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.