Affectionately known as ‘Snoz’,
John Sillett will be universally remembered as the man who
masterminded Coventry City's 1987 FA Cup win. Few of his tributes
will mention his role as a key player in the club's meteoric rise up
the Football League in the 1960s or his magnificent achievement in
managing the Sky Blues to three consecutive top half finishes in the
top flight of English football.
John was born in Southampton but grew
up in the Hampshire village of Nomansland - his parents Charlie and
Anne Sillett ran the Lamb pub in the New Forest village. Charlie had
a good football career with Southampton, making 183 appearances
between 1933-38, mainly as a full-back and latterly as captain of the
Saints. Charlie, who was a gunner in the Royal Navy in the war, sadly
lost his life in 1945 when the ship he was on was sunk in a U-boat
attack.
John and his elder brother Peter
inherited their father's football talents and were both on
Southampton’s books as teenagers. In 1953 with the Saints strapped
for cash Chelsea, managed by Charlie's former teammate Ted Drake,
signed the pair of them for £12,000. Peter, three years John's
senior and already a regular at the Dell, went on to win three
England caps at right-back and played in the Chelsea championship
side of 1955 as well as a member of the 1958 England World Cup squad.
John, originally a centre-forward
converted into full-back, got his first team chance on New Year's Day
1957 against the Busby Babes at Old Trafford alongside Peter and he
was up against David Pegg, one of the country's top wingers who would
sadly lose his life a year later in the Munich air disaster.
Apparently John was a military policeman at the time and the Daily
News match report was complimentary: 'Young Sillett, a
military policeman, who borrowed a raincoat so he could travel in
civvies, had Manchester United's bright young winger in custody for
the 90 minutes'. However United,
on their way to a second successive League title, won 3-0 and after
two more games John was back in the reserves. A further league game
(against post-Munich Manchester United) came the following season and
it wasn't until the start of the 1958-59 season that John became a
regular for the Blues by which time his pal Jimmy Greaves, who coined
the nickname 'Snoz' on account of his over-sized nose, had hit the
football scene like a whirlwind. In those days Chelsea could score
for fun but also concede more – in 1958-59 they scored 75 goals but
let in 98! Wolves, the reigning champions were beaten 6-2 and
Newcastle 6-5 but they conceded six at Bolton, five at both
Manchester clubs and Blackpool. Manager Drake introduced so many
youngsters that the team were dubbed 'Drakes Ducklings' by the press
and John played with outstanding talent such as Peter Bonetti, Terry
Venables and Bobby Tambling. John had one black mark at Chelsea –
he was sent off at Luton for a bad challenge on Luton's Northern
Ireland winger Billy Bingham.
John
was a regular in 1960-61 and won his first representative honour when
selected for the Football League that beat the League of Ireland 4-0
in Dublin. The following season however Drake was sacked after a poor
start and John lost his place when Tommy Docherty arrived as manager.
He was on the transfer list and playing in Chelsea's reserves in
April 1962 when several managers including Coventry City's new boss
Jimmy Hill enquired about signing him. After 102 games for the Blues
John became one of Jimmy's first signings along with Willie
Humphries. Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph
described him as 'a six-footer, a hard defender with a
relentless tackle'. He made his
debut in a 2-0 home defeat to Hull City, playing alongside George
Curtis, Ronnie Farmer and Dietmar Bruck on a grassless Highfield
Road. Nemo liked what he saw that day and wrote: 'Sillett's
unhurried defending, plus his calm positional play, stamp him as a
full-back of much more than average use next season'.
In 1962-63 the Sky
Blue Revolution started and John was the regular right-back, playing
49 league and cup games. Whilst never a spectacular player he was a
solid defender and a steadying influence in the Coventry defence as
well as a big character in the dressing room. City looked good bets
for promotion from Division Three until Christmas when the worst
winter of the 20th century took hold and little football was played
for over two months. By the time the thaw came City had a massive
fixture backlog, exacerbated by the club's best FA Cup run for fifty
years. John played in all nine cup ties as City reached the quarter
finals beating higher division opponents Portsmouth, after a
three-game epic, and Sunderland before losing to Manchester United.
It was the Sillett-Curtis partnership that combined for the late
winning goal in the sensational finale against Sunderland – John's
free-kick finding George's head in a crowded penalty area. Five days
later he had to mark Bobby Charlton in the United tie and although
Bobby scored two goals John had a fine game. After the cup exit they
had 16 league games still to play in six weeks and their promotion
challenge petered out mainly through tiredness. In the final game of
the season, at QPR, John scored his first Coventry goal – a
thumping free-kick from 25 yards.
Promotion was
achieved in 1963-64 and in a virtually unchanged defence John missed
only five games and was a key player in the team's success. In
Division Two a slipped disc in his back affected him and restricted
his appearances but he helped the club consolidate in the higher
division with a tenth-placed finish. A concerted promotion push the
following season ultimately saw the Sky Blues miss out on the top two
places by a single point and John's back problems restricted him to
11 appearances. In a crucial top of the table game at Molineux in
January it was John's free-kick that set Ray Pointer up for the
winning goal. In total John made 128 appearances for the club and
scored two goals.
In the summer of
1966 John was transferred to fellow Second Division club Plymouth
Argyle as a replacement for Tony Book and played 41 games over the
next two seasons, the second of which saw Argyle relegated. Imagine
John's shock in 1967 when his old adversary Billy Bingham arrived as
Argyle's new manager. With his playing career over, in 1968 John
joined Bristol City where the his former Chelsea pal and former
Coventry assistant manager Alan Dicks was in charge. As youth team
coach John took Bristol to the semi finals of the FA Youth Cup in
1970 where they lost to Tottenham who went on to play the Sky Blues
in the final. He went on to become First Team coach and many of his
youth team went on to be part of the club's team that won promotion
to Division One in 1976 including Gerry Gow, Tom Ritchie and Geoff
Merrick. His son Alan told me that this was one of the most
satisfying periods of his career, developing young players and
guiding their careers through to the first team.
In 1974 he became
manager of Hereford United and stamped his style on the team. Ably
supported by veteran player-coach Terry Paine and the prolific
scoring of Dixie McNeil the team won promotion from the old Division
Three as champions in his second season. In the higher division John
stuck by his principles and played attacking football but it was a
step too far for the Bulls and they were relegated. John resigned in
January 1978 with the club struggling at the foot of Division Three
but not until he had unearthed a gem in Kevin Sheedy who signed for
Liverpool.
In 1979 Jimmy Hill, now managing
director, brought John back to Highfield Road initially as Chief
Scout and later as youth team coach but he made his influence felt
from day one. Garry Thompson was recovering from a broken leg and
recalls: 'John was always encouraging me in the gym as I recovered.
Later he was the great motivator in the management team and knew how
to get the best out of me. He'd take me for a coffee and give it to
me straight but always with a smile. When we beat West Ham in the
League Cup semi final he was first on the pitch at the final whistle
with a bear hug. He was a giant'.
John left the club in late 1983, soon
after Bobby Gould became manager for the first time. Gould's
replacement Don Mackay, who had succeeded John as Bristol City youth
team coach, invited him back in 1985 to work with the youth team. His
team, that included Steve Sedgley, Tony Dobson and David Smith,
reached the semi-finals of the Youth Cup. In April 1986 with three
games remaining the Sky Blues looked to be heading for relegation
following a 5-0 thrashing at Anfield. Mackay was relieved of his
duties and chairman John Poynton asked ‘Snoz’ to became chief
coach supported by general manager and great friend George Curtis.
The partnership was immediately
successful with two of the last three games won and relegation
avoided with a final day victory over Queens Park Rangers. The pair
brought a breath of fresh air and a smile to the club with their
happy-go-lucky attitude and expressive style of football. Sillett got
the best out of Dave Bennett and Cyrille Regis and with a side
largely inherited from Mackay and Gould, but inspired by the
partnership, the Sky Blues roared to the FA Cup final twelve months
later.
John with his management team in 1989. (L to R): John Peacock, Terry Paine, Neil Sillett, John, George Dalton, Mick Coop, Mick Kearns
Only two low-key signings were made in
the summer of 1986 with Keith Houchen and David Phillips arriving but
there were promising signs from day one. The team lost only one of
its first eight games playing entertaining attractive football and
when they defeated Tottenham 4-3 at Christmas the football world
started to take notice. The team were never outside the top half of
the table and were a match for anyone at home, losing only three
games all season. However it was away from Highfield Road that the
Cup success was largely achieved with momentous wins at Old Trafford,
Stoke's Victoria Ground and Hillsborough (twice). Undoubtedly
influenced by Jimmy Hill, John and George developed a fantastic team
spirit in the club with lots of off-pitch bonding with wives heavily
involved, a bond that is still strong today.
On an unforgettable day in May 1987
Sillett's team put the smiles back on the faces of not only Coventry
City but also football in general in one of the most exciting finals
since the war. Older City fans will never forget him dancing around
Wembley with the cup like a child who had been given the keys to a
sweet shop. Big John was deservedly rewarded with promotion to team
manager. Two months after the Wembley triumph he made his first
significant purchase signing David Speedie from Chelsea for £780,000.
His immortal quote at the time was “Coventry City have shopped at
Woolworths for too long, from now on we’re shopping at Harrods”.
For the next three years Sillett
achieved miracles. His team was rarely out of the top half of the
table and never had a relegation battle, they finished 10th, 7th and
12th and reached the League Cup semi final in 1990. They did however
suffer embarrassing FA Cup defeats at Sutton and Northampton but was
gracious and sporting in his reactions to the losses. The '87 team
slowly broke up but the spine of the team stayed: Oggy, Peake,
Kilcline and Regis. He had his critics some of whom argued that he
should have broken up the 1987 side sooner and that his transfer
dealings were uninspiring. Despite this his cheery style always shone
through and he was an excellent ambassador for the club.
In October 1990 he was surprisingly
relieved of duties despite being 14th in Division One. Chairman
Poynton dealt with his departure in an untidy fashion, negotiating
with his successor Terry Butcher whilst John was on his sick bed and
unaware of developments. Two months later, according to son Alan, he
got a call from Elton John offering him the manager's post at Watford
but he politely declined.
Eight months after departing Highfield
Road John joined Hereford United for a second time but the club's
finances were in a poor state and he failed to sprinkle his magic.
After Hereford he worked as a pundit on Central TV and returned to
watching the Sky Blues. Many fans will remember him for his rallying
call on the arrival of Ron Atkinson in 1995 when the reception he
received was almost as great as that given Big Ron. With managers
these days going on well into their 60s one has to wonder if John
retired from club management too soon.
He continued to live in Balsall Common
and was part of Sven Goran Eriksson’s scouting set up working
part-time with other former City managers Dave Sexton and Noel
Cantwell in the early 2000s. He got to watch a lot of football and
monitor the progress of squad players and possibles. He boasted that
it was he that recommended Wayne Rooney to Sven! He and his wife Jean
continued to be regulars at Coventry home games and in 2011 he was
made a life president of the club also attending many Diamond Club
and Former Players Association events.
John's other great love was horse
racing and he and Jean have owned many horses over the years and he
loved meeting up with his favourite trainers Barry Hills and Nicky
Henderson where the talk was all football and horses. His horses
Charlie Sillett (named after his father) and Major Laugh gave him
success on the flat.
John's contribution to the football
club and the city will never be forgotten and his name is woven into
DNA of the club. The triumvirate of Coventry City's 20th century
success, Jimmy Hill, George Curtis and John have all now died and
their passing leaves a massive hole in the club's history but his
smiling Wembley jig will forever be remembered.
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