Jim's column 30.5.2020

I received an interesting question recently regarding English football's Pools War of 1936 and how it affected Coventry City. The 'war' was all about the growing power and profits being made by the big football pools companies at the time. For younger readers it is worth explaining about Football Pools as they don't exist anymore. Throughout most of the Twentieth century Pools companies like Littlewoods and Vernons allowed members of the public to predict football results, normally to guess the games which would end in draws. They issued coupons which listed all the games being played on a Saturday and the punters would mark their predicted draws and send it, with their bet money, to the company, normally via a door-to-door agent. There were big winnings to be had if you correctly predicted seven draws in a week where draws were scarce, for example. By 1936 these companies were making millions of pounds from the betting – it was stated in 1936 that around £800,000 was being spent on pools compared to around £48,000 being spent on watching football. The Football League were getting increasingly frustrated that the pools companies were using their fixtures to make such large sums and there was also the social issues of betting and the impacts on families much like the recent issues of slot machines in betting shops. The league decided therefore to try and thwart the pools companies by using a different fixture list and not announcing it until the Friday night before games were due to be played, making it impossible for the companies to print their coupons.

After a lot of meetings the Football League put their battle plan into operation on the run up to games due to be played on Saturday 29th February 1936. At the time Coventry City were leaders of Division Three South by one point from Luton Town who had a game in hand. On that Saturday City were due to play at Gillingham but instead they were told to travel to Crystal Palace to fulfil the fixture due to be played on 14th March and the other clubs in the division had their fixtures from the two dates also switched. A similar switch was made in the First Division and the second division clubs were told to play the fixtures for 11th April. The clubs with long distances to travel, e.g Northampton Town were told to play at Torquay, were given this information on the Thursday evening. The pools companies delayed printing their coupons in the belief that the League would back down but on the Friday morning it was clear that the information had been leaked about the switches, newspapers printed the full programme and the pools companies hastily printed their coupons. A mad rush for postal orders by punters on the Saturday morning ensured that the usual vast sums were placed on the coupons and the pools companies were virtually unaffected.

Crystal Palace were due to be playing Torquay United at home that afternoon and the cover of the programme had Torquay replaced with Coventry City but inside there had been insufficient time to replace the 'Welcome to our visitors' piece and it introduced the Torquay players. There had however been time to print the correct team line ups in the centre pages.

On the Friday the Midland Daily Telegraph reported that many City fans were 'in a quandary' as many local Works Associations and private parties had already made plans to travel to Palace on 14th March followed by a night in London with theatre and hotel bookings already having been made. They reported that the opinion of the League officials who had caused their trip to be disorganised was 'unprintable'.

City lost 3-1 at Selhurst Park with the consolation goal inevitably scored by Clarrie Bourton and Luton leapfrogged the Bantams by beating Watford at home. There were 14,000 at the game but in the North and Midlands heavy snow and sleet reduced attendances dramatically. For example there were under 4,000 at Hillsborough for the First Division derby with Leeds and only 18,000 at Villa Park for an attractive home game with Liverpool. Many clubs blamed the low crowds on the League's Management Committee's strategy for thwarting the pools companies.

Seven days later the Football League repeated their actions and City, who had been due to play Bournemouth at home, were told on Thursday night that Northampton would be the visitors instead. There was sufficient time for the programme to printed with the Cobblers' players names and the Bantams comfortably defeated the struggling visitors 4-0 with goals from McNestry (2), Lauderdale and Bourton.

                                      City's 1935-36 squad

There was an above average crowd of 14,700 at Highfield Road but other gates were down again and Leeds and Liverpool had their smallest crowds of the season. When fans returned home they heard unexpected news over the wireless, but this time the headlines were not about the Football League but the League of Nations. German troops had just re-entered the demilitiarised Rhineland. Another war, of far greater proportions, was on the horizon now.

The Pools war ended at a stormy meeting in Manchester on the following Monday afternoon when the clubs unanimously voted to restore the fixtures with immediate effect. So, the following Saturday the Bantams played the match that had been due to take place on the first weekend of the 'war', away to Gillingham. A Les Jones goal gave City a point but a Luton victory gave the Hatters a two point advantage over them, with a game in hand but they failed to take advantage and with only one win in their next six games, allowed Coventry to sneak the title and the one promotion place on the final day of the season.

The Football League backed down in their battle with the Pools companies and it was another 23 years before they reached an agreement whereby the four major pools companies paid ½ per cent of their gross stakes to football, which in the first year amounted to £275,000, for the privilege of using the fixtures on their coupons.

Jim's column 23.5.2020

Last week's article about Coventry City away kits generated a lot of interest and prompted a further question. Tom wanted to know about the all red change strip that was worn up to the summer of 1969 when the club introduced the popular green and black version.

Coventry City's 'change' kit, to be used on away grounds (only) if there was a colour clash with the home team, had traditionally been red. In the 1950s it was red with white sleeves, similar to the famous Arsenal kits, with white shorts but prior to Jimmy Hill arriving in 1961 it had been an all red shirt with white v-neck and white shorts. In 1962, at the same time as introducing the all-Sky Blue kit he introduced the all red 'change; kit. The shirt, which had a round neck and long sleeves, had no piping and was worn with identical coloured shorts and socks. Its first outing came in September at Colchester in a 0-0 draw and was worn on 14 occasions that season. It was a tremendous season that saw the Sky Blues reach the quarter finals of the FA Cup and only fail to gain promotion because of the heavy fixture congestion resulting from the Cup run and the worst winter of the twentieth century. Of those 14 away games the team lost only twice whilst wearing red, at Portsmouth in the League Cup and at Reading near the end of the season and was dubbed 'the lucky kit' by Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph.

                          The red away kit at Cardiff in 1967

The kit continued to be lucky for the team up until the 1967 promotion with more wins than losses notwithstanding some notable losses, at West Brom in the 1965 League Cup (6-1) and at Everton in the FA Cup that season (3-0). The luck ran out in the First Division when in the first two seasons there were only two away victories (at West Brom and QPR) out of thirteen outings for the red strip. The last time the red strip was worn was at Everton on 12th April 1969, a 3-0 defeat. After seven seasons the kit was consigned to the dustbin of history and I can never remember seeing a fan wear a replica version of the shirt.

                             'Gibbo' in red kit

Michael Harrington posed a good question recently. He asked about a game against Preston at Highfield Road in January 1950. City won 1-0 with a goal from Ted Roberts but Michael wanted to know if Bill Shankly, the future legendary manager of Liverpool played for Preston, and also if another future famous manager, Tommy Docherty, played for Preston, and if it could have been his league debut, replacing the great Tom Finney who was injured.

Preston had been relegated from the First Division the previous season and Shankly, who was 36 years old, retired from playing in March 1949 when he was given his first managerial appointment at Carlisle. The Preston Plumber, Tom Finney, was out injured at the time. Docherty played at right half but it wasn't his debut; he had been signed the previous year from Celtic (to replace Shankly) and was already a regular. Preston regained their top flight status the following season but Finney again missed the game at Highfield Road but did finally appear at the old stadium in early 1956 in a friendly. In what I think was Joe Elliott's first ever City game, Finney gave a stunning performance in a 4-1 victory, scoring two goals and mesmerising City's veteran left back Charlie Timmins so much that City's manager George Raynor switched the full-backs at half-time.

Tony Monaghan's memory isn't good. He remembers a day when City were away to Stoke in the late 60s or early 70s. He says: 'we travelled to Stoke on the day only to find the match was postponed on the morning due to snow. We spent a great day in the pub with Stoke supporters. Can you tell me when this was and what was the result when the match was eventually played?'

The postponed game was on 20th January 1973. I remember it well as I travelled up to Stoke with a friend and we heard the game was called off as we came off the M6 at the Stoke exit. We turned round and went home! At the time City were flying high and had beaten Orient 4-1 in the FA Cup the week before. The game was rescheduled for 26th March by which time City had lost to Wolves in the FA Cup Sixth round and were on a run of games that saw them lose 10 of their final eleven games. Colin Stein put City ahead after five minutes but John Ritchie (47) and Sean Haslegrave (64) gave Stoke a 2-1 win.

Thanks to Dean Nelson for picture

Jim's column 16.5.2020

I would normally be winding up for the season and doing my review of the season. However I’ve still got quite a few reader’s questions to answer so I’ll continue to answer them for a few weeks.

I’ve had several questions about Coventry City kits in recent times. Andy Greeves wanted to know when the Chocolate Brown Admiral kit was first worn. Having had the Red Admiral as a ‘change’ kit for three seasons the Sky blues launched their Brown version at Derby County’s Baseball Ground in September 1978, the same day that Steve Hunt made his debut after signing from New York Cosmos. City won 2-0 with Hunt scoring the first for a dream start and Ian Wallace netting the second. It meant City had plundered seven points out of eight to move into second place in the First Division.

The chocolate brown kit was worn around 20 times between September 1978 and late 1980 at places like Ipswich, West Brom, Man City, Brighton, Birmingham, Blackburn, Tottenham & Derby. Unfortunately it is remembered for that catastrophic 7-1 defeat at West Brom the following month and the FA Cup defeat at Blackburn the following season but overall it was quite a good kit for the club.

                                    Mick Ferguson in the brown kit

Alex Barker asked when Coventry City first won a yellow ‘change’ kit. He thought it was in the 1980s but It was earlier than that Alex. The first yellow kit was an Admiral ‘egg-timer’ version and introduced whilst the chocolate brown version was still in use. The first sighting of it was at a League Cup tie at West Brom in September 1979, maybe to try and erase the memories of the previous season’s nightmare. The kit was only worn half a dozen times and only one win was recorded, at Crystal Palace in early 1981. A different yellow kit, without the egg-timer stripes, was worn a couple of times most notably at the League Cup semi-final second leg at West Ham. The reason for this is unknown but as it was televised it may have breached the shirt advertisement rules.

                                Gordon Milne with his management team in the yellow Admiral kit

Colin Heys was a great fan of the original Green and Black striped ‘change’ kit that was worn between 1969 and 1974. He believed that it was first worn at Crystal Palace. The story of the kit is that the club announced the change from the all red away kit worn throughout the Jimmy Hill era to the new continental-style stripes in the summer of 1969. However the new kit failed to arrive and the team had a problem with successive early season away games at West Brom and Ipswich where City would be expected to change from their usual Sky Blue. The solution was a green shirt with black shorts and socks. Not only was in very fetching (and pretty unique in league football) but also very successful with 1-0 victories recorded at the Hawthorns and Portman Road. Before the next change was required, at Manchester City’s Maine Road in late September 1969, the new striped kit arrived and was given its first airing there. It wasn’t a happy start for the new kit as the Mancs ran out 3-1 winners. The kit was only worn a further three times that season, at Chelsea (0-1 defeat), at Everton (0-0 draw) and Sheffield Wednesday (1-0 win). The kit subtly changed in 1972 with a collar added and continued until the end of 1973-74 season when a new combo of red shirts with navy blue shorts was introduced.

Lol Harvey 25 July 1934 – 25 April 2020

Its very sad to report the death of former Coventry City player Lawrence (Lol) Harvey at the age 85. Lol was a one-club player who spent 12 years at Highfield Road and made 148 senior appearances for the club despite an injury affected career.

Born and raised in Heanor, Derbyshire and one of five boys, Lol was spotted playing schoolboy football by scout and former City player Harry Holmes. Harry Storer, the manager at the time, knew the county well and recruited many outstanding young players from the area – long-serving player and trainer Peter Hill also came from Heanor. Lol arrived in Coventry as a 15-year-old with his best mate Frank Austin who hailed from the next village. The pair were soon appearing for the youth team, then playing under the pseudonym of Modern Machines in local leagues alongside other talented youngsters such as Reg Matthews, Ronnie Waldock and Trevor Lewis. Soon he was in the 'A' team in the United Counties League playing against much more experienced and physical players.

In October 1951 Lol, a right-half back in those days, was called up for his reserves debut at Brentford and played alongside the veteran captain George Mason and goalkeeper Alf Wood in a 0-0 draw. Seven days later with the club in an injury crisis, in what must be something of a record, he was promoted to the first team, again at Brentford's Griffin Park. He became the youngest City debutant at 17 years 101 days and in the Brentford team that day was a certain Jimmy Hill. Brentford won 1-0 with an early goal but the Coventry Telegraph praised the Derbyshire youngster: 'he gave a grand display at right-half and was watched by his mother and father who travelled down from Heanor. and also his Coventry 'landlord' who has kept an affectionate eye upon him since he came as a very tender youth to join the groundstaff. Their pleasure at his success was matched by that of the City players and manager. All were agreed that he had acquitted himself with considerable credit.. and never looked out of his class.'

Seven days later Lol was retained in the first team for his home debut, a 1-2 defeat to Doncaster which left City in the bottom two of Division Two and he was featured in the programme. The Coventry Telegraph reported that: 'Young Harvey again showed up well and always tried to get his forwards moving with neat ground passes. Lol's third and final first team game that season was at Everton on the following Saturday and 'the youngster tackled as well as anybody in defence, and showed spirit – although he was a little over zealous on occasions'. City, with two players virtually as passengers for much of the game, were beaten 4-1. Lol was back in the reserves the following week and City's season went from bad to worse and saw them relegated to Division Three after nine seasons in the second tier.

Lol went back to the reserves but in the season following relegation he played 20 games and over the next four seasons he was in and out of the first team and built up a reputation as a whole-hearted player with a bite in the tackle. In December 1954 he scored his first senior goal, the first in a 4-0 FA Cup win over Scunthorpe. In 1955 Jesse Carver arrived from Italy's Serie A as manager and Carver took to the industrious Harvey and Lol was a virtual ever present in Jesse's attacking team. Tragedy struck however in early 1956 when playing for the reserves at Plymouth he suffered a serious knee injury, probably one referred to today as a cruciate ligament, and doctors told him he would never play again. He required a major operation and he was told there was no more than 50-50 chance of it succeeding. Lol, softly spoken and deaf in one ear, replied: 'If you can give me 50 per cent chance, I will give you the other half'.

                                                             Lol in 1955

He recovered – the specialist said it was just as much due to his determination as to anything else – but he was left with a 16-inch scar down his leg. Lol, a true fighter, was out of action for over a year but returned to play his part in the club's promotion from the Fourth Division. Billy Frith brought Lol back into first team action when he returned for his second spell as manager in 1957 and later that season he converted him to full-back. He played 41 games in the promotion season – his best season in terms of appearances despite later admitting that he basically played on one leg. More knee injuries hampered his 1959-60 season and he played only two games. Then, after 148 games for the club, he suffered another injury in a 1-4 defeat at Barnsley on the opening day of 1960-61. He recovered sufficiently to play a few reserve games but on the Saturday before Christmas against QPR reserves at Highfield Road his knee went again. By January 1961 a Harley Street specialist was adamant that Lol, despite his desire to carry on, would suffer irreparable damage if he continued playing. His son Neil told me that the decision left his Dad heartbroken: 'he was devastated at the time, he had a wife and three children to support and was used to living in a house supplied by the club. He had no trade and had to find a home. It taught him a massive lesson and when as a young teenager I was offered schoolboy terms by City he refused to let me do it. He told me that I needed a trade because football was such a precarious career and that if I was good enough then I would be good enough to go to football when my apprenticeship was over. I didn't appreciate it at the time but certainly do now.'

I spoke to Dietmar Bruck who was an apprentice at the club in the early 1960s and his memory is of the card school in the player's lounge after training each day. Lol, Frank Austin, Peter Hill and Reg Matthews (who, although playing for Chelsea by then, was still training with City during the week) would have their lunch then settle down for an afternoon of cards. Another former player Mick Kearns was sad to hear of Lol's passing: 'he was a lovely man who always had a smile on his face and will be sorely missed by all who knew him. His cruciate ligament injury would have ended most player's careers but he fought his way back but sadly was never quite the same player'.

Manager Billy Frith persuaded him to stay at the club assisting Paddy Ryan with the Bantam Fighting Fund pools set-up. In early 1962 Lol decided to leave the club and he joined Haddon and Abbotts, a small local engineering company, and later he moved to Massey Ferguson where he spent 32 happy years alongside other ex-City mates like Alf Wood, Brian Nicholas and Ron Farmer. He loved Coventry and stayed in the city after retirement.

Since the Former Players Association was formed in 2007 I've got to know Lol and his family, wife Janet and son Neil well and he was an active participant in the association, assiduously attending home games at the Ricoh as well as Legends Days every year up until 2018 when his health started to fail. I remember him meeting up with former City man Ronnie 'Polly' Waldock at a Legends Day. The two, who both hailed from Heanor, had not seen each other for over 60 years and it was an emotional reunion. At home games the popular Lol could normally be found sitting with his good friend Brian Nicholas, ironically the man Billy Frith signed to replace him, as they discussed and argued about the pros and cons of the modern game and reminisced about the old days. Often they would be interrupted by autograph hunters but Lol always took time to sign and have a few words with the fans. Neil again: 'Dad loved Coventry City from the day he arrived as a 15-year-old until the day he died. There were only ever two things in his life: Coventry City and his family'.

                                  Lol (left) at Legends Day 2013 with Ronnie 'Polly' Waldock & their sons

Like many ex-footballers Lol was struck down with dementia and just over a year ago he moved into Brandon Care Home where he passed away peacefully in his sleep last Saturday morning. With the current social distancing rules only his very close family will be able to attend the funeral but Neil is planning a celebration of Lol's life when things hopefully return to some normality and I am sure this will be attended by his many friends from inside and outside the football world.

RIP Lol.