Coventry City’s manager Gordon Strachan says the total eclipse was the third item of importance on his mind yesterday.

"I was thinking about the match at Leicester City and Darren Huckerby’s transfer to Leeds. The eclipse was third on the list," said the manager.

And he admits that Trond Soltvedt’s move to Southampton "sneaked up on him".

"I knew that the chairman had some sort of deal with Trond to sell him at a certain price, but I did not want him to leave and I told him so.

"The timing of both transfers was wrong from my point of view. I wanted to get new people in and then tell Darren about the Leeds move. But unfortunately a third party outside this football club told him.

"He was genuinely hurt because he thought we were trying to sell him without telling him. But we made up and everyone knows I think the world of him.

"I gathered all the players together and we wished Darren all the best and shook his hand.

"But the timing was not very handy for me, I would have liked a different time scale. But it’s done and I have to get on with my job.

"We now need someone who will get us some goals. Darren was a scorer of great goals but we need a great goalscorer.

"We are having talks with two clubs for a young striker and a more experienced one. We need bodies. Yesterday morning we had nineteen and when the match came round at Leicester we had only seventeen."

Strachan said he hoped that one or both signings could be achieved before Saturday’s match at Wimbledon and joked:

"If not, we are going to comb the staff, including the cooks, to find someone 6ft 3 inches tall."