Jim's column 17.12.22

Coventry City’s excellent run of four victories came to an end at Reading last Saturday with the Royals grabbing a fortuitous 1-0 victory. The goal also ended Ben Wilson’s similar run of clean sheets. Amadou Mbengue’s 57th minute goal was the first goal conceded by Wilson for 427 minutes - since Blackpool’s Jerry Yates 80th minute winner at the CBS Arena.

Wilson bettered his run from earlier in the season when he kept a clean sheet for 384 minutes and his latest run is the fourth longest in league games in the club’s history. 1930s goalkeeper Horace Pearson holds the record (608 minutes) with Steve Ogrizovic (572) in second place for his run in the Don Howe era in 1992. Reice Charles-Cook (445) is third but if cup games are included his minutes without conceding increases to 580 minutes. That was seven years ago and Reice’s career has gone downhill since. After being a virtual ever present in 2015-16 he lost his place to Lee Burge in 2017 and sat on the bench at the EFL Trophy final. That summer the former Arsenal academy player left for Swindon and subsequently played for Shrewsbury and Macclesfield before dropping into non-league with Boreham Wood in 2020. He has bobbed around various south east clubs and is currently with Bromley in the National League. In 2021 he won his first cap for Grenada.

                             Horace Pearson, record-holder

Several readers asked me which Coventry City player was the last to play at the World Cup finals. The answer is Stern John for Trinidad & Tobago in 2006. John played in all three group games, including against England. He was the seventh Coventry player to appear in the finals, the others being Tommy Hutchison (1974), Phil Babb (1994), Roy Wegerle (1994), Viorel Moldovan (1998), Gary Bremen (2002) and Magnus Hedman (2002). Stern won 32 international caps whilst at Coventry between 2004-07.

Mark Smith asked if any former Coventry City players had played in a World Cup final. The answer is no, however a former City manager, George Raynor, managed Sweden to the 1958 final which they lost 5-2 to Brazil. Raynor, who had taken Sweden to the Olympic title in 1948 and third place at the 1950 World Cup, had been brought to Highfield Road as assistant to manager Jesse Carver in 1955. When Carver was lured back to Italy after just six months, Raynor took over. Sadly his progressive tactics weren't suited to Division Three South and after being demoted to coach a year later he left the club and within two years was a national hero in Sweden for his achievements.

                      George Raynor

Glenn Hancock contacted me regarding his father-in-law Joe Davis. Joe was captain of Bristol Rovers when, in December 1963, Rovers beat the Sky Blues 2-1 in a FA Cup second round tie at Highfield Road. Glenn understood that Tv cameras were present that day and wondered if I had access to the film of the game. Dean Nelson helped me out by telling me that the cameras were there to record some excerpts for an episode of the BBC police drama, Z Cars which was aired about a year later. The cup result was a shock as City were leaders of Division Three at the time whilst Rovers were in the bottom half of the same division and had lost the league game between the clubs 4-2 two weeks earlier. Geoff Bradford and Harold Jarman scored the visitor's goals and Ken Hale got a late consolation in front of over 26,000.

            Bob Wesson can't stop Geoff Bradford's goal for Bristol Rovers

Jim's column 26.11.22

The World Cup is well underway in Qatar now and although Coventry City have no current players at the tournament I’m sure City fans will be following the progress of Sky Blue Academy graduates Callum Wilson and James Maddison in the England shirt.

Trying to be topical I thought I would answer some World Cup themed questions.

Paul Brucculeri from Alderman’s Green asked me to remind him of the name of the long- bearded American World Cup defender who nearly signed for the Sky Blues many years ago. It was in 1994 after the World Cup in the USA when City attempted to sign US central defender Alexi Lalas. I’m sure he was close to joining the Sky Blues and did travel to Coventry but eventually signed for Italian club Padova. He played there for two seasons before returning to play for New England in the newly formed MLS. Lalas went on to win 96 caps for his country as well as appearing in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Paul also asked if City had had any US born players other than Cobi Jones (another star of the US 1994 World Cup team). There have been two others, Gerry Baker and Jack McBean. Baker, the son of Scottish parents, was born in New York State but his parents moved back to Scotland when Gerry was quite young. Gerry had a successful career north of the border and with Ipswich before signing for City in the twilight of his career in 1967. He played 34 games for the Sky Blues and won several caps for the USA.

                              Gerry Baker

Californian McBean came to the club on loan from LA Galaxy in that horrendous autumn of 2016 when Mark Venus had taken over as manager following Tony Mowbray’s departure. A striker, Jack made six appearances, three from the bench, failed to find the net and made very little impression on Sky Blue fans.

Wales are appearing in their first World Cup finals since 1958 when they massively over-achieved before narrowly losing to Brazil in the quarter finals. As with Gareth Bale today, Wales had a talismanic figure in John Charles, who had moved to Juventus a year earlier for a British record fee of £65,000. John Sills remembers City signing one of the Welsh heroes, Ron Hewitt a couple of years later.

John writes: ‘Ron arrived at City just in time for the semi-final and Final of the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup, scoring both goals in City's 2-1 win over West Ham in the final. If I remember correctly, his second goal came at the Spion Kop end as he cut inside the penalty area from his inside-left position, side-stepping a defender, and hitting a powerful low shot into the far side of the goal - or was it the near side? I used to commentate myself to sleep with that goal for many weeks afterwards - that victory being the high spot of my first year of following 'The Bantams'. I was 10 years old.’

The veteran Hewitt played 65 first team games for City and scored 26 goals but after Jimmy Hill arrived in late 1961 he was out of favour and in March 1962 joined Chester. He had won five full caps for Wales but never played for his country after the 1958 World Cup. In the team photo from 1960 with the Southern Professional Floodlit trophy he is far left in the back row.

Jim's column 12.11.22

The Sky Blues' 2-0 home win over Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening made it three wins in a row with no goals conceded following the earlier victories over Blackburn and Watford. That's the second time this season that the team have achieved that feat and the six wins in eight have lifted the Sky Blues from the foot of the table to 12th position in the Championship, and they still have games in hand. It's been an incredible turnround after the negativity back in the first few weeks of the season. The Blackpool home defeat sticks out like a sore thumb in the astonishing run although there were strong mitigating circumstances with a good number of the squad struck down with a virus but it did mean the Sky Blues lost after leading at home for the first time since March 2021. That was when Middlesbrough won 2-1 at St Andrews after City led through an early own goal. It last happened at the CBS Arena against Scunthorpe United on the opening day of the 2018-19 season. Tony Andreu put City ahead just after half-time but goals from Stephen Humphrys and Andy Dales (on his debut) gave the Irons the points. How Coventry and Scunthorpe's fortunes have diverged in the intervening four years. Before today's games the Sky Blues were 32nd in the football pyramid whilst the Irons were 113th (21st in the National League).

City's defence has tightened boundlessly with nine clean sheets in 12 games (including a new club record of five consecutive shut-outs away from home). The only goals conceded have been to Burnley, Rotherham (2) and Blackpool (2) and only Preston (16) have conceded less than City's 18 in the Championship this season.

The recent away form has been impressive with three wins preceded by three draws in an unbeaten run of six – the best run since the League One title season when they were unbeaten for the final eight away games (that run including seven wins). The last time City won three consecutive away games without conceding was in early 2004 under Eric Black when Nottingham Forest (1-0), Wimbledon (3-0) and Cardiff (1-0) were defeated. The only other occasion was in the old Second Division in 1938-39.

Few City fans recognised a former Sky Blue loanee, Jamie Jones, playing in goal for Wigan on Tuesday night. Jamie, now 33 years old, played four games for City on loan from Preston in 2014 under Steven Pressley. Jamie, a scouser who hailed from Kirkby (the same part of Liverpool as Dennis Mortimer), started his career at Everton before joining Leyton Orient. Orient just missed out on promotion to the Championship in 2013-14 and he earned a move to Preston where he stayed just one season. After two seasons at Stevenage he joined Wigan in 2017 and has played over 100 games for them and is current understudy to Ben Amos. In 2015 he made his Sky Blues debut in a 0-0 draw at Yeovil, replacing Ryan Allsop, and appeared in goal in the final four league games of the Pressley regime. After Pressley was sacked following a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane Jamie left the club and moved to Rochdale on loan.

                  Jamie Jones (left) with Jim O'Brien in 2015

Keith Reay asked an interesting question regarding a television programme from the early 1990s. He remembers the fictional programme about a female football manager which featured a City away game at QPR in one episode. He remembers City playing in a yellow away kit sponsored by Peugeot, but couldn't remember the name of the television programme.

It was called The Manageress and starred Cherie Lunghi as the manageress and the late Warren Clarke as the chairman. I suspect the game that was featured was the Boxing Day game at Loftus Road in 1989 (picture shown featuring Brian Borrows and QPR's Andy Sinton) which ended in a 1-0 defeat for the Sky Blues.

Jim's column 29.10.22

Fifty years ago this month Coventry City signed arguably the club's finest player of the modern era, Tommy Hutchison. The Blackpool winger had been on the radar of many top clubs but Gordon Milne, the Sky Blues new manager, knew that his former team-mate 'Hutch' was the man to spark the club's rejuvenation and paid a club record £140,000 to bring him to Coventry. In Coventry City fan's eyes Tommy was a football genius.

Now Tommy has published his autobiography with the assistance of City fan Kevin Shannon. Entitled 'Hutch, Hard Work and Belief' is published by Pitch Publishing. Tommy is in Coventry this weekend and will be signing copies in Waterstones on Saturday morning, at the home game with Blackpool, in the G Casino after the game and at Walking Football on Monday.

Tommy grew up in an austere background – his father was a miner in the Fife coalfields – and readily admits he wasn't that good a footballer in his schooldays. His hard work and persistence earned him part-time football with Alloa Athletic and from there Blackpool spotted him.

Few players have had the immediate impact that 'Hutch' had on coming to Coventry. His arrival, a few days after another Scot, Colin Stein had signed from Rangers, triggered a eight-match unbeaten run with Tommy terrorising a clutch of top full backs in the autumn of 1972. A good number of his markers were booked for persistently fouling the long legged winger including Tony Book, Pat Rice, Mick Mills and Paul Reaney. Rice was one of the Arsenal defenders he left trailing in his wake as he slalomed through the Gunners' defence to score one of City's greatest goals and one mentioned in Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch.

The 1972-73 season gave City fans so much pleasure and but for an under par performance in the FA Cup sixth round at Molineux the team could well have reached Wembley. Hutch's performances earned him a Scotland call-up early the following season and he realised his boyhood dream of pulling on the Navy Blue jersey. But for an injury he would have made more than two substitute appearances for his country at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. There were a couple of seasons in the mid 1970s when the football got a bit boring at Highfield Road but you could always rely on Tommy to lift the gloom on the darkest days with his skilful dribbling, turn of speed and great crossing ability. His consistent performances for City should have guaranteed a regular international place and his total of 17 caps was a travesty.

In 1977-78 we saw Gordon Milne's finest team that played thrilling, attacking football and narrowly missed out on a European place. 'Hutch' had another magnificent season setting up many of Ian Wallace and Mick Ferguson's tremendous haul of goals and it was a travesty that he didn't go to the Argentina World Cup. His departure from Coventry in 1980 was sad for him and the fans but a move to Manchester City seemed to give him a new lease of life and although his stay at Maine Road was short he did help his new club to the 1981 FA Cup final and became only the second player to score for both teams in a final. Sadly he had to be content with a loser's medal.

His career took him to Seattle Sounders and later to Hong Kong to play for Bulova before a return to England with two seasons at Burnley and six years at Swansea ending up at Merthyr Tydfil at the age 46 having made over 1000 competitive games. At every club he was adored by the fans and achieved legendary status wherever he played.

What few football fans know about is Tommy's career as a Football Development Officer in Wales and later at Bristol City. Testimonials from his colleagues from this part of his working life illustrate the love he had of football and inspiring youngsters many of them disadvantaged to play the game.

I am always grateful to him personally with helping me launch one of my first books and for supporting the Former Players Association with regular visits from North of the border where he is now retired.

I might be biased but this is one of the most inspiring football biographies I have read and I recommend it to all Sky Blue fans as well as football fans in general. Tom and his ghost writer Kevin Shannon deserve credit for a welcome addition to the Coventry City library of books.

                   Jim & Tommy at book signing before Blackpool game

Jim's column 22.10.22

By the virtue of successive victories the Sky Blues climbed off the foot of the table where they had laid since the Hull game in September. The first away win of the season came at Cardiff on Saturday and was followed by another 1-0 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday. Thus ended the longest spell the club has spent in last place in a league table since 2017 in that horrendous season when they were relegated from League One.

Two more clean sheets made in five out of six since the draw at Luton and three in a row away from home. At the moment the team has conceded less goals per game than anyone in the Championship – a far cry from the nine goals shipped in three away games at Millwall, Hull and Norwich.

It was a rare three points at Cardiff – the first victory at the City of Cardiff Stadium after four defeats and a draw since the Bluebirds moved from Ninian Park in 2009. The last win in the Welsh capital was a 1-0 at Ninian Park in August 2007 courtesy of a Jay Tabb goal. City's win was also the first in Wales since then – a run of 13 games since that 2007 win (six at Cardiff, six at Swansea and one at Newport) although they did beat Swansea's under 21s on penalties in the EFL Trophy in 2017.

The winner was a rare home penalty for the Sky Blues – the first at the CBS Arena since early November last year in the 3-2 victory over Bristol City and the seemingly nerveless Martyn Waghorn buried it with his trusty left foot. Substitute Waghorn was substituted within a few minutes and became only the second City substitute to score and be subbed. The only other was Jay Bothroyd in a 2-0 away win over Gillingham in 2002. He also became only the sixth City substitute to score from a penalty and the first since Carl Baker at Gillingham in 2013. The others were Gavin Strachan, Don Hutchison, Patrick Suffo and Gary McSheffrey.

Referee Keith Stroud came in for some criticism after Wednesday's game and the implication of some was that City never did well when Stroud was the ref. I checked the records and it's not true. Last season Stroud was in charge when City won away at Blackpool, Peterborough and Fulham. He was also in the middle for the home games with West Brom (loss) and Preston (draw) and although he arguably missed a handball for one of the Baggies' goals he did add on nine minutes in the latter game for Preston's time-wasting which allowed Tavares to grab an equaliser. Since 2019 Stroud has been in charge of 11 City games and they have won four, drawn five and lost two.

Paul Tebbutt was in touch last week about his father Gordon Tebbutt, aged 88, who has been supporting Coventry City for most of his life. Gordon saw his first game in the 1945/46 season at the age of 11 and recalls watching Harry Barratt score four goals in an 8-1 win but he can’t remember who it was against. There were no 8-1 victories that season but Harry Barratt did score four goals on two occasions.

The first was on 15 November (a Thursday afternoon) when City beat Newport County 7-1. The other goal scorers were George Lowrie (2) and Dennis Simpson. The attendance was 3,146.

The second was against Millwall on 9 February 1946 which ended 7-2 to City. Barratt did score 4 goals and the other scorers were Emilio Aldecoa, Jose Bilbao and Dennis Simpson. Aldecoa and Bilbao were refugees from the Spanish Civil War who arrived in the U.K. before the war. City led 6-0 at half time. The attendance was 13,712.

                            The team that beat Millwall 7-2 in 1946

The games that season are not classified as 'official' games. Peacetime football did not recommence until August 1946 and the 1945-46 season was a transitional season run on a regional basis. City were in Football League South and played against all the top London sides as well as Aston Villa and Birmingham and finished 13th.

Jim's column 15.10.22

I have got to know Dennis Mortimer well in the last few years through the Former Players Association (CCFPA) and I’m pleased to see he has written his biography with the help of Richard Sydenham. Entitled ‘The Full Morty’ it is published by Pitch Publishing at £25.

Like most football clubs, Coventry City have sold many of their star players over the years. I became anaesthetised to their loss a long time ago but still remember the pain when Dennis left City days before Christmas in 1975. I was at an office Christmas party in London when a colleague broke the devastating news and was so distraught I had to go home with Christmas spirit the last thing on my mind. For him to leave was bad enough but to join the Villa was like an arrow to the heart. I had watched him for six years, graduating from the captain of the most exciting youth team the club have ever produced through to the first team where he dazzled from the start and had become, by 1975, alongside Tommy Hutchison, the mainstays of Gordon Milne’s team. In the classic FA Youth Cup final of 1970 that went to four games he outshone the Tottenham starlets Steve Perryman and Graeme Souness to such an extent that Souness was sent off for throwing (but missing) a punch at Dennis in the first replay.

I watched him at Highbury in early 1973 dominatinging for England under 23s against Holland and scoring two goals. He should have been picked for England then but there were so many good English midfield players at the time. I am not exaggerating when I consider him the best uncapped Englishman of that era.

Of course he went on to success at Villa Park - winning the League Cup, captaining the club to League championship and the European Cup, glory, sadly, he would not have had at Highfield Road.

In his book Dennis has much praise for the set up at Coventry in his time there. A remarkable scouting system, a care and education for the young apprentices and a route through to the first team not offered by many First Division sides at the time made it an attractive proposition for talented youngsters

Dennis also lifts the veil on the petty in-fighting and jealousy at Villa which saw many of the European heroes alienated by the club for a time and Dennis himself hounded out.

He is a regular attendee at CCFPA Legends’ Days and is revered by his former team-mates and City fans of my age group. He is a genuine guy who deserves the success he has had and deserves success with his biography.

Dean Nelson sent me a lovely picture taken in February 1963, during the winter of the big freeze. It shows the players of Coventry City and Wolves boarding an aeroplane at Cork airport for a return flight to Birmingham. The clubs had just met in a hastily arranged friendly in Cork.

Football in England was impossible with snowbound and frozen pitches causing the majority of league and FA Cup games to be postponed every weekend since Christmas. A week earlier Jimmy Hill, always the innovator, had persuaded Manchester United manager Matt Busby to play a friendly in Dublin. Now, with another game called off, he contacted Wolves manager Stan Cullis to play a friendly in ice-free Cork. A heavy muddy pitch at Flower Lodge, the home of Cork Hibs suited Wolves’ long-ball game and although City had chances, especially in the first half playing with the wind at their backs, Wolves scored three goals in 11 minutes early in the second half to win 3-0. The scorers for a star-studded First Division side were Ron Flowers, Barry Stobart and Chris Crowe and 6,500 spectators braved the heavy rain to see an entertaining match with City flying home £100 better off. A match programme was hastily printed and the centre page of the four-page effort is shown. Flower Lodge is now a Gaelic sports stadium. In the photograph Jimmy Hill is clear, wearing a hat, with his hands on the shoulders of Stan Cullis. City players include George Curtis, John Sillett, Dietmar Bruck and Ken Hale. Wolves stars include internationals Peter Broadbent and Ron Flowers.

Two weeks later the signs were that the long spell of dreadful weather in England was coming to an end and with City hopeful of playing a league game the  following Saturday. Hill wanted his team to have some more match practice and organised another date with Wolves, this time in Belfast at Celtic Park. On the night City were guilty of poor finishing and uncertain goalkeeping and lost 6-3. Hill’s foresight was rewarded with the club’s best FA Cup run for over 50 years - they reached the sixth round by virtue of six games in 25 days before losing out to the eventual winners Manchester United.

Jim's column 8.10.22

It's sad to report the death of former Coventry City player Alan Turner who played under Jimmy Hill in the 1960s. His friend and former playing colleague Dennis Oakes informed me that Alan died on 23rd September.

Alan, who was with the club from 1962-66, only made four first team appearances but was a regular in the reserve team during those years, playing over 120 games for the 'stiffs'.

Born in 1943 and a native of Hull, Alan was a junior with Hull City and an amateur player with Chilton FC before Scunthorpe United took him on as a reserve player in 1960. Jimmy Hill had only arrived at Highfield Road in the previous November and invited Alan to a month's trial in January 1962 following a recommendation from one of Hill's old army mates. He made his 'A' team debut against West Brom on 20 January and Alan scored the first goal in City's 2-1 win with Dietmar Bruck scoring the winner.

A scheming inside-forward with a good eye for goal, Alan made his reserve team debut at Aldershot on 14 February alongside other youngsters Brian Hill, Dietmar Bruck and Bob Wesson and Alan Dicks, City's new Assistant manager also made his debut. The reserves ended a bad run of results by winning 1-0 thanks to a goal by Mike Dixon. A week later he scored his first goal in an 8-2 home reserve win over QPR and was a regular in the reserves until the end of the season, scoring three goals in 13 games. On 24 April he got his first team chance in the Third Division game at Ashton Gate as JH gave promising youngsters a run out – winger George Bassett also debuted and young striker Colin Holder also played. 18-year-old Alan had a tough game against experienced defenders and City lost 3-2.

The club had some outstanding forwards in that era and Alan was restricted to reserve games for the next three seasons but he was a regular in the 1964-65 team that won promotion from Football Combination Division Two in front of average crowds of over 5,000, scoring nine goals.

He didn't play for the first team again until Easter 1965 when he was called up to play in a 2-0 Second Division home defeat to Cardiff and a week later appeared in the final game of the season, a 3-1 win at Leyton Orient. His fourth and final game for the club was in a Division Two game at Highfield Road against Southampton in September 1965 when he stood in for the injured Ron Farmer - the Sky Blues ran out 5-1 winners.

Alan was transferred to Third Division Shrewsbury Town in July 1966 where he played a further sixteen games and scored three goals before moving to Bradford Park Avenue in May 1967 where he played the whole season and scored four times in 32 appearances. Bradford finished rock bottom of the Football League and had to apply for re-election and Alan was released. His last professional club was Northern Premier League side Wigan Athletic and he later moved back to Humberside and played in non-league with Goole Town where he was player-manager. He worked for GKN in the 1970s and lived on Humberside.

Alan had been a frequent attender of CCFPA Legends Day over the years and is pictured at Legends Day 2017 with Bedworth-born Dennis Oakes. My condolences go out to his widow Joan. Funeral takes place at 11.30 am on the 21st October at Haltemprice Crematorium near Hull.

 Alan (right) with friend & former teammate Dennis Oakes at Legends Day 2017

The Sky Blues won a hard-earned point at Ashton Gate on Tuesday evening with some excellent defending. Although under pressure for most of the game, City had the best chances of the gam and could easily have won the game. It was another clean sheet – the third in a row in the league for the first time since the opening three games of the 2019-20 season. One has to go back to 2015 to find the last time they kept four in a row. The club record is six, set in 1934.

Jim's column 17.9.22

A couple of interesting questions this week. Alex Smith sent me a picture of the programme produced by the club in October 1965 for the closed circuit televised game from Cardiff and wanted more information about this historic occasion.

As early as the close season of 1965 Jimmy Hill and the City board, in another example of their innovative ideas, had been exploring the feasibility of beaming an away match back to Coventry for fans who didn’t have the time or money to follow them away. Early applications to the Football League for the experiment were turned down on spurious grounds but in September the club got approval from the League and the Football Association to relay the away game at Cardiff. The league game had been rearranged from the previous Saturday, a Home International day with both clubs having players involved, and was re-scheduled for a Wednesday evening. With a high cost involved and a serious risk of technical difficulties the risk was borne by Viewsport Limited who purchased the necessary equipment and would not only take any profit on the project but more importantly shoulder any losses.

In an unprecedented hive of activity the screens, three in front of the Sky Blue Stand and a fourth in front of the main stand (for VIPs), were erected after a reserve game the previous evening. The workmen, hampered by fog, toiled all night long and a dummy-run by the projectionists had to be cancelled. More fog on the day of the game meant that not only the team had to cancel their chartered plane trip to South Wales and go by coach, but at Highfield Road the whole experiment looked doomed to fail. The fog thankfully lifted and the crowd were treated to pre-match entertainment in the shape of interviews with players and pictures of the players warming up at Ninian Park. City wore red and white striped shirts, borrowed from Stoke City (and used in Jimmy Hill’s football ‘soap’, United), to avoid any confusion on the black and white transmission. Former Spurs and Northern Ireland player Danny Blanchflower gave his views at half-time and the evening ended in true Coventry drama with a late goal to clinch a 2-1 away win, sending the Coventry fans delirious at both venues. A crowd of 10,295 watched at Highfield Road and an estimated 500 City fans were in the 12,000 who saw it ‘live’ at Ninian Park. The victory was City's first away win of the season and lifted them to second place in Division Two.

The pictures were clear and all agreed that the experiment was a great success and definitely the way football would go in the future. There was tremendous interest amongst other English clubs, 13 of who attended the screening, and also from abroad – in France the football magazine L’Equipe devoted half a page plus pictures to the pioneering night.

City did stage another closed circuit game later that season when they played Charlton Athletic at the Valley. This time the gate at Coventry was higher, 11,321 while 15,000 watched the live action in London. With the lighter nights, the kick-off time had to be put back to 8.30. This time however City lost, 0-2, a result which all but ended their thin promotion hopes, and the crowd were much more subdued. Viewsport again took on the risk and it was reported that they had broken even but Jimmy Hill was not convinced: ‘It is a matter of finding the right time to relay and everything would depend on how well the team was doing at the time.’

Stephen Watkin contacted me to request a list of the twelve largest Coventry City home attendances for a project he is undertaking.

The top twelve 'official' gates were all at Highfield Road:-

*at the Luton game in 1936 at least one gate was broken down by spectators and the actual attendance was probably higher.

All but three of the 12 gates occurred between 1967 and 1974 when the capacity of the stadium was over 40,000 with large expanses of terraces. The capacity of Highfield Road was reduced to 20,500 in 1981 with the all-seater stadium but increased to around 28,000 when the Spion Kop was re-opened in 1985. The largest crowd post-1981 was the 27,509 who watched City play Liverpool in August 1987.

One attendance not included in the list is the Sunderland FA Cup game in 1963. The official attendance was 40,487 but, like the Luton game in 1936, gates were broken down and possibly as many as 2-3,000 fans gained admittance for free and are not included in the official figures.

Coventry City fan James Adams who wrote the excellent 'Attached to Coventry City 1958-2020' has followed up with a new book 'Passionate – a psychological memoir of a Coventry kid'. James describes a fascinating life's journey, his support of Coventry City and a multi-faceted career with strands including education and religion. James has had many ups and downs in his life but describes his path towards positive mental health.

Bob Wesson (15.10.1940 – 31.8.2022)

Former City goalkeeper Bob Wesson sadly died last week. Bob, who was 81, was City’s regular ‘keeper in the early sixties, played in the great FA Cup run in 1963 and won a Third Division championship medal under Jimmy Hill the following season. He made 156 appearances for the Sky Blues before losing his place to Bill Glazier and moving to Walsall where he played over 200 games for the Saddlers.

Born in Thornaby-on-Tees Bob played his early football for Thornaby Boys Brigade and had trials with Headington United (now Oxford United) and his local team Middlesbrough before signing for Coventry City in November 1958 following a brief trial. Manager Billy Frith had signed South African goalkeeper Arthur Lightening but wanted a young deputy and 18-year-old Bob moved down from the North East. He made his reserve team debut in a 4-2 defeat at Millwall playing alongside other youngsters such as Brian Hill, Mick Kearns and Ken Satchwell. His early games were inauspicious however and was rested after conceding 14 goals in his first four reserve games culminating in a 7-2 home defeat to Mansfield Town.

Bob spent the next two years in the 'A' Team with the occasional reserve game before suddenly getting a first team call-up at Newport County in March 1961 when Lightening was injured. The game ended 3-3 and Bob won praise from Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph match report.

'...the brawny Wesson had to face a stiff first-half breeze with the ball coming in at all angles and varying speeds. He came out of this ordeal with flying colours, right from the save he made in the opening 60 seconds as he scooped a dangerous Meyer shot away for a corner. Wesson never kept goal by half-measures. When the ball was not in a catching position, he came roaring out with both fists to thump it away to safety, and his confident manner inspired the City defence to a rousing display.'

He retained his place for the final eleven games of the season despite being between the posts for another 7-2 defeat at Watford. In 1961-62, with the arrival of Jimmy Hill, Lightening was fit again and preferred to Bob who was restricted to the reserves apart from four first team games. Things changed however in August 1962 when Hill controversially sold Lightening to Middlesbrough after a disciplinary issue and signed another keeper, Dave Meeson, from Reading leaving Bob rather bemused. As luck would have it Meeson's signing was one of JH's transfer blunders and after 15 games and some poor performances he was dropped in favour of Bob. Bob's return to the team coincided with an FA Cup First Round tie with Bournemouth at Highfield Road and the Sky Blues scraped through 1-0 thanks to several superb saves by Bob in the dying minutes to foil the Cherries. Bob's patience was rewarded with an uninterrupted run as first choice goalkeeper and he was a vital cog in the team that reached the club's first FA Cup quarter final in over 50 years.

The following season, 1963-64, Bob was a virtual ever present as the Sky Blues set a blistering pace at the top of Division Three. The team led the table by ten points at the turn of the year but a near-disastrous run of eleven games without a win almost cost the team promotion. JH tried everything to turn around the team's form and even reliable Bob was rested for five games but was back between the posts for the final few games.

            The 1963-64 champions. Bob is second from left, back row.

In the higher division Bob's form took a slight dip and Hill, keen to strengthen the team spent £35,000, a world record fee for a goalkeeper, on Crystal Palace's Bill Glazier. Bob was back in the reserves but five months later Glazier suffered a broken leg and Bob was recalled. He didn't let the side down and kept goal in Glazier's absence for over a year. Once Glazier was fully fit he regained the jersey and Bob realised that he would never be first choice at the club. In September 1966 he joined Third Division Walsall for £15,000 and was a regular at Fellows Park for the next seven seasons. His only spell out of the Saddlers team was when 18-year-old prodigy Phil Parkes emerged on the scene in 1969 and Bob was allowed to go on loan to Doncaster. Within a year Parkes was off to London for an illustrious career with QPR and later West Ham United and Bob was back in the team.

Bob's professional career ended after a bad shoulder injury sustained in an FA Cup tie with Kettering in 1972 and he left Walsall the following summer before a spell at Burton Albion.

Bob and his wife Janet (who died in 2016) then entered the pub trade in Warwickshire and Leicestershire for over two decades before he finally retired. Bob, who was an active member of CCFPA, had not been in the best of health over the last few years but nevertheless followed the Sky Blues, whenever he felt up to it, at the CBS Arena as well as at St Andrews before the pandemic. He was an ever present at Legends Day since the formation of CCFPA and despite being restricted to a wheelchair was there last March to meet up with his friends and former colleagues.

            Bob at the CBS arena with former colleague Bill Tedds

He will be greatly missed by the Sky Blue family and especially that group of older Former Players who had regular lunches in Coventry in recent years. His funeral takes place at Rugby Crematorium on 26th September at 3pm.

Jim's column 3.9.22

The Preston hoodoo continued on Wednesday night in the opening home game of the season. The curse of Deepdale is well known (no league wins in 20 visits) but the home record against Preston this century is also appalling with no victories in the last nine meetings. The last league victory over the Lancastrians was in September 2007 when late goals by Dele Adebola and Michael Doyle gave Iain Dowie’s Sky Blues a 2-1 victory. Since then there have been nine home meetings (including one at Sixfields and one at St Andrew’s) that have yielded five draws and four defeats. That makes 18 league meetings in total without a win for the Sky Blues with a solitary 3-2 EFL trophy win in 2013.

Preston’s manager Ryan Lowe loves putting one over the Sky Blues. As a player he scored seven goals in seven appearances against City including two for Bury in a League Cup shock in 2011 and a hat trick for Tranmere in a 5-1 hammering at Sixfields in 2013 - the last home hat trick conceded by the Sky Blues. He didn’t fare too well in his final season in 2015-16; he was in the Crewe team defeated 5-0 by City at Gresty Road and just over a month later had moved to Bury and was in the side thumped 6-0 by the Sky Blues.

Last Saturday the Sky Blues were beaten 3-2 at Hull and were on the wrong end of a hat trick by Oscar Estupinan. The Colombian striker became the first opposition player to score a hat trick against the Sky Blues during the five-year Mark Robins era. The last opponent to score three in a game was Northampton’s Keshi Anderson in a 3-0 defeat at Sixfields in March 2017 - a game remembered for an early red card for Jordan Willis and serious disruption to the game by protesting Coventry fans. Oscar is also the first Hull City player to score a hat trick against City.

As I write this the sad news has come through that former City goalkeeper Bob Wesson has passed away. Bob, who was 81, was City’s regular ‘keeper in the early sixties and played in the great FA Cup run in 1963 and won a Third Division championship medal the following season. He made 156 appearances for the club before losing his place to Bill Glazier and moving to Walsall where he played over 200 games for the Saddlers. I intend to do a full tribute to Bob next week.

Jim's Column 20.8.22

The good news this week is that the CBS Arena pitch is to be substantially repaired following the damage left by the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens tournament. The bad news is that the time needed to make the pitch safe means that another home league game (the third of the season), against Huddersfield, is postponed and City fans won't see their team at home until 31st August when Preston North End are the visitors. The three postponed games will have to be slotted into an already crowded schedule and it seems likely that the team will probably be playing every midweek between now and the beginning of the World Cup in early November. City fans are praying that there will not be a points deduction or other punishment for the failure to play the matches.

Last Saturday the Sky Blues travelled to South London to play Millwall and were very unlucky not to come away with a result, especially as they had led 2-0 after 35 minutes. It's very rare for City to lose after leading by two goals and this was the first occasion since 2011 when in an FA Cup fourth round tie at St Andrews City led 2-0 only for Blues to come back to win 3-2. Marlon King and Richard Wood put the Sky Blues ahead and David Bentley pulled one back before half-time. In the second half Blues, then a Premiership side, scored further goals through Stuart Parnaby and Kevin Phillips. The last occurrence in a league game was in April 2009 against Watford when City looked home and dry after Robbie Simpson had put them 2-0 up early in the second half following Freddy Eastwood's early strike. The Hornets had different ideas however and goals from Tommy Smith, Grzegorz Rasiak and Tamas Priskin secured a 3-2 away win. The result was probably the final nail in Chris Coleman's coffin; with only one win in 12 games and another defeat at Ipswich a week later the manager was relieved of duties soon afterwards.

The only other occurrence since City left the Premiership was in 2003 when a young City side were demolished 4-2 at home by Ipswich after leading 2-0 at half-time. The Tractor boys blitzed the Sky Blues with four goals in 17 minutes. Villa Park was the scene of a famous capitulation on the day that relegation from the Premiership in 2001. Mustapha Hadji scored two first half goals and City held out until 61 minutes when Darius Vassell pulled one back. Nervous City fans could barely watch as Villa turned the screws and Juan Pablo Angel (81 minutes) and Paul Merson (85 minutes) sealed City's fate.

There was only one occurrence in the 1990s – a 3-2 FA Cup defeat at Derby – but the 1980s was a bad decade with seven losses from a 2-0 lead. Bobby Gould's eighteen months in charge witnessed four – West Ham (2-5), Sheffield Wednesday (FA Cup) (2-3), Stoke (2-3) and Chelsea (2-6). There were two at Forest's City ground (1982 & 1986) and a home loss to Southampton just months after City's Wembley triumph.

On the other hand the Sky Blues have come from two behind to win six times in the last nine years with the most recent last season at St Andrews (4-2) and in home games with Peterborough three seasons running between 2013-15. Prior to 2013 it had been 18 years since an occurrence – a 3-2 League Cup victory over Tottenham.

There have been several new books from former Coventry City players in the last year and there are biographies from Dennis Mortimer and Tommy Hutchison slated for publication in the autumn. Mark Hateley's biography 'Hitting the Mark' came out some months ago and I can recommend it to Coventry City fans and football fans in general. The son of Tony Hateley, a legend at Aston Villa who also played one season at Coventry, Mark was a prodigious youngster who broke into the City first team as a 17-year-old in 1979. The book is a reminder of the quality of talent being produced by the club in that period and Mark had some outstanding team-mates such as Danny Thomas, Steve Whitton, Garry Thompson and Paul Dyson. Financial difficulties and poor management saw the best of the talent leave the club in the busy summer of 1983 and Mark dropped a division to join Portsmouth. Within a year he was an England international and scored a memorable goal against Brazil which earned him a lucrative move to AC Milan. Mark's glittering career at Milan, Monaco and Glasgow Rangers is laid out in a very readable style. 'Hitting The Mark' was co-written by Alistair Aird and is published by Reach Sport.

Jim's column 13.8.22

Coventry City's start to the season has been thrown into chaos by the pitch debacle at the CBS Arena following the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament. Last Sunday's opening home game against Rotherham was called off at short notice and ever since we have had a undignified and unhelpful war of words between the parties. Somehow the club managed to organise for the Carabao (League) Cup game with Bristol City to take place at Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium on Wednesday evening.

This was only the second match ever called off at the Arena since it opened in 2005, and the first because of the state of the pitch. Bristol City became the first team to play away games against City at five different locations as they have previously played at both Sixfields and St Andrews.

Meanwhile Mark Robins's team will be playing catch up with the rest of the division until they can rearrange the Rotherham game and we have to hope that the next two home games can go ahead or that catch up will be increased. The situation is not dissimilar to the 1968-69 season when the club's new Main Stand wasn't ready for the start of the campaign and the club had to call off the first two home games and then start with two away games, both which were lost. So after every other club had played four games City had played just two and were bottom of the table. The club struggled to get out of the relegation zone all season and only avoided relegation because Leicester City had a massive fixture backlog as a result of weather and an FA Cup run. Let's hope that the Arena pitch is fit to play on soon and that the team can deal with what sounds like it will be an inferior playing surface.

The League Cup game went ahead in Burton but turned into a nightmare with a pumped up Bristol team thumping a City team, largely made up of fringe players, for an easy passage to the second round. The first half performance was abysmal and although things improved after half-time the final scoreline of 4-1 didn't flatter Bristol. It was the club's worst home defeat in the competition since 1964 when Leicester City thumped Jimmy Hill's side 8-1. There were some mitigating circumstances that night – captain George Curtis had to leave the field injured before half-time and there were no substitutes in those days plus the fact that Leicester were a top six First Division side and had their best team in their pre-2016 history.

The club's fans travelled in good numbers and good humour to Burton on a beautiful evening and the crowd, with just a few hundred away fans, was 2,680. The club have had lower home crowds in the competition at Sixfields and St Andrews but the receipts will probably be a quarter of what they could have expected at the CBS and the hire of Burton's facilities will make it a loss-making event. With valuable income lost with the Rotherham postponement one has to worry that one of the club's top players will have to be sold before the transfer window closes to fill the inevitable shortfall of cash.

The competition has been extremely unproductive for City in recent years – it was the seventh time in the last ten seasons that they have exited the competition. It is now 15 years since the club last progressed beyond the third round – the year they won at Old Trafford and only once since then have they reached the third round! The Sky Blues are not alone – 19 Championship clubs played in the competition this week and all but four were eliminated, the majority to clubs from the lower divisions. This suggests that Championship clubs are so focused on the league campaign and gaining promotion to the Premier League that they have little or no interest in the competition even though there is the lure of big pay days if they draw one of the big clubs later in the competition. Sadly it seems the League Cup is on its last legs and that will mean that smaller clubs will lose their opportunity of financial windfalls and exciting giant-killing exploits and all because of the greed of the bigger clubs.

The Sky Blues kicked off the new season at the Stadium of Light last Sunday with a hard fought 1-1 draw thanks to a top drawer finish from last season's top scorer Viktor Gyokeres. Following the trend of last season the team conceded first and had to come from behind to get the result.

The game was manager Mark Robins's 300th game in charge of the club and only two men, Harry Storer and Gordon Milne, have managed Coventry City in more games. Storer, a legendary manager who took a virtually bankrupt club from the depths of Division Three South in 1931 to the verge of Division One in 1939 and, like Robins came back for a second spell in the post-war era, took charge in 549 games. Milne, who kept the club's head above perilous relegation waters before producing the most exciting team of the post-war period in 1977, managed for 440 games. It's worth comparing the three manager's win ratio in league games during their period in charge. Robins has a win ratio of 41.7% which is less than Storer's 44.4% but better than Milne's 32.5%. However that oversimplifies the comparison as Milne's games were all in the top flight whilst neither Storer or Robins managed the club higher than tier two. Jimmy Hill is the only other City manager who has been in charge for longer than one season who can beat Robins's win ratio – Hill's percentage was 43.9.

                               Harry Storer in 1949

The attendance at the Stadium of Light was a massive 40,851 and the largest crowd to watch a Coventry City league game (Wembley 2018 apart) since the club left the Premiership in 2001. The previous highest in the last 20 years was at Newcastle in February 2010 when 39,334 were present. The last 40,000 plus crowd in the Premiership was at Old Trafford in April 2001 when 67,637 watched John Hartson give City an early lead and the sides were level until nine minutes from time before Giggs and Scholes sealed a 4-2 win for United. Later that day United were champions after their nearest rivals Arsenal lost.

The Sky Blues fielded only two debutants on Sunday – loanee Jonathan Panzo started the game and Kasey Palmer came off the bench. What a change from a few years ago and when the club seemed to field a completely new team on the opening day and clearly demonstrates the stability within the playing staff that was missing just a few years ago. In 2017 there were seven debutants in the starting XI against Notts County and two more came off the bench. It was perhaps understandable given that the club had suffered relegation the previous campaign and the close season had given Robins the first chance to rebuild the squad after returning to the club. Similarly, in 2003, Gary McAllister had used eight debutants in the first game of the season, a League Cup game with Peterborough. Gary Mac had had a major clear out with the club in serious financial difficulties and brought in a glut of free transfers. The club record of 10 opening day debuts was set in 1926 when Scottish manager James Kerr decided to completely revamp his squad after a miserable campaign in Division Three North which saw them finish 16th. Kerr's gamble didn't pay off, the club finished one place higher in Division Three South and the majority of the players fell by the wayside before the season was over.

Older fans will remember the stable squads of the late 1960s and 70s. In the three seasons between 1967-69 there were no debutants on the opening day and very few throughout the 1970s. Of course there were no transfer windows in those days and clubs could carry on transfer activity throughout the whole season but turnover was very low.

Another indication of the stability of the club's playing staff is illustrated by the fact that for the first time in many years the club have five first team players who have made over 100 appearances for the team. The five are:

Dominic Hyam 190 games

Liam Kelly 147 games

Callum O'Hare 135 games

Kyle McFadzean 118 games

Fankaty Dabo 101 games

All these five players and several others are already legends of the club and how many of the players from the 2001-17 era can one call a legend?

I think you have to go back to 2001 to find as many players with more than 100 games for the club. As the first season outside the top flight in 34 years started there were six: Paul Williams, Richard Shaw, Paul Telfer, Marcus Hall, Gary Breen and Magnus Hedman. By the end of that season however all but Shaw had left the club.

Jim's Column 30.7.22

The new season kicks off for the Sky Blues tomorrow with a trip to Sunderland's Stadium of Light. It is the first time in their long history that the club have played a competitive game in July. The start of the season has been getting earlier and earlier and has been brought forward a week this year because of the World Cup in November. 100 years or so ago the season wasn't allowed to start until the last Saturday in August because of an agreement with the cricket authorities but gradually the start date has crept forward. The early start would have been unthinkable in the 1950s or 60s when many of the industrial cities and towns of the country closed down their factories for the last week in July and first week in August and workers had no choice but to take their holidays at that time. There would have been some pretty low attendances if games had been played in these two weeks.

During the close season we have lost two of the stalwarts from the Jimmy Hill era, Ronnie Farmer and Jimmy Whitehouse, and my tributes to them can be found at my website (www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk) .

In the last week I have also been made aware that former City goalkeeper Graham Spratt passed away earlier this year. Born six weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939, Graham, who had previously been on Leicester City's books, was signed from Oadby Town as a seventeen-year-old in 1956. He made his debut for the reserves in a 2-2 draw at Swindon in November of that year. His form in the reserves earned him a call-up to the first team at the start of the 1957-58 season and he was praised after an impressive debut in a home 2-2 draw with Watford. It was a miserable season for the club however with a bottom half finish in Division Three South consigning City to the newly formed Division Four. Graham, who at 5 ft 8 ins was short for a goalkeeper, was described as 'the next Reg Matthews in the making' in the Coventry Telegraph and was often the hero for keeping the score down. Despite impressive notices Graham lost his place after a 7-1 thrashing at Southampton at the end of February when Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph described him as 'the star turn' for keeping the score down! Manager Billy Frith felt the youngster needed a break and Graham played just one more first team game, in a 4-1 defeat at Walsall.

That summer Frith signed a new goalkeeper Jim Sanders who managed 10 games before suffering a broken leg. Graham was called up to play against Carlisle and although City lost 2-1 he got positive reviews. Frith however was not convinced and relegated Graham to the reserves, preferring 41-year-old trainer Alf Wood for the next game. Graham was a regular for the reserves for the rest of the season but released by the club the following summer at the tender age of 19 having played 28 league games and two FA Cup ties for the club. After leaving City he played for Rugby Town and became a postman and worked for Royal Mail until his retirement. His daughter Julie tells me that he excelled at most sports and was wicket-keeper for Dunton Bassett cricket team as well as an accomplished bowls player for the Soar Valley club. He lived in Blaby for many years before moving to Mountsorrel in Leicestershire. His wife Sylvia passed away in 1982 and long time partner Thelma passed away four years ago. He leaves two daughters Joanne and Julie. RIP Graham. Sadly Graham was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a number of years ago.

Another former City goalkeeper John Green recently passed away. John never played for the first team but played for the 'A' team in the seasons immediately after World War Two. He was a regular at Diamond Club lunches and often wrote to me with memories of his playing days.

As many of you know I love football books and this summer I have received one of the most interesting ones for a while. Entitled One Shilling (1/-) it is the story of the revolution in football programme design between 1965-85, written by Matthew Caldwell and Alan Dein. As probably the most innovative club of the 1960s under Jimmy Hill, Coventry City feature heavily in the book. Their ground-breaking magazine style programme of 1967-70 was impressive however the award-winning but controversial 1970-71 Sky Blue magazine is given pride of place. The book is dedicated to John Elvin, the man who designed that unique publication. Sadly the club failed to appreciate the quality of Elvin's work and ditched him after one season. Elvin, who had previously worked for West Brom, worked briefly at Chelsea before being diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and dying at the age of 53. If you have an interest in football programmes then the book is a highly recommended read.

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