Jim's Column 23.12.2017

Eighteen-year-old Tom Bayliss made a dramatic first league start for the Sky Blues last Saturday. Within two minutes of the kick-off he had netted his first goal for the club – the fastest goal by a City league starting debutant since 1956 when Ron Newman netted in the first minute of his debut against Southampton. Newman was a Welsh-born right-winger who joined City from Northampton Town in a straight swap for Charlie Dutton n March 1956 and went straight into the first team. His goal-time was not recorded in seconds but 'Nemo' in the Pink was clear it hit the net within the first minute. City beat the Saints 2-0 with Ken McPherson netting the second goal. Ron scored one other goal in six appearances before the end of the season, in a 4-1 home win over QPR. The following season he made only seven appearances and moved to Torquay United in July 1957 where he played just four games before moving into non-league circles with Bedford Town, Rugby Town and Rushden Town. He later coached Wellingborough Town and still lives in Northampton.

                                                             Ron Newman in 1955

Since then two players have scored faster debut goals as substitutes. Wayne Andrews scored 26 seconds after coming off the bench at Barnsley in 2006-07 and Laurent Delorge scored within a minute after coming on for his league debut at Sheffield United in 2001.

                                                   Wayne Andrews celebrates at Barnsley

Leicester-born Bayliss celebrated his 18th birthday on 6th April which made him 18 years and 254 days when he scored his first goal. However, that doesn't even put him in the top 10 youngest City goalscorers who are:-

1 Brian Hill v Gillingham 1957-58  16 years 273 days

2 Colin Holder v Shrewsbury 1960-61 17y 78d

3 Tom English v Bristol City 1979-80 17y 307d

4 James Maddison v Oldham (a) 2014-15 17y 332d

5 Willie Carr v Charlton 1967-68 18y 21d

6 Peter Hill v Preston 1949-50 18y 33d

7 Ellis Lager v Bournemouth 1935-36 18y 93d

8 Conor Thomas v Blackpool (a) 2011-12 18y 94d

9 Bobby Gould v Mansfield 1964-65 18y 124d

10 Steve Sedgley v Oldham 1986-87 18y 155d

Bayliss was born in April 1999 and the day is fast approaching when the club will field their first player born in the 21st century. Only Jordan Thompson, born two days after Bayliss, who made his bow in the Checkatrade Trophy game with West Brom as a substitute, was born after Tom.

Geoff Moore, who tracks stats on the players who have appeared at the Ricoh tells me that an opposition player born in the 21st century has already appeared – Walsall's Mitchell Candlin was born on 8th June 2000 and was only 16 when he played against the Sky Blues last April.

Geoff also tracks the nationalities to appear at the Ricoh and has advised me that two recent players were 'firsts'. One of Boreham Wood's substitutes in the recent FA Cup tie was Angelo Balanta, the first Colombian to appear at the stadium. Then, last Saturday, Cheltenham's impressive striker and goalscorer was Sudanese Mohamed Eisa. This takes the total of different nationalities to play at the Ricoh to 85.

We are also getting close to the 1000th player used by the club since they joined the Football League in 1919. That milestone will probably be reached next summer.

Jim's column 16.12.2017

I couldn't believe the small attendance at Coventry City's game at Morecambe last Saturday. Despite there being almost 700 City fans present, the gate of 1,773 was the lowest to watch City in an away league game since 1932 when 1,215 watched us play a Third Division South match at Thames AFC.

Since that grey January day in 1932 these are the ten smallest crowds:

1,773 v Morecambe 2017-18

2,077 v Wimbledon 2002-03
2,275 v Southport 1958-59

2,495 v Rochdale 2015-16

2,505 v Clapton Orient 1935-36

2,544 v Stevenage 2017-18
2,607 v Halifax 1961-62

2,611 v Bury 2016-17

2,791 v Northampton 1933-34

2,828 v Accrington 2017-18

Note: four of the smallest ten have occurred during 2017.

Many City fans will not have heard of Thames AFC before but they were a side formed in 1928 to play in the then new West Ham Stadium in the Custom House area of East London. The stadium was primarily used for greyhound racing and speedway and at the outset had a capacity of 120,000! Initially Thames were members of the Southern League but were voted into the league in 1930. Their stay in the league was

short and unhappy as the club failed to attract support. Despite the capacity of the stadium making it the largest ground in England to ever regularly host league football it holds the unenviable record of attracting the lowest Saturday crowd for a league game with only 469 turning up to watch them play Luton in December 1930. They finished 20th (out of 22) in 1930-31 and bottom the following season after which the club did not apply for re-election and was wound up.

The 1,215 who braved a cold East End day saw a thrilling game with Thames causing an upset by winning 5-2. Before the game Thames were bottom of the league and City were in seventh place, just three points behind second-placed Fulham, having scored 59 goals in 23 games. This was the season that Clarrie Bourton finished as the league's top scorer with 49 goals and he had already netted 30 including four hat-tricks. He fired blanks that day and Frank White and Jock Lauderdale scored City's goals as Thames won only their fourth game of the season and ended a run of five consecutive defeats. They would win only three further games and suffered shattering losses at Cardiff (9-2) and Fulham (8-0) and conceded 109 goals in total.

Ed Blackaby asked me a question about a friendly against Bayern Munich he remembers attending in 1998. He remembers Bayern winning 4-2 and they had German international goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and Brazilian Elber in their line up. Ed wants to know City's line up that night and any other details.

The game was played at Highfield Road on 27 January 1998 and City put up a good fight against their strong German opposition. City had a goalkeeping crisis with Steve Ogrizovic and Magnus Hedman injured and manager Gordon Strachan played Motherwell 'keeper Scott Howie as a guest player. City's line up was: Howie: Boateng, Breen, Hall, Salako: Telfer (sub Shilton 58), Gavin Strachan, Soltvedt, Whelan (sub Hamrouni 73): Dublin (sub Haworth 45), Moldovan.

Moldovan was making his first senior start after joining the club just before Christmas and the substitute El Hamrouni was a Tunisian on trial at the club.

Bayern lined up as follows: Oliver Kahn: Christian Nerlinger, Mehmet Scholl (sub Zickler 77), Thomas Strunz, Giovani Elber, Lothar Matthaus (sub Gerster 62), Bixente Lizarazu, Mario Basler, Thorsten Fink, Michael Tarnat, Carsten Jancker (sub Rizzitelli 77). Ten of the starting XI plus two of the subs were full internationals at the time.

Moldovan opened the scoring in the 9th minute before Scholl equalised on 19 minutes. Elber and Jancker made it 3-1 before half-time. Sub Simon Haworth made it 3-2 before Rizzitelli completed the scoring in the 84th minute to the delight of 140 visiting fans. The attendance was 8,409 and the game was beamed back to German TV where an estimated 3 million viewers watched the action.

Jim's column 9.12.2017

The Sky Blues travel north to play Morecambe today in the first of three league games with significant interest to City statisticians. The next three opponents are playing City in a league game for the first time. Morecambe today is followed next Saturday by Cheltenham Town at home, and then Wycombe Wanderers are at the Ricoh on the Friday before Christmas. Morecambe become City's 117th different opponent since the club joined the Football League in 1919, Cheltenham will be the 118th and Wycombe 119th. City are trailing a few other clubs in this total, notably Grimsby who have met 138 different clubs and Lincoln on 136 however after the Wycombe game City will also have faced all of the current 91 other league clubs – a feat only achieved by three other clubs, Port Vale, Swindon and Notts County.

City have played at Morecambe's Globe Arena before – they were Morecambe's first opponents at the ground after it opened in 2010 and suffered an embarrassing 2-0 League Cup defeat, and also played an FA Cup game there last season. They have also faced Wycombe in cup action before – the infamous two-leg League Cup game in 1993 when after winning the first leg 3-0 Bobby Gould's team were losing 4-0 at Adams Park in the second leg before two late goals saved red faces. Last season the clubs met twice in the Checkatrade Trophy.

The Globe Arena is the 149th different away ground City have played at in league action since 1919 and the fourth new league stadium for City fans this year following Cambridge's Abbey Stadium, Accrington's Wham Stadium and the Hive stadium at Barnet. The 149 includes many exotic grounds no longer with us such as Gateshead's Redheugh Park, Nelson's Seedhill, Ashington's Portland Park and Darlington's Feethams. By the end of this season the total number of grounds will creep up to 153 with trips to Forest Green, Wycombe, Newport and Cheltenham. At that point in time there will be only five grounds in the present 92 that haven't hosted the Sky Blues in a league game: The Etihad (Manchester City), the Emirates (Arsenal), the new Wembley (Tottenham), the London Stadium (West Ham) and the Galpharm (Huddersfield).

One of Coventry City's most ardent fans is Colin Heys who has travelled to City's games from his home in Kent for over 40 years. He told me recently that up to the end of last season he had watched 2090 City first team competitive games on 118 different grounds. He has seen 1047 home games, 1038 aways and five on neutral grounds. But for a ruptured achilles tendon in 2012 he would have seen every City game since 1998 and that injury ended a run of 684 consecutive matches. It's a phenomenal record especially when you consider the distance he lives away from Coventry. I'm sure Kevin Monks has a similar impressive record.

City eased comfortably past Boreham Wood last Sunday after a slightly uncomfortable first twenty minutes and recorded their biggest FA Cup victory since they beat Arlesey Town 3-0 in 2012 to reach the third round for the first time in four years. They now face Premier League opposition in the shape of Stoke City who will be the first top flight side to come to the Ricoh in the competition since Portsmouth in 2010. City and Stoke have only met once before in the competition – in 1987 when the Sky Blues won at the Victoria Ground in the fifth round on their way to Wembley.

Next Wednesday evening I will be with fellow author Steve Phelps at Waterstones in Smithfield Way signing copies of our respective new books. We hope to have several former players with us including Ronnie Farmer, Andy Blair, Peter Bodak and Garry Thompson. Both books are excellent Christmas presents with mine, 'Play Up Sky Blues, Champions 1967', telling the fascinating story of the 1967 promotion season and Steve's, entitled '29 minutes from Wembley' recounting the famous 1981 League Cup run. Come and say hello on Wednesday from 5pm until 6.30 and pick up a present for your loved ones.

Allan Harris RIP

It's sad to report the death of former City defender Allan Harris who passed away last week at the age of 74.

There are not many former Coventry City players whose CV includes coaching one of the top club sides in the world and managing a national team but Allan Harris did both. The modest former City, Chelsea and QPR full-back was coach of Malaysia’s national football team and in the late 1980s was assistant to his former Chelsea team-mate Terry Venables at Barcelona.

Although born in Northampton during World War Two, his family came from East London and grew up in Hackney along with his younger brother, Ron “Chopper” Harris. He made an early mark as a schoolboy as a full-back and both boys joined Chelsea. Allan won England schoolboy caps and then progressed to the national Youth team, playing alongside Martin Peters. He was a member of an outstanding Chelsea Youth teams that won back to back FA Youth Cups in 1960 and 1961.

At Stamford Bridge he got a first team chance at the age of 18, making his debut in Chelsea's first ever League Cup game, a 4-2 win over Workington. He kept his place and was on the winning side in his first six games during which the Blues netted 27 goals. It was a golden period at the Bridge with 'Ted Drake's Ducklings' as the press called them, scoring goals for fun. The side included an 20-year old Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Tambling, Terry Venables and Peter Bonetti. John Sillett was also at the club, as well as his brother Peter and competition was tough at full back.

In 1961-62 with Greaves sold to AC Milan the Pensioners struggled and Drake's departure opened the door for Tommy Docherty to become manager. 'The Doc' couldn't stop them being relegated and Allan was now playing in Division Two with his appearances were restricted by the form of Eddie McCreadie. The team bounced back at the first attempt but Allan was no longer a regular and in November 1964, after making 80 league and cup appearances, manager Docherty accepted Jimmy Hill's offer of £35,000 for Allan.

A number of years ago he told me: “I didn’t really want to leave Chelsea or London but when I saw the set up that Jimmy Hill and Derrick Robins had created at Coventry I was very quickly sold on the club.”

He made his Sky Blues debut in a 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road but got a shock a week later as City, without the injured George Curtis, were hammered 5-3 at home by Rotherham. Allan however quickly settled into the Sky Blues team becoming the first-choice left-back and impressing the fans with his stylish play. In 1965-66 he played 40 league games and eight cup games, netting his only goal in a League Cup victory at Leyton Orient.

                                                Allan supporting the legendary George Curtis

Towards the end of the season he told Jimmy Hill that he and his wife had struggled to settle in the Midlands and he was keen to move back to the capital. He made his 69th and final appearance in a City shirt in the penultimate game at Huddersfield when City won 2-0 to keep their thin chances of promotion alive. Before the final game of the season he was transferred back to Chelsea (with JH netting a profit of £10,000). The Blues had an injury crisis ahead of their Fairs Cup semi final with Barcelona and four days after appearing at Huddersfield he played in the first leg of the semi final as Chelsea won 2-0, and two weeks after that he was in the team at the Nou Camp as Barca trounced the Blues 5-0.

His second spell at the Bridge was frustrating and he made only 20 or so appearances, the last of which was at Wembley, alongside brother Ron, as Chelsea lost the FA Cup final to Tottenham. He joined QPR in 1967 where, in his first season, he was a member of Rangers’ Division 2 promotion team under Alec Stock.

He left QPR in 1971 and after brief spells at Plymouth, Cambridge United, Hayes and St Patricks Athletic Allan decided to move into management. In 1976 his ex-Chelsea teammate Terry Venables became manager at Crystal Palace and Harris joined him as a coach. Two promotions in three seasons made Venables and Harris hot property and in 1980 Allan followed Terry to QPR.

At Loftus Road the pairs’ reputation was enhanced by an FA Cup final appearance in 1982 (they lost after a replay to Spurs) and promotion to Division 1 the following year. In May 1984 Venables received a huge offer to manage Barcelona and Allan was Terry’s right hand man as they helped Barca win their first Spanish league title for 11 years. The following season they were surprisingly beaten by Steaua Bucharest in the European Cup final and in 1986 when Venables resigned Allan followed him to Tottenham.

In 1989 he left Spurs to manage Spanish club Espanol. Later spells managing club sides in Kuwait, Egypt and Turkey enabled him to achieve his ambitions and see the world. His last post in England was a spell as number two at Reading in 1997 and between 2000-04 he held the top job in Malaysia and was highly rated in South East Asia.

He retired to his home in Epsom, Surrey but in recent years has been suffering from Alzheimer's and in a care home.

In 2003 he told me: “I had a short but very enjoyable stay at Coventry. The fans were great to me and I have great memories of a club going places in the 1960s. I had no doubt that the club would reach the top division and it was no surprise that they stayed there so long.”