Jim's column 21.11.2020

 

Kent-based City fan Colin Heys posed an interesting question recently – How many Coventry City players have topped the Football League divisional scoring lists?

The answer, Colin, is four. Clarrie Bourton, George Hudson, Bobby Gould and Dion Dublin. Bourton did it two years running – in 1931-32, his first season at Highfield Road after a move from Blackburn Rovers, Clarrie netted 49 league goals in Division Three South. He started slowly, netting just three goals in his first six games before hitting his stride with goals in eleven consecutive games including five in a 6-1 victory over Bournemouth. He missed two games through injury and therefore played 40 league games, and also managed another goal in the FA Cup. Bourton topped the whole Football League scorers, beating the legendary Dixie Dean's 44 goals for Everton.

The following season Clarrie played 39 league games, scoring 41 goals with a further three FA Cup goals. After another run of nine consecutive scoring games he looked set to break his own record but failed to net in the final three games. Once more he was the top scorer in the whole of the Football League.

It was another 30 years before a City player topped the lists with George Hudson netting 28 goals in Division Three in 1962-63. The problem was that 22 of them were scored for Peterborough United with only six for the Sky Blues. His arrival at Highfield Road from Posh was controversial as he was signed to replace Terry Bly who had netted 25 league goals for City by the end of March. Tottenham's Jimmy Greaves topped the league's list with 37 goals. 'The Hud' should have topped the Division Three list the following season as he had netted 20 goals by the end of November but an injury and loss of form caused the goals to dry up and he ended with 24 goals and beaten by Bristol Rovers' Alfie Biggs who scored 30.

Hudson's controversial departure from Coventry in March 1966 opened the door for Coventry kid Bobby Gould who just over a year later topped the Division Two scoring list with 24 goals in 39 appearances as the Sky Blues roared to promotion. Like the team Bob had a slow start to the season but came to life in December with six goals including a hat-trick against Ipswich. January wasn't a good month for him – he failed to score and was the victim of much abuse and even death threats – and he lost his place in the team. Recalled to the side he went on a scoring spree failing to score in only one of ten games before a broken thumb prematurely ended his season.

It was another thirty years before a City player topped the scoring lists again. In 1997-98 Dion Dublin shared the Premiership Golden Boot with Liverpool's Michael Owen and Blackburn's Chris Sutton all on 18 goals. Dion, who also scored four FA Cup goals, played 36 games that season and his achievement is all the greater for the fact that in at least eight of those games he played at centre-back. Unlike Hudson and Gould he was the regular penalty taker and five of his goals came from spot-kicks. He made a statement of intent with a hat-trick against Chelsea on the opening day but then had a six-game drought. He hit his best form from Christmas with goals in nine out of 12 consecutive games including scoring in six home games in a row. His performances that season earned him an England call-up and he was unlucky not to be in the 1998 World Cup squad.

Since then only three Sky Blues have reached 20 league goals in a season – Callum Wilson, Adam Armstrong and Marc McNulty – but none of them have topped the lists. McNulty went closest in 2017-18 with 23 goals but was pipped by Accrington's Billy Kee.

Back in the summer I wrote about City games that had been abandoned – mainly through weather of floodlight failures – but regular reader Ian Greaves reminded me about a non-competitive game that was ended prematurely.

Ian writes: 'It was the Bryan King testimonial at the Old Den, Millwall on 30th April 1976. I was there with Dave Freeman and Lionel Bird. It was held on a Friday night, the day before the FA Cup Final. This was my only ever visit to that ground and what an awful place it was. Even for a testimonial game it was the most intimidating ground I ever visited'.

                              Bryan King

'Bryan King's career at City had been plagued by injury, ironic as he rarely missed a game in his nine-year career at Millwall. He started the game but was substituted after a token 20 minutes or so. There was a decent sized crowd and we even sat in the stand (courtesy of Ron Wylie) but it was a scary atmosphere. When Millwall took the lead there was a pitch invasion which took time to clear. With about 15 minutes left Millwall scored again with the same result. The referee gave up, took the players off, and there was a tannoy announcement that he had ended the game. It was utter mayhem and we were glad to get out in one piece.'

'The postscript to the game is that we had been invited to the players' reception after the game at a pub in Bethnal Green. It went on into the early hours and some players of both teams were worse for wear. One of the revellers was Gordon Hill, who had left Millwall for Manchester United a year earlier and who was due to play at Wembley in the final against Southampton the following day. We were not surprised to see Hill turn in a lacklustre performance in the final, being substituted in the second half as United suffered a shock defeat to the Saints'.

A great story from Ian and coincidentally last week I received news that Bryan's biography cleverly titled 'The Lions' King' is published later this month.

Jim's column 13-6-2020

Last week I covered some of the eight instances of Coventry City league games being abandoned since World War Two and promised to complete the story this week.

During the Jimmy Hill era (1961-67) there was only one abandonment of a City game, in December 1962 against Colchester United. The game, on the last Saturday before Christmas, had been earmarked for the launch of the new club song and was the home debut of new signing Ken Hale. It was a pretty murky afternoon when the game kicked off in front of a lowish crowd of 11,803, reduced because of the weather and Christmas shopping. City took a little time to settle on the 'gluey' surface but after 25 minutes nippy winger Willie Humphries was scythed down, twice in 10 seconds and Ron Farmer slotted home the penalty. Despite the floodlights having been on from the start the fog got worse after this and when Hale scored the second on 37 minutes very few in the press box saw the build up to the goal. The ball emerged from the fog and there was Hale to volley past the Colchester 'keeper.

The referee and linesmen came out after the half-time break to test visibility with playing strips held up on each touchline but after waiting for fifteen minutes to see if the fog would lift the ref abandoned proceedings at 4.30. Whilst the fans were waiting for the referee's decision chairman Derrick Robins invited the fans to sing the new Sky Blue Song, the words of which were printed in the programme, and Jimmy Hill conducted the singing from the touchline in front of the main stand. A week later City drew 3-3 at home with Peterborough and that would be their last game for almost two months because of the 'big freeze'. The Colchester game was finally replayed on 26th February and City again took a two-goal lead but were pegged back to 2-2.

It was almost ten years before the next abandonment – a home game with Sheffield United on Saturday 4th March 1972. Heavy rain during the morning had left the pitch saturated and a treacherous playing surface. The Blades adapted far better to the conditions and Alan Woodward scored after 14 minutes before Jeff Blockley headed into his own net before half-time. The rain turned to sleet at half-time and then snow and the conditions became farcical. After 62 minutes with a blizzard raging referee Peter Walters called a halt much to the annoyance of the Sheffield players and management. The crowd, which doesn't appear in the official records was 16,408, the second lowest since the club had reached the First Division five years earlier. The Sky Blues had lost to Second Division Hull City in their previous home game and the performance against Sheffield probably hastened the departure of manager Noel Cantwell. Eight days after the abandoned game, and a day after another defeat, at Leeds, Cantwell was sacked. When the game was replayed chief scout Bob Dennison was caretaker manager and City won 3-2.

Eight months later City travelled to Ipswich under new management with Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne at the reins. The double signing of Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison had kick started the Sky Blues season and inspired a seven-game unbeaten run with some exciting adventurous football. Ipswich, under Bobby Robson, were fifth in the table, and a tough game was expected at Portman Road. City put on a dazzling display and Hutch ran England full-back Mick Mills ragged. From one of his crosses Stein rattled the post then from another, after 24 minutes, the Scots striker netted with a diving header to give City a deserved lead. Three minutes before half-time there was a partial failure of the floodlights and the half-time break was extended to 20 minutes to try and resolve the issue. The second half got under way under reduced lights and Hutchison looked certain to make it 2-0 but Hunter managed to clear the danger. After 61 minutes referee Pat Partridge called the teams off and the lights went out totally as electricians tried to solve the issue. After a further 15 minutes a loudspeaker announcement was made saying that the game had been abandoned because the electricians couldn't quickly repair things. Joe Mercer summed things up after the game: 'The way we were playing, it was only the floodlights that were going to beat us'.

The game was replayed ten days later and City were affected when they lost Roy Barry with a hip injury after half an hour with the score at 0-0. Alan Dugdale substituted and City held out till just before half-time when David Johnson scored. Trevor Whymark scored a second after half-time and City's eight game unbeaten run was ended.

As I said last week, it was 35 years until the Sky Blues' next abandoned game, at Hillsborough in 2007. There was another post-war abandoned game and that was a supposed friendly against Argentinian side San Lorenzo at Highfield Road in January 1956. I have written about this game extensively in the past but briefly the story is as follows.

San Lorenzo, four times Argentine champions were on a tour of the UK. The game was approaching half-time when the trouble started. Ken McPherson had given City the lead after half an hour, only for Guttierez, San Lorenzo's left winger, to equalise a minute later.

Just before half-time City's Dennis Uphill hit a post and, with the goalkeeper out of position, he was about to score when he was pushed off the ball by two San Lorenzo defenders. Ellis immediately awarded Coventry a penalty, which the whole San Lorenzo team disputed. Sanfilippo, the inside left, went further and kicked Ellis in a temperamental outburst. Ellis ordered him off and there followed five minutes of mayhem.

According to the Coventry Telegraph's reports of the evening’s events, “police were called on to the pitch to give Ellis protection and Sanfilippo was dragged from the pitch by his team’s reserve players and trainer, kicking and struggling like a wild tiger cat”. Ellis, meanwhile, had walked off the pitch and told officials of both clubs he was abandoning the game as he refused to continue under “impossible conditions”.

“The player kicked at my legs and I collared him, although all the Argentine players mingled in so that I could not get at the offender. I told him to get off but he refused to leave the field,” Ellis said.

After half an hour of appealing to Ellis to continue the game, the City chairman, Erle Shanks, told the crowd of 17,357 the game had ended as Ellis refused to continue and under FA rules a substitute referee was not allowed. The crowd, which previously had been whistling and slow hand-clapping, received the decision well and quickly dispersed from the ground. Sanfilippo went on to be top scorer four seasons running in the Argentine league, won 30 caps for his country, scoring 21 goals and appeared for his country against England in the 1962 World Cup.

The interesting footnote to the story is that the current pope, the Argentinian Francis I has been a very keen fan of San Lorenzo since he was a boy. I would love to have a conversation with him about that January night in Coventry.

Finally this week the Sky Blues were confirmed as champions of League One and next week I will be doing my annual statistical review of the season.

Jim's column 6.6.2020

Marshall Stewart was football writer who covered Coventry City in the 1950s and 60s and wrote the excellent book 'Sky Blue Miracle' in 1967. Marshall stays in touch and regularly reads the column. Recently he suggested a topic for the column – Coventry City's abandoned games - a topical subject in what now looks like an abandoned season.

By my reckoning there have been eight instances of City games being abandoned since World War Two but only one in the 47 years. That was on 8 December 2007 at Hillsborough when City's Championship game with Sheffield Wednesday was abandoned after 28 minutes because of a waterlogged pitch with the score 0-0. At the time City's board were in talks with Sisu for the takeover with the club under threat of going into administration the following week. The game was replayed on Tuesday 1 April 2008 and ended in a 1-1 draw.

Coincidentally forty eight years earlier, in November 1949, City and the Owls' game at Highfield Road was abandoned after 63 minutes due to thick fog. The Coventry Telegraph writer, Nemo, wrote: 'It was evident from the start that an abandonment would be necessary and there were periods when, from the press box, it was possible only to see a couple of ghost-like figures nearest to the touch-line. When the game was abandoned it was impossible to see a single player.'

The fog had been bad in the morning but twenty minutes before the kick-off time the blanket lifted and the referee agreed for the match to start. Unfortunately the fog descended almost immediately and when the game kicked off the press corps could see little action on the pitch. Ted Roberts gave City a great start by scoring in the first minute but Nemo reported that no one in the press box could say how the goal had been scored! The fog lifted for a few minutes near half-time to cheers from the fans who could finally see the other side of the pitch but as the second half commenced the fog was as bad as ever. Finally in the 63rd minute it was observed that the players left the pitch but many of the 17,541 fans didn't realise the referee had abandoned play and when it was announced over the Tannoy there were jeers and boos. Wednesday had started the day in second place in Division Two whilst City were bottom of the table and the result would have been a big boost to the Bantams. The game was replayed on 11 February 1950 and City won 3-0 to finally lift themselves out of the bottom two. The result sparked a mini revival and Harry Storer's side rose to finish the season in 12th place. Wednesday bounced back and lost only two more games to seal promotion to the First Division.

The next abandonment occurred at Highfield Road on 26 March 1955. City's newly appointed manager, Jesse Carver, had flown over from Italy to watch the team he would take over that summer, for the first time, playing Southend United in a Third Division South game. Persistent rain had fallen in the city all morning and, according to Nemo had 'turned the pitch into quagmire'. The referee was reluctant to start the game but finally agreed to play, with 'about 2,000 spectators present' in the ground. Conditions were atrocious and players 'slipped and slithered about in a sea of mud'. Barry Hawkings put the Bantams ahead in the fifth minute but Hollis equalised for the visitors after 30 minutes. Colin Collindridge and Jack Lee scored quick goals to give City a 3-1 lead by the 36th minute. Then, inexplicably, the referee blew for half-time, nine minutes early. As the players walked off bemused the referee was given the facts and called the players back. After half-time conditions worsened with the rain still pouring down and the game was finally ended in the 68th minute. The official attendance of 4,100, although expunged from the records, was the lowest crowd at the ground since the 1920s. The game was replayed on Wednesday 4 May and Southend reversed the result comfortably winning 4-1 in the final home match of the season.

                         City's squad in 1954-55

Two seasons later two consecutive Coventry games were abandoned. On the Saturday before Christmas 1956 City entertained Crystal Palace and after 51 minutes, with the score at 0-0, the floodlights had a partial failure. After a half-hour delay, with no sign of a resumption possible, the game was abandoned leaving 8,200 mainly disgruntled fans. It was replayed in early April and ended in a 3-3 draw. Three days after the Palace debacle, on Christmas Day City were involved in a morning kick-off at Newport County when a snow blizzard caused the game to be abandoned after 71 minutes with the score at 0-0. City, in the re-election zone at the time, had given a good account of themselves against top four Newport and Ken McPherson had a 'goal' disallowed. The game was replayed on a Thursday in March and Newport won 3-0 with ease.

I will complete the story of City's post-war abandoned games next week.