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'. 

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.

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.

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