Coventry City news from CoventryLive as we bring you what owner Doug King said in an interview on talkSPORT
Doug King the owner of Coventry City
Doug King, the owner of Coventry City
Doug King insists he was never concerned about Coventry City’s poor start to life back in the Premier League, now firmly believing the club are “up and running” after brilliant back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United.
However, the Sky Blues owner admits there will be plenty of “jeopardy” ahead but is demanding the players continue to “get a grip” of the league to ensure they don’t slip out of the back door come the end of the season.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s Jim White and Simon Jordan mid morning show, it was put to the 59-year-old in the wake of Monday night’s thrilling 4-1 victory at the CBS Arena that the Premier League is “easy stuff”.
“It’s not easy but it was a fun night, I have to say that,” said King. “It was enjoyable. We haven’t won at home for a long time in the Premier League so yeah, it was an epic, a great atmosphere and great result for us.”
He added: “Obviously we started how we started and everybody starts to get a little bit concerned, let’s put it that way. I wasn’t concerned at all. I think that we participated and played quite well in a lot of those matches without getting anything.
“It was a tough, tough start away at Arsenal and Man City. And then obviously we got the win at Forest and that bred a nice feeling going into the international break, which felt like forever. And here we went back again on Monday night and did the business. So yeah, we’re up and running and I feel there’s a real belief around the place and that’s what we wanted.”
Simon Jordan joined the conversation, saying: “Doug doesn’t need me to praise him but the fact is he’s done a brilliant job. The reasons why they’re in the Premier League is because of the decisions that he’s made and the appointments that he’s made to enforce the standards that he wanted to have in a football club. So there is no surprise to me that Coventry are going up and making a fist of it.
“It’s early days, as Doug will know and there’s no place to be other than the Premier League. Once you’ve been in the Premier League you don’t really want to be anywhere else because everywhere else is a little bit disappointing by comparison. And so they’ll do their very level best.”
He added: “The team played well, they have got some very good players there and they’ve got two back-to-back results, and getting two back-to-back results in the Premier League is not easy. And so it will build confidence. But they’ve got to beat the teams around them and make sure that they do well against the teams that are going to be around them in the bottom half of the Premier League, which is not me dismissing the validity of Coventry City. It’s the reality of the circumstances.
“And it’ll give them a chance. But what I want is so many teams go up and the question at the beginning of the season is, which promoted side is going to get the least amount of points to rival Derby or Wolves? I’m pleased that we’re not having this conversation about all the promoted size this season.”
King responded: “I couldn’t agree more with you, Simon. You know what’s really interesting in the Premier League, every game has got high jeopardy. I mean, just anything can happen and even when we were winning 2-0 last night, Newcastle scored a screamer and I’m looking at it going, ‘well, we could lose this 4-2.’
“I mean, they’ve got that quality whereas in the Championship you can sort of close it out a little bit. So I think that keeps everybody on a knife edge and it makes jeopardy all the way through every game.
“And I think, as you say, it’s a fix. You don’t want to be anywhere else and that’s the goal for us is to try and find a way of building our foundations in this league after a long time away from it. We know it isn’t going to be easy but we’re not we’re not scared about it.”
He added: “And I quite liked how Frank did it last night. I think he left two or three players up when we were defending and obviously we got a couple on the counter attack at the end. And I think, you know, having seen Brighton do that earlier this season, I think you have got to have a little bit of danger to get your rewards. So I was really pleased with how he handled that.”
City travel to Spurs next, another Monday Night Football fixture, and a team who have failed to win in six. King, however, has a hint of caution about the Tottenham clash, saying: “I watched their game at Old Trafford but I thought they were good and they just couldn’t get it in the net. And obviously they’re just having that moment.
“They’re a very good team and I’m sure they’ll go up through the ranks and through the league over the course of the season. So listen, we’ve just got to handle our business. For us, home form is critical and we lost the first two at home.
“We had a great season at home last year and we need to make it a feeling that you don’t want to come here. And I felt we got a little bit of that last night, trying to ram them in and make it feel a little bit nicely hostile.
“We have got to get our points here and then if we can get some on the road, like we did at Forest, and keep competitive there then that’ll be helpful. But home form is where we’ll live and die.”
Put to him that it’s got to be survival at all costs, King said: “Yeah, I mean that was our goal. We wanted to sort of recruit for people who were gonna make a difference in the starting 11. That was our goal in the window.
“See our striker, a 19-year-old who scored his first goal for us yesterday in the league. And he looks a real handful, but the goal for us is that we have got to get a grip, right?
“We haven’t been here for ages, so it’s difficult. But we have got to take it on. I don’t want us to sort of just be subdued and quietly do all right and then just get thrown out the back door at the end of it. That would be disappointing. You get in, you have got to make a fist. It’s taken a long time to get it and we’re up for it.”
He added: “I am enjoying it. I am quite calm to be honest with you. I got quite excited last night. I don’t often get that excited but once they’re playing out there I’m just watching really because I’m not involved. If I was involved it would be very different but I love the fact that it passes over to Frank and his team.”
And King, like so many of the fans, was getting withdrawal symptoms during the extended international break, so much so that he drove up from his home to watch training.
“It’s been such a long break that I actually went in to watch a training session on Saturday,” he said. “I drove up and said, I haven’t seen football for so long, let’s go and watch a proper training session. I felt really good around the place when I went there and it felt like a good vibe. Everybody was back from internationals and the feeling was good.
“So that obviously translated itself onto the pitch on Monday and then we got another Monday game against Spurs next week and we go again.”
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