Jim's column 22.8.2015

Three wins, nine points and Coventry City are top of the table. What a great start to a season that sees the club celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the 1935-36 Third Division championship side. I have been inundated with questions about the great start, Armstrong's scoring feats, etc.

The three-win run equals the start made in 1992-93, the inaugural season of the Premier League, under Bobby Gould. In August 1992, City followed up a 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough with two away wins in the capital at Tottenham (2-0) & Wimbledon (2-1) to become the first-ever leaders of the new 'Super League'.

The club's best ever start of victories was in 1964-65 when Jimmy Hill's newly promoted side took the Second Division by storm with five straight victories. A 2-0 home victory over Plymouth was followed by away wins at Ipswich & Bolton (both 3-1) and further home successes over Ipswich (5-3 in front of over 37,000) and Middlesbrough (3-0).

In City's last Third Division promotion season, 1963-64, the team started with three straight wins, followed by a draw & three more victories to make it six wins out of seven. There was an identical start in 1954-55 with Eddie Brown notching eight goals in seven games. Another good start came in 1934-35, with four consecutive wins with nine goals scored and four clean sheets. The team finished third that season.

One statistic that went largely unnoticed this week was that the club notched its fourth consecutive league victory, following the win at Crawley on the final day last season. You have to go back to December 2002 to find the last four straight league wins by City. Under Gary McAllister the team won at Stoke and Wolves on consecutive Saturdays, and then beat Derby 3-0 and Reading 2-0 on Boxing Day. Sadly they won only one more game until the end of the season!

You have to go back 17 years to the last run of five league victories. That was in February 1998 under Gordon Strachan when City were buzzing and if you include FA Cup games including the famous win at Villa Park it was seven wins in a row.

Adam Armstrong has taken League One by storm with five goals in three games, the best start ever by a City striker. In 1992 Mick Quinn arrived from Newcastle & netted four in his first three games but Adam will have a battle on his hands to match Quinn's haul of ten goals in his first six starts.

Armstrong emulated Reda Johnson's feat on the opening day last season by scoring two goals on his debut & became the 93^rd player to score on his City debut and only the eighth to score more than one goal on his first Football League appearance for the club. The previous seven are:-

 

1928 Tommy Bowen v Norwich (h) 2

1954. Jack Lee v Crystal Palace (h) 2

1963.  George Hudson v Halifax (h) 3

1992.  Mick Quinn v Man City. (h)  2

1999.  Robbie Keane v Derby County (h)  2

2013.  Chris Maguire v MK Dons (a) 2

2014. Reda Johnson v Bradford City (a) 2

That makes Adam the first to score a debut brace at home since Robbie Keane's arrival in 1999 & the first ever at the Ricoh. He has some way to create a record for successive scoring games. That record is held by the legendary Clarrie Bourton who scored in nine consecutive league games in 1931-32 on his way to a record 49 goals for the season. The afore-mentioned Quinn netted in six consecutive league games in 1992-93 and Terry Gibson managed seven in a row in 1985-86 but that included League Cup & Full Members Cup ties. The most recent run of successive scoring came two seasons ago when Callum Wilson scored in five games in a row & narrowly failed to equalling Quinn's total by missing a penalty in the sixth game.

Jim's column 9.11.13

The Sky Blues win at home to Notts County was the first time in almost three years that the team have won three consecutive league games. They didn't manage it under Andy Thorn or even Mark Robins in that golden period last November & December when sadly the home form let them down.You have to go back to the Aidy Bothroyd era to find the last three in a row. On 20 November 2010 Burnley were beaten 1-0 at home thanks to a Michael Doyle goal. A week later a Gary McSheffrey goal  & a Joe Murphy own goal saw City win 2-0 at Scunthorpe. Then Middlesbrough were beaten 1-0 at the Ricoh with Marlon King netting his first Coventry goal from the penalty spot. Those three victories lifted the Sky Blues into fifth place in the Championship, the highest position the club have been in during the last six years. Unfortunately the wheels came off after that & the team went ten games without a win and Bothroyd's days were numbered.

You have to go back to 2002 to find the last time City won four league games in a row. That was in the Gary McAllister era and part of a magic month of December when the Sky Blues followed away wins on consecutive Saturdays at Stoke & Wolves by beating Derby & Reading at home. The wins lifted the team to sixth place in what was then called Division 1 but like 2010 it was the pre-cursor to a massive slump. Following the 2-0 win over Reading on Boxing Day, McAllister's men won only one further game all season and none at home. The club's financial situation was critical & McAllister was forced to play youngsters & loanees few of whom were good enough to avert a slide down the table to a final position of 20th.

Damian Kimberley pointed out that the Sky Blues have netted three goals in each of the last three home league games & wondered when they last achieved that feat. To find when City last scored three or more in three consecutive home games you have to go back 34 years to 1979 & the Gordon Milne era. In April 1979 City beat Southampton 4-0 thanks to an Ian Wallace hat-trick and ended the season with a 3-0 victory over Leeds (Barry Powell 2 & Gary Bannister). Then in the opening home game of the following season Bristol City were beaten 3-1 (Tommy English, Powell & Tommy Hutchison).

Keith Ballantyne e-mailed asking the question: 'aren't Preston North End one of our real hoodoo sides? I have a vague recollection of us playing them in a winter fixture, and seem to remember that it may have been the game where the Highfield Road pitch was cleared of snow and promptly froze solid, but it was decided that if the snow was put back on it would be playable; it was and the game went ahead. I've got a feeling it was 1965-66 and George Hudson featured on the scoresheet. I hope that you can enlighten me'

Keith is correct regarding the hoodoo. City have never won a single league game at Deepdale in 16 visits stretching back over 60 years but did win Cup matches there in 1909 & 2000. At home the Sky Blues have a better record but have still only won two of the 12 league meetings between the clubs since 2001. They beat Preston 4-1 in 2003-04 (during the Eric Black era) and 2-1 in 2007-08, all other games have been drawn or lost.

The game on an icy pitch that Keith remembers was at Christmas 1964 when the Sky Blues beat Preston 3-0 with goals from Ernie Machin, Hudson & Willie Humphries. It was one of Hudson's greatest games in a Coventry shirt. His chip for his goal was reminiscent of Moussa's recent effort against Leyton Orient & he made the two other goals with delicate flicks. In the Coventry Telegraph match report Nemo wrote: 'How many of the game's finest ball artists could have turned on a performance such as this unpredictable man Hudson did last night? Ninety-five per cent of what he achieved was accomplished to perfection.'

Follow me on twitter @clarriebourton

JIM'S COLUMN 13.3.10

Another away victory last Saturday at London Road, Peterborough, strengthened City’s case for a play-off place and with some of their rivals stuttering the odds are falling on a miracle happening. City fans are quite rightly getting excited about the prospect of the team’s first foray into the play-offs but there is still a long way to go, with probably around 23 points from 11 games required. History tells us that as the race for a top six place reaches a climax the form of the leading protagonists will inevitably improve. City’s remaining home games look relatively easy but how often have we looked at fixtures and marked them down as a banker only to see our team blow an opportunity. As well, the recent home records against Cardiff, Preston and Watford are far from impressive. My advice to City fans is enjoy the ride – it’s so rare for us to be in contention for some glory and if the club’s recent history is anything to go by it might be some time before we get the chance again.

Today’s home game with struggling Plymouth Argyle gives the Sky Blues the chance to achieve their best run of league wins for eight years. Victory would mean a fourth success in a row and the best since December 2002 when under the managership of Gary McAllister the team beat Stoke (a), Wolves (a), Derby (h) and Reading (h). The mini-run took City to sixth place in the Championship and earned Gary the manager of the month award. Unfortunately the wheels fell off and the Sky Blues recorded just one victory in the remaining 21 games and missed relegation by a whisker. It is 12 years since a City team won five in a row – Gordon Strachan’s impressive side in 1997-98.

Mick Sanders enjoyed the short obituary to Birmingham goalkeeping legend Gil Merrick a couple of weeks ago. The article reminded him of one of his earliest City memories - George Mason's testimonial match in April 1953. He recalls it was between Coventry City and a Midlands All Star XI. City’s forward line was strengthened by two guests, Derby’s former England man Jack Stamps and Cardiff’s former City player Ken Chisholm. Merrick played in goal for a team that included the famous flying Wolves wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen. The game, watched by a crowd of 11,143 was a thrilling exhibition match and ended in an 8-5 win for the All Stars for whom Arthur Rowley scored three goals, Hancocks 2, Peter Murphy, Ronnie Allen and a Martin McDonnell own goal. City’s scorers were Stamps (3), Barry Thomas and Eric Johnson. As Mick points out in his email, it was an opportunity to see some of the top players of the day including some of the mighty Wolves team and the great Gil Merrick in goal.

The acceptances are flying in for this year’s Legends Day and it is expected that around 50 former Coventry City players will be attending the event at the Sheffield Wednesday home game at the end of the month. The Former Players Association are organising the event and acceptances have been received this week from such luminaries as Neil Martin, Alan Green, John Williams and Wilf Smith.