DECEMBER 2001
It is perhaps indicative of football�s changing priorities that this game kicked off at 2.15 on a Sunday afternoon, and that, at some point during the first half, the draw was made for the third round of the FA Cup. What was once a sacred Monday lunchtime highlight has become yet another prize in the increasingly high stakes of the television bidding war.
Against this backdrop, Coventry City supporters held a demonstration throughout their defeat to Watford about the lack of investment being put into the team. Thousands of placards displaying �170%� were handed to fans before the game, showing their dissatisfaction at chairman Brian Richardson�s reported 170 per cent wage increase while the club continues to fall from grace. �Where�s the money gone?� they sang.
It has all been heard before of course, at various clubs at various times, but now, amid all the talk of phoenix leagues and strikes by multi-millionaire players, the calls are getting louder.
Thankfully the match provided the sort of entertainment which offered supporters the opportunity to concentrate on what football has always really been about: good old-fashioned physical endeavour, passionate attacking play and, for the real romantics, a mutual antipathy towards the referee.
City spent the match looking the more threatening and, were it not for a string of excellent saves from Watford�s 37-year-old Alec Chamberlain, the visitors� ability to soak up pressure would have counted for nothing.
Coventry were unlucky not to have won a penalty in the first half but that, together with a goal that was ruled out for a dubious off-side in the 12th minute, just added to the general gloom and despair.
The longer it stayed 0-0, the more restless the home crowd became. Thoughts once again turned to the club�s spiralling fortunes. This time last year they were playing before 17,891, beating Leicester in the Premiership. On Sunday, the attendance was just 13,251, the lowest of the season, and, behind the �170%� banners lay a more general malaise. In a game of exaggerated expectations, taking part does not matter any more.
With Sunday afternoon heading towards Sunday evening, on came the floodlights. But only half of them worked. The wags in the Watford end joked that Coventry could not afford the electricity bill. Then they remembered the Cup draw they had missed. Whispers began to circulate that, ironically, Coventry and Watford had come up against the moneymen of Tottenham and Arsenal.
As Coventry�s frustration grew, so Watford�s domination increased. The result hinged on a 72nd minute penalty. After Tommy Smith was up-ended by City substitute Richard Shaw, Stephen Glass slotted the ball to Andy Goram�s left.
Glass scored a second from long-range just before the end but, by then, most Coventry fans had left, no doubt wondering just what their �18 entrance fee was paying for.
END
Peg: Coventry City 0 Watford 2, Sunday December 9 2001.
Written for the Guardian�s Monday sport supplement.
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