It's been a long time since I have dreaded writing this column but this week is a difficult one with the Sky Blues bottom of the Premier League without any points or goals and knocked out of the EFL Cup by arch enemies Aston Villa. Some sections of the media are revelling in our discomfort and seem to have the knives out for Frank Lampard but seem to forget we've had trips to Arsenal and Manchester City and faced Brighton, the most in-form team in the division. Unfortunately the horror show against the Seagulls last Sunday ramped up the negativity somewhat.
Regretably it's my job to report on the stats, good or bad and however painful so here goes. Prior to Sunday the Sky Blues had only lost by a five goal margin in home games on five occasions:
1919-20 Tottenham Division Two 0-5
1964-65 Leicester C League Cup 1-8
1980-81 Everton Division One 0-5
1989-90 Liverpool Division One 1-6
2007-08 WBA FA Cup 0-5
There were arguably mitigating circumstances in each result. The Tottenham game was City's first ever game in the Football League and the Bantams were up against a side who ran away with the title with the modern day equivalent of 102 points and 102 goals. The Leicester horror show was exacerbated by a first half injury to captain George Curtis which saw him having to leave the field in the days before substitutes. In 1980 City's very young team – six under 21s – just had one of those days when every mistake was punished. Milne's youngsters went on to reach the League Cup semi final three months later. Liverpool were probably at or near their peak in 1990 and came to Highfield Road with only one defeat in their previous 22 league games. John Barnes was unplayable that day and City were probably already on the beach. Finally the West Brom cup defeat wasn't disimilar to last week's game in that Michael Doyle was shown a red card just after half-time when the score was 0-1 and his absence saw City, managed that day by caretakers John Harbin and Frankie Bunn, crumble dramatically in the last half hour.
It's the first time City have lost four games in a row since November 2023 when there were defeats to Bristol City (away 0-1), Rotherham (away 0-2), WBA (home 0-2) and Preston (away 2-3). There was a similar four game run of defeats early in the previous season. You have to go back to February 2003 for the last time the Sky Blues lost four in a row without scoring. Following an embarrassing FA Cup defeat at Rochdale Gary McAllister's side lost to Watford (home 0-1), Burnley (home 0-1), Rotherham (away 0-1) and Bradford City (home 0-2). After being in the play-off places after beating Reading on Boxing Day the team plunged down the table with only one win in 21 games. Don't tell me things are worse than that horrendous campaign!
I've recently received several new books with a Coventry City angle and all three are worthy of recommendation in the coming weeks. First, former City midfielder Kenilworth-born Barry Powell has published his biography. Barry joined the Sky Blues from Wolves in 1975 had four good years at the club making 180 appearances. He was a key player in Gordon Milne's exciting side of the late 1970s, starring in midfield alongside Terry Yorath in a thrilling 4-4-2 formation. To my mind that 1977-78 season was one of the most exciting campaigns of the last 60 years and Barry revisits some of the great moments of that season. His friendship with Tommy Hutchison, who writes a moving introduction to the book, got off to a bad start in Barry's debut in a League Cup tie at Bolton. Tommy wasn't happy that Barry hadn't passed to him and Barry retorted with 'but you were marked'. Hutchison pointed out that he didn't care if he was marked he wanted the ball. A friendship soon flourished and continued well after they both left the club and were reunited first at Burnley and later at Swansea. Barry's book 'The Beautiful Game and Beyond' is out now and highly recommended.
If you enjoy this column and would like to hear more about Coventry City's history you can listen to the Sky Blue History Podcast which is available on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Claudio Cardellino and I talk about all things Sky Blue and in one recent episode Barry was our guest and we spent a fascianting hour talking about his career.
If you're after more information on City's history try www.skybluearchive.com . The site contains full details of over 4000 games the club has played since 1919 as well as player's profiles and pictures and much more. Follow on X @skybluesarchive
If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City or have a suggested topic for the podcast please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on X/Twitter @clarriebourton
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