Talked to a friend of mine
He said, I've got to do the thing I do do best before I lose my mind
I said man I ain't no guru
Who am I to say what's right or wrong?
But it might help to shed a little light on the matter if we sing this song
Happy doing what we're doing
Happy doing it right
Keep on doing what we're doing
So long as the feeling is right
Happy Doing What We're Doing - Brinsley Schwarz
Remember back in August when most of us feared that for many clubs in the Championship, the coming season would be spent doing little more than treading water?
Even back then, changes to the structure of the league were being mooted and it looked as if the RFU, in cahoots with the Premiership, would officially ring fence the top tier. It was going to be a case of avoiding relegation and regrouping for 12 months until a clearer picture of what clubs would be playing for emerged.
As it's turned out, the RFU has indeed denied Ealing its right to promotion for what many, myself included, believe are the most spurious of reasons, whilst still maintaining promotion is on the cards for those clubs that meet their minimum standards.
So ring-fenced it is this year then, in all but name anyway.
I know I wasn't alone in believing this was going to be a difficult season if you were a Cov supporter. At the time, it seemed to many of us that the loss of several key players, players like Ryan Burrows, Tony Fenner, Phil Boulton, Will Owen, Luc Jeannot, Andy Forsyth, Nile Dacres, Rob Knox, Josh Barton, Rob Stevenson, Tom Emery, Joe Richardson and Sam Aspland-Robinson was going to have a massive impact on the club this season. It would take a season of rebuilding to get us back on track in terms of the club's ultimate goal, one that it has spoken openly of, a return to the top flight.
Bringing in a number of young, talented, but relatively inexperienced, players across the squad only added to the sense that this was a group of players being built for the longer term and that we should all be prepared for a bottom half finish this April.
Hands up, I can well recall saying to Sam and Josh (son and grandson) that anything above 8th and I'd be happy.
The script had been written; predictable and bland it might have been, but there wasn't much else we could expect given the circumstances. Or so we thought.
I'm sure there will be a few Cov supporters who read it differently pre-season.
But not many.
Fortunately for us, Alex Rae, the coaches and the players themselves thought otherwise. Confidence is often the difference between those who do and those who could but don't.
We were unaware of it at the time, but Rae's recruitment over the close season, presumably with some input from Rowland Winter before his unexpected departure (?) was astute, bringing in players many of whom lacked experience, were relatively inexpensive at this level but who fitted perfectly into his plans of how he wanted Cov to play.
No marquee signings, no seasoned ex-Prem players (not until Chudley anyway, but that would come later) - all a bit of a damp squib back then.
And whilst we'd all seen that script (written it too, in fairness), he hadn't and it was clear from the start that these were players he could work with and around whom he could build a successful side. Raw they might have been, many of them, but all bursting with potential and eager to learn.
The pace of the improvements we have witnessed these last few months is what has impressed me most, I think. Beaten heavily by Ealing at home and Jersey away, within half a season the squad had matured to the extent that they drew with the Channel Islanders and beat everyone's favourite for the title, Ealing, away from home (the first side to do so for almost a year) and with a side missing several regulars too.
The progress made by this group of players has been astonishing. Yes, there are one or two whose performances have stood out over the season but, for me, the strength of the squad is not in the reliance on those one or two individuals; it's more a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Lose Louis Brown and up steps Louis James or Will Talbot-Davies, an injury to Will Chudley and there's Will Lane or Joe Snow waiting in the wings. Jordon Poole unavailable? No problem, enter Ma'asi Suva or Will Biggs . And on it goes. No egos there, at least there don't appear to be, just players who understand how Rae wants the team to play and who can fit into the team without any apparent loss in effectiveness.
I was a big RW fan, still am to be fair (that is without knowing the reasons for his fall from grace - perhaps that would refashion my opinion of him, I guess), but for all his achievements, and there were many, given all the external factors, I'm not sure even he would have been able to emulate what Rae has done this season with such limited resources.
Clubs were never going to invest heavily this season given the RFU's vacillations regarding promotion, along with Ealing's dominance. Best to get this season out of the way and then recruit if and when there's a clear understanding of the various options available. By recruiting so well and so cheaply this season, Cov is in a far stronger position than most for the start of the 2023/24 season.
There seems to be more willingness for clubs to bring in experienced players already in readiness for September as mentioned in the previous post. If Cov does have a war chest that's big enough to entice a couple of players from the Premiership who could have the same impact as Dodd or Chudley, then there's much to look forward to.
So what looked to be a season with little to play for in relative terms has actually proved to be anything but. It's been immensely enjoyable; for me it's been one of the best for a long time, including the promotion winning 2017-18. Expectations were high then - they definitely weren't back in September.
But watching the players grow in confidence, believe in themselves and gel as a team has been special - youngsters unphased by the size, experience and physicality of the opposition, not just taking them on but beating them at their own game. Cov plays attractive rugby, equal to anything we saw back in 2017. And it does it in the Championship against teams whose defences are far better than anything we saw back then.
And there's still much to play for over the remaining games. Since 1988-89 when Cov first played in the second tier of the English game for the first time having been relegated in the inaugural year of the national leagues, the club's highest position has been 3rd (the year Eves took Cov to the two leg play-off final down at London Irish and the team were just 40 minutes away from a return to the equivalent then of the current Premiership).
Cov could emulate that this season and if that's not a motivation for the players, then I don't know what is. We've still got a couple of tricky games to come, with trips to Doncaster this weekend and Bedford on the final Saturday of the season (not the happiest of hunting grounds for Cov).
Cov is a point ahead and has a game in hand on its only realistic rivals for the third spot, Bedford. The game against Bedford could be decisive in determining the outcome but before that, Bedford also have to face Jersey and Ealing, both at home though.
Cov must be favourite to finish above Bedford, but any easing off in the final few games would play into the its hands. Just how much a third place finish would mean to the players/club isn't clear, but I hope they realise its significance and, indeed, importance to many supporters who have watched Coventry's travails over a good few decades.
With so much at stake, hopefully this means that Coventry keeps focused right up until the final game. They are a professional side, both in terms of their contracts and their mentality, so I guess to even suggest they might not is a little patronising, but I trust you get where I'm coming from. Sometimes when there appears to be little to play for, the intensity isn't always what it could be, that's all I mean.
Cov just need to keep on doing what they're doing...
...and I'm certainly happy they're doing it right...
Coventry positions in the Championship (or equivalent)
1987-1988 Courage National Division 1 (level 1) – 11th (relegated)
1988-89Courage National Division 2 (level 2) – 5th
1989-90: Courage National Division 2 – 4th
1990-91 Courage National Division 2 – 4th
1991–92: Courage National Division 2 – 6th
1992–93: Courage National Division 2 – 11th (relegated)
1993–94: Courage National Division 3 (level 3) – 1st (promoted / champions)
1994–95: Courage National Division 2 – 10th (relegated)
1996–97: Courage National Division 2 – 3rd (lost promotion play-off)
1997–98: Allied Dunbar Premiership 2 (level 2) – 7th
1998–99: Allied Dunbar Premiership 2 – 7th
1999-00: Allied Dunbar Premiership 2 – 6th
2000–01: Jewson National Division 1 (level 2) – 5th
2001–02: Jewson National Division 1 – 4th
2002–03: Jewson National Division 1 – 6th
2003–04: National Division 1 – 12th
2004–05: National Division 1 – 6th
2005–06: National Division 1 – 10th
2006–07: National Division 1 – 10th
2007–08: National Division 1 – 9th
2008–09: National Division 1 – 9th
2009–10: RFU Championship (level 2) – 11th (relegated)
2018–19: RFU Championship - 8th
2019-20: RFU Championship - 4th
2020-21 RFU Championship - 5th
2021-22 RFU Championship - 8th
Brinsley Schwarz, best known as a member of Graham Parker's The Rumour.
I've never used Schwarz before but this one seems particularly appropriate...
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