Gordon
Nutt (1932-2014)
It is sad to report the
death this week of former Coventry City player Gordon Nutt. Gordon, a
home-grown player, played 82 games for the club between 1951-54,
scoring 11 goals. Sadly he was one of the many good young players
sold by the club to balance the finances in that era.
Born in Birmingham on 8
November 1932 Gordon was the eldest of five children & grew up in
South Yardley. He starred as a schoolboy footballer & represented
Birmingham Schools.
After leaving school he
joined Coventry City as a 16-year old apprentice and quickly became a
regular in the Modern Machines team, which was actually the club's
'A' team. Gordon was a skilful right-winger who loved to take on his
full-back and have a crack at goal. He was one of a number of
outstanding youngsters being groomed by the club for the future. His
team-mates like Reg Matthews, Frank Austin, Lol Harvey, Peter and
Jimmy Hill and Ray Sambrook could have formed the nucleus of the club
for ten years but sadly the majority were later sold to bigger clubs.
The club's regular
right-winger was the veteran Leslie 'Plum' Warner and Gordon's
first-team chances looked slim. However at Christmas 1951 with Warner
injured Gordon was given his first team debut and scored in a 1-2
home defeat to Blackburn. In the Pink match report Nemo described
Nutt as ‘the pick of the home forwards’ and ‘gave the English
international full-back (Bill) Eckersley quite a busy afternoon’.
He obviously impressed
the manager too because he retained his place & played a key role
in City's 4-1 FA Cup third round win over Leicester in mid-January.
City lost at First Division Burnley in round four & Gordon was
back to the reserves after six first team games. With Gordon called
up for his National Service with the Army. There he befriended the
future Manchester United & England centre-forward Tommy Taylor
and represented the Army at football. Army duties however restricted
his appearances for City and his opportunities were few and far
between. City were relegated to Division Three in 1952 and the
veteran Warner retained his place on the wing until early 1953 when
Gordon was promoted again & quickly made the number 7 shirt his
own. In 1953-54 Gordon scored one of the fastest goals in the club’s
history when in a 2-0 home win over Walsall he netted after just 30
seconds.
He was a virtual
ever-present for the next eighteen months & became a very popular
player with the fans. City however failed to bounce back into
Division Two & with gates falling economies were forced on
successive of managers. The bright young players seen as the club's
future had to be sold to prop up the club. Gordon was one of the
first to leave in December 1954, signing for First Division Cardiff
for £18,000.
In the summer of 1955
he was selected in the FA touring party to the West Indies and played
alongside future City manager Jimmy Hill & future England manager
Bobby Robson.
He failed to fulfil
his potential at Ninian Park however and after 17 games (and three
goals) he was on the move again. In September 1955, after impressing
for Cardiff reserves against Arsenal the Gunners boss Tom Whittaker
decided to sign him and Mike Tiddy for a combined fee of £20,000.
Within hours of signing
Gordon made his Arsenal debut in a 1-3 defeat at Sunderland but a
week later scored the winning goal in a 1-0 home victory over Aston
Villa. Over the next five years he made 51 appearances including the
famous 4-5 defeat by Manchester United just a few days before the
1958 Munich disaster when he faced his old army friend Tommy Taylor.
Gordon played alongside many Arsenal greats including Jack Kelsey,
David Herd, Cliff Holton, Tommy Docherty & Dave Bowen.
After leaving Arsenal
in 1960 he had a season at Southend (18 games – 2 goals) followed
by a year in Holland with PSV Eindhoven before returning to England
to play non-league football with Hereford United, Rugby Town &
Bexley United. In 1965 he emigrated to Australia and after briefly
playing for Sydney Croatia & Manly FC he set up a successful film
lighting company in Sydney. Nutt & his family moved to Tasmania
in 1991 and he was president & head coach of the Tasmanian Soccer
Schools for a decade, passing on his wealth of experience and skill
to players and coaches across the state. He also used his contacts
with English football to send talented Tasmanians for trials with
Arsenal and other clubs.
He returned to Coventry
in 2008 for the first time for many years and attended the Legends
Day where despite suffering from dementia he enjoyed the company of
many old colleagues. I have fond memories of his joy at being
reunited with former City colleagues Charlie Timmins, Barry Hawkings
& Lol Harvey.
Described by everyone
who met him as a true gentleman, Gordon is survived by his wife
Jennifer and son Asher. He also has two surviving sisters, one of
whom Shirley Shakespeare still lives in Birmingham and helped me with
information about Gordon. His funeral took place in Cygnet, Tasmania
yesterday.
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