Jim's column 30.4.2016

As I wrote last week, this month sees the 80^th anniversary of Coventry City's first ever promotion in the Football League from Division Three South. This week in 1936 saw City, the league leaders, play their nearest rivals Luton Town twice in three days. Going into the first game, at Kenilworth Road, on Saturday 25^th April 1936 only goal average separated the teams who both had three games to play. Only one team was promoted in those days and there were no play-offs - it had become a two-horse race for the promotion place (and title).

The game was billed as a battle beaten the two goal machines. City had the legendary Clarrie Bourton who, whilst not scoring at the prolific rate of his record-breaking 1931-32 season when he netted 49 league goals, had scored 21 goals. Leading the Hatters' forward line was 22-year old Joe Payne. Nominally a wing-half, two weeks earlier he had been moved to centre-forward because of injuries and had netted 10 goals in a 12-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers – a League individual scoring record.

                         City captain George Mason shakes hands with Luton skipper George Fellowes at Kenilworth Road.

In front of a ground record crowd of 23,559, Payne netted for the home side in the first half but Bourton equalised 12 minutes from time to keep City top on goal average. On the same day Aston Villa's relegation from Division One was confirmed – their first since they had been founder members of the Football League in 1888.

Two days later the action moved to Highfield Road for a game re-arranged because of bad weather in December. According to the Midland Daily Telegraph, City’s officials anticipated a new record gate and manager Harry Storer announced that an expert ‘packer’ had been employed to ‘ensure that no standing space on the terrace and popular side will be wasted’. The game kicked –off at 6.15, too late according to the night-shift workers who would have to leave the match before the end to ‘clock-on’ at 8pm, and the gates were opened at 5 pm.

A crowd of 42,809, over 11,000 more than the record set at an FA Cup tie against Sunderland six years previously, crammed into the ground to watch a tense game end 0-0.

The following day the Midland Daily Telegraph under the headline “A Scene Of Chaos”, described the aftermath: ‘Highfield Road looked this morning as though it had been struck by a tornado last night. Cartloads of paper and other rubbish was left behind by the record crowd ..…. while the condition of the barriers smashed to match-wood on the Swan Lane side, near to the corner of the old stand, provided ample evidence of the crush.’

A rare football-orientated editorial in the Midland Daily Telegraph summed up one of the most memorable nights in the club’s history: ‘Coventry has never witnessed such a spectacle before – an attendance nearly equal to a quarter of Coventry’s entire population lined the ground, perched on the top of stands, clung to advertising signs, fences and posts. Hundreds sat on the grass close to the touchline; humanity was packed as close as it could be within the capacious Highfield Road enclosure, and yet thousands who went to see the match had perforce to remain outside.’

It was reported that a large number of people ‘gate-crashed’ one of the entrances and one Nuneaton ‘enthusiast’ sent a postal order for one shilling in lieu of his admission. He admitted walking in through the broken gate but evidently thought the game and the occasion was so worthwhile that he paid his ‘honest-bob’ for it.

Amazingly no one was hurt despite some madcap jinks by some spectators to get a better view. On the top of the Spion Kop ‘rows of stones’ were erected by supporters in order to get a better view of the action. The MDT speculated that ‘many tons of packing from the back of the banks must have been pulled up’ to form a makeshift grandstand. A major disaster must have been narrowly averted. Spectators climbed advertising hoardings, the old wooden scoreboard on the Kop and onto the roof of the covered end as well as being forced from uncomfortably packed terraces onto the perimeter of the pitch, pre-dating the scenes 31 years later when 51,452 were shoe-horned in for the famous Wolves game. The newspaper hypothesized that to enable a capacity for 60,000 would ‘not entail much alteration to existing conditions’.

The draw left City with what looked like the easy task of beating Torquay in their final game five days later to clinch promotion but they would be without captain George Mason, injured in the first Luton game. Luton travelled to QPR ready to pounce if Coventry slipped up. Another big crowd at Highfield Road was expected for what promised to be a momentous game.

Congratulations to Adam Armstrong for being selected for the PFA League One team of the season. Since the PFA awards were instigated in 1974 only five City players had previously been recognised in this way. Armstrong follows Danny Thomas (1983), Kieron Westwood and Danny Fox (2009), Leon Clarke (2013) and Callum Wilson (2014).

Finally, BBC CWR's Clive Eakin has confirmed that Andy Rose was on the pitch for 35 seconds before he scored the winning goal against Bradford last week. This is 12 seconds longer than the record set by Wayne Andrews at Barnsley in 2006. His goal was also timed at 12 seconds from the referee's whistle restarting play after the stoppage – this is around four seconds longer than Kevin Drinkell's goal against Villa in 1990, if the goal time is judged from the referee's restart of the game.

Jim's column 23.4.2016

Coventry City's successive home wins in four days have brightened the mood of the fans after a
dreadful run of sixteen games with only two victories. Barring a disastrous collapse by the five
teams immediately above them the play-off train has however left the station and the Sky Blues face
another season in League One. The two home wins, over sides virtually certain of being in the play-
offs, have not been short of talking points however and were the team's first back to back successes
since the run of four wins in November culminating in the performance of the season at home to
Gillingham.

Both games saw opposition players picking up red cards for off the ball incidents, something not
that common these days. First to go was Shaun Williams of Millwall for a head-butt on Ruben
Lameiras. Millwall make a habit of red cards at the Ricoh – this was only their fourth league visit to
the stadium and their third red card. In 2005-06 substitute Matt Lawrence was sent off for elbowing
Michael Doyle (City went on to win 1-0). Then in 2010-11 current Lions manager Neil Harris saw
red for stamping on Aron Gunnarsson just a minute after coming off the bench (City won 2-1).

Bradford's bad boy was another substitute, Steven Davies, the former Derby and Blackpool striker,
who was ordered off for a wild kick at Jack Stephens minutes from the end. I think I am right in
saying that he is the first Bantams player to get his marching orders against the Sky Blues.

Those two dismissals makes it four red cards for opposition players this season with Chesterfield's
Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Southend's Gary Deegan the others. This is a big increase on last
season's one red card for opposition, Sheffield United's Jose Baxter. The most red cards for
opposition players occurred in 2003-04 in the Championship when 13 opponents were sent off, the
majority for two yellow card offences. The highest number of red cards for City in a season is seven
– in both 2001-02 and 2002-03 City had seven players sent off. Since City left the Premiership they
have had 56 players sent off while in the same period 69 opposition players have received their
marching orders.

City's goal on Tuesday evening, a stunning half-volley from substitute Andy Rose, came out of the
blue in a game dominated by defences and bereft of chances. Rose's goal, with his first touch, was
timed by the club at 11 seconds after the restart of play, following his entry as a substitute in the 58
minute, and  whilst it is definitely the fastest by a substitute at the Ricoh the club record needs
closer scrutiny.

If one measures the time from when a substitute enters the game then the club record is held by
Wayne Andrews who scored 23 seconds after coming on at Barnsley in 2006. If, however one
measures it from the time when play re-starts then Kevin Drinkell's goal against Aston Villa at
Highfield Road in 1990 is faster. He scored around eight seconds after play restarted but had been
on the pitch for almost a minute whilst Villa's Mountfield was treated for an injury. Hopefully I can
throw some more light on this next week after further enquiries

It was the second consecutive game that a substitute has scored the winning goal following Marcus
Tudgay's clincher against Millwall. Six City goals have been scored by substitutes this season with
Tudgay heading the list with three from the bench and the others coming from Murphy and
Maddison.  Tudgay is the first City player to score three goals from the bench in a season since Patrick Suffo in 2004-05. Suffo scored a penalty against Sunderland on the opening day and followed up with two goals against Torquay in a League Cup game three weeks later. Others to score three in a season from the bench are Andy Morrell (2003-04), Trond Soltvedt (1997-98) and
Jay Bothroyd (2001-02). Some credit must go to Mowbray for his substitution strategy in these last two
games.

Jim's Column 27.2.2016

I recently had a very nice letter from Margaret Raven, daughter of the late Les Raven. Les was an avid reader of this column and used to write to me regularly with questions. Les passed away in October and amongst his effects Margaret came across a lovely postcard of a team picture of Coventry City and wondered if I had seen it. 

The picture was taken in 1929 and shows the team with a large trophy. I believe the trophy is the Lord Mayor of Coventry's Charity trophy which back in those days was played for in a friendly game between City and another Midland club at Highfield Road and raised money for the Coventry and North Warwickshire Hospital. The games were usually played towards the end of the season and opponents included Wolves, West Brom and Birmingham. The 1929 game took place on 29 April and 3,187 supporters watched City draw 4-4 with Blues with City's goals coming from Jimmy Loughlin (2), Billy Pick and John Starsmore. I can only assume that the trophy was retained by Coventry for six months and then passed to Birmingham for the next six months. If any readers can add anything else please let me know.

My comments in last week's column about the fastest goal by a City substitute has been questioned by Craig Richards. He believes Kevin Drinkell scored a goal against Aston Villa in 1990, ten seconds after coming on at Highfield Road. Fellow historian Dean Nelson supplied a video clip of the said game, a 2-0 victory, and I timed his goal as 55 seconds from when he entered the pitch. However for over 30 seconds after coming on 'Drinks' is kicking his heels as Villa's Kevin Mountfield receives treatment from the trainer but once the ball is in play he nets around ten seconds later from a corner.

The whole question revolves around how one defines 'fastest goal'. If one defines it by the time after entering the pitch then Andrews clearly has the fastest goal. The Drinkell situation however introduces the concept of playing time. The game was delayed for around 45 seconds whilst Mountfield was treated. This was not playing time, it was time that the referee would have added on at the end of the game because of an injury.

Therefore if one defines the fastest goal in terms of the playing time elapsed after coming on then Drinkell's goal is faster. One could make a case for either definition being valid. A very inconclusive situation! For the moment I will stick with my assertion that Wayne Andrews holds the record for scoring 23 seconds after entering the pitch but watch this space.

I investigated the fastest ever debut goal in league football and the record is held by a former City player. In 2004 Freddy Eastwood made his Southend debut v Swansea and netted after 7.7 seconds. He went on to score a hat-trick against a Swansea side that included a young Sam Ricketts.

Keith Ballantyne picked up on my comment that Andrews never started a first team game for the club and wondered if his ten appearances as sub without a start is a club record. The answer is yes it is a record, but last season Shaun Miller also came off the bench in ten league games without a start but did start a League Cup game. Other players to make a number of sub appearances without a start are Mathieu Manset (2013-14) with nine, Dylan McGeouch (2013-14) with eight, and Zavon Hines and Shaun Jeffers each with seven. Gary McSheffrey holds the record of the most sub appearances before making a start (11) with Gary Madine (9) and Callum Wilson (8) not far behind.

I can always rely on fellow historian and friend Geoff Moore to come up with interesting stats. He tells me that when Leon Clarke appeared at the Ricoh for Bury two weeks ago he became the first player to appear at the ground with six different clubs. The six are Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Scunthorpe, City and Bury. In five games in opposition colours he has managed just two goals (both for Scunthorpe in a 2-2 draw in 2012). Danny Pugh, another ex-City man now at Bury has appeared at the stadium for five different clubs.

Geoff also pointed out that we have had a 4-0 half-time lead in three games this season – Gillingham (h), Crewe (a) and Bury (h). He couldn't remember this happening in his 50 plus years watching the Sky Blues. Before this season, the last occasion was the final game at Highfield Road in 2005 when they led Derby 4-0 at the break (and went on to win 6-2). A year earlier, during the brief but exciting Eric Black era, City took a 4-0 half-time lead over Preston (winning 4-1). There were two League Cup games where a 4-0 half-time lead was taken, in 2002 v Rushden & Diamonds (final score 8-0) and in 1964 v Sunderland (final score 4-2). The previous occasion to 2004 in a league game was back in April 1963 when City beat Halifax 5-4 and George Hudson netted a first half hat-trick on his debut with Dietmar Bruck making 4-0 at the break. So in three months this season the Sky Blues have equalled their record for the last 53 years.

Jim's column 13.2.2016

As I write this the finishing touches are being made to the Jimmy Hill celebration that took place at the Cathedral last night. I hope it was a successful event – the hard work from all the parties involved deserved to be rewarded – and today our attention turns to Legends Day.

It is the ninth Legends Day since the Former Players Association was formed in 2007 and as usual there will be a host of stars at today's game. Legends Day has caught the attention of City supporters with over 500 people will be enjoying hospitality today. Amongst the guests will be a good contingent of the Hill family, including at least three of his children.

Hopefully 1987 FA Cup final skipper Brian Kilcline has arrived safely from Portugal and Bill Glazier is jetting in from Spain. There are lots more of City's former stars attending including Ian Wallace, Bobby Gould, Garry Thompson and Greg Downs. It promises to be another memorable day and I would encourage fans to be at their seats for the half-time parade of the stars and give them a fantastic reception.

I mentioned last week that a 'new' member, 93-year old Ray Paul, was attending and he is very excited about what will be his first visit to the Ricoh. A centre forward, Ray, who was the son of a trainer of near neighbours Nuneaton Borough, joined his dad and became a striking sensation with the ‘Borough’ scoring 42 goals in the 1941-42 season. Ray turned out for Coventry City as a guest player in the wartime Football League North and scored 8 goals in his ten appearances. He made his debut in a 4-1 defeat for the City in September 1944 at the Hawthorns v West Brom. Two weeks later he scored a hat-trick on his home debut in a 4-3 victory over Port Vale and went on to score eight goals in ten starts for the Bantams. In the same Coventry side at the time were City stalwarts George Mason, Walter Metcalf and Billy Frith. Ray also played as guest in six games for Nottingham Forest up to 1945-46. I'm looking forward to finding out what became of Ray after the war but I believe he played for Atherstone Town and ran a wallpaper shop in that town.

                                                                Ray Paul

Ray is definitely the earliest surviving player to become a member of CCFPA but Colin Collindridge at 96 is our oldest surviving former player but wasn’t signed for the City until 1954. Another member Jack Lovering who is also 93 was a WW2 junior for CCFC but didn’t make his first team debut for the Bantams until 1946.

Before last week's game at Vale Park Mike Prince asked me if City had played a friendly there in the late 1970s. He remembers going as a boy with his dad. The only friendly in that era was on 10 August 1976 when Gordon Milne took his team to the Potteries for a pre-season game. City won 3-0 with goals from David Cross (2) and Alan Green. The team was: Blyth: Coop, Holmes, Craven, Lloyd (Brogan), Dugdale, Beck (Cartwright), Green, Cross, Murphy (Ferguson), Powell.

Keith Ballantyne emailed me recently. He had been watching a video of City's final game at Highfield Road in 2005 which resulted in a 6-2 victory for the Sky Blues. He commented that Andrew Whing scored very quickly after coming on as a substitute and wondered if it was the quickest goal ever by a City sub. I watched the video myself and timed Whing's goal at 55 seconds after coming off the bench. There are several contenders for the title of fastest goal by a sub. In addition to Whing there are three other City subs who scored, according to match reports, 'within a minute' of coming on: John Beck at West Brom in a 3-3 draw in 1978, Noel Whelan v Burnley in the FA Cup in 2000 and Laurent Delorge at Sheffield United in 2001 (his first touch in league football). Unless anyone has evidence to the contrary I believe the fastest was recorded by Wayne Andrews at Barnsley in 2006. Wayne's goal (on his debut) came 23 seconds after he came off the bench for Leon McKenzie. Andrews' career at Coventry was severely hampered by injuries and in his two years at the club he never started a game but made 10 substitute appearances but never scored another goal.