Jim's column 9.10.10

With a break from league action this weekend I thought I would catch up with a few questions I have received from readers over the last few weeks.

Roger Maddison has been watching the Sky Blues for 46 years and remembers a game between City and the Japan National XI at Highfield Road. Unfortunately none of his friends can remember it and he is questioning his own memory. City did play Japan in a pre-season friendly on 14 August 1978 and won 2-0 with goals from Terry Yorath and Mick Ferguson. A crowd of 5,232 and City’s line up was as follows:

Sealey: Osgood, McDonald, Yorath, Holton, Gillespie, Nardiello,

Wallace, Ferguson, Powell, Hutchison


Natalie Jones recalls a match at Highfield Road in which Spurs were the visitors and had to play in Coventry’s change strip. The game in question was on 27 December 1986 and the story goes that Spurs didn’t realise they would need to change their normal kit as there seemed to be no clash with the Sky Blues blue and white striped shirts and white shorts. In fact Spurs rarely changed their kit at Highfield Road prior to this incident. The referee disagreed and made Spurs wear City’s change kit of yellow shirts with their normal navy blue shorts with the shirts displaying City’s sponsors Granada on the shirts. City won a thrilling game 4-3 with Cyrille Regis netting the winning goal in the dying seconds. Strangely when the clubs met later that season in the FA Cup final at Wembley Spurs wore their normal white shirts with white shorts whilst City wore their normal shirts but with navy blue shorts. However there was more controversey with Spurs’ kit in the final as several players played with shirts without the name of the team’s lager-making sponsors Holsten.

Dave Terry asked me to confirm that Coventry City are the only club to have played in seven different English divisions. The fact is correct Dave, City have played in Divisions 1-4 plus Division Three North and South plus, of course the Premier League. City only spent one season in Division Four (1958-59) and one season in Division Three North (1925-26). The latter season was because of an imbalance of Northern teams in Division Three North (City were the most southerly of the 22 sides) but the following season they were switched to Division Three South. A number of clubs have appeared in six different divisions including Hull City, Grimsby, Watford and Crystal Palace.

It is only two weeks to go before the 40th anniversary reunion of the Coventry City team that played in Europe organised by the Former Players Association. The latest former City player to indicate his attendance is Brian Joicey who just last week joined the FPA after being tracked down in Sheffield where he has lived since playing for Sheffield Wednesday in the early 1970s. Brian scored one of City’s goals in the 2-0 home win over Trakia Plovdiv in the first round second leg game at Highfield Road and is looking forward to meeting up with some of his old teammates from City on 23 October. Just a reminder that any fans who travelled to watch City in Bulgaria forty years ago should contact me as they will invited to attend the celebrations.