Jim's column 20.11.2021

 I had the pleasure of meeting former Coventry City striker Julian Joachim before the recent Bristol City game. Julian was at the CBS Arena as the special guest of the Former Players Association and to publicise his biography entitled You Must Be Joachim which has just been published.

The book is a fascinating look at Julian's playing career that spanned over 20 years from Leicester City in the early 1990s to a slew of East Midlands non-league teams in the 2010s. 'Jockey' as he was known throughout his career was a prodigious youngster at Filbert Street and as a 17-year-old represented England at under-18 level at the European Championships. England, who boasted a stellar squad including Robbie Fowler, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Sol Campbell, finished third in the championships but Julian was voted player of the tournament and also won goal of the tournament. He also made an immediate impact for the Foxes with a goal that was runner up in the BBC Goal of the Season as well as one at Wembley in the play-off final.

At Leicester he played over 100 games and won two promotions to the Premier League before a big money move to Aston Villa. Along the way Julian had a few issues with some of his managers including Mark McGhee at Leicester and John Gregory at Villa before Gordon Strachan signed him for Coventry in 2001. Injuries hampered his first two seasons at the club and he is less than complimentary about Gary McAllister's management skills but he bounced back from his adversities to shine in his final season, being voted Player of the Season by the London Supporters Club and netting 11 goals.

Julian has had his dark times too and the book deals with the bullying he endured and the issues that footballers have after retiring. Although Julian never hit the heights of his early career at Coventry his story is a fascinating read for all football fans.

Last week I wrote about instances of City coming from behind to win games with ten men and Keith Ballantyne has a different take on the question. He asks: 'Have City ever failed to beat a team with nine men? I seem to remember a game against Forest at Highfield Road'

There are eight instances of City's opponents being reduced to nine men, all since 1991 in the era when red cards became far more common. Six instances came between 2001 and 2008 and the last time was in 2012 when Middlesbrough had two men sent off at the Ricoh as City recorded a rare win that season. Of the eight games, six were victories and two drawn. The game that Keith refers to was an early season night game just after the club were relegated in 2001 and Forest held out for a 0-0 draw after Stern John was sent off just before half-time followed by Matthieu Louis-Jean in the 67th minute.

City, on the other hand have been reduced to nine men with red cards on six occasions. The first time was in the club's inaugural season in the Football League, 1919-20, in a 1-0 win at Hull, with Billy Walker and Jock Blair sent off together with a Hull player. It was 74 years before the next instance of two red cards – Paul Williams and Richard Shaw ordered off in that famous 3-3 home draw with Wimbledon. The most recent incident was at Portsmouth in 2019 when Dabo and Kastaneer were sent off before City recovered to gain another 3-3 draw.

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton