Jim's column 29.1.22

Next Saturday the Sky Blues face Premiership opposition in the fourth round of the FA Cup with City travelling to face their old rivals Southampton (they have played Saints more than any other club in Football League games) and the game offers a chance to reverse Coventry's poor Cup record against the South Coast team.

In 1912 City won an FA Cup tie at the Dell, Southampton's former ground, when both clubs were in the old Southern League but since then the Saints have progressed on all three occasions that the club have been drawn together in the competition despite Coventry being drawn first out of the hat each time.

City and the Saints met in the first Round which was the equivalent of the modern third round in 1912. As Southern League clubs they were classed as non-league clubs when in fact there were only two Football League divisions and Southern League was like a Third Division. Coventry had earned a reputation as Cup giantkillers two years earlier by defeating two First Division clubs in reaching the quarter finals as a non-league club. They had already done the league double over the South Coast team. Contemporary match reports say that the Coventry fans 'numbered about a couple of hundred and were lavishly decorated with blue ribbons'. City scored two early goals from Harry Parkes and Fred 'Boxer' Turnbull and managed to survive a lot of pressure from the home team to win 2-0 with their Welsh international goalkeeper Bob Evans pulling off several good saves. City were drawn at home against First Division Manchester United in the second round and lost 5-1 in front of an almost capacity 17,000 gate.

The next FA Cup meeting was in the first round of 1959-60 when both clubs were in the top six of Division Three and City were drawn as the home side. Ray Straw put City ahead in the 16th minute but Derek Reeves equalised on 64 minutes to force a replay in front of 14,000. Three weeks earlier City had lost a league encounter at the Dell 5-1 and the Saints repeated that scoreline in the replay. An early John Page penalty was followed by two Terry Simpson goals in three minutes before half-time. Alan 'Digger' Daley pulled one back for the Bantams but further scores from George O'Brien and Terry Paine completed the scoring.

City were again first out of the fourth round hat in 1990-91 having defeated Wigan Athletic in a replay in the third round. Terry Butcher had taken over as manager and was changing the personnel but still fielded five of the '87 Wembley team as well as Brian Borrows. Butcher omitted David Speedie and the feisty Scot looked to be heading for the Highfield Road exit. Brian Kilcline gave City the lead just before half-time but Alan Shearer equalised five minutes after the break and take the tie back to the Dell. An injury hit and flaccid City lost the replay 2-0 with Jimmy Case and Rod Wallace scoring in front of 17,000 on a bitterly cold night.

The last time the clubs were drawn together in the competition was in 2012 when the third round draw gave City the home advantage. When the tie took place on the first Saturday of January the Saints were top of the Championship whilst the Sky Blues were bottom and heading towards relegation. Southampton had already won the league game at the Ricoh, 4-2 in November. Gary McSheffrey gave City a fifth minute lead but James Ward-Prowse (17 years old at the time) equalised and future City defender Aaron Martin headed the winner eight minutes from time. In addition to Martin three other Saints' players had links to City; Jack Cork and Danny Fox started and Jack Stephens, a future loanee, came on as a substitute. A miserable 9,000 crowd watched the tie.

The tie with Southampton is the 13th time the Sky Blues have been drawn against Premiership opposition since the club was relegated in 2001. On the previous nine occasions City have progressed just three times, against Blackburn twice (2008 and 2009) and against Stoke City (2018). The other Premiership clubs that they have failed to beat are: Tottenham (2002 and 2013), Newcastle (2005), Middlesbrough (2006), Chelsea (2009), Portsmouth (2010), Birmingham (2011), Arsenal (2014) and Brighton (2018).

Jim's column 22.1.22

Back in December in the home game with West Brom Kyle McFadzean scored an own goal and later scored City's consolation goal. I remembered that he had done the same against Millwall at St Andrew's last season. Kyle joins a very small club of Coventry City players who have scored at both ends in the same game and became the first to achieve the feat twice.

The first instance was in 1966 at Highfield Road against Derby County when full-back Mick Kearns scored a first half penalty to give the Sky Blues a 2-0 lead but two minutes from time with the team comfortably leading 3-1, he put the ball through his own goal. City won 3-2

                                                  Mick Kearns

In 1971 at Newcastle in a Texaco Cup second round, second leg game, captain Jeff Blockley headed a 32nd minute equaliser but in the 81st minute scored in his own net – Newcastle's fourth in what became a 5-1 defeat.

                                             Jeff Blockley

The most famous occurrence happened at Highfield Road in 1981 in a League Cup semi final first leg against West Ham United. Garry Thompson was the hero and the villain on one of the most memorable nights in the club's history. The Hammers already led 1-0 when a mix-up between 'Tommo' and goalkeeper Les Sealey saw the ball nestle in the City net off Garry. The Birmingham-born striker was determined to make amends however and was the star of the second half as he scored the first goal and then won the game in the 89th minute to send the home crowd crazy. Final score 3-2.

It was also a League Cup comeback from 0-2 down that saw another Brummie, Dave Busst, repeat the feat in 1995. Facing star-studded Tottenham at home, the Sky Blues fell behind to a Chris Armstrong goal before 'Bussty' sliced a cross past goalkeeper John Filan to make it 2-0. Peter Ndlovu started the fightback with a penalty before 'Bussty' equalised on the hour when a free-kick went in off his shoulder. John Salako wrapped up the 3-2 victory fifteen minutes from time.

McFadzean became the fifth City player to score at both ends in the final game of last season at home to Millwall. Just before half-time Kyle volleyed home a corner kick to make the score 2-0 then nine minutes into the second half he put a low left-wing cross past Marko Marosi. City went on to win 6-1 with six different players scoring.

Against West Brom in December Kyle was probably unlucky to be credited with Albion's second goal, especially as many observers including TV cameras saw an Albion hand touch the ball in the goalmouth scramble. He redeemed himself to a degree in the second half with a powerful header from a corner.

I am aware of six occasions when an opposing player has scored at both ends with the famous one being the 1987 FA Cup Final when Gary Mabbutt scored for both teams including City's extra-time winner. The most recent is Bristol Rovers defender Tony Craig who scored at both ends in the FA Cup tie at the Memorial Stadium in January 2020 which ended 2-2.

In that infamous match at Ashton Gate that virtually confirmed relegation in 2012 former City player Jon Stead scored at both ends and in 2006 Luton's Ahmet Brkovic did the same in a 3-1 defeat at Kenilworth Road. Before that you have to go back to Christmas 1955 when Millwall’s Alex Jardine scored for both teams as City ran riot against the Lions, winning 5-1. The only other one I can find is way back in 1933 when City defeated Crystal Palace 6-2 at home and Charlie Goddard scored at both ends.

Jim's column 15.1.22

The Sky Blues successfully cleared the FA Cup third round hurdle last weekend with a 1-0 victory over Derby County. The draw for the fourth round paired City with their old rivals Southampton (they have played Saints more than any other club in Football League games) and offers a chance to reverse Coventry's poor Cup record against the South Coast team. City did win at the Dell in 1912 when both clubs were in the old Southern League but since then the Saints have progressed on all three occasions that the club have been drawn together in the competition despite Coventry being drawn first out of the hat each time. More about those meetings nearer the time.

I've still got a few questions left over from last year to answer so here goes. Gary Watson wanted me to identify his first game at Highfield Road in the early 1970s - he remembers it was a night game against Wolves and City lost to a Jim McCalliog goal. McCalliog, in fact, never scored at Highfield Road despite playing there for Sheffield Wednesday and many times for Wolves. He did score for the Owls against the Sky Blues at Hillsborough in October 1967 in a 4-0 victory. I believe Gary's first game was a midweek game in August 1970 when a Hugh Curran goal gave Wolves a 1-0 victory in front of 31,000. McCalliog did play in a strong Wolves team that included Bobby Gould and Dave Wagstaffe. Jim, a Scottish international, had a 15-year career and made over 500 appearances including FA Cup finals with Sheffield Wednesday (1966) and Southampton (1976), the former as a loser, the latter as a winner. I remember attending the semi-final at Villa Park in 1966 when McCalliog, sold cheaply by Chelsea six months earlier, scored one of the goals that beat his former club and took the Owls to Wembley where they threw away a two goal lead to lose to Everton.

In October 1953 Coventry City unveiled their first floodlight system. It was a bit Heath Robinson, comprising of a number of wooden poles each with a pair of large light bulbs on them and pairs of similar bulbs attached to the roof of the two stands down each side of the pitch. In total there approximately 48 lights illuminating the pitch. The lights were officially opened with a game against Scottish side Queen of the South and further games against Wolves and East Fife followed that autumn. In January 1954 the club entertained top Yugoslav side Hajduk Split, who were making a tour of England in their mid-season break. I received a question from Sima, a Hajduk historian, asking for details of the match at Highfield Road.

Hajduk had some top Yugoslav players including striker Bernard Vukas, later voted Croatia's top athlete of the 20th century, Frane Matosic, the club's all-time top scorer and Vladimir Beara, one of Europe's top 'keepers of the era and three of the players had won silver medals at the 1952 Olympic Games. On an icy pitch City lost their unbeaten record against the 1952 Yugoslav champions who won 3-2 with goals from Sencar, Lovric and Vidosevic. City's goals came from Bill Bradbury and Eddy Brown. The cold weather kept the crowd down to 4,214, a large drop from the Queen of the South game which attracted almost 17,000.

Jim's column 8.1.22

Happy New Year to all my readers and let's hope 2022 brings as much enjoyment for Coventry City fans as 2021 did. A good second half of the 2020-21 season plus an impressive first half to 2021-22 saw the team accumulate 66 points from 47 games in the calendar year – good enough to finish in the top half of the Championship. Covid issues have made a mess of the fixtures pre and post Christmas and Mark Robins is probably wishing that the EFL hadn't allowed the Millwall game to go ahead. Recent results have seen the knockers begin to criticise some players and the managers – totally unwarranted in my opinion. If you go back to this week five years ago the Sky Blues were 22nd in League One without a win in nine league games and heading for relegation as well as being out of the FA Cup following a 4-0 thrashing at Cambridge United. Attendances were down to 8,000 and Russell Slade had just become the third manager of the campaign. The critics need to take a reality check.

Sadly I have another former player's death to report. Coventrian John Docker never appeared for the first team but was an outstanding young talent who would surely have made it in another era. John, who passed away on 30th November, was the star of the Coventry Schools team in 1962 and it was seen as a major coup for the club when he signed schoolboy forms for the Sky Blues that year. After leaving Caludon Castle school in 1963 he became an apprentice at the club and first made an impact in the youth team in November of that year when Third Division City lost a thrilling FA Youth Cup tie 4-6 to First Division West Brom. City had several youngsters who would go on to play first team football including Bobby Gould, Pat Morrissey and Dudley Roberts but were no match for the Baggies who boasted a 18-year-old Tony 'Bomber' Brown who was already scoring goals in Division One. City trailed 6-1 at one stage but goals from Alan Thompson, John Chambers and Docker added to the early goal from Peter Denton, gave the scoreline a better look. Docker's corners created all four goals including his own which went directly in.

John, a left-winger who could also play inside-forward, had already made his reserve team debut, away at QPR, a month earlier and although he only played one further reserve game that season he developed well in the 'A' team and many around the club tipped him for success. John's route to the first team was hampered however by the Welsh international Ronnie Rees and his understudy John Mitten not to mention Dave Clements who emerged that season, and their form kept Docker in the 'A' team in 1964-65. The youth team however had a great run in the Youth Cup, knocking out First Division Aston Villa and had the club's longest run in the competition at that time. John starred in the Villa Park win with John Chambers scoring the vital goal. An ankle injury kept Docker out for a good part of the second half of the season but in the summer of 1965 he signed his first professional contract days after he had scored two goals in a 5-1 reserve victory over Leicester at Highfield Road. He made 14 reserve appearances that season, scoring four goals. He was still eligible for the Youth Cup team and played at inside-forward along with Willie Carr and Mick Coop but after defeating First Division Leicester (including Peter Shilton) the team suffered a second round knock-out at home to Stoke.

Sixteen reserve appearances in the reserves with three goals came in 1966-67 but with Rees and Clements in top form it was becoming increasingly clear that John's first team chances were slim especially with team roaring to promotion to the First Division. In August 1967 he went on a month's loan to Torquay United – only the second City player to go out on loan. He played six games and scored two goals in a League Cup win over local rivals Exeter but suffered a knee injury. He returned to Coventry and made 12 reserve appearances (3 goals) but was given a free transfer in June 1968. He toyed briefly with an offer to play in South Africa but joined Waterford in Ireland before returning to play for Rugby Town and Massey Ferguson. An injury sustained in Ireland hampered his performances and he ended up playing in local football where he broke a leg playing for Binley Woods.

He worked at Massey Ferguson and Chrysler before setting up his own business specialising in bearings for the motor industry. He passed away after a long battle with cancer.

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