Sunday 20 December 2020

Jim's column 19.12.2020

 The 0-0 draw with Huddersfield on Wednesday night, acknowledged by Mark Robins as one of the best results of the season, extended the Sky Blues unbeaten run in the league to eight games. I had to go back a long way to find the last such run in the Championship and discovered it was Autumn 2003. In mid-October, under the stewardship of Gary McAllister, the team lost 3-1 at home to Cardiff before going on an eight-game run with one win and seven draws!

The only change that McAllister made after the Cardiff game was to drop goalkeeper Scott Shearer and give a debut to former Leicester and Liverpool custodian Pegguy Arphexad. Three days later City got a hard won 1-1 draw at Watford before winning 3-1 at Derby with Stephen Warnock and Patrick Suffo (2) on target. Then came five successive draws the final one being 1-1 at Crystal Palace when debutant loanee Johnny Jackson came off the bench to score a late equaliser. By this time Arphexad had been injured after just five games and Gavin Ward was between the posts. The run came to an end on a cold night at Rotherham when early goals from Darren Byfield and Shaun Barker gave the Millers the points. As a side note a certain Mark Robins came off the bench for Rotherham near the end. This turned out to be McAllister's penultimate game in charge – a week later he temporarily stood down to take care of his sick wife and Eric Black took the role. At the start of the run the Sky Blues were in 16th place, by the end of the run they were 15th. The eight game run was as follows:

October 21 Watford (a) 1-1 Staunton

October 25 Derby (a) 3-1 Warnock, Suffo 2

November 1 West Ham (h) 1-1 Barrett

November 5 Bradford C (h) 0-0 -

November 8 Sunderland (a) 0-0 -

November 22 Gillingham (h) 2-2 Joachim 2

November 25 Norwich (a) 1-1 McAllister (pen)

November 29 Crystal Palace (a) 1-1 Jackson

Over the last two weeks numerous people have asked me if Coventry City are close to setting a club record of penalties conceded in a season. At Wycombe last Saturday the Sky Blues conceded their seventh league penalty of the season and there have been two others in League Cup games at MK Dons and Gillingham.

The league penalties, which have all been converted, with the culprits, are:

QPR (h) Lyndon Dykes (foul by McFadzean)

Blackburn (h) Adam Armstrong (foul by Rose)

Nottm. Forest (a) Lyle Taylor (foul by McFadzean)

Watford (a) Ismaila Sarr (handball by O'Hare)

Norwich (a) Mario Vrancic (foul by Wilson)

Rotherham (h) Daniel Barlaser (foul by Wilson)

Wycombe (a) Joe Jacobsen (foul by Sheaf)

The penalty at MK Dons was saved by Marosi after Drysdale committed a foul whilst Jordan Graham scored from the spot for Gillingham after a foul by Rose.

The penalties had no effect on the final score in three of the league games but without them City would have picked up an extra point at both Forest and Watford and an extra two points at Norwich. It could be argued that at least five of the seven league penalties were soft and perhaps wouldn't have been given on another day.

The club record for league penalties conceded in a single season is 12, set in 2013-14 (the Northampton season). Goalkeeper Joe Murphy set a club record by saving five of them, so seven were scored.

The record for league penalties scored against City is 10, in 1979-80 season when no opposition penalties were missed/saved. That season some great players of the era netted from the penalty spot including Glen Hoddle (two in a 4-3 loss at Tottenham), John Robertson (scored home and away), Peter Barnes, Sammy McIlroy and John Wark.

In the last ten seasons the Sky Blues have conceded an average of seven league penalties a season whilst the average for the previous 64 seasons (i.e. since World War II) is 4.5 per season. This backs up the theory that there are more penalties given in the modern game. I haven't got the stats for penalties given in the domestic game this season but from watching Premier League games there seems to have been an increase, a number coming controversially as a result of VAR.

City have only been awarded one penalty this season (v Bournemouth) and their average for the last ten years in 3.9, just over half that conceded. Lets hope that the number of penalties conceded is one record that the Sky Blues can avoid this season and they can put an end to the current sequence.

This is my last column of 2020 so I will wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021 when hopefully we will get back to watching the Sky Blues continue their phoenix-like rise up the leagues.


Sunday 6 December 2020

Jim's column 5-12-2020

 Former Coventry City player Graham Walker asked me for help in tracking down his senior debut for the club. Graham, a centre-half, joined the club's groundstaff straight from school and progressed to the professional staff. He had been in the reserve team for some time before he got his chance in October 1958. In the early years of floodlit football English clubs weren't allowed to play competitive games under lights and whetted fans' appetites for the new innovation by arranging friendlies with higher status teams, foreign teams and Scottish clubs. Between 1953, when the first floodlights were installed, and 1959 City played 26 such friendlies. Almost 17,000 watched City play Queen of the South in the first floodlight game in October 1953 but the novelty slowly wore off and although a similar crowd watched the infamous game with Argentinian club San Lorenzo in 1956, crowds generally slipped under 10,000.


In October 1958 City invited Sunderland to Highfield Road for a floodlit friendly on a Monday evening. The Roker club, known as the Bank of England club just a few years previously because of the number of big money signings they had in their team, had lost their First Division status for the very first time the previous season. They had also been found guilty of illegal payments to players and suffered a heavy fine. In Division Two they were struggling having lost key players such as Don Revie and Billy Bingham and were bottom of the table with just three wins in 14 games. A 4-1 defeat at Bristol City on the previous Saturday had increased the gloom and their party had spent a miserable weekend at Leamington's Regent Hotel licking their wounds.



City, on the other hand were riding high in second place in Division Four after a 2-2 draw at Workington and looked a good bet for promotion from the division at the first attempt. Gates which had dropped to below 8,000 the previous campaign were above 20,000 with the team unbeaten in six games. They would be without their outstanding young centre-half George Curtis who had suffered concussion at Workington and had seen a specialist on the Monday morning. Graham tells the story: On the Monday morning I received a hand delivered postcard requesting me to report to Highfield Road for the evening game in which the “gaffer” Billy Frith was thinking of  playing me in the second half. We often received postcards either sent or hand delivered informing us when to report for certain games'.

                                          Graham Walker in his playing days

Frank Austin, normally a wing-half, deputised for Curtis but at half-time Graham was told to strip off and come on as substitute (in those days subs weren't permitted in competitive games). Austin moved to left half, replacing Mick Kearns and both he and Walker wore a number 5 shirt. It was 0-0 at half-time but Sunderland, even with several reserves, came to life after the break and England B international Stan Anderson put them ahead after 63 minutes. Nine minutes later Sunderland and former England winger Colin Grainger went down under a challenge from Walker and a penalty was awarded.


'It was never a penalty', says Walker, 'and after the final whistle Grainger winked at me and said “never mind kid. Win some lose some”.' Anderson scored from the penalty spot and Maltby added a third goal before Brian Hill headed a late consolation goal for City. Graham remembers the fog descending and that the the old fashioned floodlighting 'wasn't the best in those conditions'. The attendance of 4,979 convinced the club that the days of floodlight friendlies was over and it was the last one for over three years when Jimmy Hill reinstated them. I was able to send Graham a copy of the match report and after reading it he said that it wasn't a surprise that he had forgotten the game.


City's team that night was: Graham Spratt: Roy Kirk, Lol Harvey: Brian Nicholas, Frank Austin (sub Graham Walker), Mick Kearns (sub Frank Austin): Peter Hill, Ray Straw, Jimmy Rogers, Brian Hill, Ken Satchwell.

Sunday 29 November 2020

Maurice Setters (16.12.1936- 22.11.2020)

 It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City player Maurice Setters at the age of 83. He passed away at Doncaster Royal Infirmary last Sunday after a short illness and a long battle against Alzheimer's Disease.

Maurice came to Coventry near the end of a long career and was an inspired signing for the club, inspiring the team to avoid relegation from the First Division in 1968 by the skin of their teeth after looking relegation certainties for most of the season. He is remembered fondly by older Sky Blues supporters and his former playing colleagues.

Born in Honiton, Devon, Maurice joined his local club Exeter City from school and after winning England Schoolboys and Youth honours he made his debut for the Grecians as a 17-year-old in 1954. Within twelve months, after just 10 games, he was transferred to West Brom, then a leading First Division club. Two goals on his home debut against Portsmouth endeared him to the fans and it wasn't long before he was a regular at wing-half for the Baggies. In his three full seasons at Hawthorns the club never finished below fifth in Division One and Maurice's form earned him 16 England Under 23 caps. Although he never won a full cap he was named in England's 22-man squad for the 1958 World Cup squad.

In those days Maurice had an American-style 'crew-cut' hairstyle which added to his image as a hard man and whilst he was a fine footballer he earned a reputation as one of the country's toughest players. In January 1960 Manchester United, rebuilding after the Munich air crash that had decimated their team, paid Albion £35,000 for Setters and he was a regular in United's half-back line for the next five years. He was the hard man that won the ball before feeding Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and latterly George Best to turn on the magic. Maurice captained the club and was best man to Bobby Charlton at his wedding in 1961. In 1962-63 he handed the captaincy to his future Coventry manager Noel Cantwell and the pair were in the team that lifted the FA Cup, beating Leicester City 3-1, after ending the Sky Blues' own great run that year.

In 1964-65 Maurice had a serious contender for his club place, Nobby Stiles. The two had many similarities and ultimately Matt Busby plumped for the tigerish Nobby and Maurice left to join another First Division side Stoke City. A few months later he returned to Old Trafford with Stoke and got a standing ovation from the crowd who recognised his role in the re-birth of United.

At the Victoria Ground Tony Waddington converted him to a centre-half where despite his short stature (he was only 5 foot 10 tall) he could compete with the best in air with his timing and strength. Setters played a big part in the Potters' revival alongside renaissance stars such as Peter Dobing and Roy Vernon. In autumn 1967 however he was sidelined with a cartilage injury and struggling to get back to fitness when the call came from Noel Cantwell.

City's first season in Division One could not have started more badly. Manager Jimmy Hill had resigned to go to a career in television, captain and centre-half George Curtis had suffered a broken leg in the second game, inspirational midfielder Ian Gibson was sidelined by injury and star goalscorer Bobby Gould was also out injured. A 0-3 home defeat to fellow strugglers Fulham had left City at the foot of the table with just two wins in 16 games, having conceded 39 goals. Hill's signing of Tony Knapp to replace Curtis had failed spectacularly and rookie manager Cantwell had failed to win any of his five games since arriving. The attack had been strengthened by the signing of Gerry Baker and Ernie Hannigan but the team needed a leader and an experienced defender to shore up the leaking defence. Maurice ticked both boxes.

Former club physiotherapist Norman Pilgrim takes up the story: 'Noel was desperate to get Maurice in but at his medical I told Noel that his knee was dreadful and he needed a couple of months of rehab before he would be ready to play. Noel said he couldn't wait and needed Maurice straight away'.

Maurice made his debut at Elland Road, Leeds where Don Revie's team had won 10 home games in a row. Norman remembers Cantwell introducing him to Revie in the tunnel before the kick-off and says that Revie was a worried man after hearing that City had signed Setters.

Ninety minutes later City had taken a point thanks to an Ernie Hannigan goal and almost grabbed a win. In his match report Derek Henderson prophetically concluded: 'Setters strode about City's penalty box like a Soccer Napoleon. The chunky, lion-hearted Devonian -though clearly a long way from being fully match fit – brought that air of authority and professional outlook that could in the next few weeks transform Cantwell's side.'

Pilgrim had to work like a demon: 'Maurice didn't train with the first team for two months, it was me and him in the gym every day. On a Friday he would do a lap round the pitch at Ryton and a couple of sprints and he was ready to play the following day'.

It would be another three games before City would record their next win but slowly and surely the team got stronger and results improved. Setters, who was appointed captain, missed just one game, ironically City's only away win, at his former club West Brom, and as the season came to a climax he was as fit as any player on the team.

Dietmar Bruck was a team-mate of Maurice and had nothing but praise for him: 'he added a spark to the club that had been missing that season. He was a strong character who spoke his mind and just what we needed after George broke his leg. He always led by example and never gave less than 100% even in training games.'

City's home form kept their head above water and at the end of March Manchester United came to Highfield Road looking for an easy scalp on their way to a second successive league title and European Cup glory. Maurice had other ideas and gave a commanding defensive performance before heading home a corner for the second goal in City's 2-0 victory. Chris Cattlin made his debut that day, marking the mercurial George Best and says: 'I was as nervous as hell before the game but Maurice settled my nerves and gave me some advice for dealing with Best. He talked me through the game and later helped me settle at the club'.

With three games remaining City looked almost safe but then threw away the points at home to Leicester leaving two nerve-jangling away games to save their place. The first, at West Ham's Upton Park, is recalled by Norman Pilgrim: 'West Ham had Moore, Hurst and Peters and always played attractive football. As the team left the dressing-room Maurice turned to the rest and said 'West Ham will be expecting us to kick them today, let's not disappoint them!'' City drew 0-0.

The final game at Southampton saw City repeat the scoreline and earn safety but not before a terrific rearguard action, marshalled as ever by Setters who was up against the 28-goal Ron Davies, the league's leading scorer and recognised as one of the top headers in the country. Rarely did Davies get a clean head on the ball so good was Maurice's aerial antics. I can clearly remember his blood-spattered shirt resulting from a cut requiring four stitches above an eye.

The following season things didn't improve much for the Sky Blues with another relegation battle that went down to the wire. Despite George Curtis being fit again, Maurice started the season in the number five shirt but Noel experimented with the pair as double centre-halves in a League Cup tie at West Ham and it worked a treat in a 0-0 draw. The experiment was tried again at West Brom but City got hammered 6-1 and after one more attempt resulted in a 3-0 League Cup defeat at Swindon the whole idea was shelved. George took over and Maurice spent several months in the reserves helping develop youngsters Jeff Blockley and Alan Dugdale. Unhappy at not being in the first team, he was in trouble with Cantwell in the February and placed on the transfer list for critical comments to the press but his performance levels never dropped. With four games remaining and City desperate for points he was recalled to play as an extra defender at Everton, City lost 3-0 but Maurice impressed enough to displace Curtis for the three vital remaining games. Three draws left City having to wait for Leicester to finish their programme but the true grit of Maurice was seen in the final momentous game against Liverpool at Highfield Road. City, with Maurice driving them on, gave everything in a thrilling game but with 30 minutes remaining he committed a late tackle on Alun Evans and after a flurry of fists the referee sent the pair off. City survived to draw 0-0, a point which ultimately kept them up at Leicester's expense.

Maurice spent that summer on the transfer list but despite lots of interest he was still at the club when the new season started. The team started well but injuries meant a recall for him in midfield in and the team were unbeaten in five, including the famous 3-1 win at Derby. The changing of the guard was coming however in the shape of another blood and thunder centre-half, Roy Barry. A 0-0 draw at Burnley saw Barry start for the first time with Maurice in midfield and George came off the bench for his final appearance for the club – the only time the awesome trio appeared together.

Roy remembers Maurice fondly: 'He made me very welcome when I came down from Scotland. I was living in a hotel and he took me home for a meal with Cath and his family. He knew his days were numbered with my arrival but he was so kind. During the next few months Maurice, Ernie Hunt and myself got on like a house on fire and were nicknamed the Three Amigos and we had so much fun.'

Maurice was never on the losing side in his nine league games that season and made his final bow for the club, alongside Roy, at Anfield in an FA Cup replay. It ended in a 3-0 defeat and after a handful more reserve games he was on his way to Charlton on a free transfer. He only played eight games for the Valiants but helped steer them away from relegation from Division Two before hanging his boots up at the end of the season.

Within a year he was appointed manager of Fourth Division Doncaster Rovers and spent three and half seasons at Belle Vue the highlight of which was a creditable draw at Anfield in the FA Cup. He became Jack Charlton's assistant at Sheffield Wednesday in 1977 and stayed at Hillsborough for six years before coaching at Rotherham and being chief scout at Newcastle. He later linked up with Jack again from 1986 to 1995 as assistant manager with the Republic of Ireland and as a honorary Irishman helped Jack take the team to the World Cup finals for the first time in 1994.

Maurice was a member of the Former Player's Association but illness prevented him for attending any Legends Days. The Association send their condolences to his family which includes his grandson the former City player Robert Betts.

My friend and fellow City historian David Brassington on hearing the news of Maurice's death summed up everyone's feelings: 'If one player did more than any other to keep us up in that first season in Division One it was Maurice Setters'. 


Sunday 22 November 2020

Jim's column 21.11.2020

 

Kent-based City fan Colin Heys posed an interesting question recently – How many Coventry City players have topped the Football League divisional scoring lists?


The answer, Colin, is four. Clarrie Bourton, George Hudson, Bobby Gould and Dion Dublin. Bourton did it two years running – in 1931-32, his first season at Highfield Road after a move from Blackburn Rovers, Clarrie netted 49 league goals in Division Three South. He started slowly, netting just three goals in his first six games before hitting his stride with goals in eleven consecutive games including five in a 6-1 victory over Bournemouth. He missed two games through injury and therefore played 40 league games, and also managed another goal in the FA Cup. Bourton topped the whole Football League scorers, beating the legendary Dixie Dean's 44 goals for Everton.


The following season Clarrie played 39 league games, scoring 41 goals with a further three FA Cup goals. After another run of nine consecutive scoring games he looked set to break his own record but failed to net in the final three games. Once more he was the top scorer in the whole of the Football League.


It was another 30 years before a City player topped the lists with George Hudson netting 28 goals in Division Three in 1962-63. The problem was that 22 of them were scored for Peterborough United with only six for the Sky Blues. His arrival at Highfield Road from Posh was controversial as he was signed to replace Terry Bly who had netted 25 league goals for City by the end of March. Tottenham's Jimmy Greaves topped the league's list with 37 goals. 'The Hud' should have topped the Division Three list the following season as he had netted 20 goals by the end of November but an injury and loss of form caused the goals to dry up and he ended with 24 goals and beaten by Bristol Rovers' Alfie Biggs who scored 30.


Hudson's controversial departure from Coventry in March 1966 opened the door for Coventry kid Bobby Gould who just over a year later topped the Division Two scoring list with 24 goals in 39 appearances as the Sky Blues roared to promotion. Like the team Bob had a slow start to the season but came to life in December with six goals including a hat-trick against Ipswich. January wasn't a good month for him – he failed to score and was the victim of much abuse and even death threats – and he lost his place in the team. Recalled to the side he went on a scoring spree failing to score in only one of ten games before a broken thumb prematurely ended his season.


It was another thirty years before a City player topped the scoring lists again. In 1997-98 Dion Dublin shared the Premiership Golden Boot with Liverpool's Michael Owen and Blackburn's Chris Sutton all on 18 goals. Dion, who also scored four FA Cup goals, played 36 games that season and his achievement is all the greater for the fact that in at least eight of those games he played at centre-back. Unlike Hudson and Gould he was the regular penalty taker and five of his goals came from spot-kicks. He made a statement of intent with a hat-trick against Chelsea on the opening day but then had a six-game drought. He hit his best form from Christmas with goals in nine out of 12 consecutive games including scoring in six home games in a row. His performances that season earned him an England call-up and he was unlucky not to be in the 1998 World Cup squad.


Since then only three Sky Blues have reached 20 league goals in a season – Callum Wilson, Adam Armstrong and Marc McNulty – but none of them have topped the lists. McNulty went closest in 2017-18 with 23 goals but was pipped by Accrington's Billy Kee.


Back in the summer I wrote about City games that had been abandoned – mainly through weather of floodlight failures – but regular reader Ian Greaves reminded me about a non-competitive game that was ended prematurely.


Ian writes: 'It was the Bryan King testimonial at the Old Den, Millwall on 30th April 1976. I was there with Dave Freeman and Lionel Bird. It was held on a Friday night, the day before the FA Cup Final. This was my only ever visit to that ground and what an awful place it was. Even for a testimonial game it was the most intimidating ground I ever visited'.


                              Bryan King

'Bryan King's career at City had been plagued by injury, ironic as he rarely missed a game in his nine-year career at Millwall. He started the game but was substituted after a token 20 minutes or so. There was a decent sized crowd and we even sat in the stand (courtesy of Ron Wylie) but it was a scary atmosphere. When Millwall took the lead there was a pitch invasion which took time to clear. With about 15 minutes left Millwall scored again with the same result. The referee gave up, took the players off, and there was a tannoy announcement that he had ended the game. It was utter mayhem and we were glad to get out in one piece.'


'The postscript to the game is that we had been invited to the players' reception after the game at a pub in Bethnal Green. It went on into the early hours and some players of both teams were worse for wear. One of the revellers was Gordon Hill, who had left Millwall for Manchester United a year earlier and who was due to play at Wembley in the final against Southampton the following day. We were not surprised to see Hill turn in a lacklustre performance in the final, being substituted in the second half as United suffered a shock defeat to the Saints'.


A great story from Ian and coincidentally last week I received news that Bryan's biography cleverly titled 'The Lions' King' is published later this month.



Sunday 15 November 2020

Jim's column 14.11.2020

 This week I received an email from Keith Reay, a City fan and programme collector from Alberta, Canada. He has a large collection of Coventry City programmes but wanted to know about the game at Ipswich in 1972 that was abandoned because of a floodlight failure.


The game was played on 25th November 1972 at Portman Road. City were unbeaten in seven since the arrival of Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison and had lifted themselves from 21st in Division One to ninth. Stein had struck up an excellent partnership with Brian Alderson whilst Hutch had terrorised some top full-backs such as Paul Madeley, Pat Rice and West Ham's John McDowell, creating chances for his strikers and netting a memorable goal at Highbury.


Bobby Robson's Ipswich had had their best start to a campaign since winning promotion four years previously and were in fifth place. They boasted a number of players who would go on to be Ipswich legends including Mick Mills, Kevin Beattie, David Johnson and Trevor Whymark. City dominated the game and Stein netted with a diving header to give City a deserved twenty fourth minute lead. After a partial failure of the floodlights just before half-time the referee abandoned the game after all the lights went out and the electricians couldn't quickly repair things. Joe Mercer summed things up after the game: 'The way we were playing, it was only the floodlights that were going to beat us'. Many spectators believed the conspiracy theory – that Ipswich knew they were going to be beaten and sabotaged the electrics!


The game was replayed ten days later with the lights fixed but City lost Roy Barry with a hip injury after half an hour with the score at 0-0. City held out till just before half-time when David Johnson scored. Trevor Whymark scored a second after half-time and City's unbeaten run was ended. Ipswich went on to finish fourth in Division One but certainly got away with one that day. As for Hutch, Mick Mills was booked in both games for fouling him. A new updated programme was issued for the game.


It's sad to report the death of former City coach Tony Waiters, aged 83 this week. Tony had only a brief time at Highfield Road as Director of Coaching under Noel Cantwell in 1971-72 and left the club in March 1972 when Cantwell was sacked.


Waiters made his name as a goalkeeper at Blackpool in the 1960s, playing over 280 games for the Seasiders and winning five caps for England. The form of Gordon Banks probably robbed him of more caps. After retiring in 1967 he went into coaching and impressed as an FA regional coach and youth development coach at Liverpool. In 1970 he took over as first team coach at Burnley but injuries forced him out of retirement and back between the sticks. In December 1971 he joined City as Director of Coaching, replacing Bill Asprey, but his timing was wrong – within three months Cantwell was sacked and Tony resigned in protest.

  Waiters between CCFC chairman Derrick Robins & secretary Eddie Plumley

He went on to manage Plymouth Argyle for five years, winning promotion from Division Three with the help of three former City players, Ernie Machin, Billy Rafferty and Colin Randell. In 1977 he moved to Canada to coach Vancouver Whitecaps to the 1979 NASL Championship and later coached Canada to fourth place in the 1984 Olympic Games and to the 1986 World Cup finals where his team held France to a goal-less draw.


I also have to mention one of the players at the club during Waiters' brief spell, Chris Chilton. Signed from Hull City for £91,000 in September 1971 after scoring over 200 goals in 11 seasons for the Tigers, Chris had a torrid time at Highfield Road, managing just five goals in 33 appearances. One of those goals was a late headed winner at West Brom in the FA Cup – City's first away win at a First Division side for 60 years. Chris later revealed that for some time he had been carrying the back injury which ultimately forced him to retire at the end of that season.

           Chilton heading the winner at West Brom in the FA Cup in 1972

Chris was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2012 and now, eight years later, he needs a level of care his family cannot afford. His former team-mate Ken Wagstaff has set up a GoFundMe page where people can make donations to help pay for a care-home. In seven days it has raised more than £34,000. You can read more about Chris's story here: www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/02/dementia-football-rife-game-not-doing-enough-to-help-chris-chilton-gary-chilton and where there are also links to the GoFundMe page.



Sunday 8 November 2020

Jim's column 7.11.2020

 Stephen Coyne sent me an interesting piece of Coventry City memorabilia last week – a ticket for City's game at Queens Park Rangers in 1963. The game was played at the White City Stadium, originally built for the 1908 Olympic Games, which was QPR's home ground in the 1962-63 season. The club had had a two-year spell at the 90,000 capacity stadium in the 1930s but returned to Loftus Road until 1962. The second experiment was a disaster with lower crowds and poor results by the team and plans were already afoot for a move back to Loftus Road for the 1963-64 campaign when the Sky Blues played what would be the final domestic football game at the stadium on 22nd May 1963.




The football season had been seriously impacted by the 'Big Freeze' with little football played between Christmas and the beginning of March because of snow, ice and frozen pitches. Before the freeze started both City and QPR were handily placed for promotion from Division Three but the massive backlog of games and City's remarkable FA Cup run to the quarter final had seen the promotion hopes slip away for both teams. QPR had already lost seven home games and Jimmy Hill's team made it eight with a 3-1 victory on a pleasant May evening two days before the FA Cup final. A measly crowd of 3,261 (easily the lowest of the season) watched the game come to life in the final twenty minutes. Ronnie Rees netted after 71 minutes and John Sillett made it two with a rare goal three minutes later. QPR's John Collins pulled a goal back on 77 minutes but a Ken Hale penalty completed the scoring seven minutes from time. City's win was their first in seven games and ensured they finished fourth in the table with QPR in 13th place.


White City continued hosting greyhound racing, athletics and speedway until it was demolished in 1984 but only one further football match took place there. In 1966 Wembley Stadium, expected to be the venue for all of the group one games, refused to cancel a greyhound event and the White City stepped in to host the Uruguay v France game which attracted over 45,000 to the old stadium.

John Sillett has many claims to fame but he was the last man to score an outfield goal at White City in a domestic game.

From the same era, a question from Michael Todd this week. Michael wanted to know the details of City's League Cup game at Rotherham on 4th November 1963. This was the Sky Blues Third Division promotion season and they were setting a hot pace at the top of table in early November. Rotherham were a Second Division outfit with some outstanding youngsters who would go on to greater things including Barry Lyons (later of Nottingham Forest) and Albert Bennett (later of Newcastle).

The Coventry line-up was: Wesson: Sillett, Kletzenbauer: Bruck, Curtis, Farmer: Humphries, Hale, Hudson, Whitehouse, Rees.

It was Bennett who gave the Millers a 14th minute lead as the home side looked set to give City a hammering but Willie Humphries equalised direct from a corner (32 mins) and 20 seconds into the second half George Hudson put the Sky Blues ahead. Houghton equalised on 54 minutes and it was 2-2 until nine minutes from time. City, down to ten men with Frank Kletzenbauer having to limp off injured, finally capitulated and Houghton (81 mins) and Bennett (85 mins) gave Rotherham a flattering 4-2 victory and sent them through to the Fourth Round. The attendance was 7,826



Sunday 25 October 2020

Jim's column 24.10.2020

 Jordan Shipley's superb finish for City's goal against Swansea on Tuesday night ensured he joined an elite group of players to have scored in three different divisions for the club. The Leamington lad 's instinctive shot went in off the post to give the Sky Blues an early lead which was later pegged back by Andre Ayew, reputedly one of the highest paid players in the Championship.


Jordan, by my reckoning, became the twelfth City player to achieve the feat including some who scored goals in the old regional Third Divisions which preceded Divisions Three and Four before 1958. The first to achieve it was Fred 'Cute' Herbert who netted in Division Two in 1924-25, in Division Three North in 1925-26 and in Three South in 1926-27 when the club was switched that season. Coventrian Herbert was a one-club man who scored 86 goals in 199 league and cup games between 1922-29.


Ray Straw, was another prolific centre-forward who netted 74 goals in Division Three South, Four and Three between 1957-1961. Ronnie Farmer scored goals in Divisions Four, Three and Two between 1958-1967. Brian Hill only managed seven league goals in 284 games but managed to score in Division Three South in 1957-58 as well as Divisions Three and One, the latter a stunning goal at Fulham in 1968.


Hill was one of several players who achieved the feat during City's rise through the divisions under Jimmy Hill including George Curtis, Mick Kearns, Dietmar Bruck, Ernie Machin and Ronnie Rees.


More recently Michael Doyle added to the 22 goals he scored in the Championship between 2003-11 with two goals in League Two and a single goal in League One.


The top honour however goes to Peter Hill, another one-club man who later became trainer under Jimmy Hill. Peter, a winger or inside-forward, made his debut as a 17-year-old in Division Two in 1948 and scored two goals in 14 games at that level. A further 46 goals came between 1952-58 in Division Three South. In 1958-59 he six goals in Division Four and 20 goals in three seasons in Division Three before hanging up his boots. Thus he scored for the club in four different divisions for the club. The full list is as follows:



Div 1

Div 2 (C)

Div 3 (L1)

Div 4 (L2)

Div 3S

Div 3N

Total

Fred Herbert

-

19

-

-

41

22

72

Peter Hill

-

2

20

6

46

-

74

Ray Straw

-

-

37

27

14

-

78

Brian Hill

1

-

5

-

1

-

7

George Curtis

2

8

1

-

-

-

11

Ron Farmer

-

14

22

1

-

-

37

Mick Kearns

-

3

9

2

-

-

14

Dietmar Bruck

1

5

1

-

-

-

7

Ronnie Rees

8

17

17

-

-

-

42

Ernie Machin

11

19

3

-

-

-

33

Michael Doyle

-

20

1

3

-

-

24

Jordan Shipley

-

1

8

4

-

-

13

The 1964 team picture has seven of the twelve players in it.



Only two current City players can emulate the twelve; Max Biamou and Jodi Jones have both scored at League Two and One levels.


City failed to improve on their poor record at Brentford last week. Making their first visit to the Bees' new stadium they lost 2-0, and have now won only two of their last ten trips to Brentford. Ivan Toney has had an excellent start to the season for them and could be on his way to being Brentford's latest multi million pound sale. He didn't have a particularly good record against the Sky Blues (one goal in four previous games) but scored both goals – the first player to score a brace against City for over a year when Rotherham's Matt Crooks and Michael Smith scored two each in the 4-0 hammering last October.

Sunday 18 October 2020

Jim's Column 17.10.2020

 Coventry City travel to West London today to play Brentford at their new stadium and renew old rivalries with the Bees. Although the clubs met regularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s and briefly in 2012-14 today's meeting is the first in tier 2 of the Football pyramid since 1952. Brentford were a First Division side in the late 1930s but were relegated from the top flight in the first post-war season and played City for five seasons in Division Two. The last meetings at that level were in 1951-52 and the home side prevailed in both games. The Bees, who fielded future City manager Jimmy Hill and future England boss Ron Greenwood, won 1-0 at Griffin Park thanks to an early Fred Monk goal. In the return near the end of March City lifted themselves out of the relegation places by winning 2-1, George Lowrie and Eddie Brown netting and Billy Dare scoring a consolation goal for Brentford in front of 27,577. It was a false dawn for the Bantams as City slipped back into the bottom two and were relegated with Brentford finishing ninth.


Bob Weeks asked for some help identifying some players in pre-war City autograph albums he had acquired. The players, none of whom had appeared for the first team were: A Halliwell, C McDonagh, J Haver, J Kyle and E Lammas. Fellow City historian Mike Young was able to help Bob with all of the players identified as follows:


Andrew Denis Halliwell (goalkeeper) was born in Warwick 11.7.1912.He signed for City as amateur in 1932 having previously played for Kenilworth St. Johns. He turned professional in September 1933 and was a regular reserve team player for the next two years. He made one senior appearance in the home friendly v FC Austria in December 1935. Later that month he was transferred to Leicester City and was at Filbert Street for at least two years without playing for the first team. He died 1981.


Charles (Charlie) McDonagh (half-back) was born in Mansfield 11.11.1913. He signed for City in 1931 as an amateur after playing for a local church team in Mansfield. He failed to make the first team and moved first to Southampton in 1933 and later to Bournemouth 1933 withput playing first team football. After a short spell at Kidderminster Harriers he was back at Coventry in April 1934 and was briefly a regular for reserves. In 1935 he moved to Cardiff City for whom he made two appearances. According to the 1939 census he was back in Mansfield working as a colliery fitter.


James (Jim) Haver (centre-half) was born 25.1.1920. When he signed for City in December 1937 it was reported that he 'hailed' from Barnby Dun, near Doncaster, but originally came from Lentz Colliery village, Durham. Between 1937 and 1939 he played for City's 'A' team. He was released by City in 1939 and described as 'unemployed professional footballer' in 1939 census. He died in 2002.


Joseph 'Joe' Kyle (inside-forward) was born in Scotland c.1919. He was signed from Scottish junior club Blantyre Victoria in the summer of 1937 and played for the club's 'A' team in 1937-38.


Eric Lammas (outside-right) was born in Bromsgrove in 1920. He was awarded a professional contract by City in December 1937 and played for City's 'A' team 1937-39.


Haver and Lammas are in the Coventry City squad picture taken before the kick-off of the 1938-39 season.


 There were 33 professionals in the club at the time and there were high hopes of winning promotion that season after the club had missed out by one point the previous season. After a slow start the team hit form over the winter months and were well placed in third place at the end of January but only two wins from the final five games saw them finish fourth for the second successive season and it would be another 28 years before City finally reached the top flight for the first time.

Sunday 11 October 2020

Jim's Column 10.10.2020

 Coventry City's remarkable 15-game unbeaten home record came to a shuddering halt at St Andrews last Friday night as newly-relegated Bournemouth took home the points with a 3-1 win. The Cherries became the first team to lower City's flag since Tranmere flukily took the points with a late goal almost a year ago. The expensive Bournemouth side did look a notch above City but the Sky Blues didn't help themselves with several players below par and Gus Hamer's red card ending any hope of a comeback.


The 15-game run was in all games and included the FA Cup replay with Birmingham which statisticians usually count as a draw, and was the club's best run since the late seventies. Then, arguably City's best ever team went 16 games unbeaten from March 1978 (a 2-3 home defeat to Villa) until Tottenham won 3-1 at Highfield Road the following February. The club record stands at 19, set in the Division Three North season in 1925-26 and equalled in 1962-63.

Last week I discovered that former Coventry City player Tony Pounder died in 2019. Tony, a right winger, only made six first team appearances for the club, in 1957, after signing from Luton Town, and by December the same year he was transferred to Crewe Alexandra.


Born in Sheffield in 1935 Tony was playing for Sheffield side Atlas FC and attracting the interest of both Sheffield clubs but it was Luton, then a First Division side, who nipped in to sign him in December 1955. He made 19 appearances for the Hatters reserve team that season and scored five goals. He made his First Division debut in an end of season win over Portsmouth. In 1956-57 he again was a regular for the reserves, playing 27 games and scoring eight goals and got two more first team games near the end of the season.


When he was surprisingly given a free transfer in the close season of 1957 City boss Harry Warren signed him for City. At the time he was described as 'lacking a little in experience but a fast go-ahead winger, who likes the ball in front of him'.


He made his bow at Highfield Road in the club's public trial annually held on the Saturday before the league season started. He played for the Reds (the reserves) and was described as 'the best forward on the pitch', scoring the Reds goal in the 40th minute. Nemo wrote, 'his speed, ball control and pin point crossing of a ball looked good, and there were times when he had the first team defenders in a sorry tangle'.


A week later and with regular right-winger Peter Hill injured Tony got his chance in the first team against Reading at home. City won 1-0 but Nemo reported that Pounder missed an easy chance and 'is not quite ready for Third Division football'. Five days later at Newport Tony scored 'with a cool finish' in a 2-2 draw and halfway through the second half scored what looked to be the winning goal with a 'glorious shot' but City centre-forward Ken McPherson was adjudged to have been offside. Unfortunately this was to prove the high point of Tony's career at the club.

                           Pounder in his Luton Days

The following Saturday Tony was in the City team beaten 4-0 at Northampton and lost his place. He was recalled a week later for a 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth and a 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace which left City bottom but one in the table. Before September was over manager Warren was sacked and Billy Frith stepped up from youth coach to take over as the boss, for the second time having previously managed between 1947-49. Frith only selected Tony once for the first team – in a 0-0 home draw with Southampton in early October and before Christmas he was transferred to Crewe for a 'small fee'.

He went straight into Crewe's Division Three North team and over the next eighteen months made 31 appearances scoring five goals but couldn't stop Crewe finishing rock bottom of the Northern Section in 1958. 1958-59 was the season when the two sections of Division Three merged with the top 12 teams in each section going into the new Division Three and the bottom 12 forming Division Four. Billy Frith couldn't save Coventry from the ignominy of being in the new Division Four and in October 1958 City travelled to Crewe's Gresty Road and faced Pounder and another ex-City man Martin McDonnell and future City man Alan 'Digger' Daly, a 1-1 draw ensuing. Tony's stay in Cheshire was also brief and in 1959 he moved to non-league Yeovil and played there until 1966, helping them win the Southern League title in 1964 and appearing in several FA Cup giant-killing games in that period. His son, Tony Junior, played over 150 games for Bristol Rovers and Hereford United between 1990-96.


Sunday 4 October 2020

50th Anniversary of the Donkey-kick goal

 Today marks the 50th anniversary of the most memorable goal in the history of Coventry City. Regular reader Ian Greaves was in touch last week and reminded me that it was 50 years ago exactly that Ernie Hunt scored the famous donkey kick goal at Highfield Road against league champions Everton. Every City fan must know what happened – City were awarded a free-kick just outside the Everton penalty area at the West End. Everton formed a wall of players, the red-headed Scot Willie Carr stood over the ball then flicked it up between his feet, and as the ball came down Ernie superbly timed his dipping volley to send the ball over the wall of defenders into the corner beyond the grasping dive of Andy Rankin in goal.


BBC Match of the Day cameras were at the game and recorded the events with the goal winning their Goal of the Month and Goal of the Season awards. The two footed flick was pettily outlawed by FIFA the following summer. On YouTube there are several video clips of the goal and one of them has almost 1 million views!


1970 was a memorable year for Coventry City. After two seasons of relegation battles and close shaves, the club had finished sixth in Division One and qualified for a European competition. The new season had not started that brightly with only one win in four home league games but the previous season's impressive away form had continued with wins at Ipswich and Derby, the latter a 4-3 thriller which saw City come back from 0-2. An impressive 6-1 aggregate win over Trakia Plovdiv of Bulgaria had kicked off the Fairs Cup and a plum tie with Bayern Munich loomed later in the month.


Crowd favourite Ian Gibson had left for Cardiff in the summer and two signings had been made, Geoff Strong, an experienced defender from Liverpool for £35,000, and Wilf Smith, the England under 23 full-back from Sheffield Wednesday. The fee for Smith, £100,000, was a British record for a full-back, and evidence that City were aiming for higher things. Dietmar Bruck was in the side for the injured Chris Cattlin and young Scottish winger Brian Alderson had forced his way into the team.


Everton had suffered a reaction to winning the title the previous season, failing to win any of their first six league games but had recovered to win six games on the bounce to get up to eighth in the table going into the game. Centre-half and captain Brian Labone was injured so Roger Kenyon played at centre-half otherwise it was the title-winning line up including the famous midfield of Kendall, Ball and Harvey.


Neil Martin put City ahead on 18 minutes but John Hurst headed an equaliser six minutes later. 1-1 at the break. Alderson was giving the Everton defence a roasting and after 58 minutes his run and shot rebounded to Ernie Hunt who scored from close range. With ten minutes remaining John Hurst was deemed to have climbed over John O'Rourke and the referee awarded the famous free-kick and Hunt and Carr went into conference. Goalkeeper Rankin was astounded and the Everton players were mesmerised by Ernie's cheek. Referee Tommy Dawes, momentarily unsure whether it contravened the laws in any way, decided not. Everton boss Harry Catterick was quoted afterwards as saying he had seen it only once before – in a circus – and the City fans decided the whole thing was out of this world!


                      Ernie tries it again v Tottenham

The 'donkey-kick' as the goal came to be called had been the idea of City coach Bill Asprey and was developed and practised on the Ryton training ground that summer. The trick had been tried in a pre-season friendly at Blackpool an attempt Ernie Hunt later described as pathetic, 'I almost hit the clock on the stand'.


A few weeks later I was present at a Youth Cup tie against Shrewsbury and Alan Green and Johnny Stevenson repeated the trick and scored in a 6-0 victory and later that season Willie and Ernie had other attempts, at Stoke and again in a home game with Tottenham. In the latter game Pat Jennings was left flat-footed by Ernie's volley but the ball hit the angle of bar and post and bounced to safety.


Poor Ernie sadly passed away in 2018 and Willie has thankfully recovered from his health issues and I hope he can raise a glass tonight to the most memorable Coventry City goal of all time.

Sunday 27 September 2020

Jim's column 26.9.2020

 Coventry City’s 3-2 victory over QPR in their opening home league match last weekend saw Matty Godden score for the sixth consecutive league game, the first City player to achieve the feat since Mick Quinn in 1992.


Godden’s run started back in February with the second goal in the 2-1 win at Rochdale, continued with the equaliser in the 1-1 home draw with Rotherham and the only goal that defeated Sunderland at St Andrews and sent City top. As the lockdown loomed Matty scored the winner at Ipswich to make it four in a row.

His two goals this season sees him move level with Quinn who had the most incredible start to his Sky Blue career scoring 10 goals in his first six league games.

Quinn’s goal record after joining on loan from Newcastle was:-

Nov 21 Man City (h) lost 2-3 (2 goals)
Nov 28 Sheffield U (a) drew 1-1 (1 goal)
Dec 5 Ipswich (h) drew 2-2 (2 goals)
Dec 12 Southampton (a) drew 2-2 (2 goals)
Dec 19 Liverpool (h) won 5-1 (2 goals)
Dec 26 Aston Villa (h) won 3-0 (2 goals)

Mick failed to net in the next game, a 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford and only scored a further six goals in 20 league games that season.

Matty has a little way to go to set a club record for consecutive scoring league games, 10 set in 1931-32 by the great Clarrie Bourton. Bourton scored in nine in a row the following season and the only other players to score more than Matty are Ray Straw (1958-59) and Terry Bly (1962-63). These records refer only to league games and I should add that Terry Gibson scored in seven consecutive league and cup games in 1985-86 (which included a goal in the now defunct Full Members Cup.

The win over QPR extended City’s unbeaten home record in all competitions to 15 games. Since Tranmere somewhat fortuitously lowered City’s colours in the league game last October, City have failed to lose in 11 league games and four FA Cup ties (I’m following the usual treatment of penalty shoot outs by statisticians and counting it as a drawn game). This is the club’s best run since 1978-79 when Gordon Milne’s exciting team went 15 unbeaten between March 1978 and February 1979. The club record is 19, set in 1925-26 when the club was in Division Three North. The best runs are as follows:-

19- 1925-26 (Div 3N)
17- December 1965-October 1966 (Div 2)
17- 1958-59 (Div 4)
17- 1952-53 (Div 3S)
16- 1962-63 (Div 3)
16- March- December 1950 (Div 2)
15- March 1978-February 1979 (Div 1)
15- 1955-56 (Div 3S)

Colin Heys and Marshall Stewart both had questions over attendances at City games. Colin wanted me to confirm the attendances at City’s Wembley games. These are :

1987 FA Cup final v Tottenham (98,000)
1987 Charity Shield v Everton (88,000)
2017 EFL Trophy final v Oxford (74,434)
2018 League 2 play-off final v Exeter (50,196

Marshall’s question was that given the team are now playing in front of empty stadiums, what are the biggest crowds City have played in from of. Obviously the three Wembley games come out on top but the full top ten are as follows:

1. 98,000 1987 FA Cup final v Tottenham
2. 88,000 1987 Charity Shield v Everton
3. 74,434 2017 EFL Trophy final v Oxford
4. 74,055 2007-08 League Cup v Man United (a)
5. 67,637 2000-01 League v Man United (a)
6. 67,271 1937-38 League v Aston Villa (a)
7. 61,380 1999-2000 League v Man United (a)
8. 60,350 1965-66 FA Cup v Everton (a)
9. 59,451 2013-14 FA Cup v Arsenal (a)
10. 58,351 2012-13 League Cup v Arsenal (a)

The attendances are all the official ones but a few are dubious as in recent years clubs have included season ticket holders whether attending the game or not. The two Arsenal cup games and the Man United League Cup game are examples of this and the official figures are somewhat exaggerated.