Jim's column 24.8.13

                                                 The 1908-09 team with Buckle far right on front row

This summer I have had contact with American Tom Ferner who it turns out is the Great, Great Grandson of former Coventry City player Harry Buckle. Buckle was a star of Coventry City for three seasons between 1908 and 1911. His arrival coincided with the club's move up from the Birmingham League to the Southern League in 1908. He was a feared left winger having won two Irish international caps and had previously played for Sunderland (in Division 1), Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers before moving to Highfield Road.

The club's directors appointed him as player-manager for the 1909-10 season and that campaign he helped guide the club to the FA Cup quarter finals defeating First Division Preston & Nottingham Forest before succumbing to Everton in front of a record 19,000 crowd at Highfield Road. This was a monumental achievement for a Southern League team & the proceeds of the run enabled the club to build a new grandstand (later superceded by the Sky Blue Stand in 1964).

Buckle was the club’s top marksman in his first two seasons and  contributed 44 goals in his 126 league and cup appearances before leaving Highfield Road In the summer 1911. Harry returned to his native Belfast, working (unusually for a  Catholic at the time) in the Harland & Wolff shipyards and played for Belfast Celtic, then Glenavon at the outbreak of World War 1 and in 1917 became secretary-manager of Belfast United as well as playing for them. He finished his footballing career from 1922-26 at Fordsons in Cork and won an Irish Cup Winners medal with them aged 45 in 1926 as player- manager before retiring in 1927!

Tom Ferner and his family knew little of their 'famous' relative & were grateful to learn of his football career in Coventry. Tom joined the Former Players Association as an Associate member & is hoping to get to the UK at some future date to learn more about his forefather's heritage.

Brunton Park, Carlisle was the scene of a convincing Sky Blues victory last Saturday with four goals scored without reply. For the second game running the team led 3-0 at half time a feat not achieved by a City team since 2007. This time City's defence kept their cool & a clean sheet to deservedly came back down the M6 with three points. It was a nice revenge for last season's results against the Cumbrians who under former Coventry youth team player Greg Abbott were the only side to do the double over the Sky Blues during the reign of Mark Robins. At half-time the side looked capable of emulating the City side of 1959 who won 6-1 at Brunton Park, a record post-war away win subsequently equalled in 2002 at Walsall.

One historical statistic that has passed me by this season was that in the games at Crawley & Leyton Orient the Sky Blues took the field with a record five Coventry-born players. Cyrus Christie, Jordan Clarke, Jordan Willis, Callum Wilson & Conor Thomas are all 'Covkids' and topped the record of four set up last season. I'm struggling to think of any more 'Covkids' who might breakthrough to the first team but I believe Lewis Rankin is one. The number of home-grown players coming through to the first team is a great credit to Gregor Rioch & his staff at the club's academy.

Last week's piece about John Galley prompted Graeme Baldwin to email me with his memories of the game against Rotherham at Christmas 1966. He was stood in the old Covered End that day & remembers the police having to save the pitch-invading City fan from a real thumping by John Galley. Graeme also remembers travelling to Rotherham a couple of days later to watch the return and getting beaten up by some Rotherham fans near the railway station.

I missed one high-scoring game from the last 50 years – the 1-8 home defeat in the League Cup to Leicester City in 1964. Chris Turner remembers it well as it was the only ever time he left Highfield Road before the end of a game. The final humiliation he recalls was a 30 yard goal from Leicester's full-back Richie Norman in front of the main stand. Richie, of course was manager at Nuneaton Borough after his playing days. Steve Thompson remembers it well too & thought the heavy defeat signalled the end of goalkeeper Bob Wesson's City career. In fact Bob was standing in that night for the cup-tied Bill Glazier who had recently been signed for a world record fee for a goalkeeper of £35,000. Wesson came back into the first team some five months later after Glazier broke a leg & played a further 40 odd first team games. The main cause for the heavy defeat to Leicester was the loss through injury of captain George Curtis. George was injured early in the game & was taken off when the score was 3-0 just before half-time. It was the season before the introduction of substitutes & City laboured on with 10 men & were no match for their First Division opponents.

Jim's column 19.11.11

After the international break weekend it is back to league action this weekend and the visit of West Ham United today for what is the Hammers’ first ever league visit to the Ricoh Arena. In 2007-08 they won here 2-1 in a League Cup tie, ending what had looked a promising Cup run that season, following City’s memorable victory at Old Trafford in the previous round.

Several people have pointed out to me that the number of Coventry-born players in the Sky Blues’ squad has increased this season and wondered when the club put out a side containing the most Cov kids. Fellow City historian Paul O’Connor tells me that in the club’s league history (that dates back to 1919) the club have only had 44 players who were born in the city – this excludes players born in Bedworth, Nuneaton or other local towns. There have been a number of famous ones including Reg Matthews (the first and only Coventrian to play for England), Bobby and Trevor Gould, Gary McSheffrey, Kirk Stephens and Marcus Hall but there have been few periods when there was a glut of local players. After World War 2 the squad had a number of locals including Ron Cox, Les Latham, Dennis Simpson and Stan Smith but all four never appeared together. Then in early 1950s the club’s youth team, playing under the name of Modern Machines produced quite a few including Matthews, Brinley Thomas, Derek Spencer and Billy Gray, and they combined with many youngsters signed from Harry Storer’s heartland of Derbyshire including Lol Harvey, Frank Austin and Ron Waldock saved the club thousands of pounds in the transfer market.

Now, suddenly, the Sky Blues have half a dozen ‘locals’ and the Southampton game ended with four of them on the pitch together. Substitute Jordan Willis joined Cyrus Christie, Conor Thomas and the ‘old man’, Gary McSheffrey to set what I believe is a club record of four Coventry-born players in the team. If Jordan Clarke’s injury problems clear up quickly and striker Callum Wilson’s progress continues we could see the city of Coventry supplying over half the first team.

Readers of the Coventry City official programme may have noticed an amendment to the Club Honours section on page three of the programme. Bedworth-based City fan Bob Howe contacted me a while ago suggesting that recognition be given to the club’s success in winning the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup in 1960. the competition was played between clubs from the south of England from around 1955 when floodlights became common amongst clubs. It was discontinued in 1960 because of the introduction of the League Cup, meaning that City were the last winners of the competition. In a memorable cup run City, then a Third Division outfit, defeated Southend, First Division Fulham, Southampton and another First Division club, West Ham, 2-1 in the final before a 17,000 Highfield Road crowd. As a result of Bob’s correspondence the club have now included the Cup win in the list of honours.