Coventry City Former Players Association Committee member Frank Pritchard was able to sign up yet one more departed member of last season’s Sky Blues’ team at Rotherham last Saturday afternoon, Callum Wilson. Last season’s top scorer for the Sky Blues was snapped up by current Championship table toppers Bournemouth for the current season and has already made a brilliant scoring start for the Cherries.
The occasion was the 3rd Round F.A.Cup tie at Millmoor between Rotherham United and Bournemouth which the away side won comfortably 5-1 (though Callum remained on the bench for the 90 minutes). Frank reports on the trials and tribulations of ‘getting his man’,
Frank presents Callum with his CCFPA tie
“What appeared initially as a straight forward CCFPA signing turned out to be a little scary and nearly missed him but all’s well that ends well. Fellow committee member Dean Nelson had done some ground work for me when he met up with Callum following a pre-season friendly at Bournemouth and recent CCFPA member Cyrus Christie has also been texting Callum who’d agreed to sign so it was just a case of tying him down to a time and place, often easier said than done.
Rotherham defender (and an older established CCFPA member) Richard Wood who’s regaining fitness following his knee operation was also very accommodating, ‘Woody’ sat this one out on the bench as did Callum. I spoke to ‘Woody’ briefly after the game but he was bitterly disappointed with the result. Having taken the lead The Millers conceded just before half-time but after the break it was a totally different story as AFC Bournemouth went up a couple of gears and ran-out comfortable 1-5 winners, going into the hat for the 4th round draw.
I’d been appropriately situated where the players exit the dressing room (or so I thought) but when only Rotherham players began to emerge I began to panic! Good job as it transpired that the away team leave the New Yorker Stadium from a totally different exit. I just managed to catch Callum before he boarded the coach and congratulated him on his England U21 cap told how much we all missed his exciting pace (and of course his goals) and on behalf of the committee and all Sky Blue supporters wished him good luck on gaining a Full England Cap, to which he replied “that’s the long-term goal”! I sincerely hope that’s the case.
A very warm welcome Callum”
We hope to see Callum at future Association functions when playing committments allow.