Soap Opera Part 2

So onto the second saga that has took place this summer at Coventry. Kieren Westwood, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper outside the Premiership and one of the most important players at the club, has recently refused to sign a new contract. His existing deal is up at the end of the current season, and despite alleged efforts from both sides, it now appears that we will lose one of our most sellable assets at a fraction of what he is worth.

Now this has been going on since Aidy Boothroyd became City manager back in early June, with Boothroyd stating that number one priority once he returned from his holidays would be to tie the Irish international - five caps now for his national team - down into a lucrative, long term contract. Then, as pre season became shorter and shorter, us fans were promised that talks were ongoing, with the extension imminent.

We are now 7 games into the new season, and as previously stated Westwood has announced he will not sign a new deal, so it now looks like a cut price move in the January window or risk losing him for nothing at the end of the season. The rejection of an alleged £3m offer from Celtic now doesn’t look so much of a good move.

During a recent international game, Westwood broke his silence, stating that a deal had only been on the table for 4 weeks. A deal that he said he wouldn’t be signing. He also went on to say that 6 months ago he would have signed, 12 months ago he asked for a new contract and 12 months before that he actually asked for a new contract. Now if everything that he said is true, you can understand why he is frustrated, trying to get a deal for 2 years, then one being offered only a week or two before the start of the season in which his current one would run out.

So if this is true, you have to ask yourself, why have the club been saying all summer that a deal is being discussed and that they hope he would agree to it? To please the fans maybe. But why would they leave it so late to tie down the best player in his position in the Championship, especially as he asked for a new deal the previous summer? Or maybe Westwood is bending the truth, not to make himself out to be another greedy player after a move to a bigger club. Either way the club have not publicly responded to Westwood’s comments and duly dropped him for the next game, a 3-1 defeat away to Millwall, before returning for the following game against Leicester. At the full time whistle of that game against Leicester, Westwood made his way to the fans behind his second half goal and had words with a fan in the front row. What was said only those two know, but both clearly had a point to get across.

Now, us fans just have to wait, more than likely until January when Westwood will be expected to move for a cut price fee. Both parties agreed to draw a line under recent incidents and concentrate on what is important, Coventry City’s season. For now, all we can do is believe exactly that, and hope above all, that it doesn’t affect on field results, because what actually happened during the pre season saga, is anybodies guess.