Jim's column 26.10.13

By scoring City's late equaliser in a classic local derby nineteen-year old Aaron Phillips joined two select bands. Firstly, he became only the third City player to follow his father by scoring a first-class goal for the Sky Blues. His father David scored 11 goals in 122 games for the club between 1986-1989 with his first coming at Old Trafford in a 1-1 draw in October 1986 which turned out to be Ron Atkinson's last game in charge of United before the appointment of Alex Ferguson.

The two other father and sons to achieve this feat are Ted & Dudley Roberts, and Tony & Mark Hateley. Ted Roberts scored 87 goals in 223 games between 1937 and 1952 with his first goal scored on his debut in a 4-0 home win over Bradford Park Avenue. Son Dudley played only 16 games but managed six goals including two in his home debut, a 3-1 win over Charlton in 1965.

                                                              Tony Hateley

Tony Hateley didn't have a happy time at Coventry and managed only four goals in 17 games in 1968-69 with his first coming in a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City. His son Mark was far more successful scoring 34 in 111 games although it took him 17 games before getting off the mark with two goals in the epic 5-0 League Cup quarter final win over Watford in 1980.

Aaron, who has yet to start a competitive game, also joined a group of players who have scored a first class goal before they had made their full starting debut. By my reckoning 18 players have achieved this feat, the last before Aaron being Mathieu Manset in the 4-4 home draw with Preston this season. Others to achieve this feat in recent seasons include Callum Wilson, Zavon Hines (currently starring for Dagenham & Redbridge), Wayne Andrews, Michael Mifsud & Don Hutchison. Strangely neither Andrews & Hines ever started a game for the club. Older players to have achieved it include Peter Ndlovu (at Highbury in 1991), Mick Harford, Viorel Moldovan (in the famous Cup win at Villa in 1998) and Les Cartwright (the first substitute to score on his debut).

Last week's comments regarding City's largest away followings prompted a lot of replies with great memories of large away days, many of them remembering the glorious1960s. As I said last week there were no official figures until recent seasons so all I have to go on are estimates quoted in Coventry Telegraph match reports which, in the case of all-ticket games, were based on actual ticket sales. Steve Pittam thought there were 20,000 City fans at St Andrews in January 1967 but Nemo's match report estimated City's following at 10,000 (in a gate of 36,000). Steve also thought we had a similar number at Molineux in April 1970 when we clinched our European place with a 1-0 win. The total attendance that night was only 23,000 and the City following was estimated at 7,000. Jim Bimbi remembers a large contingent at Huddersfield in May 1966 when City had an outside chance of promotion but Nemo's estimate was 3,000. Jim did however mention games at Liverpool in the League Cup in 1977 (estimate 10,000) and at West Ham in the same competition in 1981 (10,000 tickets sold). Robert Yates mentioned two games from the 1966-67 Second Division championship season, at Molineux & St Andrews, but City's away followings didn't really take off that season until the latter part of the season and although there were 10,000 at St Andrews there was a much smaller contingent at Wolves in a 27,000 crowd.  Several readers mentioned a game at Peterborough in 1964 when the Sky Blues were on the verge of the Third Division championship and it seemed that the whole of Coventry was on the road to Peterborough. The estimate was that 12,000 fans made the trip in a total attendance of 26,300. David Brassington remembered that night at Peterborough and thought the 0-2 defeat signalled the end of City’s promotion hopes. David also remembers a massive away following of Manchester United fans at Highfield Road in 1976. In David’s words ‘United won 2-0 and such was their fans ghastly reputation  at the time that many City fans just gave it a miss. The old West End, usually the City’s stronghold was completely taken over by THEM. Just to complete my misery  I  had to travel back to London in a train packed with them.’

So, as I wrote last week, the biggest City followings were in 1987 (the two games at Hillsborough and the two games at Wembley) and the biggest in the league was probably the game at Villa Park in 1937 (20,000 in a gate of 68,000), followed by the 15,000 that trekked to Wolves in January 1966.

The best overall season for away league followings was 1963-64 when approximately 81,000 City fans travelled to 23 away games, an average of 3,500 per game. That included the 12,000 at Peterborough, 8,000 at Millwall, 7,000 at Luton & 6,000 at Watford. This season's average is currently just over 1,800 and whilst it is heading for the best for many years it will not better 1963-64.

Jim's column 10.8.13

Saturday's opening day defeat at Crawley Town was unusual in that it was the first time Coventry City have lost an away game on the opening day of the season since 1995. Then Ron Atkinson's side, including big money signings Paul Williams, Paul Telfer & John Salako, lost 0-3 at St James' Park, Newcastle. In the seventeen intervening seasons the Sky Blues had only played away on four occasions and never lost:

2001 won 2-0 at Stockport

2005 drew 1-1 at Norwich

2007 won 4-1 at Barnsley

2012 drew 1-1 at Yeovil

The club's record on the first day of the league season has generally been good. Of the thirteen home games since 1995 only four have been lost:

1996 lost 0-3 to Nottm Forest

1999 lost 0-1 to Southampton

2000 lost 1-3 to Middlesbrough

2011 lost 0-1 to Leicester

Aaron Phillips' appearance as a substitute at Crawley meant he became the 885th player to wear the shirt in competitive football since the club joined the League in 1919. More importantly he became only the fifth City player to follow his father into the first team. His father, David, was a member of the 1987 FA Cup winning side and made 123 appearances for the club between his arrival from Manchester City in 1986 and his move to Norwich three years later. Let's hope it is the start of a long and successful career with the Sky Blues.

The other four father & sons to play for the club are:

Ted and Dudley Roberts

Bobby and Jonathan Gould

Tony and Mark Hateley

Gordon and Gavin Strachan

Talking of opening day games Keith Ballantyne emailed asking to be reminded of a postponed City game in London in the late 1980s. He remembers catching a train to London and being met by City fans telling him the game had been called off. The game in question was at Tottenham's White Hart Lane in August 1988 and the game was called off on the Saturday morning because the local authority would not issue a safety certificate to Spurs' new East Stand.  City also had an opening day game at Watford postponed in 2003 after Watford's on-loan striker Jimmy Davis was killed in a car crash on the M40 earlier that day. The Watford board called the game off in mid morning citing 'tragic circumstances' but it was several hours before the news of Davis' death were released.

For those City fans not travelling to Northampton tomorrow (and there will be many) I urge you to support the charity game at the Ricoh Arena. In a game arranged by the Former Players Association, supported by the Sky Blue Trust & the Diamond Club, a Coventry City Legends XI take on a Midlands all stars XI, kick off 2pm. The game, to celebrate the 130^th anniversary of the formation of Singers FC, will raise money for various charities including the Acorns Children's Hospice. As I write this several City former players have pledged their services including Noel Whelan, Darren Huckerby, Dave Bennett & Claus Jorgensen. It promises to be a fun afternoon. More details can be found at www.ccfpa.co.uk

Meanwhile at Sixfields Stadium the Sky Blues take on Bristol City. A very small crowd is expected & many people have asked me this week what is the lowest crowd for a City league game. The record low was set in February 1928 when 2,059 attended a Monday afternoon game against Crystal Palace in a Third Division South fixture. The game ended in a 2-2 draw. There was a smaller crowd for a competitive game at Highfield Road – in October 1985 1,086 turned up for a meaningless Full Members Cup group game against Millwall. Earlier results meant that neither club could progress in the competition but the game went ahead & ended 1-1.