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.
Coventry City team photo 1962-63
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.
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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