Jon Whitney has Walsall prepared if Coventry City fans protest

Fans of Coventry City – who have already had relegation from League One confirmed – have long been protesting against owners Sisu, and flooded the pitch with foam pigs in their last home game, writes Joe Edwards.

They joined forces with supporters of visitors Charlton Athletic – who were also making a stand over how their club is run – and delayed kick-off by throwing the pink stress-busters from the stands.

Less than a minute after the game got under way, more were thrown on – resulting in an approximate, total 10-minute delay to the game which finished 1-1 – and Whitney is ready if it happens again.

"I think it is going to be very stop-start," he said.

"I think they are going to use this to make a big statement, Coventry fans.

"They will try to probably get the Walsall fans into that as well. There will probably be a few pigs thrown on.

"We are expecting that and we've even put that into our training, we've even had some stop-starts in training.

"The protests, we have to be ready for that. I will probably give some players certain responsibilities to stay focused, not just for 90 minutes but maybe 100 minutes, 110, 120.

"My players can do that. Whatever they throw at us, we will take it."

Despite being bottom of the table, the Sky Blues have had some good results recently.

They won the Checkatrade Trophy at Wembley at the start of this month and beat Peterborough United a few weeks ago in the league.

"It's difficult for (Coventry boss) Mark (Robins), but they're unbeaten in four at home," said Whitney.

"There's still a lot of young players there playing for contracts, and Mark will be looking to build momentum for next year.

He added: "It's nice to have emotion, even if it is protests. It will be nice to have emotion in the place and for it not be a dead-rubber game. I'm looking forward to it.

"We have to expect the unexpected and if we do that, focus on our gameplan, we can make sure we get the right performance."