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.
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