Jim's column 14.1.2023

It was another miserable Cup day last week for Sky Blues' fans as the team slumped to a Third Round FA Cup defeat to National league Wrexham – the fourth defeat to a non-league team since World War Two and the eighth since City were admitted to the Football League in 1919. The North Wales club added their name to the giant-killing list that already contains Rochdale (1921), New Brighton (1923), Worksop (1926), Scunthorpe (1936), Kings Lynn (1961), Sutton United (1989) and Worcester City (2014). Wrexham, however, are just the second non-league side to score four goals against City in the competition – Scunthorpe won a replay 4-2 in 1935.

The defeat means that the Sky Blues have fallen at the first hurdle of both Cup competitions at home for only the third time since the League Cup was introduced in 1960. The other occasions were 2009 when they were defeated by Hartlepool in the League Cup and Portsmouth (in a replay) in the FA Cup, and in 2014 when there were defeats to Cardiff (League Cup) and Worcester.

One positive outcome from the disappointing defeat was the attendance. Boosted by almost 4,500 fans from Wrexham, the crowd was 18,218 – the largest FA Cup gate at the stadium since 31,407 watched the Sixth Round tie with Chelsea in 2009. It is also the largest crowd at the stadium for a Third Round tie and since over 20,000 attended the Tottenham visit in 2002 although there were 21,193 for the 'home' tie with Birmingham at St Andrews three years ago.

The Wrexham following was 4,407 just 28 short of the West Brom contingent before Christmas and there have been several away followings of over 4,000 since the club returned to the CBS Arena in August 2021. Marshall Stewart wondered if the Albion support was the largest since the original move from Highfield Road in 2005. Since then there have been 15 instances of 5,000 or more visiting supporters, all of them in the pre-2012 Championship days. The biggest was in 2010-11 when Leeds brought 6,366 to see a thriller. Leeds led 2-0 at half-time before Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled one back. Then Max Gradel made it 3-1 with a penalty and Ben Turner made it 3-2 to set up a hectic finish with Leeds hanging on for a 3-2 victory. The total crowd that day was 28,184 – the biggest crowd to watch a City home league game since 1980. I don't know for sure but suspect there are police limits on away supporter numbers these days.

John Sills enjoyed the story of the Christmas Day 1959 game against Wrexham in which teenager Ken Satchwell scored four goals in a 5-3 victory. He wondered how many City players have scored four or more goals in a game since 1959. There have been only three instances since then, one in the league and two in the League Cup. Mick Ferguson scored all four goals in the 4-1 home win over Ipswich Town in 1979, Cyrille Regis scored five in the 7-2 home win over Chester City in the League Cup and Steve Livingstone netted four in the 5-0 home win against Sunderland in the same competition in 1990.

                                        Mick Ferguson

There have been four other post-war instances of a City player scoring four in a game. Welsh international George Lowrie did it twice in 1947-48 and Jimmy Rogers and George Stewart each achieved the feat in 1958-59.

Jim's column 1.2.2020

The games are coming thick and fast for the Sky Blues and February promises to be a crucial month with seven first-team games including today's match at Bristol Rovers. Home games against fellow promotion contenders Portsmouth and Rotherham are real six-pointers and City need to keep their momentum up with hopefully less draws and more victories.

What a great atmosphere at St Andrews last week for the cup-tie and it promises to be similar on Tuesday night under the lights in the replay. The attendance at last week's game was restricted due to safety and police guidance but numbered a healthy 21,193. There were 11,728 Coventry fans, the highest number to watch the team outside Coventry other than at Wembley since the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in 1987 when 25,000 were present. The Blues contingent was impressive too – with 9,465 'away' fans the largest away following at a City game since Highfield Road was made all-seater in 1981. Earlier that year there were an estimated 10,000 West Ham fans for the first leg of the League Cup semi-final.

Coventry City will be playing their seventh game in this season's FA Cup on Tuesday night – the most they have played in the competition in a single season since the famous 1963 run when the club played nine games in reaching the Quarter Finals as a Third Division club. That season their games were as follows:-

Round 1 Bournemouth (h) 1-0

Round 2 Millwall (a) 0-0

replay Millwall (h) 2-1

Round 3 Lincoln City (a) 5-1

Round 4 Portsmouth (a) 1-1

replay Portsmouth (h) 2-2

2nd replay Portsmouth* 2-1

Round 5 Sunderland (h) 2-1

Round 6 Manchester United (h) 1-3

*second replay at White Hart Lane

The drawn game against Birmingham meant that the club have had three successive ties with replays something that has only happened once before, in 1974. That season City beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 in round three after a 0-0 draw at Hillsborough, beat Derby 1-0 after a 0-0 draw at Highfield Road but lost in round five, 3-2 at QPR, after a 0-0 draw at Coventry.

After the Blues cup game I had the pleasure of meeting former City player Jim Hagan who was over in the UK for a rare visit from his home in Southern Spain. Jim, now aged 63, made only nineteen appearances for the Sky Blues between 1978-82 before joining Birmingham and playing over 150 games for the Bluenoses. A central defender, most of Jim's games in Sky Blue came in 1978-79 when he stood in for Gary Gillespie and partnered Jim Holton at the back. The Northern Irishman went to Torquay on loan in 1979-80 and then had spells with Seiko in Hong Kong and Jimmy Hill's US teams, Detroit Express and Washington Diplomats. He returned to Highfield Road in 1981 and was a regular in the reserves but couldn't win a regular first team place because of the form of Gillespie and Paul Dyson. His final game for the club was an FA Cup sixth round defeat at West Brom in March 1982 and he moved to St Andrews that summer. I managed to introduce him to CCFPA president Kirk Stephens and they discovered they have homes a few miles apart on the Costa Del Sol. Another reunion occurred with Harry Roberts (another who played for both the Sky Blues and the Blues) and the two reminisced about lift sharing to Birmingham in the 1980s.

                           

                                                                 Jim Hagan receiving his CCFPA tie

Jim's column 13.4.2019

I thought I would catch up with some of the outstanding questions I have had from readers in recent months.

First, Andy Webster, a keen collector of Coventry City programmes, wanted to know what type of programme the club issued in 1985-86 season for the Full Members Cup game against Millwall. The game was virtually a dead rubber after the earlier games in the three-team group had seen Stoke City beat the Sky Blues 3-0 and draw 2-2 with Millwall. This meant that City couldn't top the group and Millwall had to win by four clear goals to overhaul Stoke and go through to the Southern semi-finals. A low crowd was expected and the club decided to do what they did for reserve games in those days and produce an A4 photocopied sheet. The game ended 1-1 with Terry Gibson setting a post-war record by scoring in seven consecutive games but Nicky Chatterton equalised five minutes from time. The attendance was 1,086 with policeman outnumbering Millwall fans in the visitor's enclosure.

I wrote a few weeks ago that City's recent record on live television was excellent with no defeats in the last nine games televised following the 1-1 draw at Luton. The last defeat was in December 2016 when a last minute goal by Billy Sharp gave Sheffield United the points at the Ricoh. John Baker recalls City having a long period without an away win on television a few years ago and asked me for the details. City won 1-0 at St Andrews in November 2008, courtesy of a Clinton Morrison goal. Then they failed to win in the next eight televised away games before ending the run with a 2-1 win at Burton in September 2015 with goals from Marcus Tudgay and Roman Vincelot. Almost seven years without an away win 'on the box'.

The games were as follows:

2008-09 Reading lost 1-3

2009-19 Derby lost 1-2

2009-10 Scunthorpe lost 0-1

2009-10 Leicester drew 2-2

2010-11 QPR lost 1-2

2011-12 Ipswich lost 0-3

2011-12 Southampton lost 0-4

2013-14 Bradford C drew 3-3

In the same seven-year period City's home form on television was much better with seven wins and four defeats in eleven appearances.

Several readers have asked me about City's away following this season and how it compares with other years. 1,853 City fans travelled to Barnsley two weeks ago, the fourth highest of the season, bringing the average for the season (league games only) to 1,247. Today's following at Sunderland is expected to be over 2,000 and will take the average over last season's final average of 1,268.

Away followings have only been accurately recorded since 2006 and the best season was in 2013-14 when an average of 1,603 followed City in the season they played home games at Northampton. One of the most interesting aspects of the figures are that in the six seasons spent in the Championship (2006-12), the average was never over 1,000 but since relegation in 2012 the numbers have only once dipped below 1,000 – in the League One relegation campaign in 2016-17. If the followings for the three final league games are over 2,000 (and there is a good chance of that) then the final average for this season will be the second highest since records were kept.

The averages for the last 12 seasons are as follows:

2006-07 935

2007-08 958

2008-09 852

2009-10 805

2010-11 786

2011-12 918

2012-13 1,150

2013-14 1,603

2014-15 1,002

2015-16 1,339

2016-17 806

2017-18 1,268

Anyone who thinks our away followings are somehow special should reflect on the fact that the average away followings of teams visiting the Ricoh is 1,231, just 16 short of City's average. That average includes some pitifully small number of fans by clubs such as Fleetwood (62), Rochdale (302) and Accrington (303). Sunderland brought almost 5,000 fans and three clubs brought over 2,000 (Luton, Oxford and Bristol Rovers).

Jim's column 30-11-13

What a week for the Sky Blues! Flying high after a seven-match unbeaten run in the league and three successive home games in which they had scored three goals, they collapsed to two heavy home defeats to Tranmere (1-5) and Rotherham (0-3). Both games left many City fans frustrated as neither scoreline reflected the games at all & flattered their opponents.

The Tranmere defeat was the heaviest home reverse since West Brom won 5-0 at the Ricoh in an FA Cup fifth round tie in 2007-08 against a City team managed for just one week by the joint management team of Frankie Bunn & John Harbin. Ray Ranson unveiled Chris Coleman days later. The last time the Sky Blues had such a heavy home league defeat was back in 1998-99 against Newcastle when despite Noel Whelan giving them an early lead the Geordies hit five in reply. Alan Shearer gave French defender Jean-Guy Wallemme a nightmare afternoon, scoring twice with the other goals coming from Stephen Glass, Dabizas & the late Gary Speed. I seem to remember that the scoreline flattered Newcastle somewhat.

Only on three occasions have City had heavier home league defeats than that.

1919-20 0-5 v Tottenham

1980-81 0-5 v Everton

1989-90 1-6 v Liverpool

In each of this week's games City were undone by two strikers at the top of their game. Tranmere's Ryan Lowe has been a thorn in City's side before. Last season he scored for the MK Dons in our 3-2 win at Milton Keynes and in 2011 he netted twice for Bury at Gigg Lane in the annual first round exit from the League Cup. Last Saturday he netted a hat-trick, the second in consecutive games against City following Wells' three for Bradford City the previous Sunday. Then on Tuesday Rotherham's Nouha Dicko, making his debut on loan from Wigan, scored a superb goal & had a hand in the other goals.

Several readers wondered if the Sky Blues had ever conceded hat-tricks in consecutive league games & I could find one instance of it. In 1925-26 City, playing their solitary season in Division Three North, lost at home to Chesterfield (2-4) and away to Bradford Park Avenue (0-3) in successive weeks. Chesterfield's Jimmy Cookson netted three goals on his way to scoring 44 goals for the season, at the time a Football League record – not bad for a converted reserve full-back! A week later Ken MacDonald scored all three goals as the Bantams crashed at Park Avenue, who went on to finish runners-up in the division.

Lowe became the first player to score a hat-trick against City at home since Nottingham Forest's Kevin Campbell on the opening day of the 1996-97 season.

Today City travel to Milton Keynes with a following of fans expected to be around 7,000. Last season City took just under 5,000 fans there & they saw a fine 3-2 victory with the team twice coming from behind. As I have written previously there were no official figures for away followings until the last five or so years, so any figures for away followings are estimates. I believe however this weekend's Sky Blue Army at Stadium MK will be the largest for a league game since that vital relegation match at Wimbledon in 1996. An estimated 7,000 Coventry fans trekked to Selhurst Park that day to watch two Peter Ndlovu goals virtually ensure safety. There have been bigger followings for Cup games with around 12,000 travelling to Old Trafford six years ago & 9,000 going to the Emirates last season. Let's just hope the team can give the incredible following at MK something to shout about.

City's average away following after today's game will be around 2,250, their best for many, many years and currently only bettered this season by three Football League sides. Leeds United have by far the best away following with an average of over 3,200, City's League One rivals Wolves are averaging 2,700 and Nottingham Forest around 2,500. In other words more fans are following City than 22 Championship sides including Leicester, Birmingham, Derby & Sheffield Wednesday. City's average is slightly skewed by the fact that they have had most of their local derbies and the final figure is likely to be somewhat lower. The number of away fans is obviously boosted by the large number of fans who won't travel to Northampton  & therefore away trips are there only chance of watching their team.  Today, by the way, Leeds have sold 6,800 tickets for their game at Blackburn.

Jim's column 26.10.13

By scoring City's late equaliser in a classic local derby nineteen-year old Aaron Phillips joined two select bands. Firstly, he became only the third City player to follow his father by scoring a first-class goal for the Sky Blues. His father David scored 11 goals in 122 games for the club between 1986-1989 with his first coming at Old Trafford in a 1-1 draw in October 1986 which turned out to be Ron Atkinson's last game in charge of United before the appointment of Alex Ferguson.

The two other father and sons to achieve this feat are Ted & Dudley Roberts, and Tony & Mark Hateley. Ted Roberts scored 87 goals in 223 games between 1937 and 1952 with his first goal scored on his debut in a 4-0 home win over Bradford Park Avenue. Son Dudley played only 16 games but managed six goals including two in his home debut, a 3-1 win over Charlton in 1965.

                                                              Tony Hateley

Tony Hateley didn't have a happy time at Coventry and managed only four goals in 17 games in 1968-69 with his first coming in a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City. His son Mark was far more successful scoring 34 in 111 games although it took him 17 games before getting off the mark with two goals in the epic 5-0 League Cup quarter final win over Watford in 1980.

Aaron, who has yet to start a competitive game, also joined a group of players who have scored a first class goal before they had made their full starting debut. By my reckoning 18 players have achieved this feat, the last before Aaron being Mathieu Manset in the 4-4 home draw with Preston this season. Others to achieve this feat in recent seasons include Callum Wilson, Zavon Hines (currently starring for Dagenham & Redbridge), Wayne Andrews, Michael Mifsud & Don Hutchison. Strangely neither Andrews & Hines ever started a game for the club. Older players to have achieved it include Peter Ndlovu (at Highbury in 1991), Mick Harford, Viorel Moldovan (in the famous Cup win at Villa in 1998) and Les Cartwright (the first substitute to score on his debut).

Last week's comments regarding City's largest away followings prompted a lot of replies with great memories of large away days, many of them remembering the glorious1960s. As I said last week there were no official figures until recent seasons so all I have to go on are estimates quoted in Coventry Telegraph match reports which, in the case of all-ticket games, were based on actual ticket sales. Steve Pittam thought there were 20,000 City fans at St Andrews in January 1967 but Nemo's match report estimated City's following at 10,000 (in a gate of 36,000). Steve also thought we had a similar number at Molineux in April 1970 when we clinched our European place with a 1-0 win. The total attendance that night was only 23,000 and the City following was estimated at 7,000. Jim Bimbi remembers a large contingent at Huddersfield in May 1966 when City had an outside chance of promotion but Nemo's estimate was 3,000. Jim did however mention games at Liverpool in the League Cup in 1977 (estimate 10,000) and at West Ham in the same competition in 1981 (10,000 tickets sold). Robert Yates mentioned two games from the 1966-67 Second Division championship season, at Molineux & St Andrews, but City's away followings didn't really take off that season until the latter part of the season and although there were 10,000 at St Andrews there was a much smaller contingent at Wolves in a 27,000 crowd.  Several readers mentioned a game at Peterborough in 1964 when the Sky Blues were on the verge of the Third Division championship and it seemed that the whole of Coventry was on the road to Peterborough. The estimate was that 12,000 fans made the trip in a total attendance of 26,300. David Brassington remembered that night at Peterborough and thought the 0-2 defeat signalled the end of City’s promotion hopes. David also remembers a massive away following of Manchester United fans at Highfield Road in 1976. In David’s words ‘United won 2-0 and such was their fans ghastly reputation  at the time that many City fans just gave it a miss. The old West End, usually the City’s stronghold was completely taken over by THEM. Just to complete my misery  I  had to travel back to London in a train packed with them.’

So, as I wrote last week, the biggest City followings were in 1987 (the two games at Hillsborough and the two games at Wembley) and the biggest in the league was probably the game at Villa Park in 1937 (20,000 in a gate of 68,000), followed by the 15,000 that trekked to Wolves in January 1966.

The best overall season for away league followings was 1963-64 when approximately 81,000 City fans travelled to 23 away games, an average of 3,500 per game. That included the 12,000 at Peterborough, 8,000 at Millwall, 7,000 at Luton & 6,000 at Watford. This season's average is currently just over 1,800 and whilst it is heading for the best for many years it will not better 1963-64.

Jim's column 19.10.13

Former Coventry City striker Gerry Baker who passed away in August didn't live to see the publication of a book telling the story of his and his brother Joe's footballing career. The book The Fabulous Baker Boys Is an incredible story of two brothers who scored more than 500 goals between them and donned international jerseys for England & the United States. Despite being brought up in Scotland and having broad Scots accents they never had the chance to play for the country they felt was their own.

I wrote about Gerry's career in his obituary at the time of his death and how, by virtue of being born in the USA he became the first top-flight European footballer to represent the States - this was before the international qualifications changed in the 1980s allowing players to qualify by virtue of parents & grandparents places of birth. Joe's story is equally as fascinating - he was born in Liverpool and aged 19, became the first man to play for England having never played in the Football League. His goal scoring feats at Hibernian saw him selected to play alongside greats such as Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton & Johnny Haynes. Between 1959 & 1966 Joe won eight full caps & but for the emergence of a young striker called Geoff Hurst months before the 1966 World Cup would have almost certainly been in Alf Ramsey's squad for the tournament. There are humorous stories of Joe, with his broad Scots accent, turning up for international duty.

Young Joe's scoring & international performances had the top English clubs chasing his signature but with the maximum wage still in force, the lure of the Italian lire was too great & Joe signed for Torino, around the same time as Denis Law joined them. The book tells how Joe, who was on £12 at Hibs was given an unbelievable £12,000 signing on fee. Joe & Denis' time in Turin was a disaster on the pitch and culminated in a serious car crash which left Joe hospitalised.

Once recovered he returned to the UK & signed for Arsenal (the maximum wage had been removed in the meantime) and scored goals for fun for the Gunners & later Nottingham Forest before winding his career down at Sunderland and back in Scotland with Hibs. The Forest side of 1966-67 was outstanding   , finishing second in the league & but for a bad injury sustained by Joe in the FA Cup sixth round against Everton, may have won the FA Cup. I remember seeing Joe play for Forest against Coventry at the City Ground the following season, City's first in Division One, on the night George Curtis broke his leg. A battling Sky Blues team led three times, with substitute Bobby Gould scoring twice, in a thrilling 3-3 draw & Joe netted one of the Forest goals. A week later in the return game at Highfield Road Joe ripped City's makeshift defence apart scoring twice in a 3-1 win.

Although Gerry only spent a couple of years at Coventry near the end of his career & his time at Highfield Road is only briefly covered in the well-researched book, I would still recommend the book as an excellent read for all football fans. The author, Tom Maxwell a Scottish football historian, has worked with the Baker family including Gerry, before his death, and gives a great insight into British football in the 1950s & 60s, an era when footballers were paid modest wages and the average football fan could relate to them, something it's not possible to say these days.

Ian Harris wrote to me recently regarding the largest away followings Coventry City have had. Until recent seasons there have been no official figures for the number of away fans at games so any figures I quote are estimates that were quoted in the Coventry Telegraph at the time, some which may have been based on ticket sales for all-ticket games. The largest number of City fans at an away game has to be the estimated 50,000 who travelled to Wembley Stadium in August 1987 for the Charity Shield game versus Everton. During the previous season's FA Cup run there were approximately 25,000 tickets sold by the club to City fans for the final, but it's likely that a good few more obtained tickets elsewhere. There were 27,500 at the semi final v Leeds at Hillsborough and 15,000 at the sixth round tie at Hillsborough. Other large followings include the FA Cup tie at Villa Park in 1965 (20,000), a league game at the same venue in 1937 (20,000 in a crowd of 68,000), 15,000 at Molineux in 1966 and 14,000 at the same ground for the FA Cup tie in 1973. Since 1987 the largest City away following is probably the estimated 11,000 who travelled to Old Trafford for the League Cup game in 2007. Can anyone remember any other big away followings?

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