Every transfer window provides clubs with the opportunity to hit the reset button, to refresh and hopefully come out the other side stronger than they did at the start of the trading period.
At a club like Coventry City, which is clearly evolving into a top end Championship outfit with ambitious designs on Premier League football, there will naturally be players who fall by the wayside; personnel who may have dropped out of favour or slipped down the matchday pecking order.
The Sky Blues let go a number of peripheral players this time around, with the likes of goalkeeper Simon Moore, midfielder Liam Kelly and, more latterly, striker Matty Godden moving due to being unable to get enough game time.
The arrival of seven new faces this summer has increased competition in Mark Robins’ squad which, fortunately, doesn’t have too many that are surplus to requirements for the 2024/25 campaign.
Brad Collins
The arrival of Oliver Dovin appeared to signal that the writing was on the wall for one of City’s two remaining senior goalkeepers following the departure of third choice Simon Moore to Sunderland on a free transfer. Although Robins maintained he was happy to go with three stoppers for the season ahead, the start of the season has seen Collins slip out of the picture with Dovin the manager’s clear first choice and Ben Wilson being named as the regular back-up from the bench. Wilson has also been picked to play in the Carabao Cup, with Collins on the bench – the only time he has featured in the matchday squads so far this term.
It had been understood that the club would be open to offers for the former Chelsea prospect who only signed for City from Barnsley 12 months ago, but nothing materialised by last Friday’s transfer window deadline and the 27-year-old remains on City’s books with little prospect of getting a game any time soon. Certainly, unless Dovin or Wilson suffer a dramatic loss of form, pick up an injury or are suspended, it doesn’t appear that Collins will get much of a look-in
All he can do is get his head down and work hard in training and hope that he can work his way back onto the bench, in the first instance, but the most likely scenario is that he will get to January and see if he can get a move.
