Dublin-based Pat
Sweeney was very sorry to hear of the passing of Jimmy Hill. He never
saw him as player but remembers him taking the Sky Blues to Dublin in
1963.
He wrote to me:
'In the winter of
1963 there was "the Big Freeze" in Britain bringing
football to stand still. The weather was not as bad in Ireland so
some clubs came to train and play in Dublin. Coventry played
Manchester United on a Saturday in late January/early February at
Glenmalure Park, the then home of Shamrock Rovers. The ground was
packed out to the end lines, a great game, ending in a 2-2 draw.
I was 15 years old then, there was no
television, the only football news was in newspapers and Football
Monthly'.
The winter of 1962-63
was the worst in living memory and City didn't play a game between
Boxing Day and the last week in February. Game after game was called
off because of snowbound or icy pitches as the country virtually
ground to a halt. The FA Cup third round tie at Lincoln, scheduled
for the first weekend of January was eventually played in March after
16 postponements because of snow or ice and this pattern was repeated
all over the country.
At the end of January
after the coming Saturday’s game at Shrewsbury was postponed,
Jimmy Hill grasped the nettle. A call to Manchester United’s
manager Matt Busby resulted in a hastily arranged friendly in Dublin.
Hill always seeking publicity for the club, had realised that Ireland
was far less badly hit by the weather and using his contacts in the
Fair isle organised this tasty friendly. Hill had first tried Joe
Mercer at Aston Villa but Joe’s players were worried about getting
injured. Busby however was more adventurous and, like Hill, was
desperate for his team to get some competitive play, and duly put out
his strongest team including his expensive forward line of : Johnny
Giles, Albert Quixall, David Herd, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton.
City flew out of
Birmingham's Elmdon Airport on the Friday and the following day, when
only four games were played on the English mainland, City and United
met at Shamrock Rovers’ Glenmalure Park in a game that belied the
two division’s difference in status. With United’s stars rattled
by City’s enthusiasm City recovered from an early Quixall goal to
lead 2-1 at half-time with goals from Ronnie Farmer and Jimmy
Whitehouse. With Willie Humphries and Ronnie Rees giving Shay Brennan
and Noel Cantwell an uncomfortable afternoon and Brian Hill marking
Law like a limpet, City had chances to increase their lead. Bobby
Charlton finally saved United’s red faces nine minutes from time
with an equaliser but Coventry City had made a major impression, and
also a few bob from a 15,000 crowd.
The following Saturday,
again after another early postponement (a home game with Port Vale)
City flew to Cork to play Wolves in a friendly. Whilst not the force
they had been in the late 1950s, Wolves were in the top six in
Division One (higher than Manchester United) and fielded experienced
internationals Ron Flowers and Peter Broadbent. On a miserably wet
day, the muddy pitch suited Wolves’ style perfectly and although
City had chances in the first half, Wolves’ strength and experience
told and they ran out 3-0 winners in front of a drowned crowd of
6,500.
Pat wanted to know the
Sky Blues' line up on that Saturday in Dublin. They lined up as
follows: Bob Wesson: John Sillett, Mick Kearns, Brian Hill, George
Curtis, Ronnie Farmer, Willie Humphries, Ken Hale, Terry Bly, Jimmy
Whitehouse, Ronnie Rees.
Dave Long found my
attendance statistics last week very interesting and wanted to know
when City had last had more than 15,000 for a night league game
before the Walsall game, other than the famous Gillingham game last
season. The Walsall crowd was 15,671 and was the largest night crowd,
apart from Gillingham, since City were relegated from the
Championship in 2012. That season they entertained Leeds in February
and the attendance was 15,704 but there were over 3,200 Leeds fans at
the game, which City won 2-1 with two Gary McSheffrey goals. You have
to go back a further two years, to March 2010 for the previous
largest crowd of City fans. City lost 1-2 to Cardiff in front of
16,038 and there were over 15,000 Coventry supporters present.
Saturday's crowd of 17,140 takes the average for the season to
13,461, a 44% increase over last season's final average. Let's hope
the two results last week were a minor blip and that the higher gates
are maintained.
The long unbeaten home
run came to an end last Saturday against Burton. The Brewers were the
first side to win a league game at the Ricoh since last April when
Crewe lowered the colours – a run of 13 without loss. It was the
best run from the start of a season since 1955 when City's Third
Division South side under the management of Jesse Carver (until New
Years Eve) and then George Raynor, remained unbeaten in 15 home games
before losing 1-0 to Northampton on the 18th February.
This season's run did set a new record for City at the Ricoh, topping
the 12-game run under Micky Adams in 2005-06 and was the best
unbeaten home run since a 15-game run without loss under Gordon Milne
between March 1978 and February 1979. I heard some fans moaning after
the Burton loss but it is worth remembering the woeful home form of
last season when between September and the season's end the team won
only three home games out of 18. No wonder our crowds slumped to
under 7,000.
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