Jim's column 14.9.19

The Sky Blues pulled off a rare feat last Saturday in the home game with Blackpool - winning a game from 2-0 down. It was only the sixth time the club had achieved it in the last forty years as the first time in a league game for almost four years.

2019-20 Blackpool (h) 3-2

2016-17 Wycombe Wanderers (FL Trophy) (a) 4-2

2015-16 Peterborough (h) 3-2

2014-15 Peterborough (h) 3-2

1995-96 Tottenham (League Cup) (h) 3-2

1985-86 Southampton (h) 3-2

1980-81 West Ham (League Cup) (h) 3-2

1970-71 Derby (a) 4-3

1963-64 Peterborough (h) 3-2

The last time the Sky Blues won from 2-0 down in an away league game was in a famous win at Derby's Baseball Ground in 1970. That night City were not only 0-2 down but had seen their new £100,000 record signing Wilf Smith stretchered off in the first few minutes. Kevin Hector and Alan Hinton put the Rams 2-0 ahead in the first thirteen minutes but goals from Neil Martin & Dave Clements pulled  City level by half-time. Martin put City ahead early in the second half before John McGovern made it 3-3. Bill Glazier saved a Hinton penalty before Willie Carr popped up with the winner two minutes from time.

Last Saturday’s win was also the first time City have come from behind to win a home league game since April 2016 when City trailed Millwall 1-0 before second half goals from John Fleck and Marcus Tudgay gave City a 2-1 victory. There have been comebacks away, at Swindon and Lincoln in 2017-18 and at Charlton last term, and in Cup games v Morecambe and Wycombe, but it’s three and half years since the last home league comeback.

Lots of people have asked me when the Sky Blues last won their first four home league games and you have to go back 46 years to 1973. Then Gordon Milne’s team had an excellent start with five straight home victories over Tottenham, Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester City and Derby. Let’s hope the boys can keep the run going next Tuesday evening against AFC Wimbledon.

The Sky Blues fought out a poor 0-0 draw in their first outing in the Football League Trophy, sponsored this season by Leasing.com, against Walsall at St Andrews last week. Fielding a team mainly made up of youngsters, City got the extra point by virtue of winning a penalty shoot out.

It was the fourth penalty shoot-out win in a row for the club in what was the twelfth shoot-out and they have all been in the Football League Trophy (FLT). Prior to 2012 the Sky Blues had only ever taken part in three penalty shoot-outs since they were introduced into domestic games in 1976. In 1988 City lost at Reading in a Simod Cup semi-final, in 1998 they lost to Sheffield United in an FA Cup quarter final replay and in 2001 they won a League Cup tie at Peterborough. Since the last defeat, in October 2015 at Yeovil in the FLT, their record has been as follows:

2016-17 Swansea (a) won 4-2

2017-18 Walsall (a) won 4-3

2018-19 Forest Green (h) won 4-2

2019-20 Walsall (h) won 4-3

Their overall record in penalty shoot-outs is played twelve, won seven, lost five.

Jim's column 4.1.14

An excellent holiday period saw the Sky Blues claim seven points from three games & push up to 10th place in League One. But for a poor refereeing decision & some wayward finishing against Oldham it would have been maximum points from the festive programme. 

Both wins were terrific performances with the 4-2 win over Peterborough the first time City have twice come from behind to win a home league game since Chelsea were defeated 3-2 at Highfield Road on the opening day of the 1997-98 season. That day Dion Dublin scored a hat-trick and Leon Clarke should have had three but had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. 

In the Boxing Day game and on New Years Day at Rotherham a poor first half display was followed by a scintillating second half that saw deficits overturned. City have now come from behind to win on four occasions and to draw three times - the second best record in the division and a remarkable record when you consider that just over a year ago the team hadn't come from behind to win for over three years.

Former City academy players took the honours for opposing teams over Christmas with three of them netting in successive games against the Sky Blues. Swindon's Miles Storey started the run with the late winner at the County Ground in another winless day in Wiltshire - only one win in 13 league visits there since 1952. On Boxing Day Shaun Jeffers, released by the Sky Blues last summer, netted Posh's first goal and then City's youngest ever debutant, Jonson Clarke-Harris, released in 2012, scored Oldham's goal in the 1-1 draw. I don't count Storey as a former player as he never made the first team but it still means that four ex-Sky Blues have netted this season - Cody McDonald (Gillingham) and Chris Birchall (Port Vale) being the earlier ones.

The immutable law of the ex, as the famous football writer Brian Glanville described it, came into force but whilst it seems that ex-City men always score against us the statistics don't bear this out. For example Stern John played against City six times after he left before he netted and numerous prolific scorers never scored after departing. Readers wanted to know which ex-players had scored for more than one club after leaving and there a number including Bobby Gould (Wolves, Bristol C & West Ham), Ronnie Rees (WBA & Forest), Dion Dublin (Villa & Leicester), Darren Huckerby (Leeds & Man City), Robbie Keane (Spurs & Leeds) and Stuart Pearce (Forest & Man City). The best ever effort by an 'ex' though was probably the famous England test cricketer Patsy Hendren. He left City in 1911 after a brief career but came back to haunt us fifteen years later as a veteran of 37 playing for Brentford. In a 7-3 thumping at Griffin Park Patsy helped himself to four goals in what was his final season as a player.

I am not one for mid-season statistics but I have to mention Leon Clarke's scoring achievements in the calendar year of 2013. In 39 starts plus two sub appearances in the year Leon netted 27 goals in all competitions which is the best by a City player since 1963 when George Hudson netted 31 goals. Other City plays to have prolific years are the legendary Clarrie Bourton who netted 43 in 1932, 35 in 1933 and 30 in 1934, George Lowrie 39 in 1947 and Ray Straw 33 in 1958.  Leon is up there with the goalscoring giants of Coventry City's glorious history. We can only hope and pray that he stays at the club through the transfer window.

Follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton

Jim's column 1.9.2012

Another turbulent week in the history of Coventry City ended with an excellent 3-2 League Cup victory over local rivals Birmingham City presided over by the new caretaker manager Richard Shaw. Andy Thorn became the tenth full-time Coventry City manager to leave the club since the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2001. Since being promoted to manager on the departure of Aidy Boothroyd in February 2011 his team have a pretty appalling record with only twelve wins in 59 league wins and whilst many of the club’s followers will not be surprised by his departure, many are questioning the timing. After fifty years of following the Sky Blues I believe there is never a good time or a bad time to sack a manager. On Tuesday night the team responded with their best performance for months, pulling off easily the club’s best Cup result since 2009.

Andy’s record in charge does not stand up to scrutiny against his predecessors – he has easily the worst win percentage and for all his aim of playing attractive football, the worst goals per game in the period.

	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agst	GD	Points	Wins %	Points %	Goals per game
John Sillett	128	44	37	47	143	169	-26	169	34.38%	44.01%	1.12
Terry Butcher	49	16	11	22	56	60	-4	59	32.65%	40.14%	1.14
Don Howe	19	3	8	8	10	18	-8	17	15.79%	29.82%	0.53
Bobby Gould	54	16	19	19	66	73	-7	67	29.63%	41.36%	1.22
Phil Neal	58	18	18	22	56	74	-18	72	31.03%	41.38%	0.97
Ron Atkinson	64	14	24	26	64	92	-28	66	21.88%	34.38%	1.00
Gordon Strachan	183	52	52	79	203	262	-59	208	28.42%	37.89%	1.11
Roland Nilsson	40	19	5	16	56	48	8	62	47.50%	51.67%	1.40
Gary McAllister	68	17	25	26	73	91	-18	76	25.00%	37.25%	1.07
Eric Black	23	11	3	9	38	24	14	36	47.83%	52.17%	1.65
Peter Reid	29	9	8	12	36	45	-9	35	31.03%	40.23%	1.24
Micky Adams	90	31	24	35	113	124	-11	117	34.44%	43.33%	1.26
Iain Dowie	43	16	9	18	49	63	-14	57	37.21%	44.19%	1.14
Chris Coleman	107	30	35	42	112	140	-28	125	28.04%	38.94%	1.05
Aidy Bothroyd	36	11	8	17	38	46	-8	41	30.56%	37.96%	1.06
Andy Thorn	59	12	21	26	61	81	-20	57	20.34%	32.20%	1.03
League games only

Shaw’s first game in charge must have been a dream come true. Not only did his team, boosted by some high level individual performances, knock out a side from a higher division, but they also came from behind for the first time since September 2009. Then a late Leon Best goal gave City a 3-2 win at Watford. You have to go back to January 2009 to find the last time the Sky Blues came from behind to win at home – against Blackpool when Beuzelin and Mifsud scored in a 2-1 win. Neither Boothroyd nor Thorn managed this in their time in charge.

Several people have asked me about the frequency of lost leads under Andy Thorn and in his 59 league games in charge the team scored the first goal on 29 occasions whilst conceding first on 27 occasions. However the Sky Blues  only went on to win 12 games and lost the lead on 20 occasions (drawing 12 games and losing eight). As I said they failed to come from behind to win but on 10 occasions they fell behind but won a point. In statistical terms City won only 41% of games where they took the lead but lost 67% of games when they conceded first.

Last Saturday, in the 2-2 draw with Bury, the club recorded their lowest home league crowd (10,285) for eighteen years. Not only was it the lowest league crowd at the Ricoh but also the lowest since relegation from the Premiership in 2001. The last time there was a crowd under 10,500 was in October 1994 for an evening game against Ipswich when 9,509 watched a 2-0 City victory. The presence of Sky Television’s cameras probably kept the crowd low that night but at least City won, with goals from John Wark (og) and Paul Cook (a penalty). You have to go back to September 1993 for a lower Saturday home crowd. In Bobby Gould’s final home game against Southampton there were only 9,837 in Highfield Road to witness Phil Babb’s late equaliser rescue a point following Simon Charlton’s earlier goal.