Coventry City transfer concern raised and it involves Doug King - 'it just doesn’t fill me with confidence' | OneFootball

FLW's Coventry fan pundit has given his prediction for the club's January transfer plans

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City are sitting comfortably at the top of the Championship table after just 18 games played in the season.

Frank Lampard’s side have won their last five fixtures in a row, giving them a 10 point gap on second place Middlesbrough.

Millwall in third are a further two points back, putting the Sky Blues in a secure position inside the automatic promotion places.

Coventry have suffered play-off disappointment in two of the last three seasons, including losing the final to Luton Town in 2023 on penalties.

But the January transfer window could still represent an opportunity for the second division side, as they look to strengthen their position in the table in 2026.

Coventry City’s January transfer concern

When asked for one thing that will definitely happen in January involving the club, FLW’s Coventry fan pundit Chris Deez claimed that there will be some transfers that just don’t come to fruition, and that they will miss out on players.

He criticised Doug King’s transfer philosophy, suggesting recent decisions have proved quite disappointing, including the choice to let Patrick Bamford walk away from the club and instead sign for rivals Sheffield United.

“To be completely honest, I’m not really looking forward to our January transfer window,” Deez told Football League World.

“Much as I like Doug King for everything that he’s done, and buying the stadium and all the improvements, and getting rid of the Frasers lettering on the seats and stuff like that, I’m not confident with his transfer ideology.

“He’s said in the past that he doesn’t believe in bringing in loan players because you’re just making them better for when they go back to their parent club, and I sort of get that.

“But the situation we’re in, we quite badly need to strengthen and get depth in numbers.

“I think one thing that I’m almost certain is going to happen in January is we will miss out on targets.

“We’ve been really heavily linked to [Abdoulie] Manneh, the lad from the Swedish league, but as time has gone on, that has gone quiet and now more and more teams are being linked to him.

“We were pretty much on the verge of bringing in Patrick Bamford, and then Doug King has blocked it.

“Lampard wanted him, Lampard had pretty much agreed with him that he was going to sign him, he’d obviously sold him the project of the club and what we’re aiming for, and while he’s not a top level Championship starting striker, he has already scored for Sheffield United and that's exactly what we would’ve needed him to do off the bench.

“So, I was really disappointed with him, and it came down to Doug King, it was his decision.”

Deez believes that the Coventry owner has a bit too much power due to him being the only member of the board, and that he hopes some signings are made to strengthen the team now so that they could be ready if they earn promotion to the Premier League.

“I think he’s a very smart businessman, I don’t like the fact he is the board, he is the only member of the board so he makes the decisions,” he added.

“Whatever he wants to do, he does, there’s nobody else to run it past, no second opinion to get.

“I saw a statement where he said him and Lampard, they’re very open and honest with each other in what they want and need but Lampard said he wanted to bring in a new winger on deadline day and all we did was loan out a winger, and then the Bamford situation.

“I feel Doug King is a bit too frugal, I think would probably be the best way to describe him.

“He wants to make the right decisions, and bring in the right players and do it for the right money and for the right wages and all that kind of stuff.

“But, when you’re in a position like we are, you need to make a statement and sign big players and sign them on good wages because they are the players that are going to, hopefully, take us to the Premier League and then they will be there ready for us to try and stay in the Premier League.

“Unless we’re going to go up and spend £150 million or whatever it is, like Sunderland have done, which I really just don’t see happening, it just doesn’t fill me with confidence one bit.”

Coventry had one of the quieter summer windows of the clubs in the Championship, and that stability has been rewarded with a strong start to the new campaign.

The Sky Blues are aiming to make a return to the Premier League this season for the first time since 2001.

Coventry don’t need to do much in January

If a smart opportunity presents itself, then by all means Coventry should pursue a couple of targets to improve the side.

But, otherwise, Lampard should be keen to just keep everyone together and avoid any major player sales.

The team is playing extremely well at the moment, and their form has the club sitting quite comfortably in top spot.