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.
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.
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