tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87245044878012727522024-03-17T19:25:23.861+00:00Jim Brown's JournalA selection of writings and thoughts about Coventry City's glorious historyJimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.comBlogger537125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-54548650885448899942024-03-17T19:24:00.002+00:002024-03-17T19:24:47.208+00:00Jim's column 16.3.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry City travel to Molineux today for a massive FA Cup Sixth Round tie with Wolves. It's the first time the club have reached the last eight of the famous competition since 2009 when the Sky Blues met Chelsea at the CBS Arena and lost 2-0 to the eventual winners of the competition.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Apart from 1987 the club have had little to shout about in the FA Cup and this season is only the eighth time in 130 years that they have reached the last eight and only once have they won their quarter final tie, in 1987 when the team lifted the trophy. The first time was one of the club's finest achievements as they reached the quarter finals as a Southern League side. On the way they defeated two First Division clubs – Preston, at Deepdale, and Nottingham Forest – but Everton ended the club's dream, winning 2-0 in front of a then record 19,095 Highfield Road crowd. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlZM53uCE18uXQiuLg__FFqjfFKPSl0g3-fHBWeZjlIHh-DHg8Obh23syNxRmdS-7gKFqXMSb5pSiXGFOC_fEu5KYSKNxjxLAcDORQvbodyB-rQ8m5uEbIcTiewf0L0FoybMEyRjMQ7Mn9b8GovLuC4Jl5D51_lUkslbz7PtoujVOj_vpKT-0qzYXFw/s1360/1909-10(1names).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1360" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlZM53uCE18uXQiuLg__FFqjfFKPSl0g3-fHBWeZjlIHh-DHg8Obh23syNxRmdS-7gKFqXMSb5pSiXGFOC_fEu5KYSKNxjxLAcDORQvbodyB-rQ8m5uEbIcTiewf0L0FoybMEyRjMQ7Mn9b8GovLuC4Jl5D51_lUkslbz7PtoujVOj_vpKT-0qzYXFw/s320/1909-10(1names).JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">The club had to wait a further 53 years before reaching the last eight again and needed the wily management of Jimmy Hill. The winter of 1963 was so severe that barely any professional football took place for over two months. The Sky Blues, then a Third Division side, played six cup ties in 25 days to seal a sixth round home tie with the mighty Manchester United. On a mudheap of a pitch an all-ticket 44,000 crowd watched Terry Bly put City ahead and a giant-killing looked possible until the great Bobby Charlton took control, scored two great goals and ensured United got through. Matt Busby's team went on to lift the trophy at Wembley against Leicester.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ten years later there were over 50,000 at Molineux, the scene of another quarter final defeat. 1972-73 was an exciting season for the Sky Blues under the new management of Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne and hopes of success were high as around 10,000 fans made the trek to the Black Country. After only seven minutes John Richards outpaced Bobby Parker and put the home side ahead. City never got into their stride and their stars Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison were well policed by the home defence. A Kenny Hibbitt penalty just after half-time sealed City's fate and Wolves went on to lose to Leeds United in the semi final.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1982 it was back to the Black Country for a sixth round tie with West Brom. The league form of Dave Sexton's young City team was atrocious - no wins in ten games – but their Cup form was excellent. Ron Atkinson had left Albion but they were still an outstanding team and Cyrille Regis, having his best scoring season for the Baggies, put them ahead after 18 minutes with an unstoppable shot past Jim Blyth. City battled on bravely but Gary Owen's goal clinched the victory and took Albion through to a semi final where they surprisingly lost to QPR. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">That takes us to 1987 and the famous victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Over 15,000 City fans in a 48,000 crowd were in raptures as Big Cyrille scored an early goal. The team soaked up enormous pressure from the home side and when Gary Megson equalised with 25 minutes left things looked ominous. Then Keith Houchen took centre stage, scoring two goals in five minutes to seal the club's first ever FA Cup semi final and end Wednesday's 23-game unbeaten home FA Cup record. All City fans know what happened next – Leeds were defeated in the semi final and Tottenham succumbed at Wembley as the Sky Blues lifted the trophy.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1998, as in 1973, expectations were high, especially as Coventry had a sixth round home tie with Second Division Sheffield United and had won seven games in a row going into the game. A Dion Dublin penalty put the Sky Blues on the road to victory but Marcelo equalised and City stumbled to a draw against a physical Blades team. In the replay at Bramall Lane City looked set for victory through a Paul Telfer goal before a last minute equaliser from David Holdsworth. Extra-time failed to find a winner and the Blades won 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out. In the semi final the Blades lost to Newcastle.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2009 it's fair to say that City fan's expectations were not too high. A mediocre team were in mid-table in the Championship and up against a top Premiership side boasting stars such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry. A record CBS crowd of 31,407 were stunned by an early Drogba goal and although City gave a valiant display the Brazilian defender Alex wrapped up the victory just after the hour. Chelsea went on to beat Arsenal in the semi final and Everton in the final.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-25278694419167465332024-03-11T08:01:00.000+00:002024-03-11T08:01:06.190+00:00Jim's column 9.3.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">The goals are pouring in at the CBS Arena right now with another five against Rotherham United this week with Ellis Simms netting his second hat trick in eight days. The Sky Blues have now netted 38 goals in league and cup games in 2024 – only Liverpool have scored more in all four divisions. Poor old Rotherham had a nightmare evening after their goalkeeper, rated by many as the one of the best in the division, made a cataclysmic mistake.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">The victory had me scouring my records for big wins and hat tricks, so here goes.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>It was only the fifth time since the club moved to the CBS/Ricoh Arena in 2005 that the team have scored five or more goals and now it's happened two games in a row. The b</span></span><span>iggest home wins in the nineteen years have been:</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">6-0 v Bury 2015-16 (League 1)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">6-1 v Derby 2005-06 (Championship)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">5-0 v Maidstone 2023-24 (FA Cup)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">5-0 v Rotherham 2023-24 (Championship)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">5-1 v Walsall 2012-13 (League 1)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was also the 6-1 victory over Millwall at St Andrews in 2020-21.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The last 5-0 win at home before Tuesday was the thrashing of Premiership champions Blackburn Rovers at Highfield Road in 1995. In addition City scored four goals in the first half for only the third time at the CBS, the others being the Bury game and the 4-1 win over Gillingham in 2015-16.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Simms' three goals was the club's first league hat trick since Godden's three at Tranmere in 2020 and the first at the CBS since Mark McNulty's against Grimsby in 2018. It's also only the fifth at the stadium since its opening in 2005, the others being Fredy Eastwood, Jodi Jones and Jacob Murphy. This makes Ellis the first player to score two hat tricks at the Arena. Additionally it's the first time a Coventry player has scored successive home hat tricks since Darren Huckerby scored three on successive Saturdays in January 1999 against Macclesfield (FA Cup) and Nottingham Forest and only the fourth time since the war. Ron Hewitt also scored successive home hat tricks in 1961 (against Hull and Torquay) and in 1947 the prolific George Lowrie managed three in a row. Welsh international Lowrie had a magnificent first season after war scoring 29 goals of which 22 were at Highfield Road including four hat tricks and a four-goal haul.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let's not forget successive away hat trick scorers. Matty Godden managed two in a row in the 2019-20 promotion season, at Wycombe and Tranmere, and George Hudson achieved the feat in 1963 with three at both Trowbridge in the FA Cup and at QPR.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-460022335968386722024-03-03T09:43:00.001+00:002024-03-03T09:43:54.751+00:00Jim's column 2.3.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">A thoroughly professional performance by the Sky Blues ensured that National League South side Maidstone United were swept aside on Monday evening to book a sixth round place for the first time since 2008 and only the third time in the 37 years since the famous FA Cup triumph. A trip to Molineux in the sixth round now faces Mark Robins' team where the old rivalry with Wolves will be resumed in what will be a re-match of the game at the same stage of the competition in 1973 which Wolves won 2-0.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 5-0 victory is the club's biggest win in the cup since 1999 when Macclesfield Town were thrashed 7-0 and Ellis Simms' hat trick was the first club three goal haul in the competition since Darren Huckerby's in that same game. It was only the sixth occasion that a Coventry player to score three in an FA Cup tie. The others are:</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Microsoft Sans Serif, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1907-08 Albert Lewis ( v Brierly Hill) (a) 6-2</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Microsoft Sans Serif, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1907-08 Albert Lewis (v Bishop Auckland) (h) 7-1</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Microsoft Sans Serif, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1946-47 George Lowrie (v Newport County) (h) 5-2</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Microsoft Sans Serif, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1963-64 George Hudson (v Trowbridge) (a) 6-1</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Microsoft Sans Serif, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1998-99 Darren Huckerby (v Macclesfield) (h) 7-0</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lewis scored his two hat tricks in the famous 1907-08 season when Coventry reached the equivalent of the third round as a Birmingham League side. They came through seven rounds (including two replays) to face Crystal Palace, a Southern League side, in the third round. Palace were too strong for City and won 4-2 at Highfield Road. On the way they scored 32 goals, a club record in one season. This season the team have scored 16 goals so far which equals the club record since they joined the league in 1919, set in 1962-63. That season the Sky Blues reached the sixth round before losing to Manchester United and scored 16 goals in nine ties including three games against Portsmouth in round four.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNwSN2wGiHlseaC29lA1cS6vCmqtQZq-f2wZ8YppsVR4QBbnp743eH4vCyVeRDIIEMlTgxfvG2huLvJe4AVJ78iyyV6drHgKvVf0w7rQAf25IJWLBHbcX0ZGkGGaXl7mAOqyhpo0wLEmswrKlFBwLOfa3p-V4XcVi9La3K4koGauia2g85KHEwPKP0w/s3301/Crystal%20Palace%20(FAC)%20(h)%2011-01-1908%20p1%20(teams).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3301" data-original-width="2091" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNwSN2wGiHlseaC29lA1cS6vCmqtQZq-f2wZ8YppsVR4QBbnp743eH4vCyVeRDIIEMlTgxfvG2huLvJe4AVJ78iyyV6drHgKvVf0w7rQAf25IJWLBHbcX0ZGkGGaXl7mAOqyhpo0wLEmswrKlFBwLOfa3p-V4XcVi9La3K4koGauia2g85KHEwPKP0w/s320/Crystal%20Palace%20(FAC)%20(h)%2011-01-1908%20p1%20(teams).jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was another excellent attendance at the CBS Arena on Monday evening boosted by 4,800 Maidstone fans who excellently supported their team right to the end. The official crowd of 26,857 is the fourth highest for an FA Cup tie at the stadium. The top five are as follows:</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">31,407 v Chelsea (Sixth round) 2007-08</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">28,163 v West Brom (Fifth round) 2006-07</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">28,120 v Middlesbrough (Fourth round) 2005-06</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">26,857 v Maidstone (Fifth round) 2023-24</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">22,793 v Blackburn (Fifth round replay) 2007-08</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">To find a higher home Cup gate than the Chelsea game you have to go back to 1979 when the visit of West Brom to Highfield Road for a third round tie attracted a near capacity 37,928.</span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-84541439336979370182024-02-25T09:14:00.000+00:002024-02-25T09:14:45.424+00:00Jim's column 24.2.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>On Monday evening Coventry City will attempt to reach the FA Cup Sixth round for only the third time since the club won the famous trophy under John Sillett and George Curtis in 1987. 37 years have passed since that memorable day and the club's record in the world's most famous club competition has been pretty woeful. This is only the eighth time in those years that the Sky Blues have reached the last sixteen and f</span></span><span>our of those occasions came in successive seasons in the late 1990s when Gordon Strachan was in charge. The results of the previous seven appearances in the last sixteen since 1987 are:</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">26 February 1997 Derby County away Lost 2-3</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">14 February 1998 Aston Villa away Won 1-0</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">13 February 1999 Everton away Lost 1-2</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">29 January 2000 Charlton Athletic home Lost 2-3</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">16 February 2008 West Brom home Lost 0-5</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">24 February 2009 Blackburn Rovers home Won 1-0 (after 2-2 draw)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">17 February 2018 Brighton away Lost 1-3</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the two occasions that they have reached the last eight they have failed against Sheffield United (in 1998) and to Chelsea (in 2008).</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Monday's game is City's 17</span><sup><span>th</span></sup><span> FA Cup game against non-league opposition since the war and in the previous sixteen the Sky Blues have progressed on 12 occasions. However the ghosts of Kings Lynn, Sutton United, Worcester City and Wrexham linger over the club's FA Cup history almost as much as the triumphant 1987 story. Let's pray that Mark Robins' side can ignore those ghosts and take the club to the last eight for only the eighth time in their 140-year history.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The hard fought 1-0 victory at Stoke last week made it 20 successive league and cup games that the team have scored. You have to go back 11</span><sup><span>th</span></sup><span> November to find the last time the team failed to find the net – a 0-0 home draw with Stoke, coincidentally the game that the manager switched to a back four after several years playing a back three. In 20 games the team have scored a staggering 43 goals, albeit 11 in the FA Cup. Several readers have asked if this run is a club record but there is some way to go to match Jimmy Hill's team from the 1966-67 Second Division promotion season. In that momentous campaign, after a 1-0 defeat at Millwall in September 1966 the team went 29 scoring games before a 0-0 draw at Northampton in March 1967. After that scoreless draw the team scored in a further 16 scoring games including the first six games in Division One. In more recent times Mark Robins' 2012-13 team had 24 successive scoring games as he rejuvenated the club following relegation to League One.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ed Blackaby has recently acquired a programme from a friendly game played at Highfield Road in 1962. On 11 December 1962 City played a friendly game with an England Youth XI and put out a full first team for a midweek game in the middle of a 46-game season (and the club was still in the FA Cup). A measly crowd of 3,448 watched the Sky Blues beat the England team 2-1 with goals from Hugh Barr and Ronnie Rees. The England team went on to win the European Youth Championships the following May and included many young players who went on to have successful top flight careers including Chelsea's Ron Harris, Tottenham's Phil Beal and Sheffield United full-backs Len Badger and Bernard Shaw. The outside right is David Pleat who had already made a scoring debut for Nottingham Forest in Division One but would be released two years later having made only six appearances. He went on to play 170 odd games with various lower division sides before making his name as a very successful manager with numerous clubs. Strangely, none of the England youth team won full England caps. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGEwv1JxspqNaEFj-1ccgY6GyGtfIqURcu2aPatrVdCo2nquEZrRDhPajwyfcOxB4sL7yhdh6lTH1GY9KQ3dK9lwj7U2PvG98v-p4h2aPZPhWO6YvXFbsy4GnqIyfrIiyFXU2q6p0cAamt5WgrlD86Mm4RtXqwi4PSG9Pnbc_cl3dE5zlt2BwkCXm2w/s3088/England%20Youth%20friendly%2011.12.1962.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGEwv1JxspqNaEFj-1ccgY6GyGtfIqURcu2aPatrVdCo2nquEZrRDhPajwyfcOxB4sL7yhdh6lTH1GY9KQ3dK9lwj7U2PvG98v-p4h2aPZPhWO6YvXFbsy4GnqIyfrIiyFXU2q6p0cAamt5WgrlD86Mm4RtXqwi4PSG9Pnbc_cl3dE5zlt2BwkCXm2w/s320/England%20Youth%20friendly%2011.12.1962.jpeg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-28301940732464052002024-02-11T18:50:00.000+00:002024-02-11T18:50:12.914+00:00Jim's column 10.2.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry City progressed to the FA Cup Fifth Round on Tuesday evening with a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday. It is only the second time in 15 seasons that the club have reached the last 16 of the competition, the other being 2017-18 when the club were in League Two. Whilst it was a great team effort I have to single out Casey Palmer and Callum O'Hare who gave us a master class in creative football. We've come to expect quality performances from O'Hare and one wonders what would have happened last season if the Solihull Messi had not been injured and missed the second half of the season. Since his injury he has added goalscoring to his armoury and turned himself into a player surely heading to the Premiership.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before his injury on Boxing Day 2022 Callum had scored 12 goals in 117 starts and 29 substitute appearances. Since recovering from his ACL injury and returning to the side at the end of October he has netted nine goals in 12 starts and seven from the bench. Since his first start after injury, at Ipswich in December, City have lost only twice in 14 games. The statistics tell the story.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kasey Palmer has never<span style="color: black;"><span> played a better game for City. He looks fully fit, enormously confident and is fulfilling the potential he showed as a Chelsea youngster. I can rarely remember a better performance from a Coventry midfield player in my 60 years of watching the team. It reminded me of a virtuoso performance from the legendary Ian Gibson against West Brom in an early season game at Highfield Road in 1968. The supremely talented 'Gibbo' had fallen out with manager Noel Cantwell and there were strong rumours that he was on his way out of the club. Cantwell recalled him to face the Baggies and he gave a dazzling display of dribbling and passing, creating a hat-trick for Ernie Hunt in a 4-2 victory. Afterwards Cantwell sheepishly admitted that there was no chance of Gibbo leaving the club after that performance.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp5pSmGpYMbodOGoeR2jFFL8tjPgTroIf9ZPr3FIFyCLcPpg2oQSHWF6vVpw89rL4wy7_Yd2AuxcUNLU7l9Agj2ZEvO27FGprhDCU8_IDKVoL_2d2yNukON2aB2cTgRE-oacSToCQuSS3YB0IDCZnWJRDWGdkzXHmqYqzPb-62litv71l5cSyqTfQ6DA/s1000/GibsonIan%201969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp5pSmGpYMbodOGoeR2jFFL8tjPgTroIf9ZPr3FIFyCLcPpg2oQSHWF6vVpw89rL4wy7_Yd2AuxcUNLU7l9Agj2ZEvO27FGprhDCU8_IDKVoL_2d2yNukON2aB2cTgRE-oacSToCQuSS3YB0IDCZnWJRDWGdkzXHmqYqzPb-62litv71l5cSyqTfQ6DA/s320/GibsonIan%201969.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black;"><br /><span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Ian Gibson</span></span></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>City's unbeaten run came to an end at Carrow Road last week after 12 league and cup games without defeat since City's previous trip to East Anglia in early December when they lost at Ipswich. The run was the club's best since 2019-20 when Mark Robins' team were unbeaten in 18 league and cup games when football was suspended for Covid (the Birmingham penalty shoot-out defeat counted as a draw). That team were also unbeaten in 14 league games from mid-December until 7</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> March. East Anglia is not a happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues – they have won only two of their last 15 league trips to Portman Road and only one of the last 17 at Carrow Road.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>Another run came to an end at Norwich – City had scored two or more goals in seven successive league games with 19 goals in all but only managed one goal at Carrow Road. The run was only one short of the club's all-time record, set in 1959-60. Newly promoted to the old Division Three, City were beaten 5-1 at Southampton on the 24</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> October (the Dell was a bogey ground in those days) but in every one of the next eight games scored two or more goals. Unlike this season's team they lost two of those games but the run, with 25 goals, lifted them into the top three. 11 of the 25 goals came from the boots of young striker Ken Satchwell. Sadly the club's promotion push faltered and they finished in fifth place and it would take another four years to get promotion to Division Two.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">This was the run in 1959-60:</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Oct 31 Southend (h) won 2-0</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nov 7 Shrewsbury (a) lost 2-3</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nov 21 Norwich (a) won 4-1</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nov 28 Brentford (h) won 2-0</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dec 12 Reading (a) lost 2-4</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dec 25 Wrexham (h) won 5-3</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dec 26 Wrexham (a) won 3-1</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jan 12 York (h) won 5-2</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-51366951891218706882024-02-04T12:49:00.000+00:002024-02-04T12:49:12.747+00:00Jim's column 3.2.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">The games are coming thick and fast for Coventry City right now and a draw in the FA Cup fourth round tie at Hillsborough means potentially seven games for the team during February. Hopefully the seventh and last game of February will be a fifth round tie with Maidstone United who await the winners of next Tuesday's replay with the Owls.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Arguably the Sky Blues shouldn't have needed a replay to beat Wednesday but failed to press home their domination at Hillsborough. The fans got their first glimpse of new Danish signing Victor Torp who scored a memorable goal on his Coventry debut. His goal is the first by a City debutant since Tyler Walker scored the winning goal after coming off the bench in a League Cup tie at MK Dons in August 2020. The last debutant to score in an FA Cup tie was Josh Pask in a 3-0 replay win over Bristol Rovers at St Andrew's in early 2020 and you have to go back to September 2018 for the last league scoring debutant – Conor Chaplin with a penalty in a 2-1 victory at Oxford. Here's hoping that Victor has a more successful career at Coventry than those three scoring debutants. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Kyle McFadzean left the club this week with many eulogies for his part in the club's rise in recent years. He joined Coventry from Burton Albion in the summer of 2019 and helped the club to win promotion to the Championship in his first season. He had previously won promotions with Crawley Town and MK Dons. He made 171 appearances for the Sky Blues and scored eight goals including the winner on his CBS Arena debut against Nottingham Forest in 2021. Prior to his arrival I always felt City's defence had a soft heart and were often bullied by the more physical teams. Kyle solved that problem at a stroke, commanding his penalty area and probably the most dominating centre-back the club has had since Mo Konjic twenty years previously. Of course he had his moments – the disaster at Rotherham when he was red carded as City slumped to a 4-0 defeat comes to mind but he bounced back from that and was only on the losing side once more that season. Last season his presence was dreadfully missed when he was injured in December and January when City won only two games out of 11 and suffered embarrassing home defeats to Wrexham and Norwich. He returned in February helping steer the team to the play-offs and was only on the losing side once in 20 games. This season he had continued his good form and it was still hard to imagine a Coventry side without their captain and defensive rock but Mark Robins decided to change the defensive formation to four at the back and Kyle, who is 37 this month, was relegated to the bench. With the re-formed back four producing good results and Kyle's presence not missed he had become surplus to requirements. Kyle is a true legend of the club, a winner and a major force in the Coventry City's resurgence.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-86552383481465663612024-01-21T16:52:00.001+00:002024-01-21T16:52:17.893+00:00Jim's column 20.1.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">What a game at the CBS Arena last Saturday! The Sky Blues demolished the league leaders Leicester City 3-1 in a thrilling final twelve minutes or so to inflict only the fourth league defeat of the Foxes' season. The defeat ended Leicester's 11-match unbeaten run in the Championship in which they had won nine and meant City became the first team to score more than two goals against them. You have to go back to February 2008 for the Sky Blues' last win over their M69 rivals since which the clubs have drawn four and Leicester have won three.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Watched by the biggest crowd of the season, 29,914, which is also the second biggest league crowd ever at the CBS Arena, the Sky Blues showed all of their renowned 'never say die' attitude to overcome a team packed with players with Premiership experience and pedigree. Trailing from a controversial penalty, the team never panicked and showed great patience until eleven minutes from time when Callum O'Hare scored the equaliser. A second goal from Milan Van Ewijk and another O'Hare special sealed a famous comeback victory. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>It was the second successive league comeback following the 3-1 win at Middlesbrough something no Coventry City side has done since December 2012 during Mark Robins' first spell as manager. Then there were two away wins in four days over Christmas. At Stevenage on Boxing Day City trailed 1-0 until the 78</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> minute before Richard Wood, Carl Baker and David McGoldrick ensured a vital win. Three days later at MK Dons Daniel Powell gave the home side an early lead, Franck Moussa equalised, Ryan Lowe restored the Dons lead before Stephen Elliott nabbed two goals to give the Sky Blues a 3-2 win and extend their unbeaten run to 12 games.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>The victory was also City's first comeback win at the CBS Arena since March 2022 when Sheffield United were defeated 4-1 after taking an early lead. City's scorers on what was Legends Day 2022 were Gyokeres, O'Hare 2 and Godden. The Leicester win was the 23</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>rd</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> home league comeback win since the move to the new stadium in 2005 including one at Sixfields (2013-14) and five at St Andrews (2019-21) and in my opinion was the most exciting, bearing in mind the quality of the opposition and the atmosphere in the stadium. The Fulham win in 2021 was good as was the last minute 3-2 win over Peterborough at Sixfields at Christmas 2013. In fact poor Peterborough have been the losers in three of those 23 comebacks and the 2015 3-2 win with two late Adam Armstrong goals was a classic.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>Saturday's excellent crowd took the average for the season to 24,742 and if maintained will be the club's highest average since 1970-71 – the season that City played in Europe, averaged 26,039 and finished 10</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> in the old Division One. This season's average has only been bettered in 10 out of the 97 seasons the club has been members of the Football League – the best being in City's first season in the top flight, 1967-68, when crowds averaged a staggering 34,705. Whilst the CBS Arena has an official capacity of 32,609 there are a number of unusable areas between home and away fans meaning that record average will not be bettered.</span></span></span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-24201169398205413682024-01-14T11:22:00.001+00:002024-01-14T11:22:33.399+00:00Jim's Column 13.1.24<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry City continued their good form with a comfortable 6-2 home victory over Oxford United in the FA Cup Third round. Big cup victories are a rare thing for the Sky Blues and it was the club's biggest victory in the competition since 1999 when Macclesfield Town were put to the sword 7-0 at Highfield Road. Since City joined the Football League in 1919 there have only been five instances of them scoring six or more goals in the FA Cup:</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">1929-30 Coventry City 7 Bath City 1</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">1934-35 Coventry City 7 Scunthorpe & Lindsey United 0</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">1963-64 Trowbridge Town 1 Coventry City 6</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">1998-99 Coventry City 7 Macclesfield 0</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">2023-24 Coventry City 6 Oxford United 2</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the first three instances the opponents were non-league clubs whilst Macclesfield were in the third tier of the league as are Oxford.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Matty Godden came off the bench to score two goals – the first City player to achieve that feat since Amadou Bakayoko did it at Charlton Athletic in a League One game in 2018-19. He is only the eighth Coventry sub to score two goals in a game and the first in an FA Cup game. After substitutes were introduced to the domestic game in 1965 Bobby Gould was the first sub to score two (at Nottingham Forest in 1967) and since then has been followed by Jay Bothroyd, Patrick Suffo, Chris Maguire, Ryan Haynes, Max Biamou, Bakayoko and now Godden.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span>Godden has now scored 50 goals for the club and is the first player to reach that level since Gary McSheffrey. The two Cup goals take him to 21</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span>st</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span> in the all-time table which is headed by Clarrie Bourton with 189, followed by Billy Lake with 129. He is now within striking distance of Ernie Hunt (51) Ronnie Rees (52) and Terry Gibson (52). </span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">The draw for the fourth round gave City a trip to their favourite Cup ground, Hillsborough, the scene of their sixth round and semi final victories in 1987. It also means trips to Sheffield Wednesday in successive weekends with a league game next Saturday followed by the Cup trip the following weekend. I'm not a great one for omens but several readers have reminded me that in City's memorable 1986-87 season City played Wednesday on successive Saturdays. The teams fought out a tough league game at Highfield Road with City prevailing 1-0 in a snow-affected game. Lloyd McGrath scored the winning goal and Dean Emerson, then in the form of his life and being tipped for an England call-up, suffered a bad knee injury following a challenge by Gary Megson. Seven days later the Sky Blues pulled off one of their greatest Cup results, winning 3-1 at Hillsborough where the Owls were unbeaten in 23 FA Cup ties. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another footballing legend died this week. Following hard on the heels of Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, the man who marked Charlton in the 1966 World Cup final and the 1970 quarter final, passed away aged 78. 'Der Kaiser', the Emperor, started his career as a midfield player but later became an outstanding central defender winning the European Championships with West Germany in 1972, the World Cup in 1974 and the European Cup three times with Bayern Munich (1974-76). I particularly remember his imperious performance in the 1976 European Cup final against St Etienne at Hampden Park when he didn't misplace a pass all game. He also managed Germany to victory in the 1990 World Cup in Italy.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9PX_Ig-lKma4buWIN7CHLZTkgFtWEzC1bC2i9E2LwpBFY-q5PLEQPByyFCOdDl3-Ukz2R8vchACTfkr6sAPxGJf911Ey8UJrYxoOUlzJTfz2tyyZpCR8fFlkgmgIwikwpm_OZsUzT9gPRLgssBBxtao4ZNETxYM7AuZCXynFM49hFOwsHv3UNQ5rsQ/s1672/1970-71Bayern%20(h)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1408" data-original-width="1672" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9PX_Ig-lKma4buWIN7CHLZTkgFtWEzC1bC2i9E2LwpBFY-q5PLEQPByyFCOdDl3-Ukz2R8vchACTfkr6sAPxGJf911Ey8UJrYxoOUlzJTfz2tyyZpCR8fFlkgmgIwikwpm_OZsUzT9gPRLgssBBxtao4ZNETxYM7AuZCXynFM49hFOwsHv3UNQ5rsQ/s320/1970-71Bayern%20(h)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Franz Beckenbauer can't stop Neil Martin scoring at Highfield Road in 1970</span></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Franz captained Bayern against Coventry City in the UEFA Fairs Cup in 1970. Bayern destroyed the Sky Blues 6-1 in the first leg in Munich but City won the second leg 2-1 at Highfield Road and Beckenbauer was given a tough time by City's centre-forward Neil Martin but still managed to show the Coventyry crowd his outstanding ability.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-54931688960170167942024-01-07T12:05:00.002+00:002024-01-07T12:05:21.273+00:00Jim's column 6.1.24<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">An impressive Christmas and New Year programme saw the Sky Blues rise seven places up the league table to eighth place with 10 points out of a possible 12. The unbeaten run was extended to seven games and there has only been one defeat in 11 - away at high-flying Ipswich at the start of December.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The latest victory came at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium - their first win there in a regular season fixture. Despite winning the play-off semi final second leg there last season City had played 11 league games since the stadium replaced Ayresome Park in 1995 and never won.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Three days earlier Swansea City had grabbed a fortuitous point at the CBS Arena with a late goal from a free-kick just as the fans were about to celebrate a comeback from behind victory for the first time since Good Friday 2022. Goals from Haji Wright and Ellis Simms had cancelled out Liam Walsh’s early goal and a victory had looked certain until Liam Cullen’s clever free-kick. On New Year’s Day however the long wait for a win from behind ended with an impressive second half display from the Sky Blues to seal a 3-1 victory. Between April 2022 and Monday City had fallen behind in 29 league games and failed to win. They had managed 11 draws but 18 times had ended up losing the game. The run stretched back to the 4-2 win at St Andrew’s when City came from 2-0 to take the points.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have mentioned City's remarkable attendances this season before but have to point out that the Christmas games pushed this season's average to 24,807 and with likely sell-outs at the Leicester and Leeds home games to come the 25,000 barrier may be broken by the end of the season. If the average remains at this level then it will be the club's highest average since 1970-71 when it was 26,039. The Boxing Day crowd of 29,208 for the Sheffield Wednesday game was the second highest for a league game at the CBS Arena bettered only by the 30,175 for the Birmingham game last season. It was also the largest Boxing Day home crowd since 1969 when 32,649 watched the Sky Blues beat Ipswich Town 3-1.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">On Thursday I was at the CBS Arena for the launch of the appeal for donations to the statue of George Curtis and John Sillett. Joe Elliott’s committee have done a fantastic job in raising over £130,000 towards the cost of the new statue but £87,000 is still required to make the monument a reality. Joe introduced several of the 1987 FA Cup squad including Trevor Peake, Lloyd McGrath, Steve Ogrizovic, Dave Bennett and Dean Emerson as well as Mick Kearns, former teammate of George and John and a member of the 1987 coaching staff. The legends’ families were represented by Jean and Neil Sillett and Inga and Julie Curtis and the sculptor Douglas Jennings was introduced. Douglas has previously produced a number of football-related statues including George Cohen (Fulham), Graham Taylor (Watford) and Jimmy Dickinson (Portsmouth).</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span>If you would like to make a donation to the fund go to </span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.ccfc.co.uk/statue-appeal"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span>www.CCFC.Co.uk/statue-appeal</span></span></span></a></u></span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-29077145960236136022023-12-24T08:57:00.003+00:002023-12-24T08:57:51.846+00:00Jim's column 23.12.23<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Gordon Milne is the longest serving Coventry City manager since World War Two having been in charge from 1972 until 1981. During his first two seasons at Highfield Road his title was Team Manager and Joe Mercer was at his elbow as General Manager but there was never any doubt that Gordon was in charge of on-pitch matters. He has recently published his biography 'Shankly, my Dad and Me' and it is an excellent read.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bZWCLxonNThORaoj96vsk8BD99fhx-H6s7M7PH4A90XZwiIrYfa_xtsxAEwbrQRaxCgrP3k7TVSk2ywnMobcrjH7VgMDRFVUBY40Cep0mEy00OOLVkwFgQj-1ingZ4GPHEhMNULXJAxnlOrC46BUmDwLWgMm-fbOw6datjSXHRsRWevU23qjEFzXmA/s426/shopping.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bZWCLxonNThORaoj96vsk8BD99fhx-H6s7M7PH4A90XZwiIrYfa_xtsxAEwbrQRaxCgrP3k7TVSk2ywnMobcrjH7VgMDRFVUBY40Cep0mEy00OOLVkwFgQj-1ingZ4GPHEhMNULXJAxnlOrC46BUmDwLWgMm-fbOw6datjSXHRsRWevU23qjEFzXmA/s320/shopping.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Gordon's Dad was Jimmy Milne who played alongside a young Bill Shankly for Preston North End before the war and appeared together in the 1937 FA Cup final. After the war Jimmy became the trainer at Deepdale, Shankly saw his playing career out with Preston and was a neighbour of the Milnes. Gordon remembers as a child playing in the street with Shanks and after cutting his teeth as a young player with Preston it was no surprise that in 1960 Shankly, by this time managing Liverpool, made Gordon, a talented half-back, one of his first signings. The essence of the book is the influence that his father and Shankly had not only his football career but his life in general.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Gordon tells the story how Shankly transformed not just the team at Anfield but also the club. Unbelivably the Reds had been out of the First Division for eight years but signings such as Ian St John, Ron Yeats and Gordon got them promotion in 1962 and two years later they lifted the League Championship. Over seven seasons Gordon played almost 300 games for Liverpool, picking up two league winner's medals in a golden period for the club that saw European Cup semi finals and a Cup Winners Cup final. The club also lifted the FA Cup in 1965, beating Don Revie's Leeds United but Gordon had to sit it out with a knee injury. Gordon describes the scene at Anfield four days later when Shankly told him and Gerry Byrne (a casualty at Wembley) to parade the Cup around the pitch before the crucial European Cup semi final first leg against Inter Milan. For Gordon the ear-splitting reception they got from the Kop was his greatest memory of his time at Anfield.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">In 1963 Alf Ramsey selected him for his first England cap against Brazil and he went on to win 14 caps in all. In 1966 he was in the initial World Cup squad of 28 players which was reduced to the final 22 just before the tournament. He left Liverpool for Blackpool in 1967 and after hanging his boots up he started his managerial career at non-league Wigan before coming to Coventry with Mercer in 1972. The M-men as they were christened by Coventry Telegraph's Derek Henderson excited the fans with a brand of attacking football and apart from the almost disastrous 1976-77 season relegation was rarely mentioned. At the same time he kept the finances on an even keel even if it meant selling some of the club's outstanding homegrown players. In the book Gordon deals with the infamous Bristol City game in 1977 and, contrary to the views of many in Sunderland, confirms that the decision to delay the kick-off was not made by Jimmy Hill or anyone associated with the club.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYGVIr8Bk1y6P7vDCe0d4mS3qaR2aDfTH7aYFrMHmKweVk9hvL3ZXU-NutIqLm_kXwwg-hbD0RxwL42EO4NSpSREFlOBYnJzIFzwp1wmN8iYjaTybF_06SO7iHns5g_85yK4V4EZ2buf6yMgadHsPOuuWEAFiUtib_cRYgi551IxLRCwjyqcdXJ5OhQ/s1018/MILNE_DICKS1977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="1018" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYGVIr8Bk1y6P7vDCe0d4mS3qaR2aDfTH7aYFrMHmKweVk9hvL3ZXU-NutIqLm_kXwwg-hbD0RxwL42EO4NSpSREFlOBYnJzIFzwp1wmN8iYjaTybF_06SO7iHns5g_85yK4V4EZ2buf6yMgadHsPOuuWEAFiUtib_cRYgi551IxLRCwjyqcdXJ5OhQ/s320/MILNE_DICKS1977.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gordon with Bristol City manager Alan Dicks celebrating the 2-2 draw in 1977</span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">He reveals that during his 10 years at City he was interviewed for two big jobs – in 1974 Liverpool considered him as Shankley's replacement before opting for Bob Paisley and the same year he was shortlisted and interviewed for the England manager's job which ultimately went to Don Revie. The book also describes his time at Leicester City and fascinating times in Turkey with Besiktas and at Newcastle with Bobby Robson.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">It's a great read with some wonderful stories from his 60 years in the game and will evoke many memories of the Sky Blues in the 1970s whilst reminding us how Bill Shankly turned Liverpool into a major force in European football. The book is published by Pitch Publishing and is co-written with Steve Younger.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">2023 has been a great year to be a Coventry City fan. Mark Robins' team gave us an exciting run to the play-offs and the highest final position since we left the Premiership over 20 years ago. We've had another trip to Wembley where the difference between success and failure came down to a penalty shoot-out. This season we've seen the highest crowds at home games for 50 years creating an electric atmosphere and positive signs that the 'new' team are bedding in and becoming a strong Championship side.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"></span></p><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Finally, a Merry Christmas to all my readers and the hope that you and yours, as well as our beloved Sky Blues have a healthy and prosperous 2024.</span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-23296137611431038692023-12-10T16:16:00.001+00:002023-12-10T16:16:29.356+00:00Jim's column 9.12.23<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">What a strange game at Ipswich last Saturday! At half-time we were admiring an excellent first half from the Tractor Boys in which they had dominated the Sky Blues and topped it off with a fantastic world-class goal from Wes Burns. At full-time, after a much improved second half display from Coventry, we were left with the feeling that the team could have got a result, a draw at least, and that Ipswich were not as invincible as we had thought 45 minutes earlier. The key moment of that second half was the penalty miss by Matty Godden when City were in the ascendancy.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Godden's failure from the spot at Portman Road was his second successive penalty miss – his other was in the home game with Watford in September – after 11 successful spot kicks since he joined the club in 2019. His last successful penalty was in the League Cup game at AFC Wimbledon in August. He's not alone in consecutive penalty misses Micky Quinn and Paul Cook both missed two in a row back in the 1990s. In a home game in January 1989 Brian Kilcline had his penalty saved by Wimbledon's Hans Segers but followed up to score then, a month later, he missed a penalty against Arsenal at Highfield Road but later in the game scored the winner past David Seaman from the spot! Gary McSheffrey is another who missed two in a row and retained the penalty taking duties. We'll have to wait and see if Matty keeps the duties following his misses.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">I thought I would compare Godden's penalty record with City's penalty kings of the past. Matty's eleven successful penalties leaves him well short of the club's all-time record penalty scorer Ronnie Farmer who managed 23 penalties with only one miss between 1962-67. Brian Kilcline scored 19 penalties but managed to miss five. Gary McAllister is third in the list with 18 successful penalties and just one miss. Gary McSheffrey and Mick Coop are also ahead of Godden with 16 successful spot kicks.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHILGI3EPS5vO1bUfBTsIsq3mxNXsPKDW6ADnQ48O7my566_rlYcS25SI0pCihf6Fhq2YKzuvtyfJiBfQu9qluCEQ4jouRNyrcxjGk6qownS1u_C7Ipa9HIV3Fl0P45oxUjz9T288CzhB1XOz6spw9FPgh4dSVv5eYDVAlLk5po8vGX1swTtvc8c16g/s906/FARMERRON0168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHILGI3EPS5vO1bUfBTsIsq3mxNXsPKDW6ADnQ48O7my566_rlYcS25SI0pCihf6Fhq2YKzuvtyfJiBfQu9qluCEQ4jouRNyrcxjGk6qownS1u_C7Ipa9HIV3Fl0P45oxUjz9T288CzhB1XOz6spw9FPgh4dSVv5eYDVAlLk5po8vGX1swTtvc8c16g/s320/FARMERRON0168.JPG" width="197" /></a></div> Ronnie Farmer<br /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="color: black; font-variant-caps: normal; width: 463px;"><colgroup><col width="179"></col><col width="104"></col><col width="77"></col><col width="61"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Penalties</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Misses</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1. Ronnie Farmer</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1962-67</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">23</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2. Brian Kilcline</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1985-91</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">19</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">5</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">3. Gary McAllister</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1996-2003</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">18</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">4= Gary McSheffrey</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2003-12</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">16</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">6</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">4= Mick Coop</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1973-80</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">16</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">3</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="179"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">6. Matt Godden</p></td><td width="104"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2019-23</p></td><td width="77"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">11</p></td><td width="61"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-17830707523892317782023-11-27T17:04:00.000+00:002023-11-27T17:04:05.511+00:00Jim's column 25.11.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The recent Stoke home game witnessed the third 25,000 plus crowd of the season (25,003) and lifted the average home attendance to 24,310, up 19% from last season's average of 20,369. Obviously there are more season tickets but it's still a remarkable increase especially as the average following from visiting fans is currently down by 8% at 1,864. With home games against local rivals Birmingham City and Leicester City coming up I expect the overall average to further increase.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">If the average remains above 24,000 then it will be the club's highest average attendance for over 50 years - since 1972-73 when the average was 24,623. What a roller coaster ride the club's attendances have taken over the years as the chart shows. Before Jimmy Hill arrived in 1961 the average had been under 11,000 but in his first full season in charge, with the Sky Blue Revolution under way, the crowds increased to 17,908 with another massive jump to over 26,000 in 1963-64 as City won promotion to the Second Division. The gates plateaued in Division Two but leapt again in 1967-68 as City reached the First Division for the first time in their history. That debut season in the top flight saw an average of 34,705, the highest in the club's history, with even the smallest home crowds being 28,000! There were three 40,000 crowds with over 47,000 for the visit of Manchester United. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenebqeWOqXXY-zTCJMAyfwSp4wrVRRJY3-W07WgMPMTnV2NodTT08_fdilqfrx6vteNC6yCyHXgyTkmy3LUshIlzxeaERudIX9oCE0f5ghvDGNtFhqceH_TPhVcbeSwwdICm_0v3rAWJHjY-t1HwbwBOtRT9Qi_Kv2MYtiZfoO8Qb7XiXgdIJEqUREw/s1554/Screenshot%202023-11-27%20at%2016.38.05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1554" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenebqeWOqXXY-zTCJMAyfwSp4wrVRRJY3-W07WgMPMTnV2NodTT08_fdilqfrx6vteNC6yCyHXgyTkmy3LUshIlzxeaERudIX9oCE0f5ghvDGNtFhqceH_TPhVcbeSwwdICm_0v3rAWJHjY-t1HwbwBOtRT9Qi_Kv2MYtiZfoO8Qb7XiXgdIJEqUREw/w382-h303/Screenshot%202023-11-27%20at%2016.38.05.png" width="382" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The novelty of Division 1 quickly wore off however and by 1970-71 gates were back to the Division 2 levels of 26,000 and although there was a slight renaissance in the late 1970s when Gordon Milne's team were playing very attractive, attacking football, there was a slow, steady decline of attendances. By 1980-81 the average had dropped to under 17,000, prompting Jimmy Hill to controversially make the stadium all-seater with a capacity of 20,000. Within two years gates were back to the levels last seen before Jimmy's arrival – an average of 10,552 in 1982-83.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The re-opening of the Spion Kop, the FA Cup success in 1987 and the Sillett years saw crowds back up to the 16-17,000 level but as the 1990s arrived we were back to 13-14,000. Big Ron's arrival, the new East Stand and the spending spree of the late 1990s boosted attendances and the stadium was pretty much full for most home games with the average reaching almost 21,000 in the final three years in the Premiership.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Relegation in 2001 dealt a blow to attendances and the final seasons at Highfield Road saw gates down to below 15,000. The move to the Ricoh in 2005 saw an initial boost to over 21,000 (the best average since the late 1970s) but the initial gloss of the new ground slowly wore off, not helped by lack lustre seasons on the pitch. Between 2005 and the club's relegation to the third tier in 2012 crowds fell every season and by 2012 the average was only 15,000. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Another 5,000 fans deserted the club in the first season in League One but that was nothing compared to what happened with the move to Northampton when the average was under 2,500. Despite 27,000 turning up for the return to the Ricoh in September 2014 the average for the season was under 10,000 and although it crept up to 12,000 the following season as City's attractive football under Tony Mowbray brought the fans back. It was a short-lived increase and in the miserable League One relegation season they were back to under 10,000.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Since Mark Robins' arrival gates have soared again – 12,000 in 2018-19 and 19,000 back at the Ricoh in 2021-22 with a blip in the St Andrews League One championship season (6,653) and a fan-less season due to Covid in 2020-21. Last season saw another rise to 20,369, the highest for 16 years and this season, with 19,000 season ticket holders, a 50-year record will be broken.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">In 1972-73 the Highfield Road capacity was around 45,000 and the biggest crowd of the season was 42,911 for the visit of Manchester United in late January. The lowest crowd was 16,391 for the Stoke game with a further four attendances under 20,000, three of them in the period before Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne transformed the team with the purchases of Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison in the October. The local derbies with Birmingham (35,304) and West Brom (31,541) also attracted over 30,000 and there were over 38,000 for the FA Cup tie with Grimsby albeit with 8,000 away fans. The wide variation between the largest and smallest gates demonstrates how, back then, there were far fewer seats and season tickets, and how the team's performances, the quality of the opposition and the importance of the games had a much greater effect on gates than the modern day. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222;"></span></p><p></p><p class="western" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-79602358766840032272023-11-12T18:19:00.000+00:002023-11-12T18:19:27.076+00:00Ronnie Rees tribute<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><b>Ronnie Rees (4 April 1944 – 29 October 2023)</b></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Coventry City fans who were around in the 1960s will be saddened to hear of the death of the former winger Ronnie Rees. Thrown into the first team at the tender age of 18 by Jimmy Hill, Ronnie was an immediate success and was a key member of the Third Division and Second Division championship sides in 1964 and 1967 respectively. Growing up in an era when wingers were fashionable Ronnie had all the attributes of a top performing wingman. He was incredibly quick, had a mazy dribble, a great cross and a vicious shot. One of the fans' most popular players of the JH era, the Welsh wing wizard played 262 games for the Sky Blues, putting him 25</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> in the all-time most appearance table. He also had an eye for goal and netted 52 in his 5 ½ seasons at Highfield Road, 16</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> in the club's all-time scorers and the highest scoring winger in the club history.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31FSktQMghtzvhznU6-ZFyBYpBt4g2gWyAfJPWr-y68j1KoDVcRgoz8oBzhQs6xnfPUL-Z8I1l0-a-_9FwIWHnmNn8h4wftOHjEAb7b3N5UE38VhtzbbNCM6PfGyb5BzpERhFJuctbxyb2s0kQtBPeJxTYI5sL3cEf-_p4PDG13HR7QdasZStZfji1Q/s1000/ReesRonnie%201966.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31FSktQMghtzvhznU6-ZFyBYpBt4g2gWyAfJPWr-y68j1KoDVcRgoz8oBzhQs6xnfPUL-Z8I1l0-a-_9FwIWHnmNn8h4wftOHjEAb7b3N5UE38VhtzbbNCM6PfGyb5BzpERhFJuctbxyb2s0kQtBPeJxTYI5sL3cEf-_p4PDG13HR7QdasZStZfji1Q/s320/ReesRonnie%201966.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /><span lang="en-GB"><br /></span></span></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Ronnie was born and grew up in Ystradgynlais, a small Welsh town 15 miles north of Swansea. Spotted playing for Merthyr Boys, he joined Coventry City straight from school as an apprentice, sweeping the terraces, cleaning the first team's boots and playing for the 'A' or 'B' team on a Saturday. He played in the same youth team as Bobby Gould and Dietmar Bruck but despite the future stars in the team their Youth Cup campaign in 1961-62 came to a juddering halt with a 9-1 defeat to Aston Villa's under 18s with a certain Ralph Brown netting seven goals. By the end of the 1961-62 season he had played 26 reserve games, scoring 3 goals, mainly on the right wing but was not considered to be close to the first team. The close season of 1962 saw recently appointed manager Jimmy Hill sign a completely new forward line: Willie Humphries, Hubert Barr, Terry Bly, Jimmy Whitehouse and Bobby Laverick. Despite being awarded a professional contract, Ronnie's first team chances looked slim at that stage.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Of the five new forwards all except former Everton and Brighton man Laverick started well. After only four games JH dropped Laverick in favour of Roy Dwight but was still unhappy with the left wing slot. On 15 September 1962 Ronnie was called up for first team duty in a home Division Three game with Shrewsbury. In front of 14,000 Ronnie didn't disappoint as Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph reported: 'Rees revealed a refreshing directness that should have acted as a stimulant to his colleagues'. The game ended 0-0.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">He kept his place three days later as the Sky Blues beat Bradford Park Avenue 3-1 and his performance impressed Nemo: 'He beats his man often like a veteran, has poise on the ball, and it is a rare occurrence for a pass to go astray. From the start he shows a propensity to shoot on sight'. Rees was here to stay and in his fifth game he scored his first goal, against Second Division Swansea, the club whose net he had slipped through, in a 3-2 League Cup win. Maybe he was out to prove Swansea wrong but he was City's star man and hit a 25-yard 'dipping' shot that crept inside an upright. Nemo described him as 'irrepressible and unlucky not to score a second goal near the end'.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">A bout of gastric flu kept him out of the side for a few games but he returned to action on 10 November in a 3-0 victory over Wrexham and was an ever present for the rest of the season. In fact he was not on the losing side until the end of March when City's remarkable FA Cup run came to an end at the hands of Manchester United. Within three months of his City debut he won the fist of seven Wales under 23 caps and in February 1963 he scored twice as the under 23s beat Northern Ireland 5-1.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The fixture backlog due to the Cup exploits and the harsh winter meant City missed out of promotion but twelve months later the team won the division. Ronnie and captain George Curtis were the only ever presents and his 15 goals was only bettered by George Hudson and Ken Hale. The highlight for Ronnie was a hat-trick in the 8-1 hammering of Shrewsbury Town at Highfield Road.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Ronnie took to Second Division football with ease and missed only one game in 1964-65, scoring nine goals and winning his first full cap for his country, a 3-2 victory over Scotland in Cardiff. Rubbing shoulders with Welsh legends such as John Charles, Ivor Allchurch and Cliff Jones, Ronnie was impressive, setting up two goals for Ken Leek and kept his place for seven further internationals that season including a trip to Wembley to face England and World Cup qualifiers in Florence and Moscow. City's season was one of consolidation and the team finished 10</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> but 1965-66 saw a serious promotion challenge and Ronnie was at the heart of it. Willie Humphries had left and versatile Ronnie was switched to the right wing to accommodate Dave Clements in the number 11 shirt. Once again Ronnie missed only one game and scored nine goals as well as winning a further eight caps for Wales including two games against Brazil in an end of season tour of South America. Brazil were warming up for the 1966 World Cup and Ronnie faced stars such as Garrincha, Gerson and Tostao.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSurxbfbCuJxVE6OwkvBzKbbbk4PFQvKoDbImnC4n_sf-mcBsrH36DBTPlmXyVxkd8mtIan0BjDImFaDDbL4S646pGSTlUSJH06MOO1dZy0pMiW-lfY0JLVqWWPVnWEvAD8096kAXeVgxdpmR0hCqtWcF9-uyUZn0-0JVmylLprHcy3_4127tXHsJNA/s2357/1967-68%20(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1695" data-original-width="2357" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSurxbfbCuJxVE6OwkvBzKbbbk4PFQvKoDbImnC4n_sf-mcBsrH36DBTPlmXyVxkd8mtIan0BjDImFaDDbL4S646pGSTlUSJH06MOO1dZy0pMiW-lfY0JLVqWWPVnWEvAD8096kAXeVgxdpmR0hCqtWcF9-uyUZn0-0JVmylLprHcy3_4127tXHsJNA/s320/1967-68%20(5).jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The 1967 Promotion team with Ronnie far right on middle row</span><br /><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The Sky Blues missed out on promotion by one point in 1965-66 but strengthened by the signing of Ian Gibson they were one of the favourites for promotion the following season. Ronnie was back on the left wing and although the team stuttered in the autumn by December things were buzzing again in the city and Rees and Gibson were building a great partnership. Arch rivals Wolves were beaten at Molineux 3-1 with Ronnie scoring one of his five goals that season and by March promotion was looking increasingly possible. BBC Match of the Day cameras came to Highfield Road for the first time that month and Ronnie wowed the armchair fans by making City's goal in a 1-1 draw. The goal can be watched on YouTube and shows Ronnie picking the ball up in his own half before starting a mazy run that takes him past several Bolton defenders to the left edge of the penalty area. His pinpoint cross finds Bobby Gould unmarked eight yards out and the centre-forward finsihes with aplomb. Just over a month later the Sky Blues had the rematch with Wolves in what JH dubbed The Midlands Match of the Century. In front of 51,452 fans City came from behind to win 3-1 and Ronnie scored the third goal – a typical Rees goal, a low ground shot with pace that left the Wolves 'keeper clutching at air. Possibly Ronnie's best goal in a Coventry shirt came in a testimonial game against Liverpool at the end of the season when his twenty five yard thunderbolt brought the house down. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Once again promotion to a higher division posed no problem for the Welsh winger and Ronnie netted seven goals in his first twelve top flight games including braces against West Brom and Tottenham. He terrorised full-backs as he had done for the previous five years and Derek Henderson commented after a 2-2 with Sunderland in October that: 'the elegantly-moving Ron Rees – playing better now than at any time in his career – looked capable of making Sunderland bite the dust'. As City struggled in their debut season in the First Division like many of the team, Ronnie's form began to suffer and in January 1968 new manager Noel Cantwell dropped him for the first time in his career. He was recalled and scored his final City goal in a 1-1 home FA Cup draw with Tranmere. Three weeks later, on transfer deadline day, he was on his way to West Brom in a deal worth £70,000 with the proceeds of his sale funding the purchase of Chris Cattlin and Ernie Hunt. He admitted that he had been unsettled for some time but his comment 'I suppose a change could do me good' suggests that he may not have wanted to leave. Two days later City pulled off a shock 2-0 win over Manchester United and Ronnie was, to many, quickly forgotten as City edged towards safety.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiX-SieQwyp_jVUKoLteRn2jfQ7eEDJpUTmiVFFR7EZ4-51WIufZM5_KZyqRgdUhSFbgMvPkrSBQKEuT2yr2WrNuypZHWw9e-9s9uDKR018DWlxu4m7UcjwlkVYHuP02AGfVxFcV02KnGBWdV6qr8bpzmRXcir4jDyYvTTDcJKJY0RJEI9I5DNEAcgFQ/s769/ReesRonnie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="569" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiX-SieQwyp_jVUKoLteRn2jfQ7eEDJpUTmiVFFR7EZ4-51WIufZM5_KZyqRgdUhSFbgMvPkrSBQKEuT2yr2WrNuypZHWw9e-9s9uDKR018DWlxu4m7UcjwlkVYHuP02AGfVxFcV02KnGBWdV6qr8bpzmRXcir4jDyYvTTDcJKJY0RJEI9I5DNEAcgFQ/s320/ReesRonnie.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">It was in unauspicious debut for Ronnie at the Hawthorns as Everton won 6-2 but the Baggies got their revenge six weeks later by winning the FA Cup final at Wembley. A Cup-tied Rees could only watch as his team-mates celebrated. Ronnie was at the Hawthorns less than a year but managed 12 goals in a free-scoring side, including one in Albion's 4-2 defeat at Highfield Road. The City Ground, Nottingham was next on the list and he appeared 101 times for First Division Forest before dropping down to Division Three with Swansea in 1972 at the age of 27. His 39</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> and final Welsh cap came in 1971 (21 came as a Coventry player) but his form sadly tailed off and he was released in 1975 and played non-league football with Merthyr Tydfill, Haverfordwest and Bishopton. After leaving Swansea he continued to live in the area and worked at Ford's Swansea factory and later at Cardiff City as an administrator until he suffered a severe stroke at the age of 51. Although he was a member of the Former Players Association he was never well enough to attend a Legends Day and spent the last few years in a care home. My condolences to his widow, Coventry-born June, and his family.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">His funeral will take place on Friday 17</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> November at the Morriston Crematorium, Swansea at 2.30pm.</span></span></span></p><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"></span></p><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-7582730630453912412023-10-29T13:41:00.000+00:002023-10-29T13:41:11.205+00:00Jim's Column 29.10.23<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Sir Bobby Charlton, the finest English footballer of the post-war era, sadly passed away last weekend and his death was honoured at many football grounds this week. His glittering career with Manchester United saw him play 810 games for his only club and win 106 caps for England. He also left his mark on Coventry City appearing on a number of occasions against the Sky Blues and showing his shooting prowess to its full.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Manchester United manager Matt Busby gave Bobby his first team debut as an 18-year-old in October 1956 and the Ashington-born prodigy didn't let Matt down. He scored two goals in a 4-2 victory over Charlton and by the end of that season he'd scored 12 goals in 17 games, won a league championship medal, an FA Cup runners up medal and scored against Real Madrid in a European Cup semi-final. The Busby Babes were the outstanding post-war English club and would surely have won a third successive league title in 1957-58 but for the tragic air crash at Munich in February 1958 and may have given Real Madrid a closer run in the European Cup. At the time of the crash Charlton was in top form and scored nine goals in the previous five games including two in Belgrade the previous day.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Charlton, still strapped in his seat, was thrown clear of the burning wreckage of the plane and dragged to safety by goalkeeper Harry Gregg. Eight of his team-mates (five of whom were current internationals) and 13 other passengers didn't survive. Bobby lost his best friends and his mentors on that snowy day in Munich but was back in action within three weeks and helping a makeshift United team reach the FA Cup final, swept on by a national wave of emotion.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">I have three distinctive memories of Bobby Charlton playing against Coventry City. The first was in 1963 and United's post-Munich rebuilding was well under way when they came to Highfield Road for an FA Cup sixth round tie. In his first full season Jimmy Hill had become Cup giant-killers and seen off two Second Division sides Portsmouth and Sunderland, the latter five days before the United tie in a feverish atmosphere that saw City score two late goals in front of over 40,000 at Highfield Road. City were in the last eight of the competition for the first time since 1910.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">As a schoolboy Bobby Charlton was one of my heroes in those less partisan days when you could admire players from clubs you didn't necessarily support and I can remember the excited anticipation of seeing Charlton at Highfield Road almost as much as hoping City would win.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Three days of almost continuous rain had left the pitch a sticky mess and I stood with my dad on the Kop, soaked to the skin. The rain was forgotten as the Sky Blues started superbly with Terry Bly netted from a Willie Humphries cross after five minutes and for the next fifteen minutes dominated their higher status rivals. Then Bobby, transformed into a left winger but with a roving brief, took over and United found their stature. Albert Quixall crossed, Denis Law flicked it on and Bobby's first-time shot beat Bob Wesson for the equaliser. Maurice Setters, later to play for City, drove United on and but for him and Charlton the Reds would not have won the tie. Four minutes into the second half Charlton burst through the Coventry defence at such speed that his marker, John Sillett, and company just stood and gaped while he let loose a right-foot rocket from 18 yards. United scored a third goal when the muddy surface contrived to give Quixall an easy goal but Jimmy Hill's team were not disgraced by the 3-1 scoreline. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The second memory was Coventry's next encounter with Bobby in 1967-68, their first season in the top flight. I bunked off school to get to Old Trafford for the night match to see a masterclass 4-0 victory for the Reds. John Aston and George Best scored first half goals and after the break United put the Sky Blues on the rack with continuous, smooth-moving pressure with some thunderbot shooting. Aston headed a third goal before Charlton scored the best of the night. Derek Henderson in the Coventry Telegraph described it thus: 'a Charlton special, City back-pedalling and realising the damger too late as the England man hit a 30-yard shell-like effort which kept the applause going for over two minutes.'</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHVEM3eEua0amvqFrYbgu3QTLEOeEmjHOKoM4fjJqyPrx0PnkybAetoFdmRQ8Z0TQuyUzISIwglVMSYwdmclCyhcYtSWEqNe8ceTn9mU59a9QHWJYsRpOR2x2Vl3RvZixXG8b6qYPUwhbwF_H_qEIEeZZLrg6_-FpM9AbNJggL0UkUCuOT7luDxxpEA/s5545/1969-70Man%20U%20(h)%20Carr%20&%20Charlton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3894" data-original-width="5545" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHVEM3eEua0amvqFrYbgu3QTLEOeEmjHOKoM4fjJqyPrx0PnkybAetoFdmRQ8Z0TQuyUzISIwglVMSYwdmclCyhcYtSWEqNe8ceTn9mU59a9QHWJYsRpOR2x2Vl3RvZixXG8b6qYPUwhbwF_H_qEIEeZZLrg6_-FpM9AbNJggL0UkUCuOT7luDxxpEA/s320/1969-70Man%20U%20(h)%20Carr%20&%20Charlton.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Bobby Charlton and Willie Carr tussle for the ball in 1969</span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Charlton inspired United to European Cup glory that season with two goals in the final against Benfica but a few weeks earlier the great man could do little to stop the Sky Blues beating United 2-0 at Highfield Road to help their relegation battle no end.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The third and final memory is from his penultimate season at United in 1971-72. On Easter Saturday United, league leaders up to Christmas but in a slump that saw them finish eighth, took City apart in the first 45 minutes at Highfield Road. Best and Ian Storey-Moore, with his dashing white boots, scored early goals but Bobby's left foot goal from a free-kick on the edge of the area took the biscuit. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">He did make one last apperance at Coventry, a 1-1 draw the following season in Tommy Docherty's brawling thugs team in which Charlton looked decidedly uncomfortable.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Football has changed so much since Bobby's heyday and it is difficult to know where he stands in the pantheon of the game's great players. Whilst I didn't appreciate his great performances against my team I did recognise his unique talent and I can say that in an England shirt he gave me some of the most pleasurable moments of my football watching life. Since his retirement no English player has yet matched his achievements on the pitch. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's also sad to report the death, at the age of 65, of former City player Dave Ellis. At the age of 16 Dave was signed from Bedworth United in 1975 and played for City in the FA Youth Cup in 1975-76 alongside Garry Thompson and Paul Dyson and made six appearances for the reserve teaam. After leaving the club in 1977 he spent two years in Melbourne, Australia and played for Mooroolbark United FC. After returning to the UK he had spells with Northampton and Bristol City without making senior appearances. His son Ryan sent me this lovely picture of Dave (right) signing for the Sky Blues with the club's assistant manager Bob Dennison and his parents.</span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgWut6_3kEfCbOECU0BHXtKI4zlvNkV3iEKPP9ISNEGgQQv6yNWwD_JUcbyznBILDAKP16zRuzV7NJP3VMle8FfyyYoDMkqzVru6GP2pQgi52wuUnn0geZvyTo5yFLJEKre-1RBGaZTx40lnv-3h2rtI36Qai2NaChBrJGX7xKJ59CDtt_asxSEKO2A/s1586/Ellis,%20Dave%20signing.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1586" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgWut6_3kEfCbOECU0BHXtKI4zlvNkV3iEKPP9ISNEGgQQv6yNWwD_JUcbyznBILDAKP16zRuzV7NJP3VMle8FfyyYoDMkqzVru6GP2pQgi52wuUnn0geZvyTo5yFLJEKre-1RBGaZTx40lnv-3h2rtI36Qai2NaChBrJGX7xKJ59CDtt_asxSEKO2A/s320/Ellis,%20Dave%20signing.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-16526966703572777342023-10-22T14:34:00.001+01:002023-10-22T14:34:55.669+01:00Jim's column 21.10.2023<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bSuoL2J7ydyKgO4fvlq7smTrvTKAZW4WhRs5Ph4CwCp8c8lgn3MxbMAGowxsW7VRMIYdu5XMQ_KSzM2ycvqVRoVVjUK9FCpAjrOieNaPt4MLNEpwxSnwZhEiNbDFhIN6lo1-qbTnYu1sEpI8A5lnMmDfTiloQ4pQYacQbWFg58D6VUUjHY6J4Uf_7A/s621/denmark.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="439" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bSuoL2J7ydyKgO4fvlq7smTrvTKAZW4WhRs5Ph4CwCp8c8lgn3MxbMAGowxsW7VRMIYdu5XMQ_KSzM2ycvqVRoVVjUK9FCpAjrOieNaPt4MLNEpwxSnwZhEiNbDFhIN6lo1-qbTnYu1sEpI8A5lnMmDfTiloQ4pQYacQbWFg58D6VUUjHY6J4Uf_7A/s320/denmark.jpeg" width="226" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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).</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">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. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-77648277919215069352023-10-15T19:50:00.001+01:002023-10-22T14:30:51.912+01:00Jim's column 14.10.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two weeks ago I wrote about Matty Godden's excellent scoring record with Coventry City as he edged towards 50 goals for the club. This week I'll move to the other end of the pitch and consider goalkeeper Ben Wilson's record after he made his 100<sup>th</sup> appearance for the Sky Blues last weekend.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Wilson, currently in his fifth season with the club, is only the fourth Coventry goalkeeper to reach 100 appearances since the club left the Premier League in 2001. The others are Lee Burge (160), Joe Murphy (156) and Keiren Westwood (138). He's also only the 13</span><sup>th</sup><span> City keeper to reach a century but he's a long way off reaching Steve Ogrizovic's club record 601 appearances. Before joining the club from Bradford City in July 2019 Ben had made only 35 senior appearances in nine seasons for ten different league clubs and his first season at Coventry saw him play one FA cup tie, two League Cup games and four EFL Trophy games. His first league appearance was as a last minute substitute for Marko Marosi against Cardiff City in November 2020. He kept his place for the remaining 26 games of the season, keeping 10 clean sheets. The arrival of Simon Moore in the summer of 2021 relegated Ben to the bench again and restricted him to five league starts plus two cup games. Moore's poor form at the start of last season gave Ben his chance and he made 46 appearances including the three play-off games, keeping a record 22 clean sheets. Some fans believed Ben was at risk again this summer after the arrival of Brad Collins from Barnsley but Mark Robins has kept faith with Wilson and he has another three clean sheets in the opening 11 games.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tom Woods asked me to compare Ben's excellent clean sheet record with other goalkeeper's record, especially Oggy's. Comparing goalkeeper's records has to exclude those who made only a handful of games. For instance David Stockdale in 2017-18 played two games on loan and didn't concede a goal and in 1988 Keith Waugh played one game when Oggy was injured and didn't concede. Therefore to have a sensible comparison I have only included 'keepers who have played 20 or more games.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ben's currently has 40 clean sheets out of 100 games, an impressive 40% and easily the best ratio of all City goalkeepers who have made more than 20 appearances. Oggy's record is less impressive but it should be borne in mind that all his games were in the top flight and for a good number of seasons he was playing in a struggling side. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are the top ten:</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">Games </span> <span style="font-size: x-large;">Clean sheets Ratio of clean sheets</span></p><ol><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ben Wilson 100 40 40%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ryan Allsop 26 9 34.6%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reice Charles-Cook 59 20 33.9%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Morgan 160 54 33.7%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Marko Marosi 61 20 32.8%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Horace Pearson 124 40 32.2%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Morgan 160 54 31.2%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Steve Ogrizovic 601 175 29.1%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Morten Hyldegaard 31 9 29%</span></p></li><li><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Andy Marshall 66 19 28.8%</span></p></li></ol><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last week I wrote about the 104-year record that Coventry City could lose last Saturday when Cheltenham Town went into their home game with Derby County seeking their first goal after eleven league games without one. Then in the 39<sup>th</sup>minute Rob Street netted to end the Robins' long drought. The Rams later equalised and the game ended 1-1 but Cheltenham were left with a share in the record of 11 games without a league goal with City and Hartlepool, the latter failing to score in eleven Division 3 games in 1992-93 season.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">I was able to check the number of minutes each of the three clubs went without scoring a goal. In 1919 City went 1052 minutes, Hartlepool's drought in 1993 lasted 1072 minutes and Cheltenham's record which included the last two minutes of their final game last season, was 1031 minutes. So Hartlepool hold that particular record. Interestingly in the middle of Hartlepool's dreadful run they defeated Premier League Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Third round and lost only 1-0 at another Premier League Sheffield United in round four. Future City player Dean Emerson was in the 'Pools team during their horrific run and Richard Shaw and Chris Coleman were in the defeated Palace team.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-71192577703831141312023-10-08T20:18:00.000+01:002023-10-08T20:18:21.691+01:00<span style="font-size: large;">For over 100 years Coventry City have held an unenviable Football League record and this weekend that record may be finally broken. In 1919 the club went 11 league games without scoring a single goal. In 1993 Hartlepool United equalled that record and this week poor old Cheltenham Town made it 11 games without a goal. Today League One Cheltenham face Derby County at home and failure to score will remove City from the record books. The Robins have won just one point and are already seven points from the safety zone with a -19 goal difference. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> In 1919 City were playing their first ever season in the Football League having been elected to join in the first season after World War 1. They were grossly unprepared for life in the Second Division, evidenced by an opening day 5-0 home loss to Tottenham, and lost their first nine games , scoring four goals and conceding 27. In game eight on October 4th they lost 2-1 at home to Leicester and Tommy Lowes' goal for the Bantams would be their last goal until Christmas Day. In the next eleven games the team did manage to get some points on the board with goalless draws with Fulham, Bristol City, Blackpool, West Ham and Clapton Orient. The 0-0 draw with Clapton on the Saturday before Christmas left City at the foot of the table on five points, five points behind 21st placed Lincoln City.
The run of 11 games without scoring ended in surprising circumstances on Christmas Day with top-half side Stoke beaten 3-2. Billy Walker, with a penalty, finally broke the goal drought before Alf Sheldon and Peter Quinn made it 3-0. Stoke rallied with two late goals but City deserved their first ever League victory. Stoke had their revenge twenty four hours later winning the return 6-1 at the Victoria Ground. An interesting footnote is that there was a full league programme on three consecutive days that Christmas!</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyuYerESwcb2wbJnqE8gOWMIfxFbFWK4QVPMQ5WbwRAvw5q5CsZTfSnLzu6r8e06u8vJNojl1A3qqaA4JkHtWd6jc00PtLbP7w_pu9nTATjV6d7aowBMYi8f0Xcao7uJyvLEu0YQjnDmSXsa8Xo8qptwQUEUdD3osHfVPzroTJRzasIgC9FDWCIArjA/s3456/1919-20(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2536" data-original-width="3456" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyuYerESwcb2wbJnqE8gOWMIfxFbFWK4QVPMQ5WbwRAvw5q5CsZTfSnLzu6r8e06u8vJNojl1A3qqaA4JkHtWd6jc00PtLbP7w_pu9nTATjV6d7aowBMYi8f0Xcao7uJyvLEu0YQjnDmSXsa8Xo8qptwQUEUdD3osHfVPzroTJRzasIgC9FDWCIArjA/s320/1919-20(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Things picked up slightly for Coventry after Christmas with a first away win coming at Grimsby on New Year's Day. The signing of Sunderland's reserve centre-forward Dick Parker in January helped results and Parker netted the winning goal against Wolves on his home debut. The club's home form improved dramatically and thanks to Parker scoring seven goals in seven games the last five home games were won. The team only escaped the bottom two after their penultimate game, a 2-2 draw at Bury, and a final day victory over the same team ensured a final placing of 20th with re-election avoided.
It later emerged that dirty deeds were afoot at Highfield Road on the final day with Bury players being bribed to ensure Coventry won. Two years later Coventry's chairman David Cooke and captain George Chaplin were banned from football for life following an enquiry.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Last Saturday the Sky Blues notched their first away win of the season, winning 3-1 at Loftus Road with an impressive second half performance. Poor old QPR, a year ago they were top of the Championship but since then they have won only one home game in 20 and there are few signs that things are going to improve soon. Before April's game City hadn't won at Loftus Road in five visits since 2007 and have now won twice in 2023, one more than QPR have managed themselves!</span></div>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-29553209626103210852023-10-01T19:47:00.001+01:002023-10-01T19:47:16.612+01:00Jim's column 30.9.2023<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week I thought I would focus on the impressive goalscoring record of Matty Godden since he joined City in August 2019. <span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Godden's goals were a major factor in Coventry City's promotion from League One in 2019-20 when he netted 14 goals in 22 league starts and 4 appearances from the bench. Since then, in the Championship, Godden had netted 26 league goals in 57 starts and 20 sub appearances before this season. After his brace at Cardiff last week he now has five goals in eight starts taking his total league goals to 45 from 87 starts and 24 sub appearances. What a shame that he has suffered injuries in the last three seasons – he has failed to start over half of City's games in the last three years. It's early days but if he can stay fit this season could be Matty's best for the Sky Blues</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><table border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="color: black; font-variant-caps: normal; width: 523px;"><colgroup><col width="151"></col><col width="108"></col><col width="103"></col><col width="119"></col></colgroup><thead><tr valign="TOP"><th width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Season</p></th><th width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Starts</p></th><th width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Subs</p></th><th width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Goals</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2019-20</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">22</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">4</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">14</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2020-21</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">18</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">5</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">6</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2021-22</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">17</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">7</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">12</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2022-23</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">22</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">8</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">8</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">2023-24</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">8</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">-</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">5</p></td></tr><tr valign="TOP"><td width="151"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Totals</p></td><td width="108"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">87</p></td><td width="103"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">24</p></td><td width="119"><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">45</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">His total of 45 goals takes him to 18</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> position in Coventry City's all-time goalscorers list, level with Ernie Hunt and just two behind the legendary Cyrille Regis. This season he has overtaken Terry Gibson, Ronnie Rees and Viktor Gyokeres. Amazingly only 15 players in the club's history have scored 50 or more league goals with just two, Clarrie Bourton (173) and Billy Lake (113), scoring more than 100. Matty is also closing in on some famous Sky Blue strikers including Mick Ferguson (55) and Ian Wallace (58).</span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Only one City player, Gary McSheffrey with 61, has scored more league goals this century than Godden. Godden's ratio of goals per game is as good as any Coventry striker – only two players with 45 goals or more has scored them in less than 100 games – Eddie Brown (50 goals in 89) and George Lowrie (56 in 85) – and as the table below shows, no one in the post 1967 era has a better goals per game ratio.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Coventry City leading goalscorers (post 1967)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">1. Dion Dublin 61 (168 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">2. Gary McSheffrey 61 (230 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">3. Ian Wallace 58 (138 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">4. Mick Ferguson 55 (141 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">5. Cyrille Regis 47 (274 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">6. Ernie Hunt 45 (166 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">7. Matty Godden 45 (87 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">8. Terry Gibson 43 (112 starts)</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Of course Matty is a penalty taker and 10 of his 45 goals have come from the penalty spot but Dublin (6 penalties) and McSheffrey (15 penalties) also had their totals boosted by spot kicks. His penalty miss against Watford was his first failure since he joined City.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">There is an excellent addition to the library of Coventry City books this autumn. In 'When The Sky Was Blue' City fan Rich Chamberlain has written the inside story of the club's nine years in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 through to their relegation in 2001. Rich has interviewed many of the characters at the club in that era and produced a fascinating story. The period had many ups and downs with three last day escapes from relegation including the dramatic finale at White Hart Lane in 1997. The following season saw a major turnaround with the club reaching the last eight of the FA Cup (they should have reached the final!) and punching above their weight with victories against many of the top clubs. Strachan virtually rebuilt the side following the departure of Dublin and Huckerby and we had the thrilling 1999-2000 season with the Moroccans, Keane and McAllister. Things went wrong the following season and relegation from the Premier League, in the days before parachute payments, left the club severely stretched financially. The big spending of the Richardson/Robinson era came home to roost and the club's finances are only now, 22 years later, getting back to some normality. A salutory tale for those Coventry fans who want their owners to spend big in the search for success. Many of the big characters of those years have been interviewed including Dion Dublin, John Salako, David Burrows, Robert Rosario, Darren Huckerby and the late Cedric Roussel. </span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">It's published by Pitch Publishing and an excellent read.</span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-77977832018431198002023-09-18T07:41:00.002+01:002023-09-18T07:41:37.940+01:00Jim's column 16.9.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ed Blackaby recently reminded me of an interesting game that took place at Highfield Road in 1956 – a Division Three South v Division Three North match. This was an annual representative match in the 1950s and Coventry City were chosen to host the occasion that season. Ed also sent me an excellent magazine cutting with photos of the two teams.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Club managers were appointed to select a team from the 24 teams in each section of Division Three and in 1956 Coventry's new boss Harry Warren was managing the South side whilst former Coventry manager Harry Storer, then the Derby County boss, took charge of the North team.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">A crowd of 14,156, only 2,000 less than the previous City home game, watched under the Highfield Road floodlights on Monday 8<sup>th</sup> October 1956. The crowd saw an entertaining game won 2-1 by the South with goals from Stan Newsham (Bournemouth) and Roy Hollis (Southend). The North's consolation came from Ken Johnson (Hartlepools United). Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph was impressed with the standard of play: 'Highfield Road supporters will not see much better football than that provided by the Third Division South... and North in last night's game which deservedly gave the South a 2-1 win'.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Manager Warren selected Coventry's golden boy Reg Matthews who two days earlier had won his fifth and final England cap in a 1-1 draw in Belfast against Northern Ireland. A month later Reg would be on his way to Chelsea with a world record fee for a goalkeeper of £22,000 hanging around his neck.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">For the game Coventry produced a special souvenir programme, priced 6 pence (equivalent of 2.5p). The referee was the famous international official Arthur Ellis whose precious appearance at the ground had been in the friendly with San Lorenzo of Argentina which had ended with Ellis abandoning the game after Sanfilippo of the visitors refused to leave the field after being given his marching orders by Ellis.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The full sides were: </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The South: Matthews (Coventry): Jardine (Millwall), Langley (Brighton): Belcher (Crystal Palace), Parker (Southampton), Elsworthy (Ipswich): Gavin (Norwich) Newsham (Bournemouth), Hollis (Southend), Mills (Torquay) Flint (Aldershot). Cook (Watford) replaced Newsham after 82 minutes.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The North: Newlands (Workington): Currie (Bradford City), Brownsword (Scunthorpe): Mays (Derby), Moore (Hartlepools), Sneddon (Accrington): Burrell (Chesterfield), Hewitt (Wrexham), Johnson (Hartlepools) Smith (Chesterfield) Simm (Bradford City).</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to Matthews, Brighton's Jim Langley went on to play for England following a move to Fulham, and Wrexham's Ron Hewitt joined Coventry in 1960 after representing Wales at the 1958 World Cup.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJqNvE17_3ymN-BjTfOlMJmhJ5w2Mx9Nde_G7qlKFduf2RztqpPx9uxSgjHq5ZECb9oIswZa8EdqOd4Tf0w6NGxyx6iFSXnD8a-B4dSW1ROLjVdgixUls0IQjg-cP26Dn7p99KNP2lej6jdcS-w_Lw9QjkQLHYgIifa8-ZkYKNwrfFdPqQl9o77XjSw/s793/1956Div3S%20v%20Div3N.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJqNvE17_3ymN-BjTfOlMJmhJ5w2Mx9Nde_G7qlKFduf2RztqpPx9uxSgjHq5ZECb9oIswZa8EdqOd4Tf0w6NGxyx6iFSXnD8a-B4dSW1ROLjVdgixUls0IQjg-cP26Dn7p99KNP2lej6jdcS-w_Lw9QjkQLHYgIifa8-ZkYKNwrfFdPqQl9o77XjSw/s320/1956Div3S%20v%20Div3N.JPG" width="228" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Other Coventry players who appeared for the Division Three South side in this fixture were Martin McDonnell who was right back in the game at Reading in March 1955, and Reg Matthews, forward Peter Hill and right half Noel Simpson, all of whom appeared in the match at Accrington in October 1955.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry's last home game against Watford saw the Sky Blues come from behind three times to win a point. I've been scouring the records and can only find three previous instances since World War Two involving City. The last was a 4-4 draw with Preston at Sixfields in that crazy season at Northampton. Preston led 1-0 and 2-1 before Callum Wilson scored two goals to put City in front. In the last five minutes Preston scored twice to go 4-3 ahead before Matthieu Manset levelled the scores in the fifth minute of added time. Leon Clarke scored City's first equaliser</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Prior to that there was a Division 1 game with Birmingham City in 1986 which also ended 4-4. Birmingham led 2-0 at the break before Dave Bennett and Brian Kilcline (penalty) levelled the scores. Martin Kuhl put Blues 3-2 ahead, Bennett equalised again before Andy Kennedy, with his second of the game made it 4-3. With two minutes remaining Killer scored his second penalty to square things up.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The third instance was a Texaco Cup game at home to Motherwell in 1972. After a goal-less first half the visitors took the lead three times through Lawson (2) and Martin but each time the Sky Blues responded through Billy Rafferty (2) and Denis Mortimer to tie the game at 3-3. Sadly Motherwell won the second leg in Scotland 1-0 to win the tie on aggregate</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-40910591587574551322023-09-03T19:02:00.001+01:002023-09-03T19:02:35.550+01:00Jim's column 2.9.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry City have had many fine youth teams over the years and have a great reputation for developing young players. The club's under 18 team has a great record in the FA Youth Cup (the under 18s equivalent of the FA Cup) with five appearances in the final and lifting the trophy in 1987.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixguQVlBm7NamR3BnkDvtwLktNnLBGaB1UqU843jilHjqlQaYSfxZ4RpiaZQciZUNqYZJsVcIBmFrbjhQLzc6UrWHnuHS-CdZR0lzh8j9HXY_3vYY9Co1L5M8pHFz95hVsdL5BiEuIJAgkgujIvTF1Z7SiVd9sW7a1CXHZ0AIIJIb1G0HpKlahAS97A/s704/1985-86Sillett%20&%20youth%20team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="704" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixguQVlBm7NamR3BnkDvtwLktNnLBGaB1UqU843jilHjqlQaYSfxZ4RpiaZQciZUNqYZJsVcIBmFrbjhQLzc6UrWHnuHS-CdZR0lzh8j9HXY_3vYY9Co1L5M8pHFz95hVsdL5BiEuIJAgkgujIvTF1Z7SiVd9sW7a1CXHZ0AIIJIb1G0HpKlahAS97A/s320/1985-86Sillett%20&%20youth%20team.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">John Sillett with the 1986 youth team between Hathaway (left) and Sedgley (right)</span><br /><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 1986 team was pretty good too and reached the semi finals before losing to Manchester United. That team included the nucleus of the side that would win the competition twelve months later including Tony Dobson, Steve Livingstone and Howard Clark as well as the older David Smith and the prodigious Steve Sedgley, who although eligible in 1987 was part of the first team squad and spared youth games in 1987. All five went on to play for the first team and three of them won caps for England at under 21 level.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1986, under the coaching and motivational skills of John Sillett, the team beat Wolves, Newcastle, Watford and Tottenham to reach the last four before losing the two legged semi final to the Reds.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">One member of the Sky Blues babes who didn't make it to the first team was striker John Hathaway despite scoring five goals in the run to the final. I had a sad email recently from John's daughter in law Rebecca Hathaway in which she told me that John died after a cardiac arrest in 2009 at the age of 40. His eight-year-old grandson, Freddie John, is loving football and wanted to know more about his grandad.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Swindon-born John was on a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) with Wolves in 1985 when their new manager, the legendary Tommy Docherty, decided to 'clear the decks' and released numerous young players. Also released by Wolves was coach Frank Upton who joined City as assistant manager to Don Mackay. Upton raided Wolves to sign centre-half Graham Rodger and youth players Martyn Bayley and John Hathaway, the latter on YTS terms. Rodger went on to make 43 appearances for the Sky Blues including being a substitute at Wembley in 1987 and England under 21 caps before enjoying a good career at Luton and Grimsby Town.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">There's a lovely photo of Graham and John arriving at Highfield Road pictured alongside first team players Terry Gibson and Brian Kilcline. John, who has a physical similarity to Gibson, is described as being 5 foot 1 inch tall. His size didn't stop his goalscoring exploits and in the team's first tie in the Youth Cup he netted twice in a 7-1 victory over his former club Wolves, the other goals coming from Livingstone (3), Sedgley (a penalty) and Paul Dandridge. The next round saw an impressive 4-1 win at Newcastle (the holders of the trophy) with Livingstone (2), Sedgley and Mike Cook on target before a Hathaway goal put Watford to the sword.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRGVycsdzSITLSSRMksOwwW1S8TurSVDTzyffQHOAvu1H5MOZ3X-B7oFaNAlbQX5rKUD5HKs1W1k5HORPKP23Z-HJR_NMv_gctDgavLJ-xp_zTOwwy5hkz0Y8ZqmrlgSs2KhfAxofwa_02f-7HJ_jVaMX9mtxqFgn3TgbAj6JAD_gbI_CTFstsWahxcQ/s2532/IMG_7161.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2532" data-original-width="1170" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRGVycsdzSITLSSRMksOwwW1S8TurSVDTzyffQHOAvu1H5MOZ3X-B7oFaNAlbQX5rKUD5HKs1W1k5HORPKP23Z-HJR_NMv_gctDgavLJ-xp_zTOwwy5hkz0Y8ZqmrlgSs2KhfAxofwa_02f-7HJ_jVaMX9mtxqFgn3TgbAj6JAD_gbI_CTFstsWahxcQ/w148-h209/IMG_7161.png" width="148" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the quarter finals City and Tottenham fought out a 0-0 draw at Highfield Road and in the replay at White Hart Lane John equalised a Paul Moran goal to take the game to extra-time before Sedgley netted the winner in the 93<sup>rd</sup> minute. Manchester United proved too strong for Sillett's babes in the semi final, winning the first leg 2-0 at Highfield Road before a drawn second leg. United lost the final to their noisy neighbours who had a star-studded team including David White, Paul Lake and Andy Hinchcliffe.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hathaway and Sillett's careers went in opposite directions that summer. Sillett was promoted to first team coach and led the Sky Blues to their first Wembley final nine months later whilst John Hathaway was released. He went to play for Fairford Town in Gloucestershire and owned his own roofing business in the town before his sad, premature death in 2009.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-55259134327884850492023-08-28T16:55:00.000+01:002023-08-28T16:55:07.860+01:00Jim's column 26.8.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ken Brown (18.10.1933-12.8.2023)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN42ILGqiSdWFseY14wFLo_7kkCMCOixsr9ojfGo0mVl1z3CL1jWQyj281VTVOO2ponqwk5MuX9jIbUbVh9E70hv_ty0tjaVQBcA18-CQV17zhB_ZRIYzjEhIO9ufc2cnG05L4W02EOkNAxAzM8qjqUuxkNteAfR7mqTkGEor22hKqlLbbIvMPUDjbyw/s3337/IMG_1064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3337" data-original-width="2503" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN42ILGqiSdWFseY14wFLo_7kkCMCOixsr9ojfGo0mVl1z3CL1jWQyj281VTVOO2ponqwk5MuX9jIbUbVh9E70hv_ty0tjaVQBcA18-CQV17zhB_ZRIYzjEhIO9ufc2cnG05L4W02EOkNAxAzM8qjqUuxkNteAfR7mqTkGEor22hKqlLbbIvMPUDjbyw/s320/IMG_1064.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ken pictured at 2015 Legends Day</span><br /><p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Ken Brown, who passed away on 12</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> August after a short illness, was not only a former Coventry City player but also involved with local football at many levels for most of his life. Although he never played a first team game for the club he was a regular 'number 12' in the 1955-56 season in the days before substitutes when clubs would have an extra man on matchday duty in case of an injury or illness in the pre-match warm up.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Ken, a Cov kid, was a regular at City and was Sky Blue through and through and will be sadly missed by his large family and many friends inside and outside of football.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Born in Coventry in 1933 Ken was a part-time professional at Highfield Road in the days when the club had 40 or more professionals. He was a regular for the A team for a couple of seasons before he broke into the reserve team early in the 1955-56 season. He made a scoring debut in a 3-0 win at Norwich in the Football Combination playing on the left wing. His team-mates included Peter Wyer, who stayed a close friend for life, Charlie Dutton and Bill Patrick and a young George Curtis joined the club that season and also became a good friend. His performance at Carrow Road earned him a regular place and on Boxing Day 1955 he netted both goals in a 2-1 home win over Birmingham City reserves. A few trips as 12</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> man gave him the taste of first team football but as one of four left wingers at the club he had limited opportunities and in February 1956 he went on loan to Corby Town for three months. </span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2_HFJ6hPlEpj-nttg1FZ9-h8xGEVsSGm_htLNxaQ1IMF8V7oGyXBijvOxJNar4b2Jcc3SX0h6Q_X2IWdxLy4OrAxb65dE18L-JmGwSxY2MBrTvR7cA-WW08twW1OC7AQ3xOk_GWFfoLhIGHSoHcjFPQcxB8zrxa0uH7taNkow1dUWbtEeT1cdDsIPg/s1088/1954-55ccfc%20A%20%20team%206.10.54.%20colour%20(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1088" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2_HFJ6hPlEpj-nttg1FZ9-h8xGEVsSGm_htLNxaQ1IMF8V7oGyXBijvOxJNar4b2Jcc3SX0h6Q_X2IWdxLy4OrAxb65dE18L-JmGwSxY2MBrTvR7cA-WW08twW1OC7AQ3xOk_GWFfoLhIGHSoHcjFPQcxB8zrxa0uH7taNkow1dUWbtEeT1cdDsIPg/s320/1954-55ccfc%20A%20%20team%206.10.54.%20colour%20(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /><span lang="en-GB"><br /></span></span></span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">At the end of the season he was granted a free transfer by Coventry and joined Hinckley Athletic, then a Birmingham Combination side. Some dazzling performances soon attracted league scouts and in November 1956 he signed for Nottingham Forest for 'a four figure sum'. Ken scored on his Forest reserve debut at Grimsby and was a regular in the team without getting a first-team chance. One of his team-mates was future Coventry legend Ron Farmer and Ken and Ron started a beautiful friendship which lasted until Ron's death last year. After less than a year at Forest he was on the move to Third Division Bournemouth who had been FA Cup giant-killers the previous season, defeating Tottenham and Wolves in a famous run. Within a month Ken got his first-team debut and scored in a 4-0 win at Shrewsbury but after six starts he was back in the reserves.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">After one year at Bournemouth he moved further along the south coast, signing for Fourth Division Torquay United, scoring one goal in nine appearances and at the end of the season he was released and moved back to Hinckley. In a dazzling return debut Ken scored two goals in a 8-1 thrashing of Ashford Town but within months he was on the move again, to Lockheed Leamington. Brakes manager Syd Ottewell converted Ken to a striker and he scored prolifically for the exciting Lockheed team over the next 18 months playing with other former City youngsters Mick Lane and Ernie Ward. Southern League Burton Albion is believed to be his last club and by this time he was working at the Standard car factory in the City as well as rearing a young family with his wife Jean.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Football-mad Ken was soon running and coaching the Triumph Athletic works team in the Coventry leagues and worked at the Standard until the factory closed in 1980 as well as helping Jean run a general store in Dunchurch. After the Standard he became a postman in the Tile Hill area before retiring in 1998. In 2007 he was one of the early members of the newly formed Former Players Association and loved meeting up with other City ex-players. He never missed a Legends Day and was a regular at Golf Days as well as lunching regularly with other club veterans. Ken remained sprightly, cheerful and active supporting Sky Blues In the Community's Walking Football initiative and forging a close friendship with Dave Busst.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Dave told me: Ken was a great charcter who always had a smile and loved talking about his journey. He was one of the original walking footballers and at 81 he was still demanding the ball. Off the pitch he was happy to share his experiences with all the other players and he became a close friend personally and to all the staff at SBITC.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Ken is survived by three children, son Ken and daughters Lynn and Lorraine, six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">The funeral is to be held at Canley Crematorium at 2.30 pm Wednesday 30</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> August and afterwards at the Standard Triumph Club, Herald Avenue.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br /><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-29691980908264248182023-08-21T16:13:00.002+01:002023-08-23T07:32:56.567+01:00Jim's column 19.8.23<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">A major shock in the summer was the death, at the age of 45, of former Coventry striker Cedric Roussel in his homeland Belgium. Cedric was one of numerous European players scouted by Ray Clarke in the 1990s and joined on a seasons long from KAA Gent in 1999. After substitute appearances against Newcastle (home) and Sheffield Wednesday (away) he was given his first start by Gordon Strachan in a home game with Watford and made a good impression in a 4-0 victory, playing alongside Robbie Keane. In his second start, at home to Aston Villa, he achieved legenndary status by heading a goal after eight minutes and having a hand in Keane's winner. A tall, solid striker who was good in the air, Cedric was a popular player at the club in a golden season that earned the team the sobriquet 'The Entertainers' for their dazzling displays on Sky TV that campaign. In January 2000 Coventry signed Cedric on a permanent deal, paying Gent a reported £1.2 million.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Cedric went on to score nine league and cup goals in 25 appearances including braces on successive Saturdays against Charlton and at Old Trafford against Manchester United. The following season with Keane, and McAllister having moved on was a struggle for both Roussel and the team. He was hampered by injuries and managed only two goals in 18 games and at one stage Coventry were trying to move him on to Wimbledon as a makeweight in a deal to bring John Hartson to Highfield Road. That deal never materialized, although City did later sign Hartson, and in February 2001 he was transferred to Division 1 club Wolves for £2 million. His time at Molineux, under manager Dave Jones, was not productive and after 28 games and just two goals he returned to Belgium, on loan to RAEC Mons where he rediscovered his scoring boots. A permanent move to KRC Genk followed and his form earned him three full caps for Belgium. Although his professional playing career continued for another 11 years he rarely stayed long at one club. There were short spells in Russia (Rubin Kazam), Italy (Brescia) and Cyprus (AEK Larnaca) as well as numerous Belgian clubs and he finished at RRC Waterloo in 2015 at the age of 37.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Following his playing career he became an estate agent in Belgium and visited Coventry for a match in 2015 when I had the pleasure of welcoming into the Former Players Association. In June he suffered a cardiac arrest at a cafe in his hometown of Mons and paramedics were unable to revive him.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkE9Nae7Hx8osZOptpr5U0lOzUBnvwcBJFb0xQQDhZHzB-ciBlbVlK7mtnv-fhS9KoagFGkOSLhcI0JW3ToDwjxjnPuG1lpnNy2bPDeLDr9svQKa_FP-LfAKV8yyxDWgd1s0wLQIZ-XQ_BaOMkoOhRnEuC_vkwCAB57hhpU8YPz4jYbS3I9G89rrnGRQ/s2592/Roussel%20tie%202015.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkE9Nae7Hx8osZOptpr5U0lOzUBnvwcBJFb0xQQDhZHzB-ciBlbVlK7mtnv-fhS9KoagFGkOSLhcI0JW3ToDwjxjnPuG1lpnNy2bPDeLDr9svQKa_FP-LfAKV8yyxDWgd1s0wLQIZ-XQ_BaOMkoOhRnEuC_vkwCAB57hhpU8YPz4jYbS3I9G89rrnGRQ/s320/Roussel%20tie%202015.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small;">Cedric Rouse receiving his CCFPA tie in 2015</span><p></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The Sky Blues suffered another embarrassing League Cup exit at AFC Wimbledon last week in what was their first visit to the Cherry Red Records stadium in Plough Lane just yards from Wimbledon's original ramshackle ground. For the third season running and the ninth time in 12 seasons Coventry have fallen at the first hurdle in the competition. Some fans are understandably disappointed that the record in the cup is so poor as progress in the competition often gives supporters opportunities to see their team face big clubs as we have seen in the last 20 years with ties against Arsenal. Manchester United and West Ham. Big ties like those can also generate large revenues for the club.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">It's sad to report the death last Saturday of former Coventry City player Ken Brown at the age of 89. Ken was a popular man in local football circles and will be missed by his family and friends. I will be writing a tribute to him next week.</span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-75169343585134945522023-08-16T09:32:00.000+01:002023-08-16T09:32:05.699+01:00Jim's column 12.8.23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">The new season started with a cracking game at the King Power Stadium. The Sky Blues took the lead and missed good chances to put the game to bed before the home side grabbed two late goals to send City home pointless. Yet again the Sky Blues travelled back from the King Power having failed to win – the ninth occasion since the stadium opened in 2002. City's goal came from captain and centre-half Kyle McFadzean who became the seventh oldest Coventry player to score a competitive goal. Kyle is 36 years and 167 days and his latest goal (his first since March) takes him above 1940s captain George Mason and Steve Staunton in the all-time table.</span></p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="5" frame="VOID" rules="NONE" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-variant-caps: normal;"><colgroup><col width="50"></col><col width="152"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="15"></col><col width="166"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" width="50"><br /></td><td align="LEFT" width="152"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Player</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" width="100"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Last goal</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" width="15"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT" width="166"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Age</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dennis Wise</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="38837"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">30/4/2006</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">39 years 135 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Gary McAllister</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="37963"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8/12/2003</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">38 years 348 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Michael Doyle</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="43407"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3/11/2018</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">37 years 119 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Danny Shea</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="9086"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">15/11/1924</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">37 years 9 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dick Lindley</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="7938"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">24/9/1921</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36 years 285 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Danny Shone</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="10598"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5/1/1929</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36 years 253 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Kyle McFadzean</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="45144"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6/8/2023</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36 years 167 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">George Mason</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="18259"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">27/12/1949</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36 years 113 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Steve Staunton</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="38444"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2/4/2005</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36 years 73 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="10"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Joey Jones</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="8395"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">25/12/1922</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">35 years 359 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="11"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Alex McClure</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="10206"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10/12/1927</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">35 years 250 days</span></td></tr><tr><td align="RIGHT" height="22" sdnum="2057;" sdval="12"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Richard Shaw</span></td><td align="RIGHT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY" sdval="38108"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1/5/2004</span></td><td align="LEFT" sdnum="2057;0;D/M/YYYY"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td><td align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">35 years 231 days</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">Sunday's defeat was the first away loss since 3</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">rd</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> February when West Brom defeated the Sky Blues 1-0, a run of nine away league games without defeat, just three short of the club record of 12 set in 1967 by Jimmy Hill's promotion team. McFadzean's record in away games is even more impressive. If you remember he was out injured for ten games in the middle of the season and so it was his first away defeat in 16 games since September last year. </span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Fellow historian Lionel Bird has asked me to point out that this weekend Coventry City celebrate two anniversaries. Its 140 years since the formation of Singers FC by a group of factory workers in the Singers cycle factory in the city. On 13 August 1883 Willie Stanley and a group of friends met at the Lord Aylesford Inn in Hillfields and set up the football club. Singers FC were essentially a junior team with no regular fixtures and their matches would be the equivalent of friendly games in the modern era. Lionel's research indicates that the very first match played could have been against Coventry Association, who won 9-0. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">The other date to celebrate is the 125</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> anniversary of the change of name from Singers FC to Coventry City FC in 1898. In June 1898 the club, then playing in the Birmingham and District League applied to the Birmingham League for permission to take the city's title. There had been some resistance from Coventry Rugby Club who believed the two club's names would be too similar and relations between the two clubs were strained for some years. On the 12</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> August a letter arrived from the Frederick Wall, secretary of the Football Association giving consent to the name change. The first game as Coventry City took place away to Wellington Town on Saturday 3</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">rd</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> September and ended in a 5-0 defeat. Results were poor in the early days under the new name with the first home game ending in a 3-0 loss to Berwick Rangers (a Worcester team not the Northumberland club) but things improved in the second half of the season and the team finished in seventh place. The following season the club moved to Highfield Road. The picture is the first team shot of Coventry City and the players are in their new kit, believed to be black (or dark blue) and light blue halves. The team's nickname, previously the Vocalists, became the Citizens. It would be another 20 years before Coventry City joined the Football League.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-56955773635999693532023-08-07T15:38:00.001+01:002023-08-07T15:38:26.707+01:00Jim's column 5.8.23<p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">A new football season starts this weekend and the Sky Blues commence their campaign with their first visit to the King Power Stadium since 2012. The Foxes fell out of the Premiership in May after nine seasons in the top flight which saw them win the title in 2016, the FA Cup in 2021, finish fifth twice and enjoy European football. The Sky Blues record at Leicester's relatively new stadium (they moved there from Filbert Street in 2002) is poor with two draws and six defeats in eight visits and Coventry's last victory in the city was in April 2001. That day a 3-1 win gave City fans some hope that they might escape the relegation trap-door with goals from Craig Bellamy, Lee Carsley and John Hartson, but it was another false dawn in a season of false dawns. Filbert Street was a pretty happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues in the old First Division days so the form at the King Power is disappointing.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">This summer has been a busy transfer season for Coventry with seven new signings so far. Jay Da Silva, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ellis Simms, Brad Collins, Bobby Thomas and Luis Binks have all joined with all but Binks on permanent contracts. An eighth, American Haji Wright, looks set to sign as I write this. The club have said farewell to Viktor Gyokeres, following two impressive scoring seasons, Tyler Walker, Michael Rose, Todd Kane, Martyn Waghorn, Sean Maguire, plus the loanees from last season. As I write this Gus Hamer is still a Coventry City player but I wouldn't bet against him leaving before the end of the window. With so many changes in the squad I just hope that the new personnel can bed down quickly.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Talking of Gyokeres, the fee for his transfer to Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed but believed to be around £20m, set a new club record with the proceeds rewarding the club for developing Viktor into one of the best strikers outside the Premiership. The fee breaks the record set back in 2000 when City pocketed £13m from the sale of Robbie Keane to Inter Milan. The record transfer fee paid could also be smashed if Wright signs for a rumoured £7.7m. That record goes back to 2000 when Craig Bellamy arrived from Norwich to replace the departing Keane – sadly he was never able to emulate Robbie!</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">Coventry City visit a new ground next Wednesday when they travel to South London to face AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao (League) Cup at their new ground at Plough Lane. Situated on the site of the old Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, 250 yards from their old Plough Lane ground, the ground holds just over 9,000 but I don't expect a full house on Wednesday. I remember going to the original Plough Lane ground in the 1980s when it had the feel of a non-league ground and was an intimidating ground for visiting teams and I'm sure the new ground is far superior. It will be the fifth different ground that the Sky Blues have met AFC Wimbledon or the old Wimbledon. Between Plough Lane and the new stadium, Selhurst Park was a regular venue in the 1990s, there was one game at the National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes the season before the old club became MK Dons and then, in 2013 the Sky Blues travelled to Kingsmeadow for an FA Cup tie with AFC Wimbledon.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">AFC Wimbledon are managed by a former Coventry City player, Johnnie Jackson, who had a month on loan as a 21-year-old at Highfield Road in 2003-04. A strong, skilful midfield player, Johnnie made a scoring debut as a substitute at Crystal Palace, netting a last minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw. In his fifth and final appearance in a Sky Blue shirt he scored an 89</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span lang="en-GB">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">minute winner against West Brom two minutes after coming off the bench. That was his last game before he returned to White Hart Lane where he immediately went into the first team squad and made 14 appearances for Spurs that season. After a further 10 games over the next two seasons he left White Hart Lane and had a long playing career at Colchester, Notts County and Charlton, playing almost 300 games for the Valiants. Charlton appointed him as their manager in 2021 but he left the Valley at the end of that season and is starting his second season at Plough Lane.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: large;">If you missed my 2022-23 Stats review at the end of last season you can still read it and other columns at www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB">If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><a href="mailto:clarriebourton@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-GB">clarriebourton@gmail.com</span></span></span></a></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span lang="en-GB"> and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton</span></span></span></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724504487801272752.post-26947812401360999712023-06-06T08:28:00.004+01:002023-06-06T08:28:31.014+01:00Stats Review of the season 2022-23<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coventry City fell at the final hurdle, agonisingly losing on penalties to Luton Town in the Championship play-off final on Saturday. Even to reach the final though was a mighty achievement for the Sky Blues and has rightly been acclaimed by the media and the football community.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The penalty shootout was a cruel and brutal way for the adventure to end but the players, staff and fans will always have memories of this incredible season. It might have ended sadly but has still exceeded all expectations.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The standards in the Championship were as high as they have ever been and it was believed that Mark Robins had one of the bottom six budgets in the division with a wage bill probably a quarter of many of the sides in the division, several of whom were in receipt of £40m plus parachute payments following relegation from the Premiership. Notwithstanding this, for the sixth season running Mark Robins improved the club's final league placing – the club's first manager to achieve this. Off the field the club changed hands with Doug King buying out Sisu and clearing any debt. King also tried to buy the stadium when Wasps fell into administration but Mike Ashley's Fraser Group won the day. Later in the season a new five-year deal at the stadium removed much of the uncertainty surrounding the club's home.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a cash-strapped summer transfer window there was the lowest turnover for many years and this probably helped the stability of the squad. The club were able to fend off serious interest in the big three Gyokeres, Hamer and O'Hare, although O'Hare may have been sold if he hadn't been injured. The one permanent signing was Bristol City's Kasey Palmer, a former Chelsea academy player under Adi Viveash. Three young loan players arrived: Callum Doyle from Manchester City, Jonathan Panzo from Nottingham Forest, another Adi protege, and Tayo Adamarola, the latter quickly returned to Crystal Palace after a horrendous debut. Doyle arrived as a direct replacement for Dom Hyam who was sold to Blackburn for £2 million plus to assuage a short-term cashflow issue resulting from the postponement of the first three home games on the back of the pitch damage from the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to O'Hare's injury wows several others had periods out of the team through injury. The rock McFadzean was injured in training during the World Cup break and missed 11 games. Ben Sheaf, a revelation in midfield, missed seven games during the run in. Liam Kelly hadn't started a game for over a year but returned to play an important part in the final four games of the regular season and the play-offs. Kasey Palmer, after a slow start, was in top form when he suffered injury in February and was ruled out for the season. Probably the saddest injury was Fabio Tavares who suffered a hamstring injury in only his second senior start and like Palmer missed the rest of the season. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the early part of the season with Palmer struggling for fitness, Hyam sold and O'Hare injured, the team looked weaker on paper than the previous campaign and the results looked ominous with City bottom with only one point from the first five games and three games behind everyone else. A watershed came at Luton in game six when with Simon Moore dropped, Ben Wilson grasped the opportunity and the team twice came from behind to gain a point with a gritty performance. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">The result was the lift-off for an eight-game run with only one defeat (to Burnley) and six clean sheets with important wins over Sheffield United and Stoke. Callum O'Hare also returned from injury and though there was a blip with a home defeat to Blackpool four straight wins without conceding a goal on the run up to the World Cup break lifted the Sky Blues into a crowded mid-table.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">After the break the team lost their momentum for a while and also lost O'Hare through a serious injury. They only won one game in nine including an embarrassing FA Cup exit to Wrexham. The return from injury of Kyle McFadzean and the arrival of Luke McNally (on loan from Burnley) stiffened the defence and sparked the remarkable run of 20 games with only one defeat that took them from 15<sup>th</sup> place in February to the play-offs through a crowded mid-table. The team remained unbeaten away after the West Brom loss in February and there were big wins at Huddersfield, Blackpool and QPR. The shock 4-0 home defeat to Stoke was the only blot on an otherwise pristine copybook. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whilst the under performing expensive teams such as Norwich and Watford slipped out of contention and the inconsistent teams like Blackburn and Millwall faded, the Sky Blues overtook them all and entered the top six for the first time after game 44. Birmingham were defeated in front of over 30,000 and the play-off place sealed with a point at the Riverside in a rehearsal for the play-off semi final. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">Throughout the season the team continued to play attacking football and winning plaudits from opposition managers for their style. The biggest crowds at the CBS Arena for almost 20 years generated an amazing atmosphere which I'm sure inspired the team and the travelling Sky Blue Army regularly outsang home supporters.There were more and more innovative songs for players and the roar when Josh Eccles netted the first goal against Birmingham could probably be heard at St Andrews.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">All the players deserve enormous credit but two players shone more brightly than the rest – Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer. They are arguably the best two players the club has had since the club left the Premiership 22 years ago. The fans were treated to virtuoso performances on a regular basis from the Swede whose goals and all round play earned him a regular place in his national side and envious looks from the rest of the division as well as many Premiership clubs. Hamer bounced back from a disappointing start to the season when he picked up two red cards. After returning from a three-game suspension his disciplinary record was exemplary, his form blossomed and any doubts about his stamina were forgotten. Sadly it seems that both glittering stars may move on this summer; their contracts have less than a year to run and the club cannot let them run down and the players leave for nothing. They will both leave the club as true legends and remembered with affection for many years.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">2022-23 Appearances & goalscorers</span></i></p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="10" frame="VOID" rules="NONE" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-variant-caps: normal;"><colgroup><col width="153"></col><col width="45"></col><col width="45"></col><col width="45"></col><col width="37"></col><col width="37"></col><col width="37"></col><col width="51"></col><col width="51"></col><col width="51"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" height="51" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" valign="TOP" width="153"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">PLAYER </span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" valign="TOP" width="45"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">LEAGUE</span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" width="45"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;" width="45"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" valign="TOP" width="37"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">CUP & OTHERS</span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" width="37"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" width="37"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" valign="TOP" width="51"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">SEASONS TOTAL</span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" width="51"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td><td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#83CAFF" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" valign="TOP" width="51"><b><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></b></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="38" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">GYOKERES</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="44" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">44</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="21" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">21</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="47"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">47</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="22"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">22</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">WILSON</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="43" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">43</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="47"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">47</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">BIDWELL</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="40" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">40</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="44"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">44</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">DOYLE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="39" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">39</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="43"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">43</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">HAMER</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="39" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">39</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="42"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">42</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="11"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">11</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">McFADZEAN</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="34" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">34</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="38"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">38</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">ALLEN</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="34" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">34</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="37"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">37</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">SHEAF</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="33" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">33</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="36"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">36</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">ECCLES </span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="27" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">27</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="29"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">29</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">PANZO</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="24" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">24</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="25"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">25</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">GODDEN</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">22</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="23"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">23</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="10"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">10</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">DABO</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="20" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">20</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="22"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">22</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">McNALLY</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="19" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">19</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="22"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">22</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">PALMER</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="19" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">19</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="10"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">10</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="21"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">21</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="11"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">11</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">ROSE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="18" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">18</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="20"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">20</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">NORTON-CUFFY</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="14" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">14</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="17"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">17</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">O'HARE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">KELLY</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">BURROUGHS</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">WILSON-ESBRAND</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="5"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">5</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">WALKER</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="15"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">15</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="15"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">15</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">WAGHORN</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">MOORE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="4"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">4</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">TAVARES</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="9"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">9</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">KANE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="7"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">7</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="8"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">8</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">HOWLEY</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="3"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">3</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">HYAM</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="2"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">2</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">MAGUIRE</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="6"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">6</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">ADARAMOLA</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td></tr><tr><td align="LEFT" height="22" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">og</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" style="border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;"><br /></span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="0"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">0</span></td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" sdnum="2057;" sdval="1"><span style="font-family: Arial Nova;">1</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">(All records are for the regular league season unless specified)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Games:</b> Coventry City played 51 competitive games, 46 league, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup and 3 Play-off games.<b></b></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Points</b>: From 46 league games the Sky Blues gathered 70 points, six more than the previous season and the highest since 2017-18 when they reached 75 points in League Two. It was the highest total in the Championship since the club dropped out of the Premiership in 2001.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Home Form:</b> 11 wins, 7 draws, 5 defeats. The team gathered 40 home points the club's best haul since the League Two season in 2017-18 (43) and the best at tier 2 since 2005-06 (43). It was also the fifth best in the division.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Away Form: </b>7 wins, 9 draws, 7 losses. A strong away record with 1 more point than 2021-22. 30 points is the club's best away haul in the Championship since 2001. The early season away record was poor but from February the team were unbeaten in 11 away games (counting the Wembley result as a draw), equalling a run by John Sillett's team in 1988 and the best away run since the 1966-67 promotion season.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Biggest win: </b>The biggest league win of the season was the 4-0 away win at Huddersfield in March. City also scored four at Blackpool. They only scored more than two goals twice at home, a 3-3 draw with Swansea and a 3-4 loss to Wrexham in the FA Cup.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Biggest defeat:</b> The 0-4 defeat at home to Stoke was the heaviest league defeat of the season and the heaviest home loss since Blackburn won 4-0 at St Andrews in 2020. It was the heaviest defeat at the CBS Arena since Yeovil won 6-2 in League Two in 2018.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Goals for: </b>The<b> </b>total of 58 league goals was two less than 2021-22. In total they failed to score twelve times in 46 games.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Goals against:</b> City conceded 46 goals, thirteen less than 2021-22 and the fourth best in the division. This is the lowest conceded in a season since 1997-98 when 44 were conceded in a 38-game season. 46 is the lowest for a 46-game season in the club's history.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Clean sheets:</b> Ben Wilson kept 20 clean sheets in the regular season, 10 more than the 2021-22 season. There were two club records broken this season. The team record of 18 set in 1938-39 and equalled in 1958-59 was smashed and Ben took the individual title from Bill Morgan who kept 17 of the 18 in 1938-39. In a remarkable run in the autumn the team went 427 minutes without conceding a goal, the best run since 2015 and recorded 10 clean sheets in 13 games, conceding just five goals.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Final position:</b> The final position of 5th was a remarkable achievement. In mid-October, after 11 games, the team were 24<sup>th</sup>, albeit with three games in hand and only got into the top six on 22<sup>nd</sup> April. They spent far less time in the top six than the 2021-22 season and far less than teams such as early season pacesetters Reading and QPR. Fifth in tier two is the highest league position the club has achieved since leaving the Premiership in 2001.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Leading scorers: </b>For the second season running Viktor Gyokeres was leading scorer with 22 goals, 21 in the league, and one in the FA Cup. Gustavo Hamer with eleven (9 league, 2 play-offs) was runner up. Thirteen different City players were on the score-sheet during the season. Gyokeres' equalled Callum Wilson's 22 goals in 2013-14 and only one player, Mark McNulty, with 23 league and 28 in all comps, in 2017-18, has scored more in the last 45 years. No Coventry played had scored 20 or more league goals in a tier two season since Bobby Gould scored 24 in 1966-67.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Doubles:</b> City achieved only two doubles - over QPR and Huddersfield. It was the first double over Huddersfield since 1971-72, although the clubs have rarely met in the intervening years. It was the first over QPR since 2005-06. Two teams did the double over City – Norwich and Burnley. Norwich's double was their first over City since 1980-81 when Greg Downs scored the winner for the Canaries at Highfield Road.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Appearances: </b><span style="background: none;">No player started all 46 league games but Viktor Gyokeres with 44 starts and two sub appearances was involved in all but one game. The Swede has only missed one game in the last two seasons. Jake Bidwell appeared in 45 league games (40 starts, 5 subs) whilst Ben Wilson started 43 games</span>. Gyokeres is only the third outfield player to appear in all 46 league games since City left the Premiership – Richard Keogh (46) in 2011-12, Callum O'Hare (40+6) in 2020-21 are the others. <i></i></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Players used:</b> 28 players were used in league games (three more than 2021-22) - and one, Tayo Adamarola, appeared in one League Cup games. Of the 29 players, eight made their debuts during the season – six of them loanees and one, Maguire on a short term deal. In addition to the 29 players used, three more: Josh Reid, Cian Tyler and Harrison Nee sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used. <span style="color: black;"></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Records:</b> Ten <span style="color: black;">of the Sky Blues squad have played 100 games or more for the club with Liam Kelly and Kyle McFadzean over 150. Seven of the ten played for the club in League One. Ben Wilson became only the second Coventry City goalkeeper to score a goal when he scored the late equaliser at Blackburn – the only other 'keeper to score was Steve Ogrizovic at Sheffield Wednesday in 1986.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Substitutes: </b>Tyler Walker made the most substitute appearances (15 in the league) with Kasey Palmer second with 10. Jamie Allen was the most substituted player (14 times in league). Only three goals were scored by substitutes: Martyn Waghorn (Sheffield United h), Walker (Huddersfield a) and Godden (Blackpool a). Waghorn was only the sixth substitute to score a penalty for the club. Simon Moore was the most unused substitute, staying on the bench 39 times and Jack Burroughs was unused in 16 games.<i> </i>There were two games where Mark Robins didn't use any substitute, the QPR and Watford home games. Previously there was only one occasion in six seasons that he has kept all his subs on the bench.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Won from behind:</b> (0) In 2021-22 the Sky Blues came from behind to win a record seven times but amazingly in this memorable season they failed to comeback to win. They did achieve draws after falling behind seven times, at home to Rotherham, Luton, Hull and Watford and in away games at Sunderland, Luton and Blackburn. Only seven points were won from losing positions compared to 27 points in 2021-22. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lost from in front: </b>(2) City lost two league games from being ahead (at Millwall and at home to Blackpool). At Millwall they lost after taking a two goal lead for the first time since 2011 in an FA Cup tie at Birmingham and for the first time in the league since 2009 at home to Watford. They had not lost a game at the CBS Arena after taking the lead since August 2018 when Scunthorpe won 2-1 but Blackpool took advantage of a flu-ridden City side to win 2-1. On four occasions City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws – Swansea and Bristol City at home, Wigan and Middlesbrough away. The Swansea game was a major aberration – the first time City have drawn from being three up since a home draw with Brighton in 1980. 14 points were lost from leading positions.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Best run:</b> If you count the Wembley outcome the Sky Blues best run was ten, from the Stoke home loss until the end of the season. They were nine unbeaten in the league between the defeat at West Brom in early February and the home loss to Stoke on 1<sup>st</sup> April.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Worst run:</b> The worst league run was seven without a win at the start of the season. The run contained four defeats and three draws and was ended with a 1-0 home victory over Middlesbrough. During that awful run the team also lost to Bristol City in the League Cup.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hat-tricks:</b> (0) <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times;">No player scored a hat-trick for the Sky Blues. Gyokeres (3) and Godden (1) scored braces. </span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Opposing hat-tricks:</b> (1) Hull City's Colombian striker Oscar Estupinan became the first opposition player to score a hat-trick against the Sky Blues since Northampton's Keshi Anderson in March 2017.<i> </i>Estupinan also scored in the return at the CBS and achieved a rare feat of four goals against City in a season last achieved by Cambridge United's Luke Berry in 2016-17.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Former Players: </b>Only one former City player scored against the Sky Blues – Blackpool's Gary Madine, for the second season running.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Own goals: For City:</b> (1) Blackpool's Curtis Nelson was the only opposition player to score in his own net (in the away game at Bloomfield Road).</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Own goals: By City:</b> (2) Michael Rose scored an own goal for Norwich in the game at Carrow Road. Kyle McFadzean scored in his own net in the 1-1 draw at Wigan.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Penalties: For City:</b> (7) Seven awarded, six scored. Three scored by Gyokeres, two by Godden and one by Waghorn. Gyokeres missed one at Sheffield United.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Penalties: Against City:</b> (2) One factor in the team's improvement this season has been the penalty area discipline. Seven penalties were conceded in 2021-22 but only two conceded this campaign. Jerry Yates netted from the spot at Blackpool after McFadzean's foul and Wrexham's Paul Mullin netted in the FA Cup tie after Panzo's handball.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Fastest Goal scored:</b> Kyle McFadzean scored in the second minute at Millwall. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Fastest Goal conceded</b>:<i> </i>Luton's Tom Lockyer scored after 35 seconds in the game at the CBS. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Late goals: </b>In season 2021-22 City scored<b> </b>11 goals in added time – many of them to secure victories or draws. This season there were six with the latest being Gyokeres' solo effort at home to Wigan and Ben Wilson's equaliser at Blackburn, both timed at 95 minutes. In total there were ten goals after the 80<sup>th</sup> minute. In addition to Wilson's vital goal there were two crucial Gyokeres penalties in added time, an equaliser at home to Rotherham and a winner against West Brom. By contrast only two teams scored against the Sky Blues in added time and neither affected the outcome of the game.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Red cards: Coventry:</b> (4): <span style="color: black;">Four players were sent off. Gus Hamer twice (at Millwall and Birmingham), Jonathan Panzo (Wrexham) and Josh Wilson-Esbrand (Luton (h))</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Red cards: Opponents:</b> (2) Two opponents were sent off Jake Garratt (Blackburn h) and John Egan (Sheffield United a)</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>FA Cup:</b> The Sky Blues were knocked out in a thrilling third round tie by National League side Wrexham. It was the fourth exit to a non-league side since World War Two and the eighth since the club joined the Football League in 1919.The only positive was the attendance of 18,218, boosted by a large away following, the largest FA Cup crowd at the stadium since the Chelsea tie in 2009.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>League Cup: </b>The Sky Blues fell at the first hurdle suffering defeat to Championship side Bristol City in a game moved to Burton because of the CBS pitch issues. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bookings:</b> Kyle McFadzean topped the yellow cards chart with 12 but managed to avoid suspension. Ben Sheaf wasn't so lucky, he picked up nine yellows and got a one match ban. Gus Hamer, who had picked up 24 in the previous two seasons, had only eight but dramatically improved his behaviour after his second red at Birmingham. Following his suspension he went 23 games without a booking. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Home Attendances: </b>The average home attendance for the second season back at the CBS Arena was 20,369, up 4% from the previous campaign. It was the sixth highest in the Championship and is the highest home average since 2005-06, the first season at the Arena when the average was 21,211. Other than the last five years in the Premiership (1996-2001) when the average was typically around 20,000, you have to go back to the 1970s when home gates were so high. </span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Away Attendances:</b> An average of 19,592 watched City's away games, an increase of 12% – the second highest in the Championship.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Highest home attendance</b>: The final home game of the regular season against Birmingham City attracted the largest crowd, 30,175. The 'home' element of the crowd that day was 25,675. The attendance was the highest league attendance at a home game at the Arena. You have to go back to January 1980 for the previous highest when 31,644 watched a 1-0 win over Liverpool.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lowest home attendance:</b> 16,446 v Millwall on a Tuesday night in February. There were 2,680 at Burton for the League Cup game.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Highest away attendance</b>: Wembley obviously was the highest attendance of the season with 85,711 watching the play-off final – the third highest crowd ever to watch City after the 1987 Cup final and Charity Shield. The highest league crowd was 40,851 v Sunderland which was the highest league crowd to watch a City game since they left the Premiership in 2001. That season over 67,000 watched City at Old Trafford.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lowest away attendance:</b> 9,546 at Luton in September.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Away followings:</b> The average away following to watch the Sky Blues' league games was 2,054, an increase of 8% on the previous campaign. I believe it is the fourth highest in the Championship. If there had been no restriction on the number of away fans at some grounds this figure would have been higher. This figure is the highest since accurate figures were recorded from 2006 and probably since the Jimmy Hill era in the 1960s for which there are no accurate records. The largest away following, apart from Wembley, was to Blackpool when 3,777 City fans were there with the smallest 846 for the midweek game at Preston. There were some very large away followings at the CBS with the highest being Birmingham who brought 4,500 and West Brom and Wrexham a few less. The smallest at the CBS was 624 for Wigan's midweek visit and there were 354 Bristol City fans at Burton.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Television:</b> There were seven live televised games for the club, all on Sky. Four were home games (Norwich, Sunderland, Watford and Middlesbrough play-off game) plus the Sunderland and Middlesbrough play-off away games and the Play-off final against Luton.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Captains: </b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">City had three different starting captains during the season, Liam Kelly, who was club captain, Kyle McFadzean, Jamie Allen all took the armband during the season. Gus Hamer and Matt Godden did take the armband following substitutions.</span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Awards:</b> Viktor Gyokeres won two EFL Player of the Month awards – the first City player to achieve this honour and was also chosen in the EFL Team of the Season along with Ben Wilson. The only surprise was that Gus Hamer wasn't selected. The Swede was also nominated for the Player of the Season award which was won by Middlesbrough's Chuba Akpom. Manager Mark Robins won the EFL Championship Manager of the Month for November – his fourth such award whilst at the club (a club record) – and was one of three nominations for Manager of the Season but was pipped by Vincent Kompany.</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Kits:</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> City wore three different kits during the season. The Sky Blue kit was worn in 22 home games and 11 away games. The purple kit was used in three away games (1 draw, 2 defeats). The Cathedral third kit was worn in one home game (Cardiff) and ten away games (3 wins, 5 draws, 3 defeats).The purple kit was a retro version of the away kit in 1995-96 and failed to produce a victory then when it was worn on six occasions. By far the most successful kit for away games was the Sky Blue one; it was worn in 12 away games and although it was unsuccessful in the first three away games it proved unbeatable subsequently. In an unbeaten run there were five wins, one draw and three defeats. </span></span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Bogeys: </b></span><span style="color: black;">City failed to end their dreadful record at Preston's Deepdale. They have never won a league game in 21 visits to the ground but at least got a point. City drew both games with Swansea but have now gone 14 league games since their last victory back in the old First Division in 1981.</span><span style="color: black;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: black;">Luton continue to haunt City and have not lost any of the last nine meetings between the clubs. At least the West Brom CBS bogey was broken with City's first win over the Baggies at the CBS at the sixth attempt. City's win at the Riverside in the play-off semi final was the first ever win at Boro's 'new' stadium. Previously they had failed to win in 12 visits going back to 1995 when the stadium was opened. Norwich are becoming a bogey side for City – in nine meetings since 2009 City have failed to beat the Canaries. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Player of the Season:</b></span><span style="color: black;"> Gyokeres and Hamer picked up most of the Player of the Season awards from the various supporters' clubs. I record my 1-2-3 man of the match for every game and although it is very subjective my overall 1-2-3 were: 1 Hamer 2 Sheaf 3 McFadzean.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Game of the season: </b></span><span style="color: black;">Another remarkable season saw so many highlights. For me the best game was the home victory over league leaders QPR in November. The performance of the campaign has to be the victory in the play-off semi final at the Riverside. That night was up there with the great nights I have had following the Sky Blues for the last 60 years. </span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><i>With many thanks to Paul O'Connor.</i></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18292218235878959672noreply@blogger.com2