Breaking News - Coventry Sign Player

By Knowl 

 

Well, there we go, our first signing of the Boothroyd regime is a player we know all about. 11 years ago, a young Coventry academy lad became the youngest player ever to represent the club and the youngest ever to play in the Premier League, at the time, when Gary McSheffery made his debut as a second half sub during a four one victory at Vile Park

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However, the following seasons saw him make a stuttering start to his career before a loan to Stockport in the 2001/02 season saw his first goal in English football. He returned to the Coventry squad and scored his first goal for his home town club in a three one away win against Palace. It was a brilliant bit of skill as he took a long punt under control with his left and then volleyed the ball into the bottom corner with his right.

He started the next season a major part of the first team and he got on the score sheet in the very first game of the season. Two games later be bagged his second and his third followed two games later. Another 4 were to follow before the middle of October including a hat trick in an eight nil demolition of Rushen in the League Cup. However, like the rest of the side his form wiltered away and he only added another goal all season as Coventrys season ended in near disaster. During the latter half of the season he had a falling out with then manager Gary McAllister and it looked like Sheffers Cov career was coming to a premature end.

Thus he started the 2003/04 season down at Luton on loan, it was during this spell that he showed the sort of goal scoring ability that was eluding him at Highfield Road. In his 18 games he managed 8 goals and was an instant hit with the Hatters supporters.

In the mean time, back at Coventry Gary McAllisters managerial career was coming to an end and his assistant Eric Black was put in charge. This led to a change in football style, from a over complicated, over passing system to a more direct, quicker style and along with Julian Joachim, Gary McSheffery was very much back in demand. He returned from loan with a goal against Peterborough in the FA Cup, two weeks later he missed a penalty away at Walsall that would have handed him his second ever hat trick in a six one win. This new game plan, backed up with the newly acquired Bjarni Gudjonsson, meant we were good to watch and we were suddenly scoring goals and running at the opposition. His rich vein of form continued with 4 in 4 between February and March and he ended the season with 12 in 22 for the Sky Blues. Unfortunately for Sheffers, and everyone else with Sky Blue affections Eric Black was replaced with Peter Reid.

He started the following season as first choice yet within a month he found himself back at Luton as Peter Reids full genius took affect. He returned to the side in October and got his first Cov goal of the season with a free kick at Wolves, the only goal in a one nil win. The winner he struck against Watford at home would prove to be the last time Reid tasted victory as Coventry manager at Highfield Road and by the end of January Sheffers was playing under his sixth Coventry manager as Micky Adams stepped into the breach. Coventry survived that year by the skin of their teeth as Sheffers ended the season with 12 in 21 games, including a brace in the last ever game at Highfield Road.

During the first season at the Ricoh, Sheffers was to start the season through the middle alongside Dele Adebola, scoring 10 before Christmas. During the second half of the season he was to be used as an attacking left winger as Stern John started upfront with Dele. This left footed combination of Sheffers and Dele helped the City to 8th and Sheffers to 17 goals, including his 50th for the club, and the player of the season title.

By now the 24 year old Sheffers was beginning to show the potential that people had seen in his teens and he started the 2006/07 season with a goal against Sunderland at the Ricoh. That was to be his last goal in a Sky Blue shirt, or as we thought then, because by the end of August 2006 Gary McSheffery was signed by Steve Bruce, the then manager of Birmingham City. His sale was met with a lot of disillusionment with the Sky Blue army as the young pretender had become king. He was the number 10 and to many the talisman who some believed could be the man to end the 5 year itch of second tier football. However, he was to 13 league goals in Birmingham Citys successful promotion push and while Coventry City went looking for another saviour, Gary McSheffery was to once again taste top flight football 8 years after he first graced the Premier League. Sheffers played a vital role in the promotion season scoring 13 goals from the left wing, 12 before Christmas, and the he was very hightly rated by the Birmingham supporters.

He didn’t really take the Premier League and his attacking only approach to the left wing role wasn’t what was required in a team fighting to stay in the division. Birmingham were subsequently relegated, with Sheffers only mustering 3 league goals.

A return to the Championship resulted in Sheffers returning to the first team under the newish Blues manager Alex McLeish, however, a knee injury prevented him having an impact and by March 2009 he was allowed to join Notts Forest on loan. The season was a right off with no goals, no form and bad injuries.

The injures to Sheffers didn’t impact on the team as a whole and Birmingham returned to the Prem at the first time of asking. He made 5 league appearance for the Blues in the 2009/20 season before making was what to be his last first team appearance in a two one away FA Cup win against Everton. He then joined Leeds at the end of January and managed one goal in his eleven games for the League One runners up.

Since he left nearly 4 years ago he has only managed 16 league goals and has had some serious injuries. When the season he starts he will be 28 and should be hitting his prime, he is both cover for the left wing and the centre forward position. He is hero to many, he is a player we all wish would break through again. He is Coventry through and through, is this a gamble? Will it work? Well only time will tell.

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