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.
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