Jim's column 26.8.23

Ken Brown (18.10.1933-12.8.2023)

                                    Ken pictured at 2015 Legends Day

Ken Brown, who passed away on 12^th August after a short illness, was not only a former Coventry City player but also involved with local football at many levels for most of his life. Although he never played a first team game for the club he was a regular 'number 12' in the 1955-56 season in the days before substitutes when clubs would have an extra man on matchday duty in case of an injury or illness in the pre-match warm up.

Ken, a Cov kid, was a regular at City and was Sky Blue through and through and will be sadly missed by his large family and many friends inside and outside of football.

Born in Coventry in 1933 Ken was a part-time professional at Highfield Road in the days when the club had 40 or more professionals. He was a regular for the A team for a couple of seasons before he broke into the reserve team early in the 1955-56 season. He made a scoring debut in a 3-0 win at Norwich in the Football Combination playing on the left wing. His team-mates included Peter Wyer, who stayed a close friend for life, Charlie Dutton and Bill Patrick and a young George Curtis joined the club that season and also became a good friend. His performance at Carrow Road earned him a regular place and on Boxing Day 1955 he netted both goals in a 2-1 home win over Birmingham City reserves. A few trips as 12^th man gave him the taste of first team football but as one of four left wingers at the club he had limited opportunities and in February 1956 he went on loan to Corby Town for three months. 

At the end of the season he was granted a free transfer by Coventry and joined Hinckley Athletic, then a Birmingham Combination side. Some dazzling performances soon attracted league scouts and in November 1956 he signed for Nottingham Forest for 'a four figure sum'. Ken scored on his Forest reserve debut at Grimsby and was a regular in the team without getting a first-team chance. One of his team-mates was future Coventry legend Ron Farmer and Ken and Ron started a beautiful friendship which lasted until Ron's death last year. After less than a year at Forest he was on the move to Third Division Bournemouth who had been FA Cup giant-killers the previous season, defeating Tottenham and Wolves in a famous run. Within a month Ken got his first-team debut and scored in a 4-0 win at Shrewsbury but after six starts he was back in the reserves.

After one year at Bournemouth he moved further along the south coast, signing for Fourth Division Torquay United, scoring one goal in nine appearances and at the end of the season he was released and moved back to Hinckley. In a dazzling return debut Ken scored two goals in a 8-1 thrashing of Ashford Town but within months he was on the move again, to Lockheed Leamington. Brakes manager Syd Ottewell converted Ken to a striker and he scored prolifically for the exciting Lockheed team over the next 18 months playing with other former City youngsters Mick Lane and Ernie Ward. Southern League Burton Albion is believed to be his last club and by this time he was working at the Standard car factory in the City as well as rearing a young family with his wife Jean.

Football-mad Ken was soon running and coaching the Triumph Athletic works team in the Coventry leagues and worked at the Standard until the factory closed in 1980 as well as helping Jean run a general store in Dunchurch. After the Standard he became a postman in the Tile Hill area before retiring in 1998. In 2007 he was one of the early members of the newly formed Former Players Association and loved meeting up with other City ex-players. He never missed a Legends Day and was a regular at Golf Days as well as lunching regularly with other club veterans. Ken remained sprightly, cheerful and active supporting Sky Blues In the Community's Walking Football initiative and forging a close friendship with Dave Busst.

Dave told me: Ken was a great charcter who always had a smile and loved talking about his journey. He was one of the original walking footballers and at 81 he was still demanding the ball. Off the pitch he was happy to share his experiences with all the other players and he became a close friend personally and to all the staff at SBITC.

Ken is survived by three children, son Ken and daughters Lynn and Lorraine, six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

The funeral is to be held at Canley Crematorium at 2.30 pm Wednesday 30^th August and afterwards at the Standard Triumph Club, Herald Avenue.

Jim's column 19.8.23

A major shock in the summer was the death, at the age of 45, of former Coventry striker Cedric Roussel in his homeland Belgium. Cedric was one of numerous European players scouted by Ray Clarke in the 1990s and joined on a seasons long from KAA Gent in 1999. After substitute appearances against Newcastle (home) and Sheffield Wednesday (away) he was given his first start by Gordon Strachan in a home game with Watford and made a good impression in a 4-0 victory, playing alongside Robbie Keane. In his second start, at home to Aston Villa, he achieved legenndary status by heading a goal after eight minutes and having a hand in Keane's winner. A tall, solid striker who was good in the air, Cedric was a popular player at the club in a golden season that earned the team the sobriquet 'The Entertainers' for their dazzling displays on Sky TV that campaign. In January 2000 Coventry signed Cedric on a permanent deal, paying Gent a reported £1.2 million.

Cedric went on to score nine league and cup goals in 25 appearances including braces on successive Saturdays against Charlton and at Old Trafford against Manchester United. The following season with Keane, and McAllister having moved on was a struggle for both Roussel and the team. He was hampered by injuries and managed only two goals in 18 games and at one stage Coventry were trying to move him on to Wimbledon as a makeweight in a deal to bring John Hartson to Highfield Road. That deal never materialized, although City did later sign Hartson, and in February 2001 he was transferred to Division 1 club Wolves for £2 million. His time at Molineux, under manager Dave Jones, was not productive and after 28 games and just two goals he returned to Belgium, on loan to RAEC Mons where he rediscovered his scoring boots. A permanent move to KRC Genk followed and his form earned him three full caps for Belgium. Although his professional playing career continued for another 11 years he rarely stayed long at one club. There were short spells in Russia (Rubin Kazam), Italy (Brescia) and Cyprus (AEK Larnaca) as well as numerous Belgian clubs and he finished at RRC Waterloo in 2015 at the age of 37.

Following his playing career he became an estate agent in Belgium and visited Coventry for a match in 2015 when I had the pleasure of welcoming into the Former Players Association. In June he suffered a cardiac arrest at a cafe in his hometown of Mons and paramedics were unable to revive him.

                                     Cedric Rouse receiving his CCFPA tie in 2015

The Sky Blues suffered another embarrassing League Cup exit at AFC Wimbledon last week in what was their first visit to the Cherry Red Records stadium in Plough Lane just yards from Wimbledon's original ramshackle ground. For the third season running and the ninth time in 12 seasons Coventry have fallen at the first hurdle in the competition. Some fans are understandably disappointed that the record in the cup is so poor as progress in the competition often gives supporters opportunities to see their team face big clubs as we have seen in the last 20 years with ties against Arsenal. Manchester United and West Ham. Big ties like those can also generate large revenues for the club.

It's sad to report the death last Saturday of former Coventry City player Ken Brown at the age of 89. Ken was a popular man in local football circles and will be missed by his family and friends. I will be writing a tribute to him next week.

Jim's column 12.8.23

The new season started with a cracking game at the King Power Stadium. The Sky Blues took the lead and missed good chances to put the game to bed before the home side grabbed two late goals to send City home pointless. Yet again the Sky Blues travelled back from the King Power having failed to win – the ninth occasion since the stadium opened in 2002. City's goal came from captain and centre-half Kyle McFadzean who became the seventh oldest Coventry player to score a competitive goal. Kyle is 36 years and 167 days and his latest goal (his first since March) takes him above 1940s captain George Mason and Steve Staunton in the all-time table.

	Player	Last goal		Age
1	Dennis Wise	30/4/2006		39 years 135 days
2	Gary McAllister	8/12/2003		38 years 348 days
3	Michael Doyle	3/11/2018		37 years 119 days
4	Danny Shea	15/11/1924		37 years 9 days
5	Dick Lindley	24/9/1921		36 years 285 days
6	Danny Shone	5/1/1929		36 years 253 days
7	Kyle McFadzean	6/8/2023		36 years 167 days
8	George Mason	27/12/1949		36 years 113 days
9	Steve Staunton	2/4/2005		36 years 73 days
10	Joey Jones	25/12/1922		35 years 359 days
11	Alex McClure	10/12/1927		35 years 250 days
12	Richard Shaw	1/5/2004		35 years 231 days

Sunday's defeat was the first away loss since 3^rd February when West Brom defeated the Sky Blues 1-0, a run of nine away league games without defeat, just three short of the club record of 12 set in 1967 by Jimmy Hill's promotion team. McFadzean's record in away games is even more impressive. If you remember he was out injured for ten games in the middle of the season and so it was his first away defeat in 16 games since September last year. 

Fellow historian Lionel Bird has asked me to point out that this weekend Coventry City celebrate two anniversaries. Its 140 years since the formation of Singers FC by a group of factory workers in the Singers cycle factory in the city. On 13 August 1883 Willie Stanley and a group of friends met at the Lord Aylesford Inn in Hillfields and set up the football club. Singers FC were essentially a junior team with no regular fixtures and their matches would be the equivalent of friendly games in the modern era. Lionel's research indicates that the very first match played could have been against Coventry Association, who won 9-0. 

The other date to celebrate is the 125^th anniversary of the change of name from Singers FC to Coventry City FC in 1898. In June 1898 the club, then playing in the Birmingham and District League applied to the Birmingham League for permission to take the city's title. There had been some resistance from Coventry Rugby Club who believed the two club's names would be too similar and relations between the two clubs were strained for some years. On the 12^th August a letter arrived from the Frederick Wall, secretary of the Football Association giving consent to the name change. The first game as Coventry City took place away to Wellington Town on Saturday 3^rd September and ended in a 5-0 defeat. Results were poor in the early days under the new name with the first home game ending in a 3-0 loss to Berwick Rangers (a Worcester team not the Northumberland club) but things improved in the second half of the season and the team finished in seventh place. The following season the club moved to Highfield Road. The picture is the first team shot of Coventry City and the players are in their new kit, believed to be black (or dark blue) and light blue halves. The team's nickname, previously the Vocalists, became the Citizens. It would be another 20 years before Coventry City joined the Football League.

Jim's column 5.8.23

A new football season starts this weekend and the Sky Blues commence their campaign with their first visit to the King Power Stadium since 2012. The Foxes fell out of the Premiership in May after nine seasons in the top flight which saw them win the title in 2016, the FA Cup in 2021, finish fifth twice and enjoy European football. The Sky Blues record at Leicester's relatively new stadium (they moved there from Filbert Street in 2002) is poor with two draws and six defeats in eight visits and Coventry's last victory in the city was in April 2001. That day a 3-1 win gave City fans some hope that they might escape the relegation trap-door with goals from Craig Bellamy, Lee Carsley and John Hartson, but it was another false dawn in a season of false dawns. Filbert Street was a pretty happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues in the old First Division days so the form at the King Power is disappointing.

This summer has been a busy transfer season for Coventry with seven new signings so far. Jay Da Silva, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ellis Simms, Brad Collins, Bobby Thomas and Luis Binks have all joined with all but Binks on permanent contracts. An eighth, American Haji Wright, looks set to sign as I write this. The club have said farewell to Viktor Gyokeres, following two impressive scoring seasons, Tyler Walker, Michael Rose, Todd Kane, Martyn Waghorn, Sean Maguire, plus the loanees from last season. As I write this Gus Hamer is still a Coventry City player but I wouldn't bet against him leaving before the end of the window. With so many changes in the squad I just hope that the new personnel can bed down quickly.

Talking of Gyokeres, the fee for his transfer to Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed but believed to be around £20m, set a new club record with the proceeds rewarding the club for developing Viktor into one of the best strikers outside the Premiership. The fee breaks the record set back in 2000 when City pocketed £13m from the sale of Robbie Keane to Inter Milan. The record transfer fee paid could also be smashed if Wright signs for a rumoured £7.7m. That record goes back to 2000 when Craig Bellamy arrived from Norwich to replace the departing Keane – sadly he was never able to emulate Robbie!

Coventry City visit a new ground next Wednesday when they travel to South London to face AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao (League) Cup at their new ground at Plough Lane. Situated on the site of the old Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, 250 yards from their old Plough Lane ground, the ground holds just over 9,000 but I don't expect a full house on Wednesday. I remember going to the original Plough Lane ground in the 1980s when it had the feel of a non-league ground and was an intimidating ground for visiting teams and I'm sure the new ground is far superior. It will be the fifth different ground that the Sky Blues have met AFC Wimbledon or the old Wimbledon. Between Plough Lane and the new stadium, Selhurst Park was a regular venue in the 1990s, there was one game at the National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes the season before the old club became MK Dons and then, in 2013 the Sky Blues travelled to Kingsmeadow for an FA Cup tie with AFC Wimbledon.

AFC Wimbledon are managed by a former Coventry City player, Johnnie Jackson, who had a month on loan as a 21-year-old at Highfield Road in 2003-04. A strong, skilful midfield player, Johnnie made a scoring debut as a substitute at Crystal Palace, netting a last minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw. In his fifth and final appearance in a Sky Blue shirt he scored an 89^thminute winner against West Brom two minutes after coming off the bench. That was his last game before he returned to White Hart Lane where he immediately went into the first team squad and made 14 appearances for Spurs that season. After a further 10 games over the next two seasons he left White Hart Lane and had a long playing career at Colchester, Notts County and Charlton, playing almost 300 games for the Valiants. Charlton appointed him as their manager in 2021 but he left the Valley at the end of that season and is starting his second season at Plough Lane.

If you missed my 2022-23 Stats review at the end of last season you can still read it and other columns at www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton