Jim's column 11.4.2020

More questions from readers this week. Please keep them coming, answering them is keeping me sane! Send your questions to clarriebourton@gmail.com or via Twitter @clarriebourton :

Lifelong City fan Mike Jones asked me for information on the game he thinks was his first visit to Highfield Road around 1958 to watch City play Grimsby. He thought it was a draw and that the visitors played in their traditional black and white striped shirts but with red or pink shorts: The game in question sounds like the game played on Saturday 12th September 1960, a 0-0 draw. According to the Historical Soccer Kits website (www.historicalkits.co.uk) that season Grimsby's colours were white shirts with black trim and red shorts. I suspect there would have been a colour clash with Coventry's white shirts with blue trim so Grimsby probably wore their change shirts of black and white striped shirts with the red shorts. It is hard to confirm that however. City's team in the 0-0 draw was as follows: Lightening: Kletzenbauer, Austin: Nicholas, Curtis, Kearns: Stiffle, Straw, Myerscough, Farmer, B Hill. Myerscough and Scott of Grimsby were sent off near the end after punches were thrown. The attendance was 13,906.

Gary Donely queried my assertion that George Hudson is the only City player to score a hat-trick on his debut recently. He is convinced that George Kirby did the feat a year after Hudson and remembers attending a cousin's wedding that day in Manchester and hearing the news during the evening reception: George Kirby was one of two transfer deadline signings made by Jimmy Hill in March 1964 (John Smith was the other) when the Sky Blues looked in danger of blowing their promotion hopes having failed to win in seven games. Kirby, a rugged centre-forward who was deadly in the air, signed from Southampton and went straight into the team at Bournemouth with Hudson moving to inside forward. City lost 2-1 to a late Bumstead goal, a defeat that left them four points behind leaders Crystal Palace with only eight games to play. The following Saturday Kirby scored three on his home debut as City got back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory over Oldham. He only scored two further goals in the final seven games but the team lost only once more and the Oldham game was seen as a crucial moment in the promotion campaign. In Division Two the following season George played just nine games (scoring five goals) as Hudson came back to form and he was sold to Swansea Town at the end of September.

The Derby County Collection, a charity that maintains Derby's archive collection wanted to know if I had a programme/brochure for the Anchor Cup, played for in the Far East in 1974 between City, Derby and Everton: I do have a large collection of City programmes with virtually every competitive programme since World War Two but I don't have this one. The triangular friendly competition involving City, Derby and Everton took place in Singapore in May 1974 and City flew out their 16-man full squad with the exception of Tommy Hutchison who was in the Scotland squad preparing for the World Cup in June. The Anchor Cup was sponsored by Malaysian Breweries who invested $450,000 in the competition. Six years before Coventry carried off the Anchor Cup Guinness had merged with Malayan Breweries forming a new company called Guinness Anchor. Prior to the tournament starting City lost 3-2 to Derby in Kuantan, Malaysia in an exhibition game with Brian Alderson netting both City goals. Three days later City moved to Singapore and beat Everton 2-1 (Willie Carr and David Cross on target). In the next game Derby and Everton played out a 2-2 draw meaning that a draw in the final game against Derby would mean City lifted the trophy. Roger Davies put the Rams ahead on 57 minutes but John Craven equalised, following up when his penalty was saved by Colin Boulton. City director Tom Sargeant was awarded the interesting trophy. The Derby County collection have a trophy from the competition, apparently given to all three clubs but, to date, I have failed to find that trophy in City's archives. Does anyone out there have a copy of the brochure for the tournament?

Geoff Wilkinson wondered if I knew where City goalscoring legend Clarrie Bourton lived when he played for the club in the 1930s: I have a photocopy of one of Clarrie's contracts from 1934 and his address is given as 34 Dane Road, Wyken. The club owned a number of houses in that part of the city and were utilised by players' families right up until the 1960s. Incidentally Clarrie's wages were £7 per week in the winter, with a £1 win bonus, and £6 in the summer.