Former players scoring against Coventry City

James Maddison predictably scored the opening goal in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 victory over the Sky Blues on Monday evening. In only his third appearance against the Sky Blues since he left to join Norwich City ten years ago he netted his first goal against his boyhood club. He previously had played for Norwich against City in a 6-1 League Cup defeat in August 2016 (his Canaries' debut) and two years ago as a substitute for Tottenham in their 2-1 League Cup win at the CBS.

The usual comment came out after the game 'our former players always come back to haunt us and score'. I have written about this in the past arguing that we only notice the former players who score against us and ignore those that don't and I haven't altered my view. Maddison's goal was the first by an ex-City player since Yasim Ayari for Brighton earlier this season but the first by a former non-loan player since Gus Hamer, playing for Sheffield United, scored his stunning free-kick at Bramall Lane almost two years ago. The previous season Liam Walsh scored for Swansea at the CBS. A few years ago it seemed that former City men were scoring against us all the time but many of them were ex-loanees including Gary Madine, Adam Armstrong and Nathan Delfouenso. Prior to Hamer you have to go back to 2017 to find a non-loanee to have been on the score-sheet against us when both John Fleck and Leon Clarke scored for the Blades at Bramall Lane in the 2-0 loss. To be honest the evidence doesn't support the theory that ex-players are always netting against us.

The Sky Blues have now played league games at three new stadiums this season, the Emirates (two previous cup games), the Etihad and now the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Another, Everton's Hill, Dickinson Stadium, is due next month. At that point the club will have played at 159 different grounds since joining the Football League in 1919. Simon Campbell recently pointed out that after the trip to Everton City will have played at 88 of the current grounds of the 92 clubs. The missing four are West Ham's Olympic Stadium, Salford City, Bromley and York City's new stadium. 

Simon also pointed out that this feat has only been possible because of City's yo-yo history over the last 20 years with the seasons in Leagues One and Two generating trips to many grounds for the first time. He asked if the club have ever been as close to achieving the goal of playing at all 92 current clubs. It's a fascinating question and I had to do a bit of research and I think we have been closer. In 1968 after the club's first season in the old Division One the club had played at 90 of the 92 grounds. The missing two were Oxford United's Manor Ground and Scunthorpe's old stadium, the Old Showground. City did play two FA Cup games at the latter but never a league game whilst they did finally visit the Manor Ground in 1985-86 when Oxford achieved top flight status. Back in 1968 there were very few 'new' grounds in the league, I think Port Vale were the only club to build a new stadium in the post-war period. I am sure there is a good chance that we will get to the Olympic Stadium in the future but Bromley, York and Salford are less likely destinations for the Sky Blues.

I wonder if any City fans have seen us play at the 87 league grounds. I would be fascinated to hear from any fans who are close to that figure.

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.

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

Teenage goalscorers and other Sky Blue records

What a great night at the CBS on Monday night! As Sky and the main stream media have been saying ever since it was City's first home win in the Premier League for 25 years, almost as if we've been playing there for 25 years and never won. Sky's ignorance of football and the game's stats before the start of the Premier League in 1992 is annoying to me and many older fans as well as being disrespectful to the game's history.

On that subject it was interesting to see that Stephen Mfuni, the scorer of a cracking fourth goal against Newcastle, is the youngest City player to score in the Premier League, edging Robbie Keane from that exalted position. However neither Mfuni, Keane or Sidiki Cherif, another teenage scorer on Monday, get into the all-time top ten of youngest City scorers. Mfuni was born in February 2008 making him 18 years and 242 days old and just 12 days younger than Tom Bayliss, the last 18-year-old to score, in 2017. The ten youngest scorers are:

1 Brian Hill v Gillingham 1957-58  16 years 273 days

2 Colin Holder v Shrewsbury 1960-61 17y 78d

3 Tom English v Bristol City 1979-80 17y 307d

4 James Maddison v Oldham (a) 2014-15 17y 332d

5 Willie Carr v Charlton 1967-68 18y 21d

6 Peter Hill v Preston 1949-50 18y 33d

7 Ellis Lager v Bournemouth 1935-36 18y 93d

8 Conor Thomas v Blackpool (a) 2011-12 18y 94d

9 Bobby Gould v Mansfield 1964-65 18y 124d

10 Steve Sedgley v Oldham 1986-87 18y 155d

Two substitutes, Mfuni and Ellis Simms, were on the score-sheet against Newcastle, only the seventh time that has happened since two substitutes were allowed in 1987. The last time was at Millwall last season when Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Simms netted after coming off the bench in the 4-0 win.

The 4-1 victory equalled the best ever home win over Newcastle, a 4-1 win in 1999-2000. Goals from Carlton Palmer, Paul Williams and Robbie Keane gave City a 3-0 half-time lead. Newcastle, down to ten men after Warren Barton's red card scored a consolation goal through Didier Domi but Hadji made it 4-1 in the final minute.

City have bettered that scoreline at St James's Park however. In 1938 in a Second Division game City ran riot, winning 4-0 with goals from George Taylor, Tommy Crawley (2) and Bobby Davidson in a season that saw City finish fourth and miss out on promotion by four points.

After Jay Dasilva scored the winning goal at Forest a month ago in his 127^th game for the club Simon Campbell asked me if this was the longest run before a player scored his first goal. I think that honour goes to Richard Shaw. Signed in 1995, Shaw finally scored his first, and only City goal, in May 2004 in a 5-2 win at Gillingham in his 297^th game for the club. Richard went on to make a further 64 appearances and never scored again. 

Then there is Brian 'Harry' Roberts who scored his first goal in December 1982 in a 3-0 away win at West Ham in what was his 195^th game for the club. Harry had made his debut at Tottenham in April 1975 and became a regular two years later. After going almost 200 games before scoring he managed to get a second goal the following month in a 2-2 FA Cup draw with Norwich at Highfield Road. He went on to make 249 appearances for the club but never scored again.

The player with the most games without scoring was Chris Cattlin who made 239 appearances between 1968-76 without finding the net. Chris joined Brighton in 1976 and eight games into his Seagulls' career scored a goal!

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.

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

Coventry City's Internationals reach the 100 mark

The three-week break from domestic football ends this weekend and thankfully the Sky Blues spared their fans the ignominy of going into the break with five league defeats on the board. Thanks to Jay Dasilva's brilliant goal at the City Ground, Nottingham we've had some glory to bask in whilst the internationals have taken centre stage.

During the pause I have been trying to keep a track of Coventry City players international appearances. I can't remember when the club had so many players away with their country, it was probably in the late 1990s if ever. Three of the club's new signings played their first internationals as Coventry City players and took the number of Sky Blues' internationals past the 100 mark. On the 24^th September Caleb Yirenkyi became the 99^th City player to play for his country when pulling on the Ghana shirt against Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations. The following day number 100 came up when Taiwo Awoniyi came on as a substitute for Nigeria in a 2-1 victory over Madagascar. Two days later it was out-on-loan defender Liam Kitching who became number 101 when starting for Ireland in their controversial Nations League tie with Israel. Born in Harrogate, Liam apparently qualifies for Ireland thanks to an Irish grandmother from Kildare and follows in the footsteps of English-born players to represent the Republic such as Leon Best, Gary Breen and Phil Babb . On 29^th September new signing Yann Gboho won a first cap for Ivory Coast to become international number 102. Gboho came off the bench against Somalia in the 83^rd minute, equalised six minutes later and was involved in the winning goal in the fifth minute of added time.

In addition to the four 'new' caps there were international appearances for Jay Dasilva (Wales), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria), Brandon Thomas-Asante (Ghana) and Joel Latibeaudiere (Jamaica) as well as two England under 21 caps for on-loan defender Stephen Mfuni.

I thought it would be interesting to analyse the 102 City internationals by country. Thirty countries are represented:

19 players Wales, 16* Ireland, 11 Scotland, 9 Northern Ireland, 5 Jamaica, 4 England, USA, Sweden, 3 Ghana, Morocco, 2 Trinidad & Tobago, Nigeria, Honduras, Iceland, Belgium, 1 Algeria, Austalia, Benin, Bosnia, Burkino Faso, Canada, Faroe Islands, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Romania and Zimbabwe

*Before World War 2, Jackie Brown played for both Northern Ireland and the all-Ireland team.

There are numerous countries not represented in this list including France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. With the Sky Blues back in the Premier League we may well see internationals from these nations in Sky Blue colours.

It's that time of year when books are published with the Christmas market in mind. Not surprisingly after the year Coventry City have had there are several published about the Sky Blues and I will try and feature all of them in the coming weeks. First of is Rich Chamberlain's 'Back at Last' published by Pitch Publishing. Rich, who has recently launched his City-focused website The Phoenix, writes about last season's promotion season. In a well-written book he describes the details of the incredible campaign, with match reports and quotes from key local figures such as Rob Gurney, Steve Ogrizovic, John Dawkins, Dave Boddy and many more. In between chapters on last season he goes back in time to discuss some of the stories that are part of the Sky Blues history in the last 25 years including the SISU years, the stadium issues, Doug King's arrival and impact and the decision to replace Mark Robins with Frank Lampard in 2024. A highly recommended read.

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.

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