Jim's column 25.2.23

The Sky Blues recorded their 12^th league victory of the season at Rotherham last Saturday with goals from Jamie Allen and Viktor Gyokeres giving them a 2-0 win. It was pointed out to me that in all twelve wins this season the team have kept a clean sheet – a staggering statistic and one that supports the theory that City have improved the defensive issues which marred the first season back in the Championship (2020-21).

Before today's game City had conceded 33 goals in 32 games. Only three sides had conceded less goals this season – the top two, Burnley (28) and Sheffield United (30), and Luton (32). Let's not forget that seven of those goals were conceded in two crazy home games against Swansea (3-3) and Norwich (2-4). 

In 2020-21 City conceded 61 goals then 59 last season. This season barring a monumental collapse they should comfortably improve on those figures. Yet we still hear fans bemoaning the sale of Dominic Hyam and saying it weakened the defence, a theory I don't agree with. The form of Kyle McFadzean has been the biggest factor, in 22 games when Fadz has played the team have conceded 17 goals, in the 10 games when he has been absent they have conceded 16.

Saturday's victory in South Yorkshire makes it 15 clean sheets for the season (all with Ben Wilson in goal). The club record is 18, set in 1938-39 and equalled in 1958-59. The final season before the outbreak of the war saw City finish fourth in the old Second Division for the second year running. The days of the prolific scoring of Clarrie Bourton were over and manager Harry Storer adopted more cautious and defensive tactics. The season consisted of 42 games and the experienced Bill Morgan played in 41 games with 17 clean sheets with the more junior Alf Wood standing in for a 1-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday. Twenty years later City kept 18 shut-outs from 46 games on the way to promotion from the old Division Four. Manager Billy Frith used four goalkeepers in the season and their records were as follows:

Jim Sanders 10 games 4 clean sheets

Graham Spratt 1 game 0 clean sheets 

Alf Wood 10 games 5 clean sheets 

Arthur Lightening 25 games 9 clean sheets

Wood was the club's coach at the time and called out of retirement to play following Sanders breaking his leg. Neither Sanders, Spratt nor Wood played league football after this season.

Since 1959 the best clean sheet record has been in 1970-71 when they kept 17 (Glazier 16, McManus 1). There were 16 shut-outs in seasons 2001-02, 2015-16 and 2017-18. 

Ben Wilson is closing in on the club record by a goalkeeper. Morgan holds the record with 17, followed by Bill Glazier with 16 in 1970-71 and Ben is now level on 15 with Glazier (1969-70), Steve Ogrizovic (1987-88), Morgan (1937-38) and Horace Pearson (1934-35). 

I promised to mention a few more City caretaker managers this week. 

2002 After Don Howe in 1992 we have had Steve Ogrizovic and Trevor Peake as joint caretakers for the final game of the 2001-02 season after Roland Nilsson was sacked.

2004 In May 2004 Steve Ogrizovic stepped up again following Eric Black's departure but didn't manage a game after Peter Reid was appointed and took charge for the final game of the season.

2005 In January 2005 Assistant Manager Adrian Heath stepped up following Reid's sacking. Heath took charge for a 3-0 FA Cup win over Crewe and a 2-3 loss at Ipswich before Micky Adams arrived as new boss.

2007 Two years later Heath was given the caretaker role again after Adams was sacked. Adrian took charge for five games. He won one, drew one and lost three before Iain Dowie arrived as the new man in charge.

Jim's column 12.11.22

The Sky Blues' 2-0 home win over Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening made it three wins in a row with no goals conceded following the earlier victories over Blackburn and Watford. That's the second time this season that the team have achieved that feat and the six wins in eight have lifted the Sky Blues from the foot of the table to 12th position in the Championship, and they still have games in hand. It's been an incredible turnround after the negativity back in the first few weeks of the season. The Blackpool home defeat sticks out like a sore thumb in the astonishing run although there were strong mitigating circumstances with a good number of the squad struck down with a virus but it did mean the Sky Blues lost after leading at home for the first time since March 2021. That was when Middlesbrough won 2-1 at St Andrews after City led through an early own goal. It last happened at the CBS Arena against Scunthorpe United on the opening day of the 2018-19 season. Tony Andreu put City ahead just after half-time but goals from Stephen Humphrys and Andy Dales (on his debut) gave the Irons the points. How Coventry and Scunthorpe's fortunes have diverged in the intervening four years. Before today's games the Sky Blues were 32nd in the football pyramid whilst the Irons were 113th (21st in the National League).

City's defence has tightened boundlessly with nine clean sheets in 12 games (including a new club record of five consecutive shut-outs away from home). The only goals conceded have been to Burnley, Rotherham (2) and Blackpool (2) and only Preston (16) have conceded less than City's 18 in the Championship this season.

The recent away form has been impressive with three wins preceded by three draws in an unbeaten run of six – the best run since the League One title season when they were unbeaten for the final eight away games (that run including seven wins). The last time City won three consecutive away games without conceding was in early 2004 under Eric Black when Nottingham Forest (1-0), Wimbledon (3-0) and Cardiff (1-0) were defeated. The only other occasion was in the old Second Division in 1938-39.

Few City fans recognised a former Sky Blue loanee, Jamie Jones, playing in goal for Wigan on Tuesday night. Jamie, now 33 years old, played four games for City on loan from Preston in 2014 under Steven Pressley. Jamie, a scouser who hailed from Kirkby (the same part of Liverpool as Dennis Mortimer), started his career at Everton before joining Leyton Orient. Orient just missed out on promotion to the Championship in 2013-14 and he earned a move to Preston where he stayed just one season. After two seasons at Stevenage he joined Wigan in 2017 and has played over 100 games for them and is current understudy to Ben Amos. In 2015 he made his Sky Blues debut in a 0-0 draw at Yeovil, replacing Ryan Allsop, and appeared in goal in the final four league games of the Pressley regime. After Pressley was sacked following a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane Jamie left the club and moved to Rochdale on loan.

                  Jamie Jones (left) with Jim O'Brien in 2015

Keith Reay asked an interesting question regarding a television programme from the early 1990s. He remembers the fictional programme about a female football manager which featured a City away game at QPR in one episode. He remembers City playing in a yellow away kit sponsored by Peugeot, but couldn't remember the name of the television programme.

It was called The Manageress and starred Cherie Lunghi as the manageress and the late Warren Clarke as the chairman. I suspect the game that was featured was the Boxing Day game at Loftus Road in 1989 (picture shown featuring Brian Borrows and QPR's Andy Sinton) which ended in a 1-0 defeat for the Sky Blues.

Jim's column 8.10.22

It's sad to report the death of former Coventry City player Alan Turner who played under Jimmy Hill in the 1960s. His friend and former playing colleague Dennis Oakes informed me that Alan died on 23rd September.

Alan, who was with the club from 1962-66, only made four first team appearances but was a regular in the reserve team during those years, playing over 120 games for the 'stiffs'.

Born in 1943 and a native of Hull, Alan was a junior with Hull City and an amateur player with Chilton FC before Scunthorpe United took him on as a reserve player in 1960. Jimmy Hill had only arrived at Highfield Road in the previous November and invited Alan to a month's trial in January 1962 following a recommendation from one of Hill's old army mates. He made his 'A' team debut against West Brom on 20 January and Alan scored the first goal in City's 2-1 win with Dietmar Bruck scoring the winner.

A scheming inside-forward with a good eye for goal, Alan made his reserve team debut at Aldershot on 14 February alongside other youngsters Brian Hill, Dietmar Bruck and Bob Wesson and Alan Dicks, City's new Assistant manager also made his debut. The reserves ended a bad run of results by winning 1-0 thanks to a goal by Mike Dixon. A week later he scored his first goal in an 8-2 home reserve win over QPR and was a regular in the reserves until the end of the season, scoring three goals in 13 games. On 24 April he got his first team chance in the Third Division game at Ashton Gate as JH gave promising youngsters a run out – winger George Bassett also debuted and young striker Colin Holder also played. 18-year-old Alan had a tough game against experienced defenders and City lost 3-2.

The club had some outstanding forwards in that era and Alan was restricted to reserve games for the next three seasons but he was a regular in the 1964-65 team that won promotion from Football Combination Division Two in front of average crowds of over 5,000, scoring nine goals.

He didn't play for the first team again until Easter 1965 when he was called up to play in a 2-0 Second Division home defeat to Cardiff and a week later appeared in the final game of the season, a 3-1 win at Leyton Orient. His fourth and final game for the club was in a Division Two game at Highfield Road against Southampton in September 1965 when he stood in for the injured Ron Farmer - the Sky Blues ran out 5-1 winners.

Alan was transferred to Third Division Shrewsbury Town in July 1966 where he played a further sixteen games and scored three goals before moving to Bradford Park Avenue in May 1967 where he played the whole season and scored four times in 32 appearances. Bradford finished rock bottom of the Football League and had to apply for re-election and Alan was released. His last professional club was Northern Premier League side Wigan Athletic and he later moved back to Humberside and played in non-league with Goole Town where he was player-manager. He worked for GKN in the 1970s and lived on Humberside.

Alan had been a frequent attender of CCFPA Legends Day over the years and is pictured at Legends Day 2017 with Bedworth-born Dennis Oakes. My condolences go out to his widow Joan. Funeral takes place at 11.30 am on the 21st October at Haltemprice Crematorium near Hull.

 Alan (right) with friend & former teammate Dennis Oakes at Legends Day 2017

The Sky Blues won a hard-earned point at Ashton Gate on Tuesday evening with some excellent defending. Although under pressure for most of the game, City had the best chances of the gam and could easily have won the game. It was another clean sheet – the third in a row in the league for the first time since the opening three games of the 2019-20 season. One has to go back to 2015 to find the last time they kept four in a row. The club record is six, set in 1934.

Jim's column 31.10.2015

On Saturday at Swindon, Reice Charles-Cook broke Steve Ogrizovic's post-war Coventry City record for the most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. He passed Oggy's record in the 78^th minute and at that stage it looked like a good day all round for the Sky Blues as they led 2-0 and looked on course for another away victory. Then, as so often happens at the County Ground, the home side roused themselves & with five minutes to go, netted once before scoring an added-time equaliser from the penalty spot.

Reice's record of 580 minutes left him 28 minutes short of the all-time club record, set, as I wrote last week, in 1934 by Horace Pearson.

During the debate over clean sheets, several people have asked me which City goalkeeper holds the record for the most clean sheets in a season. The most by the team in a league season is 18, achieved in 1938-39 and 1958-59. In the latter season, the Division 4 promotion campaign, City used four goalkeepers and three of them, Arthur Lightening (9), Alf Wood (5) and Alf Bentley (4), shared the clean sheets. In 1938-39 Bill Morgan set the record by keeping 17 in 41 games, the other being Alf Wood in his sole game between the sticks. Bill Glazier came close to equalling Morgan's record with 15 in 1968-69 and 16 in 1970-71. Oggy's best season was 1987-88 when he kept 15 clean sheets in 40 games.

Swindon's County Ground has rarely been a happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues and although they have two FA Cup victories there (1966 & 2001), they have failed to win a league game there in nine attempts since the last in December 1960. The Robins also love playing in Coventry – they have won all three encounters at the Ricoh and City last beat them in the league in 1964. Even in Swindon's one season in the Premier League, in 1993-94, in which they won only five games all season, they managed to thump City 3-1 at home and take a point home from Highfield Road with a last minute equaliser.

In the last four seasons City have thrown away a lead at Swindon and squandered nine points in the process. Definitely one of City's hoodoo grounds.

.

2012-13 leading 2-0 with 13 minutes left – final score 2-2

2013-14 leading 1-0 with 14 minutes left – final score 1-2

2014-15 leading 1-0 with 18 minutes left – final score 1-1

2015-16 leading 2-0 with 5 minutes left – final score 2-2

The FA Cup draw paired City with old rivals Northampton Town for what will be the two club's first competitive meeting since the Third Round FA Cup tie in January 1990. That game resulted in an embarrassing 1-0 defeat for City who were 11^th in the old First Division at the time and on the verge of a League Cup semi-final place. The Cobblers were 11^th in Division Three & shocked John Sillett's team with the only goal coming from Steve Berry. The game took place on the Cobblers' old ground, the County Ground which they shared with Northamptonshire cricket team and which had only three sides.

The teams have met in the FA Cup on two other occasions, in 1930 and 1954. City triumphed at the County Ground in both games. In 1931 goals from Frank Bowden & Billy Lake gave City a 2-1 success, whilst in 1954 the game was won by a freak 80-yard shot by Roy Kirk that caught former City goalkeeper Alf Wood, off his line, and bounced into the net.

On the subject of freak goals at Northampton, regular reader Arthur Warner wrote to me this week concerning such a goal at the County Ground. Arthur wrote:

My memory took me back to when I was about 11 or 12 years of age and I witnessed a very bizarre and embarrassing own goal by Charlie Ashcroft who was in goal for City. It was in the mid fifties when my Dad took me to Northampton on the train to see the City play the Cobblers at the County ground,that they shared with the County cricket team. We were in the covered end, behind the goal, when Charlie Ashcroft took a goal kick, and Roy Kirk was standing in the centre half position with his back to the goal. Charlie's goal kick hit Roy on the back of head and went into our net for an own goal. I know that the City lost 4-0, so could you please research the details to see if I am dreaming or not. 

                                                              Roy Kirk

 

You aren't dreaming Arthur. The game in question was in August 1957 and City got a 4-0 thumping from the Cobblers. They conceded two penalties in first twenty minutes, both scored by Maurice Robinson, then late in the first half, 'keeper Ashcroft's woeful kick hit full-back Kirk and, as you thought, rebounded into the net to make it 3-0. Poor Kirk, the hero with his 80-yard goal three years earlier, was now the unluckiest man on the pitch but no blame could be put at his door.

Jim's column 6.12.14

Last Saturday's goalless draw with Walsall attracted a lot of criticism from City supporters but I for one didn't think it was as bad as several home games this season & whilst the lack of goals is a cause for concern we should be celebrating a more solid defence. Since the Cup exit to Worcester the side have conceded one goal in four matches & that was a sloppy mistake that nine times out of ten would not have been punished. Prior to Worcester they had conceded 17 goals in seven league games. Saturday's clean sheet meant that the team have two successive clean sheets for first time for over a year. The last time consecutive clean sheets were recorded was in autumn 2013 when wins over Walsall (1-0) & Notts County (3-0) took City up to 11^th place despite starting with a ten points deduction.

Several fans have asked me how City's record for the calendar year compares with the worst years in the club's history. So far, in 2014, Steven Pressley's side have won 10 out of 42 league games & won 43 points. The worst calendar year was in 1984 when Bobby Gould's team won just nine games out of 43, totalling 35 points.

In a 46-game calendar year the worst record was in 2011 when Aidy Bothroyd started the year in charge but was replaced by Andy Thorn after 12 games. The team won 11 out of 46 games, earning 40 points. Other bad years were 2003, 1997 & 1996. In all of those years the side amassed only 42 points. In conclusion, therefore, it is not going to be one of the club's worst years.

I didn't mention last week that City's long run without an away victory had been ended with the 1-0 victory at Colchester. Not only was it the first away league win of the season but the first since March 29^th when a Callum Wilson brace earned City a 2-1 win at Crewe. That was 11 away games without victory & just four draws. The club's worst ever away run was between January 1924 & April 1925 when they went 28 trips without a victory.

Last week I wrote about Jack Doran who appeared just once for Coventry City in 1915 but scored two goals. City fan David Selby sent me a pen picture of Doran from the Norwich City A-Z by Mike Davage & I have done some more research.

Davage's book reveals that Doran was gassed at the Battle of Somme & again at Cambrai whilst in Major Frank Buckley's 'Football Battalion'. On being demobbed after the First World War, Doran signed for three clubs within five months of 1919 (Brentford, Newcastle & Norwich). Southern League Norwich were managed at the time by Major Buckley & Doran emulated his feat for City by scoring twice on his debut for the Canaries. In 25 Southern League games the burly, curly-haired, Doran scored 18 goals before fellow Southern League club Brighton stepped in to sign him in February 1920. He scored 10 goals in 10 games for the Seagulls & ended up as top scorer for both clubs that season. That summer the complete Southern League became the new Third Division & Doran netted 21 goals (half of Brighton's total) in their first season in the League, a feat that earned him a call-up to the Ireland team that played England. In 1921-22 he continued his goalscoring, netting ten goals in his first seven games & 23 in total in a struggling side as well as winning two further Irish caps.

His phenomenal scoring attracted considerable interest from bigger clubs & in the summer of 1922 he signed for Manchester City. Doran made only three appearances for Manchester City, scoring once, before the club attempted to convert him to a centre-half. He then moved back to the Third Division for a few months with Crewe but his career was in a nose-dive. Short spells followed with Mid Rhondda United in the Southern League & Shelbourne in Ireland. He also played for Fordsons in the Irish Free State League before finishing his playing career with Boston in the Midland League. He then returned to Ireland where he coached Waterford. After retiring from football, he became a publican in the north-east of England, and died in Sunderland of the effects of tuberculosis, aged 44.

Jim's column 18.2.12

Andy Thorn’s Sky Blues came good on Tuesday night and deservedly won an entertaining encounter with Leeds United. For once the team lasted the distance and grabbed the winner from the penalty spot in added time. On four occasions this season (Palace (away), Burnley (home), Blackpool (away) and Ipswich (home)) City have lost the game in added time but on Tuesday the boot was firmly on the other foot. I had to look back a fair way to find the last time the Sky Blues managed this and it seems it was in November 2007 when Kevin Kyle needed a 92^nd winner in a 2-1 victory at Loftus Road. There have been a few instances of City scoring a late goal for a point, but only one this season, Richard Wood’s late goal at Elland Road earlier this season, and only one last season, Lukas Jutkiewicz’s injury-time penalty at Watford to make it 2-2. Prior to Kyle’s late winner in 2007 one has to go back to the Highfield Road days and a very late Johnnie Jackson winner against West Brom in 2003! So Gary’s winner on Tuesday night was the latest home winner for many years.

Lots of readers wanted to know when a City player last scored two penalties in a game. It wasn’t that long ago – last April to be precise when Marlon King scored two from the spot in the 3-0 win at Fratton Park, City’s last away win. Prior to that Elliott Ward, now playing in the Premier League with Norwich, scored two penalties in a 5-1 win at Colchester in 2008.

Sadly City’s away form continues to cause concern with the defeat at Reading the eighth consecutive defeat on the road. This run equals the worst run since the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2001. Between December 2007 and March 2008 City lost the first eight away games of the SISU era as follows:

Dec	22	2007	a	Blackpool	L	0-4
Dec	26	2007	h	Crystal P	L	0-2
Dec	29	2007	h	Ipswich T	W	2-1
Jan	1	2008	a	Bristol City	L	1-2
Jan	12	2008	a	Leicester C	L	0-2
Jan	19	2008	h	Burnley	L	1-2
Jan	29	2008	a	Hull C	L	0-1
Feb	2	2008	h	Barnsley	W	4-0
Feb	9	2008	a	Preston NE	L	0-1
Feb	12	2008	h	Cardiff C	D	0-0
Feb	23	2008	h	Leicester C	W	2-0
Feb	26	2008	a	Burnley	L	0-2
Mar	1	2008	a	Scunthorpe U	L	1-2
Mar	5	2008	h	QPR	D	0-0
Mar	8	2008	h	Norwich C	W	1-0
Mar	11	2008	a	Sheff. Utd.	L	1-2

With Chris Coleman having replaced Iain Dowie after a brief reign of Frankie Bunn and John Harbin, City were sliding towards relegation when the run came to an end with a 0-0 at Southampton.

Several readers have pointed out that City have not kept a clean sheet away from home this season, and wondered if this was a record. On four previous occasions City have gone a whole season without an away clean sheet. The last time was in the relegation season of 2000-01 when, despite winning four games on the road (Southampton, Manchester City, Everton and Leicester) they conceded in every away game and couldn’t even muster a 0-0 draw. The other three occasions are very strange as they coincide with high-scoring seasons.

In 1931-32 and 1932-33 City netted 108 and 106 goals respectively but their success was founded on virtually unbeatable home form (17 wins out of 21 in the former season and 16 in the latter). The away form was poor in both campaigns with one win and 69 goals conceded in the former and three wins and 53 goals conceded in the latter. The other instance was in 1977-78 – probably City’s best season of the 34 spent in the top flight. Like the early 1930s though, success was based on good home form with 13 wins out of 21 and 48 home goals but they still managed five away wins but couldn’t stop the opposition scoring. I haven’t researched the highest number of clean sheets away from home in a season but suspect it was probably 1969-70 when they did not concede in 10 away games on their way to a sixth place finish under Noel Cantwell.

JIM'S COLUMN 18.12.10

The Sky Blues kept another clean sheet in the 0-0 draw at Reading last week, making it four in a row, the best run since 2002. It is now 398 minutes since they last conceded a goal, the Darren Ambrose penalty early in the second half at Crystal Palace last month. The run in 2002 was four games in December that month, which incidentally was enough to earn Gary McAllister his manager of the month award. In all the team went 487 minutes without goalkeeper Morten Hyldegaard conceding a goal. The man who ended the run was Crystal Palace’s Ade Akinbiyi. Amazingly City’s form slumped immediately and they won only one of their remaining 20 games. The games were:-

14 December 2002 Wolves (a) 2-0
21 December 2002 Derby (h) 3-0
26 December 2002 Reading (h) 2-0
28 December 2002 Sheffield U (a) 0-0

The last time City kept five clean sheets in a row was the previous season, in October 2001, when Roland Nilsson’s team were on an 11-game unbeaten run. The fifth clean sheet was a 2-0 home win that briefly lifted them to first place in the league. That run lasted 491 minutes and was finally broken by Preston’s Richard Cresswell, a striker who has haunted the Sky Blues for many years.

There was also a run of five clean sheets during the Don Howe era in 1992. In one of the most boring periods of the club’s history the run consisted of a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace followed by four 0-0 draws (Liverpool (h), Southampton (a), Man United (h) and Norwich (h). In the following game an 83rd minute goal by Sheffield Wednesday’s Viv Anderson meant Steve Ogrizovic had gone 572 minutes without conceding.

The club record for successive clean sheets was set in 1934 when the Bantams, a Division Three (South) team, were more renowned for their goalscoring feats than their defensive abilities. In the five seasons between 1931 and 1936 the team scored 502 league goals with the legendary Clarrie Bourton notching 164 of them. The first of the six clean sheets (which were spread over two seasons) came at Highfield Road as City recorded their record league victory, 9-0 over Bristol City, a week later in the final game of the 1933-34 season there was a 0-0 draw at Clapton Orient. The next season started:

Northampton (h) 2-0
Clapton (a) 1-0
Bournemouth (a) 2-0
Clapton (h) 4-0

In those days goal times are notoriously difficult to rely upon but my estimate is that the team went 649 minutes without conceding before Watford’s Jimmy Poxton put one past City’s keeper Horace Pearson.

At last week’s excellent Diamond Club lunch I bumped into City fan Dennis Cox who reminded me that I had not answered a question he posed some months ago. It concerns former City players Brian Nicholas and Lol Harvey and their arguments over the years about when they faced each other in City v QPR clashes. Brian played for QPR for six years but only once did he come face to face with Lol during that time. It was 29 January 1955 at Loftus Road and Rangers ran out 3-2 winners with goals from Smith, Cameron and Kerrins with Tommy Capel netting twice for City. Lol always reminds me of how he was in the team that 4-0 at Loftus Road in 1952 but unfortunately Brian wasn’t in the QPR side that day. On the subject of Brian it is great to see him back watching games at the Ricoh. He was very poorly earlier in the season but last week he looked back to his best. He won’t thank me for putting this picture from 1951 in the newspaper!