Jim's column 20.10.2018

After successive wins over Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers the Sky Blues now face two tough away games in four days. They have poor records against Southend, today's opponents, and Bradford City, who they visit on Tuesday evening. The Shrimpers have been a bogey club for City going back to the 1960s when they were unbeaten in three consecutive games at Highfield Road and put 11 goals in City's net – a 3-3 draw in 1961-62 followed by 4-3 and 5-2 victories in the next two seasons (they were the first post-war opposition to score five at Highfield Road).

City have no victories in the last five meetings with the Essex club and only four wins in 24 league visits to the seaside resort. Their last victory at Roots Hall was a Friday night game in 2006. Freddy Eastwood scored twice to cancel out goals by Stephen Hughes and Colin Cameron (a penalty) and looked to have earned a point for the home side until Dele Adebola popped up with the winning goal. City's last two visits there have ended in 3-0 and 3-1 defeats.

Valley Parade is another unhappy hunting ground for the Sky Blues. They have failed to win in their last 10 trips stretching back to the last win there in 1959-60 when George Stewart (2) and Ron Farmer gave City a 3-1 win. It's not just Valley Parade that City have a problem with the Bantams – they have recorded only one win in the last 12 meetings, a 1-0 home win in April 2016 when Andy Rose netted the solitary goal. Jordy Hiwula will remember the 2017 game at the Ricoh – he scored the second goal in Bradford's 2-0 victory, a result that left the Sky Blues 14 points from safety and virtually relegated.

Keith Ballantyne regularly corresponds with me on City's history and in the summer following Ernie Hunt's death he posed a couple of interesting questions. He wanted to know if Ernie had ever appeared at Highfield Road before joining City in March 1968.

He played at Highfield Road for Swindon in:

1960-61: a 1-1 draw and scored.

1961-62: City won 2-1

1962-63: City won 2-0

1964-65: City won 3-2 (he scored a pen)

And for Wolves in:

1966-67: City won 3-1

The other question concerned the 'Three Ernies' – Hunt, Machin and Hannigan. Keith wondered how many times all three played in the same City team. Ernie Machin joined City from Nelson in 1962, Hannigan joined from Preston in November 1967 and Hunty came from Everton in March 1968.

                                                                Ernie Hannigan

                                                                 Ernie Hunt

                                                             Ernie Machin

In 1967-68 all three appeared together in four games. All three started seven games in 1968-9 (Hannigan appeared in three more as substitute). In 1969-70 Hannigan only started seven games in total and Hunt started in six of them but Machin was absent in all of them. So in total there were only eleven games when all three started.

Keith also wanted to know if George Hudson played for Tranmere in the FA Cup games in 1967-68, after leaving City for Northampton in 1966. The Hud played for Tranmere in both FA Cup games v City in 1968. He scored one of the goals in Tranmere's 2-0 replay win, George Yardley scored the other.

Jim's column 15.9.2012

                                   Horace Pearson pictured at Highfield Road

I am always happy to assist relatives and friends of former Coventry City players and this summer I had an interesting email from Les Turner, a friend of the daughter of City’s 1930s goalkeeper Horace Pearson. Les was trying to piece together the playing history of Horace and sent me some old photos of Pearson’s playing career.

Horace was born in Tamworth on 6.4.1907. His football career started with Nuneaton Town where he was spotted by Luton Town in 1928. He never appeared in the Hatters’ first team and the following summer joined Blackpool. The timing of his arrival at Bloomfield Road was perfect and he helped the Seasiders to gain promotion to Division One for the first time in his debut season. Life in Division One was tough for the Tangerines and although they avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth they conceded a record 125 goals (Horace played in 40 of the 42 games).

The following season Horace, who was only 5 ft 9 ins tall, lost his place in the first team and in November 1931 he joined Oldham, playing 38 games in eighteen months before a move to Highfield Road in May 1933. Between then and March 1936 he was a virtual ever-present in goal for the Bantams playing 114 games in a golden period of Coventry City’s history. The Bantams finished 2^nd in 1933-34, 3^rd in 1934-35, before winning the Third Division title in 1935-36. In early 1935 Horace was suspended for two games for a 'breach of club discipline' - the details of which I haven't got. Sadly Horace lost his place 12 games from the end of the promotion season, being replaced by Bill Morgan, and although he received a medal he never appeared in the first team again.

In May 1937 he joined Newport County where he played one season, moving briefly to non-league Barry Town and then for the last season of pre-war football to Bristol City. It is believed he was released by Bristol just before the outbreak of war and settled in Bristol. Horace's uncle Hubert and cousin Harold both played in goal for WBA.

Last week I mentioned the ‘other’ Jimmy Hill who played for Coventry City between 1949-1956. The piece sparked some interest with Ron Dickinson having good memories of Jimmy:

I got to know him from youth football so it is a long time ago. I believe that he did live in Binley and played for Binley Youth club along with Billy Gray, another former City player who you wrote about a few months ago. As I recall Jimmy worked in a gent's outfitter shop so had difficulty in getting off for games on Saturday. I met him later in the early 1980s when he was manager of a cleaning company operating in Birmingham. He was a nice guy. I am sure that there was an article in the Telegraph maybe 5 to 10 years ago about his grandson who was setting out on a football career.

Lockheed Leamington historian Paul Vanes was also in contact and confirmed that after leaving Shrewsbury in 1958 Jimmy joined Lockheed, then in the Birmingham League. At the Windmill Ground he joined several other ex-City men including Jack Evans, Charlie Timmins and Ernie Ward. Paul had some useful information:

In 1958-59 season he played between 25-30 games and was second top scorer with 14 behind Robertson on 23. He played inside left for the Brakes in the Birmingham Senior Cup final at Villa Park on 13th April 1959 against Stourbridge who beat Lockheed 2-1 thanks mainly to a brilliant display by the Glassboys German born goalkeeper Newman (Neumann). Hill was picked to play in the penultimate game at Hereford with a 6.00pm kick off on Saturday 25th April 1959 but he never turned up.  Jimmy was not in the Brakes squad for 1959/60 season. 

Coventry City’s run without a win was extended to 11 on Sunday against Stevenage (equalling the dreadful run under Andy Thorn last autumn) and if a win is not forthcoming today at Prenton Park it will be the worst run since 2003. Like the present dire run, that sequence of 16 games was over two seasons, during the stewardship of Gary McAllister, and consisted of the last 12 games of 2002-03 and the first four games of 2003-04. It ended with a 4-2 home win over Stoke City. 

Next Saturday is another special day at the Ricoh Arena when a host of former City players will gather for a mini-Legends Day specifically to celebrate the life of Ernie Machin who passed away in July. Around 30-40 former players are expected to attend including many from Ernie’s time at the football club from 1962-72. Fans wishing to attend the pre-match lunch with the Former Players, in what is always an electric atmosphere, should contact the football club. The Memorial Service for Ernie Machin has been re-arranged and will now take place at Coventry Cathedral on Wednesday 3rd October 2012 commencing at 3pm.  All Ernie’s friends and City fans are welcome.

Gate footnote: Last Sunday’s crowd for the Stevenage game was 9,485 – the smallest City home crowd since November 1991.

Ernie Machin R.I.P

Ernie Machin

Born Walkden 26 April 1944

Died Coventry 22 July 2012

It is sad to report the death of Coventry City legend Ernie Machin who passed away in Coventry on Sunday aged 68.

Ernie made 289 appearances for the Sky Blues, scoring 39 goals and will be remembered for taking over the club captaincy from another legend George Curtis in 1967 when George suffered a broken leg.  His inspiring leadership on the pitch was a key factor in City surviving relegation in their first two seasons in the top flight.

Born in Walkden, Manchester in April 1944, Ernie had trials alongside Alan Ball at Bolton but was not considered good enough. Instead he played for Nelson FC and was spotted by City's North West scout Alf Walton in 1962. Walton called Jimmy Hill and said 'you need to sign this boy up before others do' and Hill hot-footed north to watch Machin and was besotted before half-time. 

Hill recognised something special about Ernie. In his autobiography Hill describes watching the young Machin: ‘he looked extremely slow, but nevertheless when he was in possession of the ball he hardly wasted a pass. He didn’t seem to be an outstanding athlete, nor did he have the confidence or the luck to do something special …I said later that the real reason I took him on was because I liked the look in his eyes …. He had a bright eye and he said, ‘if you give me a chance, I won’t let you down’. Hill wasn’t going to pay  a huge fee for Ernie and offered the chairman of Nelson £50. To Hill’s amazement he agreed and ‘for decency’s sake’ he quickly added that if Ernie made the first team he would bump it up to £200.

His comment about his eyes was misinterpreted by many fans who called him ‘Jimmy’s blue-eyed boy’ especially when his form temporarily dipped after his return from injury.

After a year in the reserves Ernie got his first team chance in April 1963 as City's FA Cup heroes were ploughing through a fixture backlog owing to the Cup run and the worst winter of a generation. 18 year old Ernie deputised at inside-forward for a tired Jimmy Whitehouse and immediately impressed the Sky Blue faithful. He played alongside new signing, fellow Lancastrian George Hudson in a 2-0 win over Millwall.

Despite playing just six games the previous campaign Ernie was the first choice in the number 10 shirt from the start of the 1963-64 season and was outstanding as the team raced to the top of the Third Division and threatened to clinch promotion in a record time. Then in November in a home game with Watford he suffered a bad knee injury just days after England manager Alf Ramsey had told JH that Machin was on his radar for an under 23 call and missed the rest of City’s Third Division promotion campaign.

He ended up having several operations and it was eighteen months before he was fully recovered. He returned to play a pivotal role in the club’s charge to the Second Division title in 1967 and netted eleven goals including memorable late goals to get vital results against Norwich, Preston & Carlisle not to mention the first of City’s goals in the famous 3-1 victory over Wolves watched by over 51,000 at Highfield Road.

When skipper George Curtis broke his leg in the club’s second game in Division One there was only one candidate for the captaincy and Ernie, converted to an attacking wing-half, was proud to lead the team out. He missed only three games in those first two years of struggle and older fans will remember his stunning goal in the 2-0 victory over European champions elect Manchester United in March 1968. His never-say-die attitude won him the respect of all his playing colleagues and the fans. He continued to be a regular, when fit, right up to the time of his departure in 1972 but a bad car accident put him out for three months in 1970 and his ‘dodgy’ knee continued to trouble him.

In 1972 he became the first English football player to successfully challenge a fine and suspension by the Football Association in the courts. He was sent off in a game at Newcastle for allegedly kicking an opponent, however TV evidence showed that he was innocent; nevertheless the FA noticed something else which he had done and upheld the disciplinary action on the basis of that without allowing him to present a defence. The courts ruled against the FA, and the PFA subsequently established the rights of players to legal representation in disciplinary cases.

In December 1972 Ernie was sold to Plymouth Argyle for £35,000 by new bosses Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne keen to raise money to buy Tommy Hutchison and Colin Stein. He had ten great years at Highfield Road making 284 appearances and scoring 39 goals and but for injury would have reached the 400 mark.

After eighteen happy months at Plymouth where he helped them to the League Cup semi final in 1974 and became a cult hero, he had two years at Brighton. In 1977 Jimmy Hill, by now the chairman at Highfield Road, persuaded Ernie to return to Coventry City as youth team coach. It didn’t work out however and he left football and worked for Car Bodies and Massey Ferguson.

Ernie had suffered poor health for a number of years but he had attended a reunion of the 1967 promotion team in 2007 as well as the last two Legends' Days organised by the Former Players Association. In 2008 he was one of thirty former players inducted into the club's Legends Group for services to the football club.

The epithet Legend is a word used too often about mediocre players in the hyperbole-driven modern media however Ernie Machin was a true Coventry City Legend.