Jim's column 14.10.23

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^th appearance for the Sky Blues last weekend.

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^th 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.

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.

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. 

Here are the top ten:

                          Games         Clean sheets Ratio of clean sheets

1. Ben Wilson 100 40 40%

2. Ryan Allsop 26 9 34.6%

3. Reice Charles-Cook 59 20 33.9%

4. Bill Morgan 160 54 33.7%

5. Marko Marosi 61 20 32.8%

6. Horace Pearson 124 40 32.2%

7. Bill Morgan 160 54 31.2%

8. Steve Ogrizovic 601 175 29.1%

9. Morten Hyldegaard 31 9 29%

10. Andy Marshall 66 19 28.8%

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^thminute 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.

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.

Jim's column 22.4.23

A thrilling few days in the Championship saw the teams chasing the four play-off places concertina after some surprising results. Luton and Middlesbrough have tied up third and fourth places but the race for the two remaining places still has seven clubs contesting for them with two others, Watford and Swansea, not mathematically out of the picture. It's crazy to think that with only three games remaining the Sky Blues could finish anywhere from fifth place to thirteenth.

The Sky Blues' dramatic finish at Blackburn kept them in the hunt for a play-off place and the team now have two home games to confirm their credentials for a top six finish. Whatever the outcome the team have performed beyond all expectations to still be in the race at this stage. One factor in the success has been the away form since February. Since losing at West Brom on 3^rd February they are unbeaten in eight away games with four wins and four draws. This is the best unbeaten away run since 2020 when Mark Robins' team were unbeaten in eight away games from December through till the start of lockdown in March. You have to go back to 1988 for a longer run – John Sillett's team went ten away games unbeaten. The club record is 12, set by Jimmy Hill's promotion team in 1966-67.

Ben Wilson has to get a mention this week. Not only has he set a new club record for the number of clean sheets (currently 19) but also for his unbelievable equalising goal at Ewood Park on Wednesday evening. He became only the second Coventry goalkeeper to score a goal in a competitive game – the other was Steve Ogrizovic at Hillsborough in 1986. Ben's goal, nudged home at close range from a stunning Hamer corner, was very different to Oggy's 80-yard punt which caught the wind and bounced over Wednesday 'keeper Martin Hodge, but both goals earned their scorers a place in the club's history.

The 19th clean sheet at Loftus Road beat the club record for a season set by Harry Storer's mean defence in 1938-39 and equalled by Billy Frith's Division Four promotion team in 1958-59. The 1939 record was however set in a 42-game season.

Viktor Gyokeres' goals at QPR took him to 20 league goals for the season – the first City player to reach this target since Marc McNulty in the League Two promotion season in 2017-18. Gyokeres joins an elite list of City strikers to reach 20 goals in a Sky Blue shirt over the last 50 years. Bobby Gould was the last Coventry player to score 20 goals in tier two, in the 1966-67 promotion season, since then the following have reached 20.

                                  Bobby Gould

1977-78 Ian Wallace (Division One) 21 goals in 41 games

2013-14 Callum Wilson (League One) 21 goals in 37 games

2017-18 Marc McNulty (League Two) 23 goals in 40 games (plus 2 subs)

2022-23 Viktor Gyokeres (Championship) 20 goals in 41 games (plus 2 subs)

When you consider the top City strikers who have donned the Sky Blue shirt in the period, for example Cyrille Regis, Terry Gibson, Dion Dublin, Gary McSheffrey, Viktor's performance is exceptional. He has now scored 40 league goals for the club a total which brings him level with Bobby Gould and Neil Martin in the all-time table of the club's leading scorers. Amazingly two more goals will lift him into the all-time top twenty.

I heard recently that former Coventry City 1960s youth team player Malcolm Knox had died in New Zealand. Malcolm came from Willenhall and attended Caludon Castle school and was signed as an apprentice by the club around 1963. According to Trevor Gould who was a year below Malcolm at school, Malcolm was a left back but had a strong right foot. He played in the FA Youth Cup team in 1965-66 alongside Mick Coop, Willie Carr and Pat Morrissey.

Jim's column 25.2.23

The Sky Blues recorded their 12^th league victory of the season at Rotherham last Saturday with goals from Jamie Allen and Viktor Gyokeres giving them a 2-0 win. It was pointed out to me that in all twelve wins this season the team have kept a clean sheet – a staggering statistic and one that supports the theory that City have improved the defensive issues which marred the first season back in the Championship (2020-21).

Before today's game City had conceded 33 goals in 32 games. Only three sides had conceded less goals this season – the top two, Burnley (28) and Sheffield United (30), and Luton (32). Let's not forget that seven of those goals were conceded in two crazy home games against Swansea (3-3) and Norwich (2-4). 

In 2020-21 City conceded 61 goals then 59 last season. This season barring a monumental collapse they should comfortably improve on those figures. Yet we still hear fans bemoaning the sale of Dominic Hyam and saying it weakened the defence, a theory I don't agree with. The form of Kyle McFadzean has been the biggest factor, in 22 games when Fadz has played the team have conceded 17 goals, in the 10 games when he has been absent they have conceded 16.

Saturday's victory in South Yorkshire makes it 15 clean sheets for the season (all with Ben Wilson in goal). The club record is 18, set in 1938-39 and equalled in 1958-59. The final season before the outbreak of the war saw City finish fourth in the old Second Division for the second year running. The days of the prolific scoring of Clarrie Bourton were over and manager Harry Storer adopted more cautious and defensive tactics. The season consisted of 42 games and the experienced Bill Morgan played in 41 games with 17 clean sheets with the more junior Alf Wood standing in for a 1-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday. Twenty years later City kept 18 shut-outs from 46 games on the way to promotion from the old Division Four. Manager Billy Frith used four goalkeepers in the season and their records were as follows:

Jim Sanders 10 games 4 clean sheets

Graham Spratt 1 game 0 clean sheets 

Alf Wood 10 games 5 clean sheets 

Arthur Lightening 25 games 9 clean sheets

Wood was the club's coach at the time and called out of retirement to play following Sanders breaking his leg. Neither Sanders, Spratt nor Wood played league football after this season.

Since 1959 the best clean sheet record has been in 1970-71 when they kept 17 (Glazier 16, McManus 1). There were 16 shut-outs in seasons 2001-02, 2015-16 and 2017-18. 

Ben Wilson is closing in on the club record by a goalkeeper. Morgan holds the record with 17, followed by Bill Glazier with 16 in 1970-71 and Ben is now level on 15 with Glazier (1969-70), Steve Ogrizovic (1987-88), Morgan (1937-38) and Horace Pearson (1934-35). 

I promised to mention a few more City caretaker managers this week. 

2002 After Don Howe in 1992 we have had Steve Ogrizovic and Trevor Peake as joint caretakers for the final game of the 2001-02 season after Roland Nilsson was sacked.

2004 In May 2004 Steve Ogrizovic stepped up again following Eric Black's departure but didn't manage a game after Peter Reid was appointed and took charge for the final game of the season.

2005 In January 2005 Assistant Manager Adrian Heath stepped up following Reid's sacking. Heath took charge for a 3-0 FA Cup win over Crewe and a 2-3 loss at Ipswich before Micky Adams arrived as new boss.

2007 Two years later Heath was given the caretaker role again after Adams was sacked. Adrian took charge for five games. He won one, drew one and lost three before Iain Dowie arrived as the new man in charge.