[21 FEB 02] THE STUART LINNELL COLUMN

Say It With Flowers

Flowers has signed for Coventry City, the club he has supported since a boy, on a four-week loan from Leicester City. He was called in late on Tuesday when it became apparent that the hip injury picked up by Magnus Hedman on international duty last week had not improved sufficiently for him to play against Walsall.

The club parted company with veteran ‘keeper Andy Goram at the weekend because the key-hole surgery he’s had on a knee injury will keep him out of action until the end of the season, which more or less coincides with the length of his contract. With Gary Montgomery and Morten Hyldgaard lacking experience, Coventry City turned to Flowers some 20 years after he failed to impress in a trial at Highfield Road.

His appearances for his favourite club will be few, and he may not be in the squad much longer than his month’s loan period, but after a career that has taken him to Wolverhampton, Southampton, Swindon, Blackburn and Leicester, and has seen him win eleven caps for England, he has at last achieved the one ambition that he thought had passed him by – to play for Coventry City.

Just how much it all meant to him was clearly demonstrated by his impromptu celebration with the fans at the West End after the 2-1 defeat of Walsall.

That moment of personal triumph for Flowers came on a night when Coventry City football club gave the first tangible signs of the new era that is fast developing under new Chairman Mike McGinnity.

Following the announcement that the club will show that its debt has been halved in the twelve months that have passed since a record Ł60 million deficit was revealed, there are now new caterers in key parts of the ground, new sponsors in one of the major corporate hospitality suites and old faces returning to share in McGinnity’s infectious optimism.

Coventry kid Pete Waterman, who may put his personal allegiance behind Walsall these days, still follows his home town club. Although at Highfield Road to support the Saddlers, the multi-millionaire pop impresario spoke afterwards with great affection of the days when he stood on the Coventry terraces years before anyone dreamt of an all-seater environment.

It was good to see legendary former manager John Sillett taking a seat in the main stand with his son Neil. 'Snoz' had a drink with his old mate Jim Smith after the game and was clearly delighted to be there.

Mike McGinnity is careful to be scrupulously fair to his predecessor Bryan Richardson, allowing no word of criticism to be uttered, even acknowledging that Richardson had said that the club’s debt would be substantially reduced when the next accounts are published.

However, the new Chairman is also clearly determined to put his own stamp on the club’s fortunes from here on. He has allies all around him, not least Coventry City Council and Advantage West Midlands who are, jointly with the football club, pulling out all the stops to meet the deadlines and find the cash that will ensure construction of the new Arena at Foleshill.

McGinnity says his ambition is to walk into the new stadium knowing that the club is debt free.

That would be some achievement. But, as Tim Flowers will tell him – dreams do come true.

[THE MATCH WAS PLAYED AT HIGHFIELD ROAD ON TUESDAY 19 FEBRUARY - COVENTRY DEFEATED WALSALL 2-1]