A quiz question which might stump many Coventry City fans is 'Which Coventry City forward scored four goals in an England shirt at Highfield Road?' There have been only three City players over the last 50 years who have scored four in a City shirt let alone in an England shirt. Mick Ferguson scored all four goals in a 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town in December 1979 just days after Ipswich manager Bobby Robson had tried to buy the bearded centre-forward.
Steve Livingstone managed four goals, completely out of the blue, in a 5-0 League Cup win over Sunderland in 1990 and Cyrille Regis went one better in 1985 and managed five goals in the same competition Cup against Chester in 1985 which City won 7-2. Before Ferguson you have to go back to Christmas Day 1959 when Ken Satchwell scored four in a 5-3 win over Wrexham.
Three months after Mick Ferguson's four against Ipswich 18-year-old Mark Hateley scored all four goals for England Youth against Denmark at Highfield Road in a European Youth qualifier. Ed Blackaby asked if I could provide more details of Hateley's feat that night.
England manager John Cartwright named three Coventry City players in the team, Hateley, fellow striker Tom English and full-back David Barnes. Hateley had made just one start for the Sky Blues first team and two substitute appearances. English was ahead of Hateley in the club's pecking order having made 22 games and scoring 10 goals. Barnes would get his first-team debut a month later.
The England team lined up as follows: Kendall (Tottenham): Bennett (Bolton), Barnes (Coventry): Peake (Leicester), Mabbutt (Bristol Rovers), Pates (Chelsea): Gibson (Tottenham), Allen (West Ham capt), Hateley (Coventry), English (Coventry), Mackenzie (Manchester City). Horn (Crystal Palace) substituted for Kendall and Barham (Norwich) substituted for Gibson.
Several of that team had links with the Sky Blues: Paul Allen and Gary Mabbutt both played against City in the 1987 FA Cup final, whilst Terry Gibson joined the Sky Blues in 1983 and had three very successful seasons with the club.
I don't have the Danish line up but amongst the players in their squad were Jan Molby (later of Liverpool), a 15-year-old Michael Laudrup (later of Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid), John Sivebeak (later of Manchester United) and Kent Nielsen (later of Aston Villa).
Hateley was supported by his fellow Sky Blue striker English, who made the first and third goals with 'electrifying runs' beating two defenders before providing centres for Hateley to score. In between Mark smashed home a left-foot shot from a Gibson corner for his second goal.
Neville Foulger in the Coventry Telegraph described the fourth goal thus: 'Hateley's fourth goal was the glittering highlight of the night....Steve Mackenzie outpaced Denmark's defence on their right flank and when his waist high cross came over Hateley lashed home a spectacular left foot volley'. After the game his father, Tony, a former City player, snaffled his son's shirt although I'm sure that Mark now has that back in his collection.
The victory ensured England qualified for the European under-18 Championship finals in East Germany in June of that year and John Cartwright's team went on to win the final 2-1 against Poland with Paul Allen and Terry Gibson scoring the goals. For Allen, the nephew of former Spurs striker Les Allen, 1980 was a special year. His season at Second Division West Ham, which saw him play over 40 games for the club, culminated in a place in the Hammers' Wembley team that lifted the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
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