Jim's column 4.4.2020

My request for questions from readers generated loads of questions and it will take me several weeks to answer all of them. So here we go:

David Whitlock: 'Is it true that Coventry City played against the great Brazilian, Pele, in the 1970s.

The Sky Blues toured South East Asia in the close season of 1972. They played two games in South Korea against national select Xis, winning 2-0 and 3-2, before moving to Japan where they played three games in seven days. Again they played select elevens, winning two games and losing one. The tour ended in Bangkok where a friendly was organised with legendary Brazilian club side Santos. The game was played in heavy rain and the teams played out a 2-2 draw in front of 32,000. Alan Green and Quintin Young scored for City with Edu and a Pele penalty netting for Santos. I don't have the line-ups for that game but from pictures I know that Roy Barry, Willie Carr, Ernie Hunt and Chris Chilton also played that day. The picture shows City players Alan Dugdale and Hunt holding up Pele's number 10 shirt. 'Duggy', who had yet to make his senior debut at the time, was voted man of the match and asked the great man for his shirt. It was kept at his parent's home in Kirby on Merseyside for some years and, according to Alan's brother Dave, local fans flocked to the house to have a picture taken with it. At some point, Alan collected it and eventually took it to Hong Kong where it is believed he donated it to the Bulova club where he was playing at the time.

                                   

                                                Alan Dugdale (left) and Ernie Hunt with Pele's shirt

Deejay2000: I’ve always been interested in Oggy's long unbroken stint in goal for City. Any interesting facts about that. It would be interesting to know how many keepers have kept goal for City since he last played for us.

After signing from Shrewsbury Town in 1984 and making his debut at Villa Park, Oggy played 246 consecutive games (209 league, 29 Cup, 8 others) before getting injured at Millwall in Sept 1989. Another legendary City goalkeeper, Alf Wood, always pointed out he had made 260 consecutive games between 1945-51. However the 1945-46 season is not counted as an official first class season and his total is actually 218.

During Oggy's time as a player (1984-2000) ten other keepers played in first team: Keith Waugh (2), Clive Baker (1), Steve Sutton (1), Paul Heald (2), Les Sealey (2), Jonathan Gould (26), John Filan (17), Magnus Hedman (87), Rafaele Nuzzo (1), Chris Kirkland (1). Since Oggy retired in 2000, a further 32 goalkeepers have played first class games including two who made only one appearance, Michael Quirke & Danny Ireland.

David Collins: When and where did Dion Dublin score his last goal for Coventry City?

Dion's last goal for the club came in his final game for the Sky Blues at Southampton on 24 October 1998 in a 2-1 defeat. Matt Le Tissier and Egil Ostenstad gave Saints a 2-0 half-time lead and Dion reduced the arrears on 61 minutes. City's line-up was very strong: Hedman: Nilsson (sub Edworthy), Burrows (sub Telfer), Boateng (sub Soltvedt), Breen, Shaw, Whelan, McAllister, Dublin, Huckerby, Froggatt. The attendance was 15,152. Three days later City went to Luton for a League Cup tie and Dion, with a transfer to Villa on the cards, allegedly refused to play. He had to wait over a week for his Villa debut, a 3-2 win over Tottenham, but proved an instant hit by scoring two first half goals as Villa retained top spot in the Premier League.

Mark from Birmingham: Have Coventry ever been top of a division longer than the current run?

Mark has his tongue in his cheek with this one. The club record for number of days at the top of any division is 158 days set in 1963-64 when the Sky Blues were champions of Division Three. City went top on 8th October 1963 with a 2-1 home win over Bristol City and stayed in pole position until Saturday 14th March when Crystal Palace overhauled them the day after City had lost 5-2 at home to Southend United. On 3rd January they had a nine-point lead at the top which was slowly whittled away during an 11-game run without a victory. The Sky Blues regained top spot briefly on 11th April before slipping behind Palace again but on the final day they returned to top spot with a 1-0 home win over Colchester as Palace slipped up by losing at home to Oldham.