Jim's Column 30.7.22

The new season kicks off for the Sky Blues tomorrow with a trip to Sunderland's Stadium of Light. It is the first time in their long history that the club have played a competitive game in July. The start of the season has been getting earlier and earlier and has been brought forward a week this year because of the World Cup in November. 100 years or so ago the season wasn't allowed to start until the last Saturday in August because of an agreement with the cricket authorities but gradually the start date has crept forward. The early start would have been unthinkable in the 1950s or 60s when many of the industrial cities and towns of the country closed down their factories for the last week in July and first week in August and workers had no choice but to take their holidays at that time. There would have been some pretty low attendances if games had been played in these two weeks.

During the close season we have lost two of the stalwarts from the Jimmy Hill era, Ronnie Farmer and Jimmy Whitehouse, and my tributes to them can be found at my website (www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk) .

In the last week I have also been made aware that former City goalkeeper Graham Spratt passed away earlier this year. Born six weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939, Graham, who had previously been on Leicester City's books, was signed from Oadby Town as a seventeen-year-old in 1956. He made his debut for the reserves in a 2-2 draw at Swindon in November of that year. His form in the reserves earned him a call-up to the first team at the start of the 1957-58 season and he was praised after an impressive debut in a home 2-2 draw with Watford. It was a miserable season for the club however with a bottom half finish in Division Three South consigning City to the newly formed Division Four. Graham, who at 5 ft 8 ins was short for a goalkeeper, was described as 'the next Reg Matthews in the making' in the Coventry Telegraph and was often the hero for keeping the score down. Despite impressive notices Graham lost his place after a 7-1 thrashing at Southampton at the end of February when Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph described him as 'the star turn' for keeping the score down! Manager Billy Frith felt the youngster needed a break and Graham played just one more first team game, in a 4-1 defeat at Walsall.

That summer Frith signed a new goalkeeper Jim Sanders who managed 10 games before suffering a broken leg. Graham was called up to play against Carlisle and although City lost 2-1 he got positive reviews. Frith however was not convinced and relegated Graham to the reserves, preferring 41-year-old trainer Alf Wood for the next game. Graham was a regular for the reserves for the rest of the season but released by the club the following summer at the tender age of 19 having played 28 league games and two FA Cup ties for the club. After leaving City he played for Rugby Town and became a postman and worked for Royal Mail until his retirement. His daughter Julie tells me that he excelled at most sports and was wicket-keeper for Dunton Bassett cricket team as well as an accomplished bowls player for the Soar Valley club. He lived in Blaby for many years before moving to Mountsorrel in Leicestershire. His wife Sylvia passed away in 1982 and long time partner Thelma passed away four years ago. He leaves two daughters Joanne and Julie. RIP Graham. Sadly Graham was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a number of years ago.

Another former City goalkeeper John Green recently passed away. John never played for the first team but played for the 'A' team in the seasons immediately after World War Two. He was a regular at Diamond Club lunches and often wrote to me with memories of his playing days.

As many of you know I love football books and this summer I have received one of the most interesting ones for a while. Entitled One Shilling (1/-) it is the story of the revolution in football programme design between 1965-85, written by Matthew Caldwell and Alan Dein. As probably the most innovative club of the 1960s under Jimmy Hill, Coventry City feature heavily in the book. Their ground-breaking magazine style programme of 1967-70 was impressive however the award-winning but controversial 1970-71 Sky Blue magazine is given pride of place. The book is dedicated to John Elvin, the man who designed that unique publication. Sadly the club failed to appreciate the quality of Elvin's work and ditched him after one season. Elvin, who had previously worked for West Brom, worked briefly at Chelsea before being diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and dying at the age of 53. If you have an interest in football programmes then the book is a highly recommended read.

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton 

Ron Farmer (6 March 1936 - 11 June 2022)

It's sad to report the death of another of Coventry City's iconic players from the 1960s, Ronnie Farmer. Ron who was 86 and had been in a nursing home for some time, passed away on Saturday.

Ron was a key player in the club’s rise from Division 4 to Division 1 between 1958 and 1967 and was one of only four players to appear for the club in all four divisions of the Football League (George Curtis, Brian Hill and Mick Kearns were the others).

A skilful half back with excellent passing skills, he was signed from Nottingham Forest in November 1958 and was an important member of the team promoted from Division Four that season. Over the next seven seasons Ron was a virtual ever-present in the side with his main strength being winning the ball and feeding his forwards with penetrating passes. He also had a penchant for scoring long-range goals and taking penalties and during his City career he missed only one out of 23 spot-kicks.

Born in Guernsey in 1936, Ron was evacuated from the Channel Islands to Birmingham a day before the Nazis invaded the islands in 1940. After returning to the island five years later he made his name at the North Athletic club and later attracted the interest of Nottingham Forest. Along with his elder brother Bill (a goalkeeper) he moved, aged 16, to the mainland to try and carve out a professional football career. Bill was ten years older than Ron and won a first team place at the City Ground soon after arriving. He went on to play 58 games for Forest between 1953 and 1956 before joining Oldham Athletic.

Ron had stiff competition for a first team place but finally got his chance in January 1958 against Gillingham in the FA Cup. In the same Forest team was Scots-born winger Stewart Imlach, someone whose path would cross with Ron again later. Forest were a newly promoted First Division team, managed by the legendary former Villa player Billy Walker, and Ron had the chance to play nine league games against top opposition that season.

In the summer of 1958 Forest signed former Manchester United wing-half Jeff Whitefoot and Ron was restricted to reserve team games. In November of that year City manager Billy Frith signed him in a £6,000 double deal with goalkeeper Arthur Lightening and he went straight into the City first team in a 5-1 home win over Chester. Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph wrote: 'After a quarter of an hour feeling his way, Farmer settled down to a polished display of wing-half play and soon achieved complete understanding in midfield with (Paddy) Ryan'. His first City goal came in a 3-2 home win over Crewe when he netted from just outside the penalty area. The signings of Farmer and Lightening were a major boost to the club’s Division Four promotion hopes and Ronnie played in 26 successive games as City finished runners up and were promoted to Division Three.

                                   Ron in 1958

In 1959 brother Bill joined him at Highfield Road on a free transfer from Worcester City but failed to win a first team place. Ronnie, on the other hand, blossomed in the higher league. The half-back line of Kearns-Curtis-Farmer became the lynchpin of the team in the early 1960s and although Jimmy Hill successfully converted Mick Kearns into a full-back, another stalwart Brian Hill became the regular right-half.

Hill arrived at Highfield Road in November 1961 at a time when Ron was on the injury list and quickly assessed the squad he had inherited. In early March Ron returned to first team action but Jimmy had largely decided the major surgery required to the playing staff and it seemed that Ron wasn't part of his longer term plans. Jimmy had his eyes on Ards winger Willie Humphries and wanted to offer Ron in part exchange for the Northern Irish winger.

A few years ago Ron described what happened: ‘I had not played for the first team under Jimmy but he called me in and said how did I fancy a move to Ireland, I want to sign Humphries and I'd like to offer you to Ards? I told him that he hadn't seen me play and anyway I didn't fancy a move to Ireland. Whenever we met he reminded me that he was going to sell me before he’d even see me play’.

Ron played in every game until the end of the season and his performances, including five goals in the last seven games, convinced Hill that he was worth keeping. In 1962-63 he was a regular at wing-half but youngsters Dietmar Bruck and Brian Hill were snapping at his heels and the manager preferred Bruck in the latter stages of the memorable FA Cup run meaning Ron missed out on the big games with Sunderland and Manchester United.

In August 1963 he became the only City defender to score a hat-trick when, against Crystal Palace at Highfield Road he scored two penalties and a stunning 35-yard free-kick past a dazed, future City goalkeeper Bill Glazier in a 5-1 victory. Farmer was ecstatic but he recalls that Jimmy Hill wasn’t impressed. Ron explained : ‘it was tradition that if you scored a hat-trick you got to keep the match ball but when I asked JH for the ball he said that because I scored two penalties it wasn’t a proper hat-trick!’ That season he played 44 league games and scored 11 goals – eight from penalty kicks – as City won the Third Division title and was voted City's Player of the season.

Ron was entrusted with taking spot-kicks soon after Jimmy Hill’s arrival in 1961 and over the next five seasons he missed only one out of 23 attempts – that was at Millwall in 1964 when a win would have virtually clinched promotion from Division Three. Farmer, worried that goalkeepers were rumbling his strategy of always hitting the ball to his right, hit the spot-kick towards the other corner but, although goalkeeper Alex Stepney was helpless, the ball hit the post and bounced to safety and the game ended 0-0. His nonchalant penalty-taking style fooled many goalkeepers. The kicks may not have been powerful but they were always deadly accurate in their execution. Ron went on to take a further eleven penalties for the Sky Blues and never missed another and holds the club record for most penalties scored.

In 1965-66 the Football League introduced substitutes and Ron became the first City player to be substituted after fracturing his cheekbone in a collision with Manchester City's Johnny Crossan and was replaced by Bruck. City missed out on promotion by one point but Ron had another excellent campaign.

In the 1966-67 Division Two promotion season there were signs that 31-year old Ron was slowing up but he played 34 games however an injury cost him his place to Brian Lewis and he missed the final memorable run-in. The club’s defence, with Curtis, Hill and Kearns still going strong, was the team’s strength and the key factor in the 25-match unbeaten run. Ronnie managed two goals, a trademark penalty in a 4-2 Boxing Day win over Rotherham and a 30-yard free-kick which ‘slithered’ past Norwich’s goalkeeper in a 2-1 home win.

The 1966-67 Second Division Champions. Ron is 2nd from left middle row.

Ronnie remembered having a stinker in the opening game at home to Hull: 'I misplaced so many passes that I fully expected to be substituted. Nothing I did came off and I was crap but I kept running and tackling. Before the next game we had a team-talk and JH went round the room asking us how we thought we had played. I told him, "I was surprised you didn't take me off, I was hopeless", he replied, "you kept running, you kept tackling and you blocked some passes, all that was wrong was your passing and the rest of your game was fine, so I wasn't going to take you off".

In 1967 as Ron reached the milestone of 300 games for the club Jimmy Hill paid him a tribute, ‘The ironic thing is that towards the end of my first season here, he was hit by injuries and I contemplated giving him a free transfer because I had not had a real chance to see what he could do – and he was being barracked by the crowd. Afterwards I kept telling people he was our most accurate player. It is a wonderful performance by him and he has really earned his testimonial.’

In the First Division Ron played just four games, all away from Highfield Road, taking his total appearances for the club to 315. He had the honour of returning to Forest’s City Ground as a Coventry player and was one of City’s eleven heroes in a memorable 3-3 draw. One of his greatest regrets was not playing a home game in the top flight. In October 1967 he signed for Fourth Division Notts County on a free transfer. His move however cost County a few bob as Jimmy Hill insisted that they paid Ron his reward for foregoing his Coventry City testimonial. He rejoined old friends Stewart Imlach (coach at Meadow Lane) and Billy Gray (his former Forest manager) and spent two happy seasons in the twilight of his career.

In 1969 he joined non-league Grantham but soon after was lured back to Highfield Road as youth team coach. He led an outstanding crop of young players to the FA Youth Cup final in his first season including Dennis Mortimer, Bobby Parker and Alan Green and although the final was lost to Tottenham Ron was feted as a good coach. In November 1971 however he was sacked as manager Noel Cantwell brought in Tony Waiters as his Director of Coaching, three months later Cantwell and Waiters would lose their jobs.

A disillusioned Ron went to Massey Ferguson where he worked in the factory alongside several other ex-City stars and played and coached an excellent works team. He continued to live in Coventry after retiring and was one of the first members of the Former Players Association when it was formed in 2007. He continued to attend home games up until the start of this season, ironically his final game was the Forest home game.

                    Ron pictured at Legends Day 2009 (4th from left)

He leaves three children, Justine, Adam and Matt.

Jimmy Whitehouse (19.9.1934- 5.5.2022)

It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City forward Jimmy Whitehouse at the age of 87. The tall, blond scheming inside forward was a star of Coventry’s famous 1963 FA Cup run when, as a Third Division club, they reached the sixth round in a blaze of glory and started Jimmy Hill's Sky Blue Revolution. Jimmy scored six goals in nine games in the weather interrupted campaign, a record in the club's time in the Football League.

He was one of the five new forwards that Jimmy Hill signed in the summer of 1962 when he revamped the team, the kit and the whole face of the club. He started slowly as far as goals were concerned but when the FA Cup came around he turned into an ace goal-getter, somewhat similar to Keith Houchen 24 years later. An injury in the summer of 1963 meant he missed the start of the 1963-64 campaign and when he recovered he couldn’t win his place back from Ernie Machin and played only nine more games in Sky Blue. In March 1964 manager Jimmy Hill sold him to Millwall for £4,500.

Jimmy Hill with his five new forwards in 1962. Whitehouse, Willie Humphries, Hugh Barr, Terry Bly and Bobby Laverick.

He had been signed on a free transfer from Reading, where he had a five-year career scoring 67 goals in over 220 games. He grew up in Greets Green in the Black Country he joined his local team West Brom as an amateur and had six years at the Hawthorns without ever quite making the first team. The Baggies were one of the top teams in the country in the mid 1950s and went close to achieving the double in 1954, winning the FA Cup and finishing second in the league. Jimmy had to move down to Third Division Reading to make a name for himself. A fee of £250 took him to Elm Park and he scored on his debut for the Biscuitmen in August 1956 and was first choice inside forward for the next six seasons. Never a prolific scorer he did manage all four goals in a 4-0 win over Gillingham in 1958 and two goals in a 4-2 home win over Coventry the following year.

A free transfer brought him to Highfield Road in 1962 and he made his debut in the new Sky Blue kit in the opening day 2-0 victory over Notts County. By the time the First Round of the FA Cup came round Jimmy had scored two league goals and two in the League Cup but he notched the only goal in the home win over Bournemouth

In the Second Round a 0-0 draw at Millwall brought the South London side back to Highfield Road for a replay and Jimmy was on target along with Hugh Barr as the Sky Blues progressed 2-1.

In 2004 Jimmy told me the story of the Cup campaign:

‘It was the winter of the big freeze and there was virtually no football from Christmas until the first week in March. Our third round game at Lincoln was postponed sixteen times and when the thaw finally came we ended up playing six Cup games in three weeks.’

City, who prior to the freeze had been in a strong league position, just four points behind leaders Peterborough, romped home 5-1 at Lincoln with Jimmy netting after just 15 seconds - one of the fastest goals in the club's history. The victory earned a plum tie with Second Division Portsmouth a week later. A late Ken Hale goal gave City a fortunate 1-1 draw at Fratton Park and three days later a pulsating replay ended all-square.

Jimmy recalled, ‘I scored two goals in the replay and we were 2-0 up and looked home and dry but Pompey scored twice in the second half to take it to extra-time. We had to play the second replay at Tottenham's White Hart Lane and I can remember the amazing vocal support the City fans made. Ron Saunders put Pompey ahead but Terry Bly equalised and I scored the winner and we won 2-1’.

Six days later Second Division leaders Sunderland were humbled in front of a cup-crazy 40,000 Highfield Road crowd with many others getting in free after some gates were broken down. They saw the Sky Blues win a thriller 2-1 with late goals from Dietmar Bruck and George Curtis and earn the plum draw, a home tie with Manchester United.

Five days later in front of a capacity 44,000 crowd City’s run ended as they lost 1-3 to Matt Busby’s star-studded team that included Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.

Jimmy had scored nine goals in six FA Cup games to add to his nine league goals and played some of the best football of his career but it was not sufficient to win promotion for the club. The concertinaed cup run had taken too much out of the players and a tired City slipped to finish fourth.

In 2004 he told me: ‘Jimmy Hill was very good to me and I have some fond memories of Coventry and the football club. Those Cup ties were unbelievable and I can remember them as if they happened yesterday.’

His former playing colleague Dietmar Bruck recalls Jimmy fondly: 'At eighteen I was the youngest player in the 1963 team and he always encouraged me and gave me advice. I remember him telling me not to worry about making mistakes as that was how you learnt. He was a true gentleman and when we met up at Legends Days we always reminisced about the great times under JH'.

                        Pre-season 1963, Jimmy between John Sillett and Mick Kearns.

After losing his place to Machin Jimmy played only 10 games for the Sky Blues in 1963-64, scoring three goals including two goals in the 2-2 away draw with his old club Reading in January. In March 1964 he joined Millwall and although he scored a brace on his home debut he could not save the Lions from relegation to Division Four. Jimmy and his wife moved back to the Reading area In 1964-65 he played 33 games and scored 15 goals before moving on to non-league football with first Hillingdon Borough and later Hastings United and Andover. He worked for an engineering company in Reading after hanging up his boots and moved to Tilehurst near Reading. Later he indulged his love of betting by becoming a part-time on-course bookmaker and he could often be found at Oxford and Reading greyhound tracks. He joined the Former Players Association at its inception and was a regular at Legends Days until his health deteriorated. Jim suffered from Parkinson's and dementia and lost his wife Olive during Covid. He leaves a daughter Sharon and grand-daughter Lucy.

                                  Jimmy Whitehouse with me in 2009.

Sharon told me that her dad loved his time at Coventry and spoke fondly of Jimmy Hill and George Curtis and the family atmosphere at the club.

His funeral will take place at Reading Crematorium, All Hallows Road, Reading RG4 5LP on Thursday 30th June when the lives of Jim and Olive will be celebrated.

Stats Review 2021-22

A momentous second season back in the second tier of English football saw Coventry City return to the city and fans return at games after Covid-19. The fans were rewarded with some of the best football their team has played this century and a final position of 12th was well above most fan's expectations and considerably higher than their budget dictated.

The standards in the Championship were as high as they have ever been and it was believed that Mark Robins had one of the bottom six budgets in the division with a wage bill probably a quarter of many of the sides in the division, several of whom were in receipt of £40m plus parachute payments following relegation from the Premiership and one club with a striker paid £100,000 plus a week.

Notwithstanding this, for the fifth season running Mark Robins improved the club's final league placing – the club's first manager since Jimmy Hill to achieve this.

In the summer transfer window the club strengthened the squad prudently with the acquisitions of goalkeeper Simon Moore, striker Viktor Gyokeres, the experienced Martyn Waghorn and the loan deal for Ben Sheaf turned into a permanent transfer. Two Chelsea loanees arrived, Ian Maatsen and Jake Clarke-Salter, courtesy of assistant manager Adi Viveash's connections with the West London club. Full-back Todd Kane arrived from QPR after the season started and Jake Bidwell signed from Swansea in January. It's probably fair to say that Moore, Gyokeres, Sheaf, Maatsen and Clarke-Salter were unqualified successes whilst the jury is still out on Waghorn, Kane and Bidwell.

From the previous season's squad, many of whom came up from League One, Hyam, McFadzean, Allen and O'Hare all had very good campaigns and although injuries reduced the appearances of Dabo, Kelly and Godden, they all again showed that they have the quality required at this level.

In 46 games the Sky Blues scored first on 16 occasions and conceded first in 27 games with three 0-0 draws. Although they managed to win seven and draw five games after conceding first (a club record) it is a dangerous strategy to concede first and rely on coming from behind. On the 16 occasions when City did score first they went on to win 11, lost only once (at Preston) and drew four.

The team's early season form set the tone for the season and they only lost twice in the first nine games and shouldn't have lost at Barnsley. The disastrous scoreline at Luton was a one-off and no side dominated the Sky Blues for the rest of the season. Winning the first six home games put down strong foundations for the season and the dramatic finishes (against Forest, Reading and Bristol City) were like something out of Roy of the Rovers. The shortage of away wins before Christmas came in for some criticism but there were impressive draws at Sheffield and Huddersfield, both of which could have been won and the stunning comeback at Bournemouth for a point. As so often happens in these situations the away results picked up after the New Year whilst the home form deteriorated. The comebacks from conceding first at home couldn't continue indefinitely and teams like Hull, Millwall and QPR were made of sterner stuff and took away the points with some steely resolve.

Throughout the season the team continued to play attacking football and winning plaudits from opposition managers for their style. Whenever there was a dip in results the team came up with another dazzling performance. After three games without a win in March they blew Sheffield United away with a four-goal second half salvo on Legends Day. The incredible win at Fulham a month later followed a four-game win-less run. Results like these, against Premiership sides a season before, showed how much the team had progressed.

I have to mention the atmosphere at the CBS Arena; it was undoubtedly the best and loudest that the stadium has seen in its 17 year history. Inspired by the team's thrilling football and never-say-die attitude the crowd came up with innovative songs glorifying the stars and had a big effect on the comebacks and late goals. The added-time winning goal against Bristol City almost took the roof off what for the majority of the last 16 years has been a soulless bowl.

There were sad days following the passing of two Coventry City legends, George Curtis and John Sillett, and the fans had their opportunities to pay respects to the two giants at the Forest and West Brom home games respectively. Thirty five years on from the club's finest hour George and John would surely have been looking down and purring at the thrilling, attacking football that evoked memories of their times at the club.

2021-22 Appearances & goalscorers

Games: Coventry City played 49 competitive games, 46 league, 2 FA Cup and 1 League Cup.

Points: From 46 league games the Sky Blues gathered 64 points, nine more than the previous season and the highest since Eric Black's team won 65 in 2003-04. It was the third highest total in the Championship since the club dropped out of the Premiership in 2001.

Home Form: 10 wins, 5 draws, 8 defeats. Amazingly the team gathered less home points (35) than in 2020-21 when they won 37. This was despite an excellent start when they won the first six home league games – the best home start to a season since 1950-51 when Harry Storer's team won their first eight. If you add the final home game the previous season (Millwall) then the run of seven wins in a row was the best since 1955.

Away Form: 7 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses. A much improved away record with 11 more points than 2020-21. 29 points equals the club's best away haul in the Championship since 2001 and was the fifth best in the division. The away record before Christmas was poor with only two wins in 11 trips but after Christmas the team won five out of 12.

Biggest win: The biggest league win of the season was 4-1 achieved three times: Fulham (h) Sheffield United (h) and Peterborough (a). The home victories were achieved over sides relegated from the Premiership last season.

Biggest defeat: The 0-5 defeat at Luton was the heaviest league defeat of the season and the heaviest loss since December 2006 when City lost 0-5 at West Brom. The half-time scoreline of 0-4 was the worst since 2009 when City trailed by the same score at Plymouth.

Goals for: The total of 60 was the eighth highest in the division and the club's third highest total in 13 years in the Championship. In total they failed to score thirteen times in 46 games.

Goals against: City conceded 59 goals, two less than 2020-21 and the sixteenth best in the division. They kept 10 clean sheets – Moore 9, Wilson 1.

Final position: The final position of 12th was a remarkable achievement. Discounting the first three games, the highest league position during the season was 2nd following the Friday night home victory over Peterborough and the lowest was 13th after the 1-1 home draw with Blackpool in February. On the night of the Peterborough victory the Sky Blues were actually top of the table for about 15 minutes before West Brom's game finished and their victory took them top.

Leading scorers: Viktor Gyokeres was leading scorer with 18 goals, 17 in the league, and one in the FA Cup. Matty Godden with twelve (all in the league, from only 17 starts) was runner up. Fifteen different City players were on the score-sheet during the season. Gyokeres scored nine goals in the first 11 league games – the best start to a season by a City striker since Callum Wilson in 2013-14.Viktor then went 13 league games without scoring between early October and the last week of January but during that period Godden scored eight goals. Gyokeres' total has only been bettered by Callum Wilson, Adam Armstrong and Mark McNulty in the last 40 years.

Doubles: City achieved four doubles - over Fulham, Reading, Peterborough and Bristol City. It was the first double over Fulham since 1947-48, although the clubs have rarely met in the intervening years. Three teams did the double over City – Swansea, QPR and Luton. Luton's double was their first over City since 1986-87.

Appearances: No player started all 46 league games but Callum O'Hare with 43 starts and two sub appearances was involved in all but one game. Gyokeres also appeared in 45 games (41 starts, 4 subs) whilst Dominic Hyam and Simon Moore both started 41 games.

Players used: 25 players were used in league games (four less than 2020-21) - the lowest number since 1996-97 season and a further four appeared only in League Cup games. Of the 29 players, nine made their debuts during the season – a similar story to the previous season when there were only eight debutants and more evidence to support a theory held by some that the less debutants and more manageable the squad is the more success is likely. Four players only appeared as substitutes, Fabio Tavares, Jodi Jones, Josh Pask and Ryan Howley. Two loan players were used – the lowest number for many years: Ian Maatsen and Jake Clarke-Salter. In addition to the 29 players used, three more: Cian Tyler, Ricardo Dinanga and Marcus Rus sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.

Home-grown players: Of the 29 players used four of them were home grown products of the Academy: Shipley, Eccles, Tavares and Howley. Once again it is noticeable that as the club has climbed the league the number of Academy products coming through has decreased – in 2016-17 15 home-grown players were used and the following season, 14.

Records: Six of the squad have played 100 games or more for the club: Dominic Hyam (190), Jordan Shipley (163), Liam Kelly (147) Callum O'Hare (135) Kyle McFadzean (117) and Fankaty Dabo (100). Hyam is now 51st in the club's all-time appearance table, up from 93rd. Shipley whose City career is now over, moved up to 74th place and in to the top ten of locally born players.

Substitutes: Martyn Waghorn made the most substitute appearances (16 in the league). For the second season running Gus Hamer was the most substituted player (16 times in league). Only three goals were scored by substitutes, compared to 10 last season: Allen and Godden (Reading h) and Tavares (Preston h). Ben Wilson was the most unused substitute, staying on the bench 40 times and Jodi Jones and Ben Shipley were each unused in 20 games.

Won from behind: (7) In 2020-21 the Sky Blues only came from behind to win once but this campaign they set a club record by coming from behind to win seven times. The previous record was set in 1977-78 under Gordon Milne when the club finished seventh in the old First Division. They achieved it in successive home games (Nottingham Forest and Reading), for the first time since 1989, and in the home games against Fulham, Bristol City and Sheffield United plus away wins at Reading and Birmingham. The Birmingham comeback was from two down and the first time since the home game v Blackpool at St Andrews in August 2019. It was also the first time City had come from two down to win by two clear goals since a 4-2 EFL trophy win at Wycombe in 2016-17 and the first in the league since 1946 when the team won 5-3 at Milwall after being 3-1 down. In addition on six occasions the team came from behind to get a draw – in home games (Blackpool, Preston and Blackburn) and away (Blackburn, Bournemouth and Huddersfield). In total 27 points were won from losing positions, another club record and the best in the Football League.

Lost from in front: (3) City lost one league game from being ahead (at Preston) and also at Southampton in the FA Cup and at home to Northampton in the League Cup. They have not lost a game at the CBS Arena after taking the lead since August 2018 when Scunthorpe won 2-1. On four occasions City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws – Blackburn (h) Millwall (a), Derby (a) and Stoke (a). Thirteen points were lost from leading positions.

Best run: The Sky Blues best league run was four unbeaten which happened twice, in September and in November.

Worst run: The worst run was six without a win between a home win over Bristol City in mid-November and a victory at Peterborough in January. That run did include four draws including shared points at Sheffield United, Bournemouth and Huddersfield.

Hat-tricks: (0) No player scored a hat-trick for the Sky Blues. Gyokeres (2) Godden (2) Sheaf and O'Hare all scored braces. Gyokeres was the first City player to score braces in successive home matches since Adam Armstrong in 2015-16.

Opposing hat-tricks: (0) For the third season running no opposing player scored a hat-trick but five scored braces: Adebayo and Cornick (Luton), Obafemi (Swansea), Solanke (Bournemouth) and Etete (Northampton LC).

Former Players: Three former City players (all loanees) scored against the Sky Blues – Danny Ward (Huddersfield) for the second season running, Gary Madine (Blackpool) and Gary Gardner (Birmingham).

Own goals: For City: (4) Thomas Kaminski (Blackburn), Nathan Thompson (Peterborough), Harry Pickering (Blackburn) and Tim Ream (Fulham) all scored in their own nets. I believe the instance of players from the same team scoring own goals at home and away in the same season – i.e. Blackburn – last occurred in 1962-63 when Millwall's Dennis John scored for City at the Den and Tom Wilson put through his own net in the return at Highfield Road.

Own goals: By City: (2) Kyle McFadzean put through his own net twice, in the home games v Fulham and West Brom. In the latter game McFadzean scored at both ends and became the first City player to score at both ends in a game twice having done so v Millwall last season.

Penalties: For City: (4) Four awarded, three scored (all by Godden at home) v Fulham, Derby and Bristol City. Gyokeres' penalty at Barnsley was saved.

Penalties: Against City: (7) Seven penalties conceded in league games (six less than 2020-21. The following scored: Swift (Reading h), Adebayo (Luton a), Martin (Bristol City h), Johnson (Preston h), Lawrence (Derby a) and Anjorin (Huddersfield). Ben Wilson saved one penalty (Grant at West Brom). The breakdown of the culprits is: Dabo (2), Clarke-Salter, Maatsen, Sheaf, Wilson and Rose (1 each).

Fastest Goal scored: Two goals were scored in the ninth minute – Gyokeres at Millwall and Blackburn Pickering's own goal in the home game.

Fastest Goal conceded: Luton's Adebayo netted his penalty after three minutes at Kenilworth Road.

Late goals: The season started with an added-time winner when McFadzean netted in the 96th minute to seal the points against Forest. It continued in the same vein with 11 goals in added time during the season – many of them to secure victories or draws. We thought that Fabio Tavares' 98th minute equaliser against Preston couldn't be topped and then came Gyokeres' 99th minute equaliser against Blackburn! In addition there were a further seven goals after the 80th minute including the winner from Viktor at Ashton Gate in the 89th minute. By contrast no team scored against the Sky Blues in added time and only four were conceded after the 80th minute.

Red cards: Coventry: (3): A much better season, discipline wise, after six red cards in 2020-21. Dabo picked up two (Cardiff and Preston at home) both in the last few minutes, and Maatsen received one (Bristol City h). The latter game was the first time since 2004 (Cardiff a) that City have scored a winner in a league game after having a player sent off and you have to go back to 1999 and a home game with Charlton for the last time City came from behind to win with 10 men.

Dabo has now received three red cards since joining the Sky Blues. The record is held by Paul Williams who was sent off four times.

Red cards: Opponents: (4) Four opponents received red cards: Woods (Birmingham h), Lerma (Bournemouth a), Hoilett (Reading a) and Lindsay (Preston h).

FA Cup: The Sky Blues beat Derby in the third round – their first win at the CBS since Stoke were defeated in 2018. They lost at Southampton in the fourth round after extra-time – the fifth time that the team have gone to extra-time since the 1987 final and they have lost all five games.

League Cup: The Sky Blues fell at the first hurdle suffering defeat at home to League Two side Northampton with an under strength side. They have not won a game in the competition at the CBS Arena since defeating Portsmouth in 2016.

Bookings: Gus Hamer picked up fifteen yellow cards (14 league 1 FA Cup). He has received 24 in two seasons at the club.

Home Attendances: The average home attendance for the first season back at the CBS Arena was an incredible 19,541 – the seventh highest in the Championship. This compares to 12,362 for the last season there in 2018-19, albeit in League One. That is the highest home average since 2006-07 when the average was 20,342 and the third highest since the move from Highfield Road in 2005. Other than the last five years in the Premiership (1996-2001) when the average was typically around 20,000, you have to go back to the 1970s when home gates were so high.

Away Attendances: An average of 17,646 watched City's away games – the third highest in the Championship – over 7,000 more than the last season when fans were allowed in 2019-20.

Highest home attendance: The Easter Monday game with Bournemouth attracted the largest crowd (24,492) at the CBS Arena. The 'home' element of the crowd that day was 22,150. The attendance was the highest recorded attendance at a home game since February 2019 when 26,741 were at the home game with Gillingham. This figure however included a large number of free tickets which were unused but included in the 'official' gate. The last time a crowd of over 25,000 was in the stadium was probably the homecoming game with Gillingham in September 2014 when 27,306 was the attendance, although tickets for this game were sold for £5.

Lowest home attendance: 15,587 v Hull City in March.

Highest away attendance: The highest league crowd that the Sky Blues played in front of was 28,977 at the City Ground, Nottingham in April. At Southampton's St.Mary's stadium for the FA Cup game in January the crowd was recorded as 30,512.

Lowest away attendance: 9,805 at Luton in September.

Away followings: The average away following to watch the Sky Blues was 1,904, the sixth highest in the Championship. If there had been no restriction on the number of away fans at some grounds this figure would have been higher. This figure is the highest since accurate figures were recorded from 2006 and almost double the average for 2006-07. The largest away following was to Southampton for the FA Cup game when 5,100 City fans were there. In the league the largest was at Blackburn when 3,749 travelled with the smallest 1,023 for the midweek game at Cardiff. There were some very large away followings at the CBS with the tops being West Brom who brought 4,470 and Sheffield United a couple of hundred less. The smallest was 501 for Hull's midweek visit.

Television: There were six live televised games for the club, all on Sky. Four were home games (Forest, Fulham, Birmingham & West Brom) plus the Sheffield United and Huddersfield away games.

Captains: City had five different captains during the season, Liam Kelly, who was club captain, Kyle McFadzean, Matt Godden and Dom Hyam all took the armband in league games. Jamie Allen captained the team in the League Cup game.

Kits: City wore three different kits during the season. The Sky Blue kit was worn in 22 home games and 13 away games. The Blue and Pink kit was used in five away games (2 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat). The White Two-Tone kit was worn in one home game (QPR) and five away games (3 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats).

Ground Stats: There were no new grounds during the season but many City fans paid their first visit to Fulham's Craven Cottage where City made their first league visit since 1968.

Bogeys: The Sky Blues continued to have the Indian sign over Barnsley. The Yorkshire club failed to beat the Sky Blues at home and it is now 26 trips to Coventry since 1925 without a win. Another of the relegated clubs, Peterborough, must dread coming to Coventry. They have not won here since their very first visit in 1961 and in twelve subsequent visits have picked up just three draws.

Despite taking the lead, City failed to end their dreadful record at Preston's Deepdale. They have never won a league game in 20 visits to the ground. Swansea are a side who love playing the Sky Blues and City have now gone 12 league games since their last victory back in the old First Division in 1981. Luton did the double over City and have not lost any of the last six meetings between the clubs. West Brom love coming to the CBS – in five visits they have won four and drawn one.

Player of the Season: Viktor Gyokeres has picked up most of the Player of the Season awards from the various supporters' clubs however my award goes Ben Sheaf. I record my 1-2-3 man of the match for every game and although it is very subjective my overall 1-2-3 were: 1 Sheaf 2 Gyokeres 3 McFadzean.

Game of the season: So many highlights from a remarkable season but the Fulham games were my personal highlights with the 3-1 win at Craven Cottage being the top game – one of the finest away performances in 60 years of following the Sky Blues.

With many thanks to Paul O'Connor.

Jim's column 7.5.22

Reader Eric Wilson was in touch this week to tell me the sad news that his mother-in-law Joyce Lomasney had passed away on the 18th April. Joyce was the cook and catering manageress at Coventry City's Ryton Training ground from 1968 to 1983.

Joyce came from Nottingham and joined the club after working as a cook at Woolston High School for 11 years. She was married to Ted, who worked at the Chrysler works, for 60 years before his death in 2008 and had two children, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren. In features on her in City programmes over the years she described how much she loved working for the club at Ryton and her and Ted were massive City fans.

                 Joyce Lomasney pictured with Ernie Hunt in the 1970s

One programme article described how former City centre-half Jim Holton accidently dropped his false teeth into a trifle that Joyce had made. The offending plate was fished out of the trifle only for Jim, with a deadpan face, to tell Joyce that he had dropped them in again. A furious Joyce threw the second trifle into the dustbin only for Jim to produce his dental plate from behind his back. Joyce was not amused and to cap it all manager Gordon Milne found Joyce's resignation on his desk the next morning, written by Jim Holton! It was all sorted out but the players wondered what Joyce might put in Big Jim's dinner in revenge. Articles also describe her love for the players of that era, in particular Tommy Hutchison, Ian Wallace, Ernie Hunt and Terry Yorath.

Joyce passed away, aged 95, at Te Hira Care Home in Rugby where she had stayed for the last two years. Prior to that the family home was in Leamington Road, Ryton, a short walk to the training ground. Joyce loved her job, and could always be heard singing on her way in! After her early retirement she and husband Ted continued to support the Sky Blues, however they were unable to attend as much as they had previously.

Coventry City's final average attendance is 19,541, the highest average since 2006-07 and the third highest since the club left the Premiership in 2001. The club have been rewarded for the exciting and attractive football played by the team this season and with season ticket sales for next season expected to set new higher records the average is likely to increase next season. The increase this season compared to 2018-19, the last season the club had played in Coventry, is 58%.

There were nine gates above 20,000 with the highest on Easter Monday for the visit of Bournemouth (24,492). The lowest was 15,587 for the midweek game with Hull in March. Compare this to 2006-07 when there were 12 20,000+ gates and a high of 27,212 (v Birmingham) and a low of 16,178 (v Colchester).

This season's higher average is also better than any City season in the 17-year period between 1979 and 1996 when average gates at Highfield Road fell to 10,500 in 1982-83 despite the club being in the top flight for the whole period. Admittedly gates were down across the whole country as football fell out of fashion for many.

After relegation in 2001 the Sky Blues attendances fell from around 20,500 to less than 15,000 in the last four seasons at Highfield Road before the novelty of the move to Longford pushed the average for the first season at the Ricoh, in 2005-06, back up to 21,211. In the following season the average dropped slightly to 20,342 and ever since the attendances have steadily slipped. Excluding the seasons at Northampton and Birmingham gates fell below 10,000 in 2014-15 before upward blips in the exciting 2016-17 season and again in 2018-19 when the club returned to League One.

The other average worth noting is the number of home fans in the stadium. This season's average is 17,256, the second highest since proper records of away fans were recorded and 62% higher than 2018-19. All in all the figures are excellent news for the club and will strengthen the management's desire to further improve the playing squad this summer.

Jim's column 30.4.22

The football season is almost over and the Sky Blues have only one match (away at Stoke) after today's final home game with Huddersfield Town. Fulham are now virtually assured of the Championship title with the other automatic place still undecided and the play-offs to come. Bearing in mind City's outstanding 'double' over Fulham, Marshall Stewart asked me if the Sky Blues have ever done the double over the champions of their division or a promoted side before.

Prior to this season the double has only once been achieved against the champions of a division once - in 2012-13 in League One when champions Doncaster Rovers were beaten 1-0 at home and 4-1 away from home. Mark Robins was in charge for the impressive away win just before Christmas and the goals came from Frank Moussa, David McGoldrick (2) and Adam Barton. By the time of the return in March Robins had decamped to Huddersfield and Steven Pressley was in charge and an early goal from Cyrus Christie earned the points. That season the Sky Blues also beat second-placed Bournemouth home and away with McGoldrick netting the only goal at home and Leon Clarke and a Carl Baker penalty earning City a 2-0 win on the South Coast during Lee Carsley's brief period in charge of the team following Robins's departure. Strange that City could earn 12 points of the top two that season but lose home and away to teams like Crewe and Shrewsbury.

There have been a handful of occasions when the Sky Blues have done the double over promoted sides. The first was in their 34th season as a Football League side, in 1959-60, when the team finished fifth in Division Three but defeated the runners up Norwich City home and away. Then in 1966-67 City were promoted from Division Two as champions and did the double over runners up Wolves. In the 34 seasons in the top flight the Sky Blues never once did the double over the champions and their only double over a promoted side in the Championship years between 2001-12 was in 2008-09 over Birmingham City. A Clinton Morrison goal gave City a 1-0 win at St Andrew's and in the return Scott Dann's second minute goal was enough to clinch the double. Birmingham finished runners up that season and won automatic promotion.

In City's 2017-18 League Two campaign they managed to do the double over fellow promoted club Wycombe Wanderers, winning 3-2 at home and 1-0 at Adams Park. Then the following season in League One they beat promoted Charlton Athletic home and away with both games ending 2-1.

Ben Wilson was the hero last weekend at the Hawthorns with his added-time penalty save after a harsh refereeing decision handed the Baggies an undeserved chance to take all three points. Ben's save was the first by a Coventry City goalkeeper in a league game since April 2017 when Lee Burge saved Peterborough's Craig Mackail-Smith's penalty at the Ricoh Arena in a game won 1-0 by the Sky Blues.

In the intervening five years the Sky Blues have conceded 25 league penalties and none have been stopped – a pretty miserable record and a long way from the 2013-14 season when Joe Murphy saved five out of the 11 penalties conceded by the team.

Marko Marosi did save one in a League Cup game at MK Dons last season. You have to go back to an away game at Tranmere in January 2020 for the last penalty miss by the opposition when Rovers' Morgan Ferrier blasted his spot kick over the bar in City's 4-1 away win.

For the record City have been given four penalties this season. Three have been scored (all by Matty Godden) and one missed by Viktor Gyokeres. They have now conceded four with three scored and one saved.

Jim's column 23.4.22

Coventry City had a mixed Easter weekend with another impressive comeback at St Andrew's on Good Friday followed by an unlucky defeat at home to high-flying, star-studded Bournemouth on Monday afternoon. Expectations were high at Birmingham but poor defending gave the Blues a two-goal lead before the outstanding Ben Sheaf scored his first goals for the club to pull the Sky Blues level by half-time. With confidence high and the home side struggling to cope with City's attacking prowess, one felt there was only one team going to win and Rose and O'Hare put Blues out of their misery.

City's away form since Christmas has been very impressive with five wins and a draw from ten games and it is interesting that in the same period the team's home form, which was so impressive in the autumn, has gone the other way with only three wins and three draws from 11 games.

It was the first time City had come from two goals down to win since August 2019 when, during their stay at St Andrew's they trailed Blackpool 2-0 but came back to win 3-2 with goals from Matty Godden, Wes Jobello and a 91st minute winner from Callum O'Hare. City have now gained 27 points from losing positions this season, the best in the Championship and a club record.

I had a log trawl through the records to find the last time City reversed a two-goal deficit and won by two clear goals. There was an FLT victory at Wycombe in 2016 where they were losing 2-0 at half-time before goals from Ryan Haynes (2) George Thomas and Gail Bigirimana saw City win 4-2. For the last occasion in a league game you have to go back to 1946 when City visited Millwall in a Division 2 game. George Ashall put City ahead after half an hour but the Lions roared back and led 3-1 two minutes into the second half. Then a Coventry blitz saw them score four goals in 15 minutes to win the game 5-3 with Ashall completing a hat-trick and Harry Barratt and Ted Roberts netting the other goals. In the match report in the Pink, Nemo wasn't complimentary, saying : 'Play was wild and almost completely lacking in constructive football'.

The game on Monday attracted the biggest crowd of the season to the CBS Arena, 24,492. That is the largest crowd at the stadium since a Family Day game with Gillingham in 2019 when the 'official' attendance was 26,741. However that included 12,500 free tickets, many of which were not used and the likely attendance was more like 18,000. Similarly the 'official' attendance for a Family Day game v Accrington in 2018 was given as 28,343 but there were probably only 21,000 in attendance. The last time there were as many people at a City home game was the Gillingham homecoming game in September 2014 when 27,306 were in the ground (many on cheap tickets). The Bournemouth attendance means that the club's average attendance is now 19,346 and will almost certainly be the highest average since 2006-07 (20,342) and the third highest since the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2001.

I also looked at the home element of the club's attendances and on Monday there were 22,150 City fans in the ground. By my reckoning this is the fourth highest for a Sky Blues home league game since the move to the Arena in 2005. There were bigger home contingents for the Middlesbrough, West Brom and Chelsea FA Cup ties and the Crewe EFL Trophy game in 2013 but the three higher league games were:

2014-15 Gillingham attendance 27,306. away fans: 495. Home fans: 26,811

2007-08 Wolves attendance 27,992. away fans: 5,400. Home fans: 22,542

2005-06 Leeds attendance: 26,643. away fans: 4,255. Home fans: 22,388

With the good news about season ticket sales for next season we could soon be looking at record home contingents but also average home attendances of over 22,000, something we haven't seen at Coventry since the 1970s!