Being a Coventry fan I know all about how hard it is to find a decent striker. All clubs have their striker issues but we as a club have found it harder than most since our relegation from the Premier League. We have needed someone who not only has the ability to finish but the ability to do it on a consistent basis.

We have seen a long list of strikers come and go in that time with all them ultimately failing in what a striker is brought in to do. These strikers have come to the club in differing circumstances with some costing considerable amounts of money to others who have began life at the club as trialists from foreign leagues.

Names that come to mind here are Freddy Eastwood and Michael Mifsud and we all know where they have both ended up now. We have searched far and wide for the right man to lead the Skyblues from the front but have ultimately failed in every case.

There has in the past couple of years been one exception to this in the form of Marlon King. His arrival at the club was surrounded in controversy after his release from prison. Many questioned the club over this decision but in football terms at least it was a fantastic move for the club. He kept his head down and worked hard to get his fitness back up to scratch and then quickly became not only the first name on City’s team sheet but would easily have been one of the first names on any Championships team sheet.

He may not of been a role model off the pitch but he was every managers dream on it. He not only had the quality to keep him a step above the rest but he had one of the best work rates in the squad.

He arrived at the club in controversial circumstances and in the end left in the same manner. Arguments, miscommunication and contract lengths all played a part and he eventually left and joined Birmingham with Coventry not getting a penny for him and left ruing their mistakes.

This is still in my opinion one of the clubs biggest mistakes and I still think we should have done everything we could to keep him at the club and maybe we would still be a Championship club now and not a League One club. This is in the past now though and it is time to look at the present.

We currently have a striker within our team that again stands head and shoulders above the rest of the squad. His name of course is David McGoldrick. He has been in prolific scoring form in the early part of the season with 9 goals from 15 appearances after his deflected goal bound effort against York has now been officially awarded to him. Whilst his scoring record is clearly an impressive one, he has impressed me with his work rate and in many ways reminds me of the afore mentioned Marlon King.

There is of course though as with everything to do with Coventry City a massive downside in that he is not our player and is currently only at the club on loan until January. This brings about the question that every Coventry fan wants the answer too and that is will he be at the club past January and going forward.

There are so many mitigating factors in this that it is currently impossible to say for sure. First off his parent club Nottingham Forest may want to hold onto him as he could end up being an asset for their squad. They do already have four other good strikers though including Billy Sharp and Dexter Blackstock. They are also doing quite well in the league so may not want to upset the team by bringing McGoldrick back into the fold. These are factors that are in our favour or at least in favour of McGoldrick leaving Forest in January along with the fact that he will be out of contract in the summer.

Another problem we are clearly going to have is competition from other clubs if he is made available by Forest. Clubs with bigger budgets will be interested especially if he keeps up the kind of form he is currently showing. Financially we are always going to struggle to compete and that maybe the stumbling block which ultimately ends any hope of landing Mcgoldrick permanently.

If by some miracle we can overcome this issue and compete financially then it is down to whether McGoldrick thinks Coventry is the right place for him to be. We as a club need to make sure that we are in a position which is appealing to him as a player, so in other words we need to be moving up the table quickly so that come January it will look like a promotion push is a realistic possibility.

He clearly enjoys playing here as any player does at any club if they are performing well. I would imagine he would like to continue that and I do believe that if everything was right in terms of money and promotion ambitions then he would have no hesitation in joining us permanently.

This is a big ask though for Coventry as a club, with something always seemingly going wrong. It would be a huge signing for the club though and one that might bring more fans back. It would be a statement of intent from the club that we are going to go for it this season.

He is a player we need, he is a player we all want but whether he is a player who will become a permanent member of the squad we will have to wait and see. I for one am really hoping he will as he is invaluable to this team and without him questions will be raised on who could be the man to step up and fill his scoring boots. Personally I’m not sure anyone that we either currently have or that is in our price range actually could.

PUSB!!

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