Jim's column 29.9.12

                                                           Ken Simcoe

I had the pleasure of travelling to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening to see City’s League Cup defeat at the hands of Arsenal. I have seen some heavy defeats over the last 50 years following the Sky Blues including West Brom 7-1 in 1978 and Bayern Munich 6-1 in 1970, but would never describe any of them as having been a pleasure. Like most of the 8,000 Sky Blue Army I had no great expectations, other than the hope that it wouldn’t be a cricket score. In the event I witnessed a sublime exhibition of modern day football and one of the finest team performance against the Sky Blues in that 50 years. Arsenal (or Arsenal reserves!) were as though from a different planet. Their performance highlighted the massive difference between the Premiership and League One. City’s players, centre-halves apart, did themselves justice, but were found wanting for stamina in the last twenty five minutes, and Arsenal’s youngsters stepped up a gear to put a harsh face on the final scoreline.

The difference between the sides was speed, strength and football artistry. Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arshavin respectively epitomised these attributes. Walcott demonstrated his pace and finishing with two goals of the highest quality – driving through City’s beleaguered and tired defence like Mark Cavendish on the Champs Elyssee. The ‘Ox’ was everywhere, never wasting the ball and hitting a stunning 30-yard goal that bamboozled the brave Murphy – this boy is a star of the future. The enigmatic Arshavin strolled through the match but every so often showed glimpses of his terrifying skill on the ball.  He can be frustrating I’m sure but he is a true artist. The majority of the rest of Arsenal’s side were unknowns to me but they never betrayed the Arsenal ethos, rarely giving the ball away and delighting the crowd with their rapier thrusts through a vexed but brave Sky Blue defence.

The defeat was the heaviest City have suffered in the competition since 1965-66 when we lost by the same score at the Hawthorns in a Fifth round replay. The previous season we suffered our heaviest defeat in the competition, 8-1 at home to Leicester City.

Another former City player Ken Simcoe passed away earlier this month in Sherwood in his home town of Nottingham. Apart from his year in Coventry Ken spent all of his footballing career in the East Midlands. He started out with Central YMCA and was spotted by Nottingham Forest turning out first as a junior and amateur in 1955 and then, turning professional in December 1956. Ken featured predominantly in the Reds’ reserves and only made the first team twice in league games (though scoring once). Billy Frith signed him for Coventry in 1959 and he started the 1959-60 season as Frith’s first choice number seven but failed to impress and played only eight games (with one goal) before being released the following summer. He returned to Nottingham, joining County where he played only a couple of first team games before dropping into the East Midlands non-league scene, playing for Heanor Town, Loughborough United and Ilkeston Town before a severe knee injury forced him out of the game in February 1967. Ken died in a care home in Sherwood at the age of 75 after a long illness.

Jim's Column 22.9.12

Mark Robins became the eleventh Coventry City manager in 12 seasons (excluding caretakers) this week and without doubt he has walked into a tough job. It is hard to imagine City’s position in the league getting any worse so the new manager has little to lose – it surely can only be up from here – and a couple of wins will make him a hero with the fans.

Older fans will remember Robins, a predatory striker, for the goal he scored for Manchester United in a third-round FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest in 1990, which allegedly saved Alex Ferguson from the sack after three trophy-less years at Old Trafford. United went on to win the FA Cup that year with Robins as a substitute against a Crystal Palace team that included Richard Shaw and Andy Thorn. Robins could never win a regular first team place at Old Trafford but did make two substitute appearances against the Sky Blues, scoring in a 3-0 United victory at Old Trafford in March 1990.

Mark left United for Norwich City in 1992 and later joined Leicester. He played twice for the Canaries against City and then once for Leicester City in a three year spell at Filbert Street. He failed to score in any of those three games and again in two appearances for his final club, Rotherham, against City in 2001-02. One of his claims to fame is that he once scored five goals for England under 21s in a 7-3 victory over France.

His managerial career consists of a reasonably successful spell at Rotherham where he had virtually no money to spend at a club in administration. Later he moved to Barnsley where he took over a club in the relegation zone and guided them to mid-table safety before a falling out with the board in 2011.

His ability to work within a limited budget would appear to make him ideal for the Sky Blues, who whilst having one of the biggest playing budgets in League One, are unlikely to sanction more spending when they are apparently still losing £250,000 a month. His only hope of getting some funds would appear to be to unload some of the higher paid, under performing players and persuade the board to use all or part of the savings achieved.

He is the fourth post-war Coventry City manager to take over the club in a relegation position, and the good news is that the other three all kept City up. In November 1948 the great Harry Storer returned to a club languishing in 21st position in Division Two but won his first five matches in charge and the team finished 16th, well clear of relegation. In December 1984 Don Mackay was handed the reins when Bobby Gould was sacked with City 21st in Division One. Mackay steered City to safety courtesy of a final day victory over champions Everton. Finally in November 1996 Gordon Strachan took over from Ron Atkinson with the Sky Blues languishing in 18th place in the Premier League. He failed to win any of his first four games but managed to avoid relegation thanks to that memorable last day win at Tottenham.

Several people have asked me whether this seven-game start is City’s worst ever and I can confirm that it is not. In City’s first season in the Football League in 1919 City lost their first nine games and didn’t win a game until Christmas Day (nineteen games without a win). The worst start of the modern era was in 1974-75 when after seven games City had failed to win a game and had three points. Then, with manager Gordon Milne under intense pressure, the team won three on the bounce and went unbeaten in six and comfortably avoided relegation. A mini-run like that would be very nice now.

It is sad to report the death last week of former Coventry City coach Jimmy Andrews. Jimmy, who was 85, joined City in December 1967 as Noel Cantwell was building his own backroom team after taking over from Jimmy Hill in the October.  Noel and Jimmy had played together at West Ham in the 1950s and Andrews made 120 appearances for the Hammers as a dribbling left winger following a big money move from Dundee in 1951. He later played for Leyton Orient before taking a coaching role at QPR, where in 1965 he was briefly caretaker manager. There followed a spell as coach at Chelsea under Tommy Docherty. Jimmy stayed at Highfield Road until early 1969 at which time Cantwell admitted that Jimmy’s time at the club had not worked. He went on to coach at Luton Town, Tottenham and Cardiff City and became manager at Ninian Park for four years between 1974-78.

Today is another special day at the Ricoh Arena when a host of former City players will gather for a mini-Legends Day specifically to celebrate the life of Ernie Machin who passed away in July. Around 30 former players are expected to attend including many from Ernie’s time at the football club from 1962-72 and the traditional half-time pitch parade of former players should not be missed. The Memorial Service for Ernie Machin has been re-arranged and will now take place at Coventry Cathedral on Wednesday 3rd October 2012 commencing at 3pm.  All Ernie’s friends and City fans are welcome.

Jim's column 15.9.2012

                                   Horace Pearson pictured at Highfield Road

I am always happy to assist relatives and friends of former Coventry City players and this summer I had an interesting email from Les Turner, a friend of the daughter of City’s 1930s goalkeeper Horace Pearson. Les was trying to piece together the playing history of Horace and sent me some old photos of Pearson’s playing career.

Horace was born in Tamworth on 6.4.1907. His football career started with Nuneaton Town where he was spotted by Luton Town in 1928. He never appeared in the Hatters’ first team and the following summer joined Blackpool. The timing of his arrival at Bloomfield Road was perfect and he helped the Seasiders to gain promotion to Division One for the first time in his debut season. Life in Division One was tough for the Tangerines and although they avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth they conceded a record 125 goals (Horace played in 40 of the 42 games).

The following season Horace, who was only 5 ft 9 ins tall, lost his place in the first team and in November 1931 he joined Oldham, playing 38 games in eighteen months before a move to Highfield Road in May 1933. Between then and March 1936 he was a virtual ever-present in goal for the Bantams playing 114 games in a golden period of Coventry City’s history. The Bantams finished 2^nd in 1933-34, 3^rd in 1934-35, before winning the Third Division title in 1935-36. In early 1935 Horace was suspended for two games for a 'breach of club discipline' - the details of which I haven't got. Sadly Horace lost his place 12 games from the end of the promotion season, being replaced by Bill Morgan, and although he received a medal he never appeared in the first team again.

In May 1937 he joined Newport County where he played one season, moving briefly to non-league Barry Town and then for the last season of pre-war football to Bristol City. It is believed he was released by Bristol just before the outbreak of war and settled in Bristol. Horace's uncle Hubert and cousin Harold both played in goal for WBA.

Last week I mentioned the ‘other’ Jimmy Hill who played for Coventry City between 1949-1956. The piece sparked some interest with Ron Dickinson having good memories of Jimmy:

I got to know him from youth football so it is a long time ago. I believe that he did live in Binley and played for Binley Youth club along with Billy Gray, another former City player who you wrote about a few months ago. As I recall Jimmy worked in a gent's outfitter shop so had difficulty in getting off for games on Saturday. I met him later in the early 1980s when he was manager of a cleaning company operating in Birmingham. He was a nice guy. I am sure that there was an article in the Telegraph maybe 5 to 10 years ago about his grandson who was setting out on a football career.

Lockheed Leamington historian Paul Vanes was also in contact and confirmed that after leaving Shrewsbury in 1958 Jimmy joined Lockheed, then in the Birmingham League. At the Windmill Ground he joined several other ex-City men including Jack Evans, Charlie Timmins and Ernie Ward. Paul had some useful information:

In 1958-59 season he played between 25-30 games and was second top scorer with 14 behind Robertson on 23. He played inside left for the Brakes in the Birmingham Senior Cup final at Villa Park on 13th April 1959 against Stourbridge who beat Lockheed 2-1 thanks mainly to a brilliant display by the Glassboys German born goalkeeper Newman (Neumann). Hill was picked to play in the penultimate game at Hereford with a 6.00pm kick off on Saturday 25th April 1959 but he never turned up.  Jimmy was not in the Brakes squad for 1959/60 season. 

Coventry City’s run without a win was extended to 11 on Sunday against Stevenage (equalling the dreadful run under Andy Thorn last autumn) and if a win is not forthcoming today at Prenton Park it will be the worst run since 2003. Like the present dire run, that sequence of 16 games was over two seasons, during the stewardship of Gary McAllister, and consisted of the last 12 games of 2002-03 and the first four games of 2003-04. It ended with a 4-2 home win over Stoke City. 

Next Saturday is another special day at the Ricoh Arena when a host of former City players will gather for a mini-Legends Day specifically to celebrate the life of Ernie Machin who passed away in July. Around 30-40 former players are expected to attend including many from Ernie’s time at the football club from 1962-72. Fans wishing to attend the pre-match lunch with the Former Players, in what is always an electric atmosphere, should contact the football club. The Memorial Service for Ernie Machin has been re-arranged and will now take place at Coventry Cathedral on Wednesday 3rd October 2012 commencing at 3pm.  All Ernie’s friends and City fans are welcome.

Gate footnote: Last Sunday’s crowd for the Stevenage game was 9,485 – the smallest City home crowd since November 1991.

Jim's Column 8.9.2012

                                                 The 'other' Jimmy Hill

On Tuesday evening a sparse crowd of 5,437, the lowest home crowd since 1985*, watched City’s debut in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against League Two side Burton Albion. The suffering fans were subjected to a lacklustre ninety minutes football followed by a thrilling 19-goal penalty shoot out culminating in a Coventry City victory courtesy of the hero of the hour Joe Murphy. The Irish goalkeeper has taken a lot of stick from some fans since he stepped into Keiren Westwood’s shoes last season, but on Tuesday evening he not only saved Burton’s  tenth and eleventh penalties but stepped up to score the twenty second penalty of the night to make it 10-9 to the Sky Blues and secure a place in the last 32 of the competition.

For the Sky Blues it was their first penalty shootout since 2001 when, in a League Cup tie at Peterborough, after the teams had been level at 2-2 after 120 minutes, City triumphed 4-2 on penalties. The few hundred fans who travelled to Peterborough that day probably remember it as the day that Manhattan Twin Towers were destroyed by Al Queda (11 September) and the game should not really have gone ahead in respect of the dead. City’s successful penalty takers that night were David Thompson, Jay Bothroyd, Lee Hughes and Lee Carsley with only Magnus Hedman missing. Before Tuesday Hedman was the only Sky Blue goalkeeper to take a penalty in a shootout.

Penalty shootouts were introduced into domestic football in 1976 when the League Cup adopted them if a replay was inconclusive after 120 minutes but other lesser competitions introduced them for swifter conclusions and City’s first shootout was in 1988 in the Simod Cup semi-final at Reading. With the scores level at 1-1 after 120 minutes City lost the shootout 4-3 after leading 2-0 and the Second Division side went on to Wembley.

The only other shootout in a City competitive game was in the FA Cup in 1998. After defeating Aston Villa in round five City were hot favourites to beat Second Division Sheffield United to clinch a semi final place. However a laboured 1-1 draw at Highfield Road saw the Sky Blues travel to Bramall Lane for a replay. An early paul Telfer goal looked to have won the tie but the Blades equalised with virtually the last kick of the game and a goalless extra time meant penalties. Kicking into the rabid United Kop end City’s penalty takers froze (including the normally deadly Dion Dublin) and the Blades triumphed 3-1.

During the summer I received an email from Alan White of Binley regarding the ‘other’ Jimmy Hill who played for Coventry City in the 1950's. Alan believed he was a Binley boy and that his late Dad often used to tell him that he knew him well. He recently acquired a programme of the Millwall v Coventry game played at the Den on Boxing Day 1955 in the old Division 3 South. In the City line-up at no.11 is Hill.J , along with Matthews, Austin, Timmins, Jamieson, Kirk, Harvey, Moore, Uphill, McPherson and P.Hill.

Although Jimmy possibly lived in Binley he came from Wishaw in Scotland where he was born in 1931. As a 17-year old Jimmy Hill looked set to be an outstanding left-winger as he dazzled for City’s youth team, Modern Machines FC and was given his debut at Hull in 1949. His first team chances however were limited and it was only after Norman Lockhart left for Aston Villa in 1952 that Hill won a regular place. He played 68 games and scored eight goals before losing the left wing berth first to Colin Collindridge then later to the prodigious Ray Sambrook and he moved to Millwall in an effort to get first team football. His stay at the Den was short and he went on to play for Wisbech Town and Shrewsbury. I am pretty sure he lived in Coventry until his death in 1993.

  * In 1985 1,086 watched a Full Members Cup game at Highfield Road against Millwall when neither side could progress in the competition.

Jim's column 1.9.2012

Another turbulent week in the history of Coventry City ended with an excellent 3-2 League Cup victory over local rivals Birmingham City presided over by the new caretaker manager Richard Shaw. Andy Thorn became the tenth full-time Coventry City manager to leave the club since the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2001. Since being promoted to manager on the departure of Aidy Boothroyd in February 2011 his team have a pretty appalling record with only twelve wins in 59 league wins and whilst many of the club’s followers will not be surprised by his departure, many are questioning the timing. After fifty years of following the Sky Blues I believe there is never a good time or a bad time to sack a manager. On Tuesday night the team responded with their best performance for months, pulling off easily the club’s best Cup result since 2009.

Andy’s record in charge does not stand up to scrutiny against his predecessors – he has easily the worst win percentage and for all his aim of playing attractive football, the worst goals per game in the period.

	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agst	GD	Points	Wins %	Points %	Goals per game
John Sillett	128	44	37	47	143	169	-26	169	34.38%	44.01%	1.12
Terry Butcher	49	16	11	22	56	60	-4	59	32.65%	40.14%	1.14
Don Howe	19	3	8	8	10	18	-8	17	15.79%	29.82%	0.53
Bobby Gould	54	16	19	19	66	73	-7	67	29.63%	41.36%	1.22
Phil Neal	58	18	18	22	56	74	-18	72	31.03%	41.38%	0.97
Ron Atkinson	64	14	24	26	64	92	-28	66	21.88%	34.38%	1.00
Gordon Strachan	183	52	52	79	203	262	-59	208	28.42%	37.89%	1.11
Roland Nilsson	40	19	5	16	56	48	8	62	47.50%	51.67%	1.40
Gary McAllister	68	17	25	26	73	91	-18	76	25.00%	37.25%	1.07
Eric Black	23	11	3	9	38	24	14	36	47.83%	52.17%	1.65
Peter Reid	29	9	8	12	36	45	-9	35	31.03%	40.23%	1.24
Micky Adams	90	31	24	35	113	124	-11	117	34.44%	43.33%	1.26
Iain Dowie	43	16	9	18	49	63	-14	57	37.21%	44.19%	1.14
Chris Coleman	107	30	35	42	112	140	-28	125	28.04%	38.94%	1.05
Aidy Bothroyd	36	11	8	17	38	46	-8	41	30.56%	37.96%	1.06
Andy Thorn	59	12	21	26	61	81	-20	57	20.34%	32.20%	1.03
League games only

Shaw’s first game in charge must have been a dream come true. Not only did his team, boosted by some high level individual performances, knock out a side from a higher division, but they also came from behind for the first time since September 2009. Then a late Leon Best goal gave City a 3-2 win at Watford. You have to go back to January 2009 to find the last time the Sky Blues came from behind to win at home – against Blackpool when Beuzelin and Mifsud scored in a 2-1 win. Neither Boothroyd nor Thorn managed this in their time in charge.

Several people have asked me about the frequency of lost leads under Andy Thorn and in his 59 league games in charge the team scored the first goal on 29 occasions whilst conceding first on 27 occasions. However the Sky Blues  only went on to win 12 games and lost the lead on 20 occasions (drawing 12 games and losing eight). As I said they failed to come from behind to win but on 10 occasions they fell behind but won a point. In statistical terms City won only 41% of games where they took the lead but lost 67% of games when they conceded first.

Last Saturday, in the 2-2 draw with Bury, the club recorded their lowest home league crowd (10,285) for eighteen years. Not only was it the lowest league crowd at the Ricoh but also the lowest since relegation from the Premiership in 2001. The last time there was a crowd under 10,500 was in October 1994 for an evening game against Ipswich when 9,509 watched a 2-0 City victory. The presence of Sky Television’s cameras probably kept the crowd low that night but at least City won, with goals from John Wark (og) and Paul Cook (a penalty). You have to go back to September 1993 for a lower Saturday home crowd. In Bobby Gould’s final home game against Southampton there were only 9,837 in Highfield Road to witness Phil Babb’s late equaliser rescue a point following Simon Charlton’s earlier goal.