It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City & Gillingham player Roy Proverbs who passed away on 15th February aged 84. Born in the Black Country at Wednesbury on 8th July 1932, Roy attended Wood Green Junior and Kings Hill Senior Schools in the town. He was a talented schoolboy footballer, playing for his school team and selected for the town's schools team two years running.
After
leaving school he worked as a wood machinist and continued his
football with St Pauls Youth Club. He did his National Service as a
rifleman in the North Staffordshire Infantry Regiment spending time
in Trieste in Italy and playing football for his regiment. After
being demobbed he began a career in sign-writing and played football
for South Staffs Territorial Battalion team. He soon attracted the
attention of Birmingham & District League team Stourbridge before
moving to play one season at Stratford Town in the
same
league. It was whilst
playing for Stratford that City chief scout Harry Barratt spotted his
potential & recommended that City boss George Raynor sign him.
Roy
arrived at Highfield Road in May 1956, sharing digs with goalkeeper
Alf Bentley. By the time the 1956-57 season started Raynor had been
replaced as manager by Harry Warren who had different ideas as to how
Third Division sides should play. Roy, a defensive wing-half, made
his City debut in an early season 1-1 draw at Southampton but only
played 11 first team games. His last appearance was just before
Christmas 1956 in a 4-2 defeat at Exeter which left City in 21st
position in Division Three South. Proverbs was one of several players
who filled the role vacant because of injury to Lol Harvey but he
failed to make a big impression with Warren and left to join
Bournemouth at the end of the season.
At
Dean Court Roy was unable to break into a strong Bournemouth side and
in February 1958 moved on to Gillingham, managed by Harry Barratt. He
was a regular for the Gills for the next four years, earning the
nickname 'Chopper', and played 154 games as either a full-back or
wing-half, appearing alongside other ex-City men Ronnie Waldock &
Bill Patrick.
In
1962 following Barratt’s departure he joined Canterbury City and
later appeared for Tunbridge Wells, Banbury Spencer and Kings Lynn.
His final game for Kings Lynn was in January 1965 when in the
programme the club thanked him for his 'all-out effort in every game
in which he has played' and wished him success in his 'new
partnership'.
At
this time he moved back to the Black Country and became a full-time
sign-writer, a profession he continued for over 30 years until
retirement.
His
son Paul, whom I'm grateful to for supplying some of the information
here, tells me his father fell out of love with football after his
playing career and wasn't one to talk much about his days as a
footballer even to his two sons.
After
football his main interests were music (he was a lifelong devotee of
jazz and classical to a lesser degree), reading (novels &
non-fiction) and he also became very interested in left of centre
politics. He was a stubborn character who eschewed many 'creature
comforts' much to the frustration of his wife. He was also quite
proud of never owning a car; hence he used to walk everywhere which
probably helped him maintain a good level of fitness despite being a
heavy smoker.
He
lived in Willenhall until he had to go into a care-home a couple of
years ago suffering from dementia. Roy was a member of the Former
Players Association but was never well enough to attend events. A
small funeral with family and close friends is planned.
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Last
Saturday the Sky Blues finally got a victory, beating Gillingham 2-1
to end the disastrous league run of 15 games since the last win on
1st
November. The record books will have it as the third longest league
run since the club joined the Football League in 1919, with only the
19-game run in that first season and the 16-game run without a win in
2003 under Gary McAllister topping this season's woeful record.
The
victory was Russell Slade's first league win as a City manager in his
tenth game in charge and he equals Noel Cantwell's similar run when
he arrived in the autumn of 1967.
Many
fans will have noticed that City's scorers against Gillingham shared
the same surname, Thomas. Kwame Thomas netted his second Sky Blue
goal in his third appearance, whilst academy graduate George Thomas
scored his first league goal. George made his debut as a 16-year old
at Leyton Orient in 2014 and has now made 28 league appearances (14
starts & 14 as substitute) – let's hope it's the first of many.
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