It's August 2017 and Coventry City are starting their first campaign in the English Football League's bottom tier in over 50 years. A miserable decade and a half has seen the club relegated three times, nearly go out of business and even spend a year playing 40 miles out of the city in Northampton.
But there are some positive signs; the club are fresh off the back of a Checkatrade Trophy win at Wembley, two hugely popular figures from the club's recent history have returned to the club in Mark Robins and Michael Doyle, and we have a squad made up of young, talented and exciting footballers.
One of them is Jodi Jones. The teenage winger from London had come to Cov the year before on loan and his talent was obvious. But he was still young and, according to many, the effortless way he glided past defenders was still lacking end product. This was about to change.
READ MORE: Mark Robins explains 'very difficult' decision to release Jodi Jones
Between the end of the 2016/17 season and the start of the 2017/18 season Jones must have made some changes to his game. The winger get off to a blinding start in League Two, scoring an opening day hat-trick against fellow pre-season, play-off contenders Notts County in a 3-0 victory.
In the game, Jones didn't look good, he looked unstoppable, cutting in from the right-hand side akin to Liverpool's Mo Salah. But was it a freak occurrence? No, is the answer to that, and he would go on to be on top form in the coming months, terrorising defences and being the main focal point of the Sky Blue attack with the likes of Marc McNulty and Max Biamou struggling to find their feet.
But in November his brilliant start was brutally halted when Jones suffered a season-ending injury. City fans mourned with him - our brightest star in a gritty, difficult start to the season would not contribute again. Strangely Jones being out seemed to rejuvenate others, and Biamou and McNulty in particular were able to kick on and City managed to scrape it into the play-offs, something they wouldn't have done without the points secured by Jodi's early season performances.
But as his teammates celebrated a trip to Wembley and promotion to League One, Jones would struggle with injuries. He would make cameo appearance is the next few seasons, but he continued to be plagued by knee issues. It was announced he would not sign a new contract at the club earlier this month.
The news he was leaving, though not entirely surprising, left some fans devastated. On the surface or to anyone outside of Coventry City fandom, it's difficult to grasp why fans were so sad to see Jones leave. He'd made only a handful of appearance in recent seasons, 239 minutes of league football since 2018, with the majority of his games for the club coming in Leagues One and Two.
It was a tough six years, but he had been part of the Checkatrade winning team, and his early contribution to the club's promotion to League One was undeniable. However, Jones hasn't just been impressing on the pitch.
At every turn in his career or his public life the young footballer has shown his quality and decency, which to many in Coventry stood him in just as good a stead as his goals while wearing Sky Blue. But what are these qualities that has made Jones such a widely popular figure?
The underdog
Jones joined the Sky Blues from League Two outfit Dagenham & Redbridge having initially spent a short loan spell here in March 2016. His potential was obvious and he was signed on a permanent deal.
He was popular practically from the off - his distinctive look and ability to breeze past players made him stand out. In short he was exciting to watch, something we hadn't had too much of here at Cov in recent years.
The idea of him coming from a side traditionally associated with non-league added to his charm. We all love the idea of someone from the lower leagues becoming a top football star, in the model of Jamie Vardy, Rickie Lambert or Ian Wright. There is a certain romance about such a story and I think many fans liked the possibility of having one of our own. But Jodi's injuries would add another 'underdog' element to his persona.
By the start of the 2017/18 season Jones was lighting up League Two, with manager Mark Robins calling him a "growing influence". But his season was left in tatters and his career in doubt when he was stretchered off in a game against Stevenage on a Tuesday night in November.
A few days later the news came he would miss the rest of the season with a dreaded anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in his left knee. He'd already contributed five goals and as many assists but his season was over.
A tentative start to the following season saw Jodi appear eight times before he suffered another horrific injury after his studs caught in the turf during a League One game against Peterborough in December 2018. His knee needed reconstruction work meaning he'd spend at least another year on the sidelines.
Yet another ACL, this time to his right knee, was further setback for the young footballer after going down in a training session in September 2020. As he was still working towards his full fitness, the injury put Jones out for another year an he missed the entire season of Cov's return to the Championship.
This persistent and desperately unlucky injury record seemed to make Jones more popular with fans. People empathised with him and felt each injury personally such was the close connection many felt to him.
Man of the People
But why did people feel so connected to him? There are several reasons, which on their own probably don't lead to a player who makes minimal impact on the pitch over the space of five seasons become quite so well-loved, but add them all up and you've got a cult figure.
Jodi has been very open about his mental health and how an injury-plagued career had left him 'so so down'. Cov fans could relate with that - he wasn't an impervious footballer who laughed all the way to the treatment room while collecting his wages. He was hurting, pining for an injury-free run to get himself back on track and we could all see it.
This human side which we don't always get to see with our football stars made him relatable. He would share funny and touching stories about his much-loved grandmother on social media - how she called him in tears of joy when he scored in a friendly after being injured for two years, or the time she washed his jeans and sowed the holes in them thinking they were worn out, not fashionable - all things we could imagine sharing ourselves.
Something else which set him aside from other footballers was his visibility. Most Coventry players tend to live out in the sticks - the leafier parts of Leamington, the posh bits of Kenilworth or perhaps towards Ryton where the club trains.
Jodi had found himself a girlfriend and set up home in Longford - almost in the shadow of Coventry Building Society Arena. Residents would see him popping to the Mace for a pint of milk and a newspaper on a Sunday, picking his girlfriend's kids up from school through the week, making friends with some of the parents and even grabbing a cheeky Chinese takeaway from Wok U Like on a Saturday night.
He'd pop up helping with training sessions for local football coaching companies, he'd stop for a chat when he could. He was one of us. He was visible and normal in an age when professional footballers are usually anything but.
Teigan
But Jodi etched himself into the hearts of Coventry City fans forever with the love and dedication he showed when a young fan was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer. Teigan was a popular, happy and vibrant nine-year-old when her parents were told she had Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a brain tumour that is highly aggressive and difficult to treat, in the summer of 2020.
They were told an experimental form of treatment in Switzerland might help but it would cost £100,000, money the family didn't have. A huge fundraising campaign was mobilised and Jodi threw all his weight behind it. Donating items for auction and spending time with Teigan, and the family reached their target.
One of the treatments Teigan underwent was brain surgery and she was left with a vivid scar in her shaved hair. Jodi had the same shape shaved into his own hair as an act of solidarity.
Despite the efforts Teigan died in December 2020. Earlier this month it was her 11th birthday, the same day her peers were doing SATS exams. Almost two years on from being diagnosed Jodi still posted to wish her a 'happy heavenly birthday'.
From boy to man, Coventry fans have not quite had the opportunity to watch Jodi grow and develop as a footballer as we all hoped, but we've watched him grow and develop as a person. He's woven himself into the fabric of the minds of Cov fans with his potential and attributes on the pitch, but more so with his decency, relatability and humanity.
He'll leave the Sky Blues with thousands of prayers and well wishes for a successful career. In short he leaves loved by the Sky Blue Army, not just for his obvious talent on the pitch, but for letting us all be a part of his journey. He leaves an honorary Coventrian.
Good luck in the next step of your career Jodi, every City fan will be rooting for you to succeed. Play Up Sky Blues.
