John O'Rourke 11.2.1945 - 7.7.2016

Everyone at Coventry City and the Former Players Association were saddened to hear of the passing of John O'Rourke last week.

Noel Cantwell signed John from Ipswich Town in November 1969 for £80,000, seeing him as the ideal strike partner for his star centre-forward Neil Martin. John had an excellent scoring record in the lower divisions before arriving at Highfield Road and although his scoring record didn't match the heights he had achieved at Luton and Middlesbrough he is remembered for his efforts and goals in the 1969-70 season which saw the Sky Blues qualify for European football for the first time.

At the start of that momentous season the Sky Blues were the bookies' favourites for relegation, having escaped by the skin of their teeth in the previous two campaigns. Manager Cantwell however was to prove the experts wrong. A five-game unbeaten start and away wins at Arsenal and Derby in early October pushed the team amazingly into the top six but three successive defeats and a dearth of goals in early November saw them slip back to 12^th place. Chairman Derrick Robins, afraid that his dream of seeing his team in Europe was slipping away, urged Cantwell to strengthen the team. In came centre-half Roy Barry, destined to become a Sky Blue legend, to replace the long-serving captain George Curtis, and two weeks later O'Rourke arrived from Ipswich. John's debut, at home to Newcastle, saw him partnered with emergency striker Maurice Setters as Martin was injured, and the mini-slump was arrested by a late Ernie Hunt penalty. O'Rourke was paired with Martin in the next game, a 3-2 home win over Tottenham, and scored the second goal in a 3-2 victory which was more emphatic than the score suggests.

Martin and O'Rourke hit it off immediately and the team won eight out of nine league games with John netting a brace, both headers, in a thumping 3-0 home win over Manchester City as City's unlikely challenge for top six place became a reality. Despite being under six foot tall he was superb in the air & many of his goals came from headers. John scored 11 goals in 20 league games that memorable season as the Sky Blues galloped towards a European place. As the season reached its climax Cantwell knew that two wins from their final three games (all away) would be enough to guarantee sixth place and European football. City travelled to Nottingham Forest and O'Rourke grabbed a hat-trick in the 4-1 victory. Three days later sixth place was confirmed with a 1-0 win at Molineux.

                                                     O'Rourke scores one of his three at Forest

The following season another hat trick, at Trakia Plovdiv, launched the club’s European Fairs Cup campaign with a 4-1 win and he scored the winning goal in the home leg against the mighty Bayern Munich. John was a predatory striker and many of his goals were from close range but in the League Cup victory over West Ham he hit a screamer from 35 yards. However goals in the league were harder to come by and he managed only five in 28 games to add to the six in Cup-ties.

In March 1971 his partner Neil Martin, who had also lost his goal touch, was sold to Nottingham Forest and by the end of the season John had been displaced by a strike force of Billy Rafferty and Ernie Hunt. At the start of 1971-72 season John was briefly back in favour but Cantwell had his eyes on Hull City's Chris Chilton. Although John scored in his last league start in a City shirt, a classic 3-3 draw at Chelsea, Chilton signed the following week and soon afterwards John was on his way to Second Division QPR for £70,000. In total he made 66 appearances and scored 23 goals for Coventry.

John O’Rourke was born in Northampton in 1945 after his family were evacuated out of London during World War Two but they moved back to Dagenham after the war. As a schoolboy at Campbell School and Bifrons Secondary School in Barking, John was selected to play for Barking Schools and in 1960 was the star of the team that reached the quarter-finals of the English Schools Trophy. In the fifth round they defeated Hackney Schools who boasted future stars Rodney Marsh and Ron 'Chopper' Harris and in round six John scored the only goal in the defeat of Swindon before losing to Stockton. His schoolboy exploits earned him an England trial game which resulted in him winning a schoolboy 'cap' against Scotland at Aberdeen

In his teens he was on the books of both Arsenal and Chelsea and although he made one League Cup appearance for the Blues in September 1963 he was behind the likes of Peter Osgood, Barry Bridges and Bobby Tambling in the Chelsea pecking order and found it impossible to break into the league side.

In December 1963 he was released by Chelsea joining Luton Town and he made an instant impact at Kenilworth Road scoring 22 goals in 23 games including four in a 6-2 win at Brentford and both goals in Luton's victory over Watford that ensured the Sky Blues won promotion that season. Sadly Luton were a team on the decline and the following season were relegated to Division Four with John, despite injuries, scoring 10 goals in 21 games. In 1965-66 he netted 32 goals and in the summer of 1966 a move to a higher status was on the cards. Middlesbrough, newly relegated to Division Three, signed John for £20,000 as a replacement for Ian Gibson, recently sold to the Sky Blues. John flourished in a powerful 'Boro team and netted 30 goals including a hat-trick in the crucial game with Oxford that clinched promotion. Former 'Boro skipper remembers his influence: 'John was a great goalscorer. He wasn’t the sort who would run around all over the place, but he was very quick and had an eye for goal. In the box he was absolutely deadly, forming a great partnership with John Hickton and Arthur Horsfield.'

In the summer of 1967 Alf Ramsey selected John for the England Under 23 tour and in his only game he scored in a 3-0 victory over Turkey playing alongside future stars such as Allan Clarke, Ralph Coates and Colin Harvey.

In Division Two the following season he continued to score, averaging a goal every other game, before another move, to Ipswich Town for £30,000, in early 1968. He had a dream start at Portman Road, scoring six goals in his first four games and Bill McGarry's team remained unbeaten for 15 games to clinch the Second Division title. The Tractor Boys did well in the First Division, finishing 12^th and John netted 16 goals but after McGarry left to manage Wolves there were problems. New manager Bobby Robson and John didn't see eye to eye and John was transfer-listed and suspended by the club for allegedly refusing to train. The resolution was a move and when Cantwell offered £80,000 for O'Rourke Robson saw an opportunity to fund a rebuilding job on his squad.

After leaving City he had an early rush of goals in a strong QPR side featuring Rodney Marsh and a young Gerry Francis but lost his place to Stan Bowles and in early 1974 he moved to Bournemouth. John struggled in a poor Bournemouth side that included Harry Redknapp and was relegated to Division Four. After 21 games in two seasons he was released and at the age of 29 his league career was over. He played for Johannesburg Rangers in South Africa briefly in 1975 before playing non-league football with Poole Town and later Weymouth and Dorchester Town. He settled on the South Coast and ran a newsagent's in Highcliffe, Christchurch for several years before working at Bournemouth Airport.

                                          John receives his CCFPA tie from the late Bob Bromage in 2011

In his twelve year professional career he made 366 appearances and scored 178 goals – an exceptional scoring record.

With thanks to Barking & District Historical Society and the English National Football Archive (www.enfa.co.uk)