Jim's column 18.2.23

Two home games in four days have given Coventry City fans plenty of talking points and the Sky Blues have gathered four points to push them three places up the table. The Luton game saw the visitors net a goal in 37 seconds with defender Tom Lockyer taking advantage of some sloppy defending to put the Hatters ahead. I was thinking it was the fastest goal by an away side at the CBS Arena but after checking I can cofirm that it is the second fastest after Gregor Rasiak's 27-second goal for Reading in October 2009. Rasiak's effort set up the Royals for a 3-1 win with the veteran Pole scoring a second after Jobi McAnuff had scored – Freddy Eastwood scored a consolation for City. 

Rasiak loved playing the Sky Blues – in six starts against them he scored seven goals, for Southampton, Derby, Watford and Reading, and was never on the losing side.

The four fastest goals by visiting players since the move to the Arena in 2005 are:

27 seconds Rasiak (Reading) 2009-10

37 seconds Tom Lockyer (Luton) 2022-23

53 seconds Matt Rhead (Lincoln) 2017-18

59 seconds Marc Richards (Northampton (FLT)) 2016-17

There were faster away scorers in the Highfield Road days with the quickest ever being Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke's 13-second effort in Villa's 3-0 win in 1995. The fastest City goal at the CBS Arena was Daniel Agyei's 20-second goal in a EFL Trophy game with Northampton in 2016. Agyei, who was on loan from Burnley, had scored on his debut for the club at Bradford and in total scored five goals in 19 appearances before returning to Burnley in January 2017. Agyei is currently playing for Crewe in League Two. The fastest City league scorer at the Arena is Clinton Morrison who netted in 37 seconds in a 2-2 draw with Ipswich in 2008-09.

Last week I wrote about Bob Dennison, City's caretaker manager in 1972 following the departure of Noel Cantwell. Since World War Two there have been 16 occasions when Coventry City were under 'caretaker' management. The first six instances were in the last century:

1947 Following the death of manager Dick Bayliss, the chairman Frank Stringer took over team matters for 15 games until the end of the season when Billy Frith was appointed.

1948 Frith was sacked in November 1948 and chairman George Jones took over for three games until Harry Storer arrived as manager.

1953 Storer's six-year reign ended in November 1953 and chairman Jones took over temporarily for ten games until new boss Jack Fairbrother took the reins.

1954 Fairbrother stood down in November 1954 after the death of his wife in a domestic accident (City were fourth in Division Three South at the time). Chief Scout and former player Charlie Elliott took over and managed the team for 33 games until the end of the season.

                                           Charlie Elliott as a player in the 1930s

1972 Bob Dennison took over after the sacking of Noel Cantwell (see last week's column).

1992 Terry Butcher was sacked in January 1992 and his assistant Don Howe was appointed caretaker. Don managed to keep the Sky Blues up despite a last day defeat at Villa Park. He was never officially given the manager's role and at the end of the season he turned down the offer of a co-manager role with Bobby Gould.

                                           Don Howe

Next week I will cover some of the caretaker managers from this century.