Jim's column 22.3.2020

The Coronavirus and subsequent suspension of professional football has brought Coventry City's surge to promotion from League One to a shuddering halt. Football pales into insignificance to people's health but Sky Blues' fans will still be concerned about the outcome of the 2019-20 season and whether the campaign will be seen through to a satisfactory conclusion. City's final game before the suspension two weeks ago was another away victory, at Ipswich, and the seventh win on the road in eight since Christmas Day. Portman Road has always been a difficult ground for City and before this season they had only won twice there in 29 league visits stretching back to the early seventies. Now we have won twice there in three months!

The away form since Christmas has been the difference between City being a top six side hoping for a play-off place and being league leaders and promotion favourites with the bookies. To put it into context, Jimmy Hill's 1967 promotion team only won six away games in the whole season.

If and when the season re-commences there are a number of club records that Mark Robins' team may threaten in the final ten games. At the moment the team have lost only three league games all season, one at home (Tranmere) and two away (Rotherham and Shrewsbury). The club record for the lowest number of defeats in a season is six, set in the1963-64 Division Three championship season (46 games) and equalled in the 1966-67 Division Two season (42 games). The fewest home defeats in a season is one, achieved in 1935-36, 1946-47, 1958-59 and 1966-67 (three of those seasons were promotion campaigns). The fewest away defeats in a season is five, again set in 1966-67, and this is one record that the team might threaten.

The other record well within their sights is a record points total. Since three points was introduced for a win in 1981 the highest number of points is 75, set by Robins' team in reaching the play-offs two years ago. With a current total of 67 a new record is well within their sights. If pre-1981 points' totals are recalculated on a three points basis the best ever season was 1958-59 in Division Four when 84 points would have been won from a 46-game season. The next best was 82 in 1963-64 and 1966-67.

One record which won't be broken this season is the incredible unbeaten league run of Jimmy Hill's 1966-67 team. After losing at Huddersfield in November the Sky Blues went 25 games unbeaten until the end of the season. The current run is 14 unbeaten and the team can only reach 24 this campaign. That 1967 run did however include an FA Cup defeat to Newcastle and the club's record run in all competitions is a more modest 22, set in the weather battered 1962-63 season. That campaign, Jimmy Hill's first full season in charge, the Sky Blues lost a League Cup tie at Portsmouth in October and then remained unbeaten in 22 league and FA Cup games before Manchester United lowered City's colours in the FA Cup quarter finals on the last Saturday in March. Robins' team have now gone 18 unbeaten (counting the Blues' Cup loss as a draw) and are only four away from the record.

Mark Robins deservedly won the League One Manager of the Month award for February and became the first Coventry City manager to win three awards. The team's results during the month were nothing short of spectacular with five wins and one draw and the draw coming against the then league leaders. Mark's previous awards with City were in December 2012 and October 2018 and he has also won awards with Rotherham (twice) and Scunthorpe. The only other City manager to win more than one award was Gordon Strachan who won in December 1996 and February 1998.

I have to report the passing two weeks ago of a close friend, Geoff Moore. Geoff, a former pupil of Bablake and Liverpool University who taught Chemistry at Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby, had followed the Sky Blues from the 1960s. He was a proud member of the 92 Club (he achieved that at Cheltenham two years ago) and had watched the Sky Blues play at all current 91 clubs except Macclesfield and Salford. His first away ground was Swindon's County Ground for an FA Cup third round tie in 1966 and since then has seen City play on 118 different English grounds not including both Wembley Stadiums, Sutton United and Motherwell in Scotland where he attended a Texaco Cup game in the 1970s.. Geoff kept a lot of quirky stats about City including a spreadsheet of the average age of every City team that ever played and the number of players of different nationalities that played at the Ricoh. His football friends will hugely miss his company in Coventry hostelries (he always found the right place for a pre-game drink!) and in the stands at the Ricoh and St Andrews. I am sure all who knew Geoff send their condolences to his wife Jackie and sons Andrew and Chris who are both massive City fans. RIP Geoff.

Column 12.5.2018

After seventeen seasons of trying the Sky Blues have finally made it to the Football League play-offs by virtue of finishing sixth, their highest league finish since 1970. On Saturday evening the Sky Blues entertain Notts County in the first leg of the semi-finals with the return at Meadow Lane on the following Friday and the chances are there will be a record crowd for a League 2 (or Division 4) play-off semi-final this weekend. The current record is 19,462 and was set in 2004 at the Huddersfield v Lincoln game at the Galpharm Stadium. It wouldn't surprise me to see 25,000 at the Ricoh this weekend.

City's record against the Magpies is not inspiring. City won 3-0 on the opening day but County won on their previous two visits to the Ricoh, which sandwich a 3-0 Sky Blues win at Sixfields in 2013-14. Prior to that City had won six out of seven home league games at Highfield Road, the exception being an amazing 5-1 defeat in 1982, one of the most embarrassing results in City's history. Before that City had not lost at home to the Magpies since 1951. Older fans will remember County being City's opponents on the opening day of the 1962-63 season when goals from Terry Bly and Hugh Barr gave City a 2-0 home win as City wore the new all Sky Blue kit for the first time in a competitive game.

At Meadow Lane City's record is very poor. They haven't won there in eight league visits since the last victory in August 1963 when George Hudson (2) and Willie Humphries gave City a comfortable 3-0 win. That was one of only two wins there, the other coming in 1950, 2-0 courtesy of Ken Chisholm and 'Plum' Warner, when 41,000 packed into Meadow Lane.

The full record of league games is:

Played W D L F - A

Home 19 9 3 7 33 - 25

Away 19 2 5 12 17 - 33

Notts County have been in the play-offs on four previous occasions and have reached the final three times. In 1987-88 they lost 2-4 on aggregate in the Division Three semis to Walsall but two years later they were back under the managership of the legendary Neil Warnock and beat Tranmere 2-0 at Wembley. Twelve months later they were back again to reach the top flight by beating Brighton 3-1. They remain the only club to win play-off finals in successive years. Their stay in the old Division One was brief – they were relegated the following season (and saved the Sky Blues on the final day by sending Luton Town down). They were back at Wembley in 1995-96 in the Division Two (tier 3) but lost 2-0 to Bradford City.

City will go into their first two-legged tie since 2013 this weekend. That was when City played Crewe in the JPT (Football League Trophy) Regional final and lost 3-2 on aggregate after a nightmare home first leg. Before that you have to go back to 2000 when the League Cup second round was reduced from two legs to one. In 22 seasons of two leg ties in that competition the Sky Blues were only defeated on four occasions (Everton, Walsall, Scarborough and Tranmere). I'm pretty sure City's first two-legged tie was in the FA Cup of 1945-46 when for one season only the Third round was played over two legs. City drew Aston Villa and won 2-1 at Highfield Road but lost the second leg 2-0 to exit the competition. They have played two leg games in the UEFA Fairs Cup in 1970-71 and then in the Texaco Cup for the following three seasons. That competition was hardly memorable with victory in only one tie (Falkirk in 1971) and three defeats (Motherwell (2) and Newcastle). Probably the most famous two leg ties were in the League Cup semi finals on 1981 and 1990. In 1981 West Ham were defeated 3-2 at Highfield Road but edged City out of a Wembley trip with a 2-0 win at Upton Park. Nine years later City controversially lost the first leg at the City Ground, Nottingham, 2-1, and Forest held on for a 0-0 at Highfield Road to go through.

I make that 32 two-legged ties with 20 wins and 12 defeats on aggregate. City have been at home in the first leg on 14 occasions and ended up progressing in only seven of those ties.

Finally, congratulations are in order for a good friend of mine, Geoff Moore, who, by watching City at Cheltenham two weeks ago, joined the '92 club'. He has now watched the Sky Blues play at all the current 92 league clubs in a first-class game. There are three current grounds where City have not played (the Etihad, West Ham's London Stadium and Huddersfield's Galpharm Stadium) but Geoff did see the Sky Blues play those clubs at Maine Road, Upton Park and Leeds Road respectively.

His first away ground was Swindon's County Ground for an FA Cup third round tie in 1966 and since then has seen City play on 118 different English grounds not including Wembley Stadium, Sutton United and Motherwell in Scotland where he attended a Texaco Cup game in the 1970s. If City are promoted via the play-offs he will miss out on the new league clubs (Macclesfield and possibly Boreham Wood) but I'm sure he will sacrifice that for football in a higher division.

Are there any other City fans who can match or better Geoff's record. I suspect Kevin Monks must be close!