It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City forward Jimmy Whitehouse at the age of 87. The tall, blond scheming inside forward was a star of Coventry’s famous 1963 FA Cup run when, as a Third Division club, they reached the sixth round in a blaze of glory and started Jimmy Hill's Sky Blue Revolution. Jimmy scored six goals in nine games in the weather interrupted campaign, a record in the club's time in the Football League.
He was one of the five new forwards that Jimmy Hill signed in the summer of 1962 when he revamped the team, the kit and the whole face of the club. He started slowly as far as goals were concerned but when the FA Cup came around he turned into an ace goal-getter, somewhat similar to Keith Houchen 24 years later. An injury in the summer of 1963 meant he missed the start of the 1963-64 campaign and when he recovered he couldn’t win his place back from Ernie Machin and played only nine more games in Sky Blue. In March 1964 manager Jimmy Hill sold him to Millwall for £4,500.
Jimmy Hill with his five new forwards in 1962. Whitehouse, Willie Humphries, Hugh Barr, Terry Bly and Bobby Laverick.
He had been signed on a free transfer from Reading, where he had a five-year career scoring 67 goals in over 220 games. He grew up in Greets Green in the Black Country he joined his local team West Brom as an amateur and had six years at the Hawthorns without ever quite making the first team. The Baggies were one of the top teams in the country in the mid 1950s and went close to achieving the double in 1954, winning the FA Cup and finishing second in the league. Jimmy had to move down to Third Division Reading to make a name for himself. A fee of £250 took him to Elm Park and he scored on his debut for the Biscuitmen in August 1956 and was first choice inside forward for the next six seasons. Never a prolific scorer he did manage all four goals in a 4-0 win over Gillingham in 1958 and two goals in a 4-2 home win over Coventry the following year.
A free transfer brought him to Highfield Road in 1962 and he made his debut in the new Sky Blue kit in the opening day 2-0 victory over Notts County. By the time the First Round of the FA Cup came round Jimmy had scored two league goals and two in the League Cup but he notched the only goal in the home win over Bournemouth
In the Second Round a 0-0 draw at Millwall brought the South London side back to Highfield Road for a replay and Jimmy was on target along with Hugh Barr as the Sky Blues progressed 2-1.
In 2004 Jimmy told me the story of the Cup campaign:
‘It was the winter of the big freeze and there was virtually no football from Christmas until the first week in March. Our third round game at Lincoln was postponed sixteen times and when the thaw finally came we ended up playing six Cup games in three weeks.’
City, who prior to the freeze had been in a strong league position, just four points behind leaders Peterborough, romped home 5-1 at Lincoln with Jimmy netting after just 15 seconds - one of the fastest goals in the club's history. The victory earned a plum tie with Second Division Portsmouth a week later. A late Ken Hale goal gave City a fortunate 1-1 draw at Fratton Park and three days later a pulsating replay ended all-square.
Jimmy recalled, ‘I scored two goals in the replay and we were 2-0 up and looked home and dry but Pompey scored twice in the second half to take it to extra-time. We had to play the second replay at Tottenham's White Hart Lane and I can remember the amazing vocal support the City fans made. Ron Saunders put Pompey ahead but Terry Bly equalised and I scored the winner and we won 2-1’.
Six days later Second Division leaders Sunderland were humbled in front of a cup-crazy 40,000 Highfield Road crowd with many others getting in free after some gates were broken down. They saw the Sky Blues win a thriller 2-1 with late goals from Dietmar Bruck and George Curtis and earn the plum draw, a home tie with Manchester United.
Five days later in front of a capacity 44,000 crowd City’s run ended as they lost 1-3 to Matt Busby’s star-studded team that included Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.
Jimmy had scored nine goals in six FA Cup games to add to his nine league goals and played some of the best football of his career but it was not sufficient to win promotion for the club. The concertinaed cup run had taken too much out of the players and a tired City slipped to finish fourth.
In 2004 he told me: ‘Jimmy Hill was very good to me and I have some fond memories of Coventry and the football club. Those Cup ties were unbelievable and I can remember them as if they happened yesterday.’
His former playing colleague Dietmar Bruck recalls Jimmy fondly: 'At eighteen I was the youngest player in the 1963 team and he always encouraged me and gave me advice. I remember him telling me not to worry about making mistakes as that was how you learnt. He was a true gentleman and when we met up at Legends Days we always reminisced about the great times under JH'.
Pre-season 1963, Jimmy between John Sillett and Mick Kearns.
After losing his place to Machin Jimmy played only 10 games for the Sky Blues in 1963-64, scoring three goals including two goals in the 2-2 away draw with his old club Reading in January. In March 1964 he joined Millwall and although he scored a brace on his home debut he could not save the Lions from relegation to Division Four. Jimmy and his wife moved back to the Reading area In 1964-65 he played 33 games and scored 15 goals before moving on to non-league football with first Hillingdon Borough and later Hastings United and Andover. He worked for an engineering company in Reading after hanging up his boots and moved to Tilehurst near Reading. Later he indulged his love of betting by becoming a part-time on-course bookmaker and he could often be found at Oxford and Reading greyhound tracks. He joined the Former Players Association at its inception and was a regular at Legends Days until his health deteriorated. Jim suffered from Parkinson's and dementia and lost his wife Olive during Covid. He leaves a daughter Sharon and grand-daughter Lucy.
Jimmy Whitehouse with me in 2009.
Sharon told me that her dad loved his time at Coventry and spoke fondly of Jimmy Hill and George Curtis and the family atmosphere at the club.
His funeral will take place at Reading Crematorium, All Hallows Road, Reading RG4 5LP on Thursday 30th June when the lives of Jim and Olive will be celebrated.
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