Jim's column 30.3.2019

Two weeks ago I wrote about the sad passing of former Coventry City player Graham Newton and former director Micky French. Since then I have had communication from several people that I would like to share with you.

First, Graham's widow Christine informed me that Graham's funeral will take place on Tuesday 9th April (1.30) at Telford Crematorium and afterwards at Patshull Park Hotel near Wolverhampton. All are welcome.

Then I spoke to Micky's son, Simon French, who was kind enough to send me a couple of cuttings from Micky's scrapbook. Micky was on City's books as a 17-year-old and made his debut for City's reserve team at Tottenham in September 1947 on the left wing. City included their goal machine George Lowrie who had lost form after two hatricks in the opening three games for the first team. Before the end of the season, the Welsh international centre-forward was sold to Newcastle for what was in those days a massive £18,000 fee. City's goalkeeper was a young Peter Taylor, later to become Brian Clough's right-hand man at Derby and Forest and the Murphy was Peter who later became a top player and joined Spurs for a big fee in the early 1950s before playing in the 1956 FA Cup final for Birmingham City. City's reserves lost 7-1 to a Spurs team containing seven players with first team experience. 

Finally, I had a nice obituary on Micky from Leamington FC historian Paul Vanes:

Michael, known to everybody as Micky, was born in London playing for London Schools before his school was evacuated to Oxford during the war. Association football was not on the curriculum of his adopted school and as Micky’s first love was soccer, he was not to be denied his game, so he played rugby on Saturday and soccer on Sunday.

When he left school Micky moved to Coventry and joined Stoke St. Michaels in the Minor League. His consistent displays for Stoke won him a place in the Birmingham County F.A. Youth Xl needless to say his performances soon attracted the League scouts and he signed amateur forms Coventry City for whose ‘A’ and Reserves teams he played.

Micky, like all young men, had to do his National Service and after two years in the R.A.F. was signed for the Brakes by ex-City player Les Latham who knew of his ability. As an amateur he played for the Birmingham County F.A. and then signed professional forms in 1952 going on to play two consecutive seasons for the Rest of The Birmingham Combination versus the champions.

Micky made his debut for Lockheed against Tamworth on 10th of February 1951 keeping his place throughout the rest of the season winning a medal beating Hereford United Reserves in the final of the Birmingham Senior cup replay at the Windmill in front of 3.500 fans. Another medal was collected when Brakes beat Bedworth Town 6-1 at the Oval in the final of the local Charity cup with Micky scoring one of the goals.

From a goal scoring point of view, Micky netted four times against Birch Coppice Colliery in a 6-1 home win on January 20th 1954 and recorded 11 for the season, the best of his Lockheed career. August 22nd 1955 saw Lockheed host Northampton Town in a joint benefit match for Micky French, Frank Grimwood and Albert Sneddon, Cobbles ran out winners by the odd goal in three watched by 1,445 fans and Brakes goal was scored by ………Micky French.

Many league clubs tried to poach Micky away from the semi-professional game but he resisted and in October 1955, he joined Rugby Town. He played over 170 games scoring 35 goals for Lockheed. By trade Micky was a chartered accountant joining Coventry City as a director in 1969 and resigned in 1992

His brother David, who pre-deceased him, was also a professional player with Lockheed in 1951/52 and 1952/53. I am sorry this obituary is belated but we did find out until last week Micky had passed away from dementia and cancer. Micky is now slinging over the corners and crosses for Bill Draper to head home on the green grass upstairs.

May we offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to wife June, son Simon, daughter Alison and her three children plus all the family and the friends of this very nice man on behalf of everyone at Leamington Football Club and the Brakes Trust. The funeral was at Oakley Woods last month.

Jim's column 16.3.2019

Graham Newton

22.12.1942 – 25.2.2019

It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City and Walsall player Graham Newton at the age of 76. He played a very small but important part in City's history, playing just eight games that helped the club over the line to the 1963-64 Third Division championship.

At the start of January 1964 City had an eight point lead at the top of the table and looked odds-on favourites for promotion. They had lost only three league games out of 27 and had no FA Cup commitments to hinder their charge to promotion. Then, inexplicably, the wheels fell off and they failed to win any of their next 11 games before finally getting back to winning ways on the last Saturday in March. Lots of theories were put forward for the slump – City had been rumbled by their opponents, the injured pair George Hudson and Ernie Machin were missed, the heavy pitches were blamed – and Jimmy Hill, under pressure for the first time as a manager, tried everything to turn the off-course ship back on course including considering a hypnotist to work on the players. JH wanted to strengthen the squad and bring some new blood in and in February he paid Walsall a small fee for their young inside forward Graham Newton, later spending over £20,000 on the more experienced pair of George Kirby and John Smith. Newton had impressed Hill playing for the Saddlers at Highfield Road in December.

                              1964 promotion team with Newton second from left in middle row.                                    

21-year-old Graham made his debut in a 2-2 home draw with Brentford and Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph described him as 'without question City's most persistent forward, and deserved a goal for his dogged work'. He was involved in the first goal, pressurising Brentford's Matt Crowe to deflect Ronnie Farmer's shot past his own keeper. A week later Graham netted his first City goal in a 1-1 draw at Wrexham as City's lead was cut down to one point and followed up with another goal a week later in a 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth as City put on their best performance since the New Year with 35 shots on goal. After another draw, the fourth in a row, 1-1 at Watford, City got the shock of their lives when Southend came to Highfield Road on Friday 13th March and ran out 5-2 victors despite the return of the talismanic George Hudson. With City knocked off top spot, Hill acted speedily and signed Kirby and Smith, and Graham was left out the following week but returned for the Oldham home game when the Sky Blues suddenly recovered form. George Kirby netted a hat-trick and Graham scored the other in a relief-inducing 4-1 win.

He appeared in two further games as City staggered to the end of the season before taking advantage of their rivals Crystal Palace and Watford losing on the final day, and beat Colchester 1-0 in front of 36,901, and clinched the title. Hudson was back from injury for the Colchester game and Graham watched from the sidelines as George scored the only goal.

The following season with Machin fit, Graham failed to break into the first team and made one appearance in a 4-1 League Cup win over Ipswich. In December 1964 he joined Third Division Bournemouth.

Graham was born in Bilston in the Black Country and kept his trademark accent throughout his life. He was on Wolves' books as a teenager but was released in 1961 and was on Blackpool's books for a few months, playing in their Central League side. A move back to the Midlands and Walsall in 1962 was perfect and he broke into the Saddlers first team a month before his 20th birthday. Walsall were struggling in Division Two and league leaders Chelsea thumped them 5-1 to ruin Graham's big day. He kept his place for one more game but was then out of the team until Easter Monday by which time Walsall were rock bottom. His re-appearance sparked a mini revival as the Saddlers lost only two of nine games with Graham netting six goals. On the morning of the final game, at home to Charlton, they needed a single point to stay up and send Charlton and Luton down. It was a disastrous day with Graham playing on after breaking his ankle and goalkeeper Alan Boswell also injured and a 16,000 crowd watched Charlton win 2-1 and send the Saddlers down.

After leaving Highfield Road Graham had three seasons at Bournemouth making 30 odd appearances before taking up an offer to play in the USA with Atlanta Chiefs. One of the pioneers of US Soccer, Phil Woosnam, signed Graham and in the 1967 season he netted eight goals in 15 games. In 1968 playing alongside former British stars such as Peter McParland and Ray Bloomfield he netted 10 goals as Atlanta won the League title. Apart from a brief sojourn at Port Vale in 1968-69, Graham stayed in the states and in 1970 was a member of the Atlanta team that played the touring Coventry City side, the Sky Blues winning 2-1. He always talked about his time in the US and the great lifestyle he and his wife enjoyed.

In the early 1970s Graham was still playing non-league football in the West Midlands at clubs such as Hednesford, Worcester City and Stourbridge. He later returned to the USA, running very successful soccer schools.

In retirement he played golf enthusiastically and was captain at Patshull Park, his local golf club. I played with him on a number of occasions and he was great company as well as being very positive about life in general. He was a tireless fund raiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust, was a regular attendee at Former Players events at both Coventry and Walsall and was at the Jimmy Hill Celebration day at the Ricoh in December. He died whilst on holiday in Spain.

It was also sad to hear last week of the death of former Coventry City director Micky French at the age of 89. Micky was one of a rare breed to play for the club and join the board – he represented City Reserves as an amateur in the early 1950s (he was a nippy winger) before combining an accountancy career with turning out for Lockheed Leamington. A keen cricketer, he was brought on to the board by Derrick Robins in 1969 and was a director up until 1992 serving under various chairmen, including Peter Robins, Phil Mead and John Poynton. Poynton, City's chairman at the time of the 1987 FA Cup triumph described him as a hard-working director of the club and a massive City fan. 'He always had the club's interests in everything he did as a director and wholeheartedly supported me at all times'.

                                 City's directors in 1987 with French standing third from left.

Jim's column 2.3.2019

Following Jordan Willis' milestone of reaching 200 games for the Sky Blues at Luton on Sunday (and what a performance he gave) we have another milestone looming. Goalkeeper Lee Burge, castigated and praised for his performance at Kenilworth Road will all being well make his 150th appearance for the club. Like Willis, a product of the club's successful Academy, Hereford-born Lee made his first team bow in a League Cup tie against Cardiff City – the penultimate game at Sixfields. Two other home-grown players also made their debut that night, Jack Finch and James Maddison in a 2-1 defeat. Prior to that he had sat on the sub's bench almost 60 times and was soon back there with Ryan Allsop keeping him out of the team. Lee made his league debut in a 3-2 home win over Peterborough a couple of months later and within months was the first choice.

Lee becomes the eighty eighth Coventry City player to join the 150 club and the thirteenth goalkeeper and what an illustrious group of 'keepers he joins. At 150 he is just one game behind City's most capped player Swede Magnus Hedman and six behind his predecessor Joe Murphy and 60s giant Bob Wesson. The full list of City's top goalkeepers is:

601 games Steve Ogrizovic 1984-2000

402 Bill Glazier 1964-74

246 Alf Wood 1938-58

236 Jerry Best 1920-25

180 Les Sealey 1977-83

174 Jim Blyth 1975-80

165 Arthur Lightening 1958-62

163 Tommy Allen 1928-32

160 Bill Morgan 1932-39

156 Bob Wesson 1958-66

156 Joe Murphy 2011-14

151 Magnus Hedman 1997-2002

These 13 goalkeepers (including Burge) have kept goal in over 66% of Coventry City games since the club joined the league in 1919 and that doesn't include three other centurions including Keiren Westwood and our first England international, Reg Matthews. What a reputation the club has for fine goalkeepers.

City's fine draw at Luton was covered by Sky TV and was the ninth game running that the club have remained unbeaten in live televised games stretching back over two years. In reverse order the unbeaten games are:

February 2019 Luton (a) 1-1

September 2018 Sunderland (h) 1-1

September 2018 Oxford (a) 2-1

May 2018 Exeter (n) 3-1 (Play-off final)

May 2018 Notts County (a) 4-1 (Play-off semi final)

May 2018 Notts County (h) 1-1 (Play-off semi final)

October 2017 Barnet (a) 0-0
April 2017 Oxford (n) 2-1 (Checkatrade final)
February 2017 Wycombe (h) 2-1 (Checkatrade semi final)

The club's last defeat on TV was the home game with Sheffield United in December 2016 when Billy Sharp's added-time goal made it 2-1.