Source: FOOTYMAD
A week in words from Boothroyd
City boss reflects on the past week Coventry City manager Aidy Boothroyd has spoken about events of the past week, from the spat with Celtic manager Neil Lennon, to his side's performance at Watford last Saturday. Referring to the 'Westwood affair' Boothroyd responded to Celtic's offer of £500,000 for Keiren Westwood as equivalent to "£3.50 and a bag of haggis" a comment which infuriated Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who responded with the offer to throw in a couple of bottles of Irn Bru to seal the deal. Boothroyd took it all in his stride, responding by saying, “It’s just good banter so I’m glad that he’s firing one or two back, he might have suggested Yorkshire Puddings, that might swing it if he can do that,” then becoming serious, he said, “If there is anything to be done, then it will be done, and if there isn’t, then it won’t.” The game against Derby on Saturday will mark the fifth anniversary of the move to The Ricoh Arena, an event Boothroyd is keen to mark with a good performance and a win. He said, “We want to perform well and we want to win.The club is five years older and it is progressing steadily to where everybody wants it to get to. I think this season is going to be a really interesting season, an exciting season, to see where we are going to be on the sixth anniversary.” Looking back to last Saturday game at Watford, Boothroyd admitted it had been harder than her though it would be to return to the club where he started his management career and to a club he took to the Premier League. He reflected, “It was an emotional thing for me. Although, I try to play it down as much as possible, it was a big thing for me but I got it out of the way, but to play not so well kind of quadruples the emotion of the occasion.” After watching his side go 2-0 down and with only a few minutes of the game left to play, he witnessed a dramatic comeback and saw his side grab a 2-2 draw. A pensive Boothroyd said, “I guess I’m a little bit miserable really for being disappointed, I should be pleased. Having reflected, having calmed down a little bit and sort of picked the bones out of it, I think it was a good result, considering.” “The training is fierce, it’s competitive and everybody knows that at any point, they’re either going to be in the team or they’re going to be out of the team but working hard to get back into it.” It was Boothroyd's tactical changes that brought about the dramatic change in Coventry's fortunes at Vicarage Road. he substituted both strikers, Freddy Eastwood and Gary McSheffrey with Clive Platt and Aron Gunnarsson. I think we’ve got a really nice balance and we’ve got a real competitive edge, said Boothroyd, "We all want to win but to get the greatest game, or to get the best out of yourself, you have to have people competing with you every week, every day, otherwise it can get a little bit stale. It gets you in a mindset where every day you get up and you be the best you can be, otherwise somebody will take your place, and as a manager, that competition is exactly what you want.” Boothroyd thinks very highly of Platt, which is why he signed him from his former club Colchester and when a reporter suggested Platt was am impact player, Boothroyd quickly denied the claim. He explained,“No. He is not an impact player, he played 40 games for me last year. I think that he is a great option to have in your squad and if you come up against two centre halves that do not necessarily fancy a rough and tumble, then he’s brilliant.” Boothroyd admitted is was a gamble to take off his two strikers, but he is not afraid to make a big, controversial decision. "It was a big call," admitted Boothroyd,” You take off two of your centre forwards, your goal scorers, and just looking at Clive, and probably Aron, you might not have thought that would work, but it did on this occasion. Sometimes I’ll do things and they won’t work but what I won’t ever be afraid to do is to make a decision.”
