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!

Jim's column 26.2.22

One major consequence of the Sky Blues' excellent season in the EFL Championship is an increase in attendances at home games. After 16 home league games the average attendance is 19,196 which is easily the highest since the club dropped out of the division in 2012 with the best in that time being 12,500 in 2015-16. The current average is the highest since 2006-07 when the final average was 20,342. With attractive home games to come with clubs with good away followings the final average could conceivably top the 2006-07 figure. Promotion chasing Sheffield United, Blackburn, Huddersfield and Bournemouth have all got to come to the CBS Arena before the end of the season and all could be 20,000 plus gates.

The highest home attendance this season was 23,829 for the Derby game with the lowest being 15,752 for the midweek game with Blackpool. The average number of home supporters attending is just short of 17,000 and I expect this to increase with City in the hunt for a play-off place.

Average home attendances since the move to the Ricoh/CBS Arena with the final league positions:

2005-06 21,211 Champ/8th

2006-07 20,342 Champ/17th

2007-08 19,134 Champ/21st

2008-09 17,411 Champ/17th

2009-10 17,305 Champ/19th

2010-11 16,307 Champ/18th

2011-12 15,121 Champ/23rd Relegated

2012-13 10,938 L1/15th

2013-14 2,364 L1/18th (Sixfields)

2014-15 9,332 L1/17th

2015-16 12,570 L1/8th

2016-17 9,203 L1/23rd Relegated

2017-18 9,255 L2/6th Promoted

2018-19 12,362 L1/8th

2019-20 6,653 L1/Champions (St Andrews)

It's sad to report the death, at the age of 57, of former Coventry City defender Andy Spring. Andy, who hailed from Gateshead, was an apprentice at City and played in the youth teams of 1982-83 and 1983-84 alongside teammates such as Perry Suckling, Lloyd McGrath and Keith Thompson. Bobby Gould gave Andy his first team debut as an 18-year-old in May 1984 at Anfield as a substitute in a 5-0 hammering by the champions when Ian Rush scored four of the goals. He was brought back into the side early the following season after regular right-back Kirk Stephens was injured and played five games including two legs of the League Cup tie with Walsall. His seventh and final game for the first team was as a substitute in a 6-2 thrashing at Chelsea in November 1984.

                                Andy Spring

The following summer he was signed on a free transfer by Bristol Rovers, then managed by Bobby Gould. Andy played 23 games for the Gas and had a brief loan at Cardiff. A move back to the North East with Hartlepool didn't work out and by 1987 he had moved to Ireland. Spells with Drogheda, Sligo Rovers and Longford Town. In 1992, Spring was reported to have won £250,000 on the Irish Lottery from a 25p ticket. He later worked for many years in the prison service and worked latterly as a lorry driver, based in Redditch.

His son Aaron, was a talented rugby player and represented Ireland under 20s.