Some fascinating stats

It's been a fascinating few weeks on and off the field and I thought it would be useful to recap on some of the interesting stats that been cropped up in recent weeks. Let's look at the recent games that the Sky Blues have been involved in.

Preston (away): another defeat at Deepdale, City's unhappiest away ground. The 1-0 defeat, unlucky I would argue, extended the Sky Blues run without a league win there to 23 games. Eight draws and 15 defeats since the first meeting in 1949. It's also 22 league games at any venue since the Sky Blues lowered Proud Preston's flag – Dele Adebola and Michael Doyle the scorers in a 2-1 win at the Ricoh Arena in 2007.

QPR (away): In the 113^th league meeting against the Londoners (City have not met any club more) City came away with a draw. They have won more away games at QPR than any other opponent (17) but failed to make it a hat-trick after the last two comprehensive victories.

Luton (home): Despite a good first half performance the Sky Blues trailed 0-2 at the break. Then, with a stunning comeback, they turned the game on its head with three second half goals to break a poor run against the Hatters. It had been 10 games, including the play-off final two years ago, since City had beaten the Bedfordshire club. The last victory was the 3-0 at Kenilworth Road in League Two in 2017 when Mark McNulty, Jordan Shipley and Duckens Nazon scored, the latter two in injury time. Up until 2007 City's home record against Luton had traditionally been very good (only two losses in 32 games) but since the 1-0 win in 2007 Luton had not been beaten in five visits (three draws and two losses). Coventry comebacks from a two-goal deficit are rare (only 10 in the last 54 years).

Sunderland (away): Another comeback, this time from 0-2 to draw. This was the fourth time in four seasons (five if you count the FA Cup semi final) that the Sky Blues have achieved this feat the others being Blackburn (away) and Bournemouth (away) in 2021-22 and Watford (home) in 2022-23. The result extended the Sky Blues excellent record against Sunderland to nine unbeaten and five unbeaten at the Stadium of Light. The last time City lost to Sunderland was in February 2007 when Roy Keane was in charge of the Black Cats and goals from Dwight Yorke and Carlos Edwards gave them a 2-0 win. City haven't lost at home to Sunderland in 12 home games stretching back to 1985 in the old First Division. The attendance at the Stadium of Light was 43,374 was the largest league crowd to watch the Sky Blues since they left the Premiership 23 years ago, topping the 41,216 that watched the Sky Blues 3-0 win last season.

Farewell Mark Robins

What a tumultuous two weeks we've had in the history of Coventry City with the departure of the long-serving and incredibly successful manager Mark Robins. Mark had previously managed the club in 2012-13 but returned in March 2017 to replace the inept Russell Slade with the Sky Blues rock bottom of League One, on their way to the fourth tier of English football for the first time in almost sixty years. He somehow managed to motivate his limited squad of players to a EFL (Checkatrade) final victory over Oxford United at Wembley and then started the Herculean task of lifting the team back to higher things. With a virtual rebuild of the squad including the inspired signings of Michael Doyle and Marc McNulty Mark scrapped into the League Two play-offs before overturning the formbook with famous victories over Notts County and Exeter City.

The team continued to evolve in League One and after a season of consolidation the addition of players like Kyle McFadzean and Matty Godden helped clinch a League One championship in the second, covid-affected 2019-20 season. Robins and the team found the Championship challenging in 2020-21 just keeping their head above water before a final flurry ensured safety. The triumphant return to the CBS Arena in 2021 saw City competing near the top of the division and the fans witnessed some incredible performances with thrilling victories over champions Fulham (twice), Sheffield United and Bristol City. The final position of 12^th was then improved on in 2022-23 despite the CBS pitch problems causing the team to play six of their first seven games away from home. A run of 18 games with only one defeat with Gyokeres and Hamer to the fore catapulted the Sky Blues to the play-off final at Wembley where sadly the Premier League dream was extinguished in a cruel penalty shoot-out. 

Less than a year later with a much-changed but arguably stronger team a combination of penalty shoot-out misery and VAR wrecked City's fantasy of an FA Cup final appearance in a classic tie with Manchester United and the mental and physical efforts of reaching the semi final probably cost the club a play-off place.

Now seven months later after another slow start Mark Robins has paid the price. Many fans felt he had sufficient credit in the bank from his achievements for the club to warrant more time to correct things but in the cruel world of football management the owner had lost patience. Like John Sillett in 1990 – sacrificed for a 'name' manager, Terry Butcher – Mark Robins' accomplishments appear to have been forgotten in the urge for 'change'.

Mark's record in his second spell as manager of Coventry City was:

Games 335 Won 132 Drawn 92 Lost 111 a win ratio of 39.4%

In addition his record in Cup and other games was:

Games 52 Won 22 Drawn 14 Lost 16

Mark's first spell as City manager in 2012-13 comprised of:

Games 33 Won 17 Drawn 6 Lost 10

A grand total of:

Games 420 Won 171 Drawn 112 Lost 137 a win ratio of 40.7%

Only two managers in the club's history have managed the club in more games, Harry Storer, who was in charge for 691 games in two spells (1931-45 and 1948-53) and Gordon Milne who sat in the chair for 440 games (1972-81). Only two managers who have managed the club for at least a full season can better Robins' overall win ratio of 40.7%, Storer and Jimmy Hill (both on 44.4%) with John Sillett close behind Robins on 40.6%.

There you have it – Mark Robins is statistically up there with the magnicent three of Storer, Hill and Sillett. 

If you enjoy this column and would like to hear more about Coventry City's history you can listen to the Sky Blue History Podcast which is available on Spotify and YouTube. Claudio Cardellino and I talk about all things Sky Blue. Just search for 'Sky Blue History Podcast'

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

City's most familiar opponents

I had a fascinating email this week from City fan Steve Coyne who has compiled the Sky Blues head to head record in Football League games. He has continued from the table published in the book 'Coventry City the Complete Record' published in 1991, which covered all Coventry City matches to the end of season 1990-91.

Up to 1991, Steve writes, we had faced QPR and Southampton 80 times each, followed by Norwich on 74, and Crystal Palace with 70 matches. It should be pointed out that until the 1958-59 season football was regionalised. Although the City, being a Midland club, had played in both Divisions Three North and South, they played all but one season in the Southern section which accounts for the leaders all being Southern teams. For the same reason until 1967 we played very few of the top Division One clubs from the North and Midlands.

City then went on an unbroken run of 34 seasons in the top flight including being founder members of the Premier League in 1992, meaning 68 matches against clubs like Everton and Arsenal with unbroken membership of the top flight. Since the publication of the record book City have played a further 32 seasons. There have been one or two books, mainly by Jim, recording sections of more recent results but no complete run of the completed seasons to the end of last season, 2023-24. Hence I dug out my own records of CCFC matches since, and by adding my figures to the 1991 records have ended up with what I hope is an up-to –date figure. These are Premier, Football League/EFL matches only and exclude all Cup-ties, friendlies, or our one season in the European Fairs Cup. There were also our two forays into the Play-Offs totalling 4 games, plus two Wembley Play-Off final opponents (2017-18 and 2022-23), but none of the four teams we played feature near the top of our table. 

So now the big reveal. On the 22^nd October 2024 our most recent visit to Loftus Road turns out to be of particular significance being the 113^th time the two teams have faced each other in League matches – a new record. Here are the top ten League opponents to the end of last season. Leeds and Watford will move up to join Leicester on 84 matches by the end of this season in May 2025

1= Queen’s Park Rangers 112

1= Southampton 112

3 Norwich City 104

4 Crystal Palace 98

5 Nottingham Forest 90 

6 West Ham United 88

7 Leicester City 84

8= Leeds United 82

8= Ipswich Town 82

8= Tottenham Hotspur 82

8= Watford 82

Figures include the Covid interrupted season 2019-20 where we played only 34 matches including ten clubs (further down the list) who we played just once.

Thanks Steve.

To add to Steve's excellent research I have identified the 15 clubs who City have only met twice (home and away) in their Football League history i.e. were in the same division for one season.

Six were encountered in the League Two season in 2017-18 (Barnet, Cambridge United, Cheltenham Town, Forest Green Rovers, Morecambe, Newport County (new)). Four were opponents in that one season in Division Three North in 1925-26 (Ashington, Durham City, New Brighton and Wigan Borough). Three were met in Division Four in 1958-59 (Chester City, Darlington and Workington Town). Aberdare Athletic were in Division Three South in 1926-27 whilst Leeds City are a defunct club that City met in 1919. The new Newport County are nothing to do with the club who City met 38 times between 1919-62.