I was sad to hear that Dennis Churms, the oldest former Coventry City player, had passed away last weekend. Dennis, who was 93-years-old, had lived in the Folkestone area for many years despite hailing from Rotherham in Yorkshire. As chairman of CCFPA I tried very hard on a number of occasions to persuade him to attend a Legends Day but he was never quite fit enough to make the trip from the south coast.
Dennis played his early football with Cheshire side Spurley Hey FC before signing for his hometown club in 1950. Having to play in reserve team football for three seasons he finally got a first team opportunity in Rotherham's home Division 2 game with Nottingham Forest (3-0) playing at inside-forward (midfield). He retained his place the following week in a 1-1 away draw with Luton. Rotherham were a leading side in the old Second Division in the mid 1950s and the following season achieved the club's highest ever position in the Football League. They finished third and missed out on promotion on goal difference to Birmingham on the final day of the season with Dennis appearing in ten games. After just two games the following season he joined Coventry in the summer of 1956.
He joined a club in turmoil having lost manager Jesse Carver halfway through the previous campaign and staggered through to the end of the season with Carver's number two, George Raynor in charge. Rather than having faith in the coaching ability of Raynor – who would take Sweden to the World cup final in 1958 – the board appointed Harry Warren. Warren had been manager of Southend since the war without ever threatening to get the Shrimpers out of Division Three South. The appointment was disastrous and the club went backwards under Warren – finishing 16th. Churms atarted the season as first choice inside forward and scored the only goal on his debut against Exeter City. He managed one more goal, in a 5-1 home win over QPR but lost his place after ten starts.
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By March 1957 he was playing for Exeter City for whom he 45 appearances, scoring eight goals. In 1958 Exeter finished rock bottom of Division Three South and had to apply for re-election with Dennis released. He joined Southern League Folkestone Town in 1959 and went on to become one of the most revered players in the club's history and he continued to live in the town after his playing retirement in 1967.
This was a period when non league Folkestone attracted players from the Football League in part with the offer of a day job and even in some cases accommodation with it. In 1959-60, Folkestone rejoined the Southern League as Folkestone Town FC and gained promotion to the Premier Division and it started a golden era for the club with some exciting FA Cup runs. In 1965 Dennis was part of the team that reached the third round by beating Third Division Gillingham and Wimbledon before losing to Crewe. Coincidentally, if Folkestone had beaten Crewe they would have faced the Sky Blues in round four.
Dennis spent 34 years working for British Railways as an electrician before taking early retirement in 1993. He remained active regularly playing squash and golf and taking a keen interest in football and horse racing. Richard Murrill the secretary of Folkestone Invicta FC told me that Dennis was an unassuming man who, like many of his generation, maintained his great dignity right until the end.
His funeral will take place on 11th October at Hawkinge Crematorium, near Folkestone (11.30).
Last week week I wrote about former City players who currently manage home international teams. There are numerous other international bosses with Coventry City connections. In addition to Lee Carsley, former players Sam Allardyce and Stuart Pearce have managed England for one game only and Joe Mercer managed the national team in the summer of 1974 whilst the general manager of the Sky Blues. Joe was asked to take the reins following the sacking of Sir Alf Ramsey and the arrival of Don Revie and lost only one of his seven games at the helm. Pearce was caretaker manager for one game (a 2-3 home loss to Netherlands in 2012). Allardyce took the job in 2016 but only lasted one game, a 1-0 away victory over Slovakia, before being relieved of his duties over a press-led sting.
Gordon Strachan is the only former Coventry player to manage Scotland and was in charge of the national team for 40 games between 2013-17, suceeding Craig Levein and being followed by Malky Mackay.
Craig Bellamy is the fifth former Coventry player to manage Wales. Terry Yorath was in charge for 41 games (1988-93), Bobby Gould for 24 games (1995-99), Chris Coleman for 49 games (2012-17) and Robert Page for 45 games (2020-24) being the others.
Prior to Michael O'Neill the only former Coventry player to manage Northern Ireland was Dave Clements who was appointed player-manager in 1975, succeeding Terry Neil. He was also playing for Everton at the time and managed the national team for 11 games before handing the reins to Danny Blanchflower in 1976 after accepting an offer to play for New York Cosmos.
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