Best Deal As Good As Dead

Earlier today Forest made an improved offer for Sky Blues striker and local lad Leon Best. But the bid was rejected by new City chairman Ray Ranson.

He told the City official site. ‘The club received a revised offer from Nottingham Forest this morning. This offer was immediately rejected out of hand. Coventry City wants to retain all of its players that it sees as having a major part to play in the future development of the club and Leon is definitely one of those players.’

That would suggest that the deal is now dead in the water and to be honest I for one am happy to have missed out on this one. Mainly because of the fee involved. It was a bit much for a player not yet proven at Championship level.

That said, we are still in desperate need of a striker and they don’t appear to be knocking the City Ground door down to sign. Billy Sharp is top of most people’s wish list, but despite not getting a look in at the Blunts he’s unlikely to drop down a division. The fact we could match his wages and be a realistic possibility for Championship football next season, might not be enough to tempt him away from Bramall Lane.

So the search continues, but who will it be? Paul Taylor from Vauxhall Motors in the Blue Square Conference impressed in the midweek reserve game and he’d be available for as little as £70,000. He would be a risk though and the jump from non league to League 1 is a big one. The bad news for fans, is that Calderwood has gone on record this week saying. ‘The club will not be held to ransom’ when it comes to buying players. That might be a message to us letting us know that there will be no new arrivals. God forbid that to be the case.