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 24th September Caleb Yirenkyi became the 99th 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 29th 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 83rd 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
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