Blast from The Past: On This Day 2009 – Sky Blues ‘Maltese Messi’ Michael Mifsud Released

Michael in the Sky Blue

Thanks to CCFC historian Steve Phelps for reminding us of Maltese international Michael Mifsud’s time at the Ricoh! We are pleased to say that Michael has only relatively recently (June 2021) joined this Association! The memory above is excerpted from Steve’s book ‘Coventry City On This Day’ (Pitch Publishing 2010) which points up lots of interesting Sky Blue anniversaries*.

Incredibly still eligible for his home nation Malta more than twenty years after his first cap in 2000! Michael came to the Sky Blues in 2007 after playing in his homeland for Sliema Wanderers (1997 & 2004), in Germany (FC Kaiserslautern -2001) and in Norway (Lillestrøm -2005). CCFPA member and then manager Micky Adams (though he was sacked two days later) signed the nippy forward to add zest to the forward line. He made his debut on 13th January 2007 in a Championship game at the Ricoh versus Crystal Palace and scored his first Sky Blue goal nine days later at Plymouth Argyle and later won goal of the season.

On 26th September 2007, having disposed of Notts. County and Carlisle United in earlier rounds (and backed by 11,000 Coventry fans), the Sky Blues (now under Iain Dowie) travelled to Old Trafford in the Football League Cup Third Round, to take on the Premier League Champions, Manchester United. Michael bagged a brace (one in each half) to silence the home fans and send the Sky Blue Army home ecstatic with an unexpected 2–0 victory. La Gazetta dello Sport apparently nicknamed Michael as ‘Il Messi Di Malta’ as a result of the game seen all over Europe. See below if you want to see Michael’s second effort.

City went out of the Cup 1-2 to West Ham United in Round 4. CCFPA chairman and CCFC club historian Jim Brown used a photo of Michael bamboozling the United defence as cover on one of his books ‘The Seven Year Itch‘ (left).

Michael in 2008-09

Less effective in his second Sky Blue season, Chris Coleman released Michael as surplus to requirements in June 2009 (after he had also been out on loan at Barnsley and had a mooted transfer to Bristol City collapse) and he returned to Malta to play with Valletta, Qormi, Sliema again and, most recently (though he also had a spell in Australia) Valetta (2016), Birkirkara (2018), Sirens (2020) and Mosta FC (2021).

During his Sky Blues days Michael had scored 23 times in his 95 league and cup outings. For his country, where he has become a renowned elder statesman of the sporting world, he has clocked up an impressive 42 goals in 143 appearances for Malta and won many awards and accolades. We were very pleased that Michael came back to see us all in Coventry and also at Wembley last season at the Stoke game as our guest in 2023 and at CCFC’s F.A.Cup Semi Final last May (2024).

Michael’s second goal against Manchester United appears on a 14 minute compilation video of 30 of some of the Sky Blues best goals from 1970-2015 put together by former CCFPA committee member Dean Nelson (@deanocity3). Michael’s memorable goal appears around six and a half minutes in if you want to go straight there but most Sky Blue fans will want to watch the lot as it includes stunners from the likes of Darren Huckerby, Youssef Chippo, Moustapha Hadji, Youssef Safri, Keith Houchen, Cyrille Regis, Dele Adebola, David Phillips, Brian Kilcline, David Thompson, Noel Whelan, Steve Froggatt, Paul Williams, Terry Gibson, Franck Moussa, the late Ernie Hunt and David Speedie (all CCFPA members) plus other Sky Blues stars like Gary McAllister, Jay Bothroyd and Viorel Moldovan. All remind us of what we have thrilled to in the past and there surely are some goals from subsequent years that could be added to the next reel! To see this, please click on the picture or link below:-