confirmed
Like many a successful business mind before him, King has had to get his head around the fact that football is not like any other. It doesn’t function in the same way, doesn’t always follow the same logical rules of more tried and trusted businesses. It’s often more complex, more nuanced because outcomes can be determined by uncontrollable elements like form, injuries, characters and the strength of opposition.
The way King has been hands on and immersed himself in the running of the club has been impressive. He hasn’t just sat back or appointed others to do the job like his predecessor, he’s rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in to the task of turning Coventry City into a club that’s going places. But key to any success for anyone coming into the industry without any level of football acumen must surely be to listen to the people that know. And in this case it’s Mark Robins.
The manager said on transfer deadline day in the wake of the sale of one of the division’s best players in Hamer, that he wanted a centre-half and dynamic midfielder. That was at odds with what King claimed publicly in a radio interview the very same morning, that one more signing was likely before the 11pm cut-off point. That man was defender Liam Kitching, which took City’s defensive options to the required level in terms of strength in depth with five competing for the three available slots.
But the inability to sign a quality operator in such a key area of the pitch – a situation that’s been exacerbated by the injury to Ben Sheaf – has come back to bite the Sky Blues on the backside. It’s a learning curve for King, but if he takes anything from the current crisis in personal and lack of strength in depth, it must be to listen to the experts.
