Coventry 94-96: Coventry received PL code 14.  Fully sculpted squad numbers fluctuated somewhat for the Sky Blues, they achieved 17 Sculpts originally which is one short than the usual 18, so I feel there's still a final piece of the puzzle missing. The total end tally for Coventry masters models though ran to 19. This is because duo Eion Jess (sculpted originally for Aberdeen) and Noel Whelan (sculpted originally for Leeds) made the move to Coventry early doors and so received repaints for their new club. Despite the high number of figures Coventry had available only 4 players were officially released, which was disappointing for Sky Blue fans and collectors alike. On the plus side, those four who were released came in the form of Goalkeeper and club legend Steve Ogrizovic, left back David Burrows and strike pair Peter Ndlovu and Dion Dublin. So what was lacking in depth was certainly made up with quality as each figure was an excellent representation of the player and all would continue to predominantly feature for Coventry in the upcoming seasons.

 

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Narrowly missing out on this seasons release were Kevin Richardson, John Solako, Marcus Isaias, Eion Jess, Noel Whelan, Paul Telfer,  David Rennie, Brian Burrows, Paul Williams and Ron Atkinson. This wasn't the total extent of the master models made though, Roy Wegerle, Julian Darby, Sean Flynn, Carlos Alberto Souto Maior Silva Batista (aka Calita) and Mick Quinn all received Master sculpts. Flynn, Wegerle and Quinn were very early sculpts and did not make it past the secondary stages as they all left the club early doors before the new season began. Julian Darby also only featured for Coventry up until November 1995 so he also never saw his model released. Calita didn't even register a single premier league appearance and was loaned to Portuguese side Boavista for the tail end of the 95/96 season before being released from the club. 

One surprising omission was that of Gordan Strachan who would later become Coventry's (player) Manager. He certainly would have been among the more notable players and had a strong presence in the Leeds side before being sold to Coventry. Unfortunately, I do not have the player profile paperwork Corinthian kept on Leeds or Coventry so I do not know if he was ever in contention. There is the possibility that at the time the models where being placed together he was leaving Leeds so was omitted Leeds squad but the list of Coventry players had already been put together before his arrival and therefore was missed due to the timings. It's just a thought, as it's still seems strange that he was not then available for the 1996/97 either - all these unknowns are all part and parcel of collecting! So for now, Gordon Strachan will be part of my custom sculpts.

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Custom Sculpts: Gordan Strachan, David Busst, Richard Shaw, Marcus Hall and Ally Pickering.

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Kit Usage: Coventry debuted their new strip at the start of the 94/95 season facing  Wimbledon in a 1-1 draw at Highfield Road. On the score sheet for Coventry that day was defender David Busst. The last time this kit was worn was on the final match day of the 95/96 season against Leeds United resulting in a goalless draw at Highfield Road. 

Achievements 94/95:
Premier League: 16th
FA Cup: R4 (3-1 loss to Norwich)
League Cup: R3 (2-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers)

Achievements 95/96:
Premier League: 16th
FA Cup: R4 (4-3 aggregate loss to Manchester City)
League Cup: R4 (2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers)

A very poor outing then for Coventry in this kit over both seasons with all their focus directed towards fighting for their Premier League survival, which to their credit they did manage to achieve (finishing 16th in the table over both campaigns). There's usually some form of trivia associated with Premier League and it's real life memories when writing about these Corinthian figures, regrettably though not all memories are good and most football fans will recall that this season was marred for Coventry by the horrific career ending leg injury that Busst was to suffer against Manchester United in April 1996.

Make & Sponsor: Coventry's strip was made by Pony with Peugeot (French automotive manufacturer) sponsoring them. The kit itself is an accurate enough representation as there wasn't too many areas Corinthian could go wrong due to the simplistic design. The collar on this kit was similar to Arsenal 95/96 kit in terms of the v neck being tightly fitted, meaning that the round-neck design might have been better suited. There were also 3 thin white stripes that linked the collar but given the design this was hard to achieve due to the missing gap in the v-neck. Also missing from the detailing is the fine dark blue trim on the outer edge of the collar, as well as around the outer edge of the sleeves, shorts and socks between the sky blue and white detailing. The socks also had two thin white stripes rather than just the one painted. The Peugeot tampo print is also incorrect as the background should be white with no boxed outline. Given tampo printing at the time was limited to one colour, the painters would've had to spray on the white themselves whilst letting the machinery print the Peugeot logo. They did actually implement this technique for Coventry's 96-97 kit.
 

Rating: 7/10

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Pack Releases:

Single Blisters: 

All four players were available in single blister format

 

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CV01: Dublin (5029310201148)
CV02: Ndlovu (502931021540)
CV03: Ogrizovic (5029310234146)
CV04: Burrows (5029310286473)

4 Packs:
 

CV4A: Dublin/Ogrizovic/Ndlovu/Burrows (5029310286558)
 

12 Pack:

N/A