The Sky Blues nine-match unbeaten run came a shuddering halt last Saturday against an impressive Stoke City team. The run which had taken the team to the verge of the play-off zone, consisted of five wins (three of them away) and four draws. It's the best unbeaten league run since the 2019-20 League One title-winning campaign when the Sky Blues were unbeaten in 14 games at the point the season was suspended because of the lockdown. That run was the best since 1967 when Jimmy Hill's side went 25 league games without defeat on their way to lifting the old Second Division title.
The size of the defeat was worrying – the worst home defeat since Blackburn won by the same scoreline at St Andrews early in the 2020-21 season and the heaviest at the CBS Arena since Yeovil won there 6-2 almost five years ago to the day. City and Yeovil's fortunes have diverged incredibly since that game on Easter Monday 2018. Yeovil failed to win any of their last eight games whilst it was a wake-up call for Coventry and they were promoted via the play-offs. The following season Yeovil were relegated from League Two and currently stand 21st in the National League, five points away from safety and look likely to be relegated to National League South. In April 2018 there were 10 places between the clubs now there are 85.
The result did little to spoil Legends Day which took place for the 15th time. Everyone who attended had a great time and although we had two former players pull out on the morning due to Covid there was an excellent turn out. We have lost a good number of the older CCFPA members in the last three years and it is heartening to see the younger generation coming more to the fore including Max Biamou, Reda Johnson and Gary McSheffrey. 1980s goal machine Terry Gibson came for the first time and made a big impression on supporters. There are many pictures of a great day at www.ccfpa.co.uk
Saturday's attendance of 23,625 was the largest home gate of the season and took the season's average to 19,675 which is a small increase on last season's final average. With home games against Watford and Birmingham still to come I'm sure the final figure will surpass last season's average attendance.
I've just discovered that former Coventry City coach Colin Dobson passed away, aged 82, in February. Colin, who hailed from Teeside, joined Sheffield Wednesday from school and made almost 200 games for the Owls between 1961-66. An inside-forward, the equivalent of the number 10 in the modern game, Colin scored 53 goals and won two England under 23 caps whilst at Hillsborough.
Despite being a virtual ever present in the 1965-66 season he was omitted from Wednesday's team for the FA Cup final which they lost 3-2 to Everton. This may have been behind his move to Huddersfield that summer and he went on to play 175 games for the Terriers, helping them to win promotion to the First Division in 1970. He came up against the Sky Blues in 1966-67 and scored Town's first goal in the 3-1 defeat of City at Leeds Road in November 1966 – City's last defeat that season as they powered to the Second Division title.
After leaving Huddersfield in 1971 Colin moved to Bristol Rovers and helped them win promotion from Division Three in 1974 before hanging up his boots in 1976. He joined Coventry City as youth team coach in 1977 and had five successful years aiding in the development of some outstanding youngsters including Mark Hateley, Danny Thomas and Tom English. Colin worked under managers Gordon Milne and Dave Sexton and was promoted to first team coach under Sexton but left in 1983. John Sillett brought him back to work with the youths again in 1990 but he left in 1992. Peter Hormantschuk remembers him as 'a great coach and a true gentleman'.
His coaching career took him to the Middle East where he worked in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman as well as youth coach at Sporting Lisbon, Port Vale and Aston Villa. In later years he turned to scouting with Stoke City, where he was credited for discovering Ben Foster, and Watford.
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