His impoverished club haven't known the glory days for 27 years but... Pressley feels anything but all shook up at Coventry

By NICK HARRIS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Published: 17:30 EST, 18 January 2014 | Updated: 17:30 EST, 18 January 2014

The glory days of Coventry City seem so long ago; that FA Cup triumph of 1987 in front of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium, Keith Houchen’s splendid diving header and 34 years unbroken residence in England’s top division.

Now down in third-tier League One, impoverished and hampered by a 10-point penalty for going into administration, they cannot even draw upon most of their own fans for solace and support.

Coventry have been effectively homeless since the summer as a result of a complex rental dispute.The disagreement has seen them exiled from the Ricoh Arena and forced to set up base more than 30 miles away at Northampton’s home, Sixfields, where their average gate is down to just 2,400.

To the future: Steven Pressley says things will get better for Coventry City

Long gone: Keith Houchen scores for Coventry City to win the 1987 FA Cup final against Spurs

For Sky Blues read just blue these days. And it gets worse. A transfer ban was in place until last week and with the club’s most significant football match in recent memory looming — an FA Cup fourth-round tie at Arsenal on Friday — they will be without arguably their two most important players.

Certainly Callum Wilson and Leon Clarke have been most productive this season with both high in the League One scoring charts. However, Wilson is out now for eight weeks injured and Clarke has just handed in a transfer request.

‘In that respect it has not been the ideal preparation for Arsenal,’ said Coventry’s Scottish manager, Steven Pressley.

Missing: Callum Wilson (right) is missing for the match against Arsenal

But the 40-year-old, whose nickname, predictably, is Elvis, is anything but all shook up. ‘We’re a team that really try to play the right way in all situations. We’re young, we’re energetic,’ he said.

‘We’ll need to be aggressive, oppressive, cohesive,’ he added of the challenge ahead.

‘We have to believe we can beat Arsenal… there’s a gulf in finance, there’s a gulf in experience, there’s a gulf in many aspects of our clubs. But we have to show we have the courage and belief in the way that we play.’

If this is remarkably upbeat for a man whose club have so many obvious problems still to overcome then maybe it is because    he has been through the wringer before, albeit as a player.

The longest period he spent at any club in a 19-year playing career that took in Rangers and Celtic, as well as Coventry, was the eight years he spent at Hearts, most of it as captain, between 1998-2006.

Skipper: The Sky Blues' captain Carl Barker is an important presence in the middle of the park

But in his later years at Hearts the situation was chaotic and farcical under the ownership of Lithuanian-based businessman Vladimir Romanov, whose reign eventually led to the club’s downfall. That is still unfolding as Hearts wallow adrift and penniless at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

Romanov was a serial sacker of managers, picked the team himself at times from Vilnius, routinely released public statements railing at perceived oppression of Hearts by the SFA and other clubs and insisted on his own madcap methods. ‘I just cannot tell you how many bizarre situations there were, on a daily basis,’ said Pressley.

Hitman: League One's top goalscorer, Leon Clarke (right), is also unavailable for the Arsenal match after handing in a transfer request

‘Meetings where the players had to ask him not to sack another manager. Situations when players had to put their finger in a device to tell whether or not they were fit to play. It was ludicrous.

‘Players were coming in from Lithuania — there were two first-team squads training separately. But there was no strategy or plan, no manager was allowed authority. One of the most important things when you’re trying to create something is consistency. There was none.’

Hired by Coventry last March, Pressley believes he has the backing of the owners, albeit on a tight budget where the emphasis is on home-grown talent. ‘My job when I came in was to restructure the whole football department with an emphasis on younger players and developing a philosophy and an identity to the club again,’ he said.

He says the owners were ‘very transparent’ about the lack of cash, and has been told that he must focus on the football not on the knock-on effects of the relocation down the M1.

‘I don’t think anybody knew that was going to be the outcome,’ he said of the rent dispute. ‘[Moving] became a really difficult period. I’ve got total sympathy with our supporters and their frustrations. If there was able to be a solution at the Ricoh that would be terrific.

‘There’s still the possibility the situation could change. It would be a great outcome. There are thousands of fans who support Coventry who aren’t going to the games at the moment and that’s a terrible situation that is very difficult for everybody.’

Job well done: Coventry would be in sixth place - a play-off spot - were it not for their points deduction

Coventry’s away support is often double what they get at home now and they expect up to 6,000 to back them at Arsenal on Friday.

Pressley’s respect for the way the Gunners operate is obvious. ‘I’m a huge admirer of Arsene Wenger and of Arsenal in general,’ he said. He  also holds the way they have prospered using their own resources in an era of what he calls ‘financial doping’ in especially high regard.

That era has seen the rise of Chelsea and Manchester City, both heavily subsidised by oil wealth. Arsenal, famously, have not won a trophy since the ‘new money’ arrived to fuel their rivals, their last silverware being the 2005 FA Cup.

Home no more: Coventry don't currently play in the Ricoh Arena, but 34 miles away in Northamtpon

Coventry’s own barren run goes back 18 years farther to the only major silverware in their 131-year history, the extra-time FA Cup win over Tottenham in 1987.

‘The Cup is hugely important to this football club,’ Pressley said. ‘I have to listen to [1987 winner and now Coventry goalkeeping coach] Steve Ogrizovic in my ear talking about it every other day!

‘Over the last 15 years this has been a club in decline and I’d love nothing more than to give our supporters some new memories.’

Asked about the debate on the importance of the Cup in 2014 he interjects, emphatically: ‘There should be no debate about the importance of the FA Cup. No debate.

Tall order: Coventry are set to face Premier League leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup

‘I cannot understand why anyone would want to decry the FA Cup; it’s an incredible competition. But also, as a football manager, you have to win every game, your next game is the most important so your FA Cup game should become the most important thing.

‘Ultimately your supporters want to see you winning trophies. Football’s about winning’.

The glory days may seem long past but in Pressley’s mind, there are more to come.