Marked for Liam Kitching
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Coventry City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
Barnsley come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Coventry City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a win for Coventry City
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Coventry City are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Archie Gray and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Coventry City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Joel Latibeaudiere has come up in conversations Coventry City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jan 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Coventry City support went home talking about one name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Jan 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.73, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Coventry City people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Carlos Baleba is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Archie Gray in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Coventry City do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
Jack Rudoni hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ethan Pinnock and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aurèle Amenda, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Rudoni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Caleb Yirenkyi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Coventry City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Liam Kitching's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Preston next, and one man in the Coventry City dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Loum Tchaouna
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Coventry City would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Stoke City, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Sidiki Chérif, 19, steals the show — 8.45
Marked 8.45 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Coventry City heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ethan Pinnock and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Sheffield United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by George Clarke to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Jack Rudoni
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Exeter City had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Coventry City close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 17 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Norwich City is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tottenham keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Archie Gray and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Polissia have kept their man, and Coventry City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Sidiki Chérif, 19, steals the show — 7.72
Marked 7.72 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Coventry City have 4 straight wins of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Coventry City asked and Wrexham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Sidiki Chérif has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.