Jim's column 9.4.22

Tomorrow the Sky Blues travel to West London to play Championship leaders Fulham at Craven Cottage. It's City's first league visit to the ground since this week in 1968 when the clubs fought out a tense Division One relegation battle that ended 1-1.

Bottom club Fulham, who were First Division escape artists in the 1960s, often coming from seemingly hopeless positions to achieve safety, were six points adrift of 21st place, although they did have games in hand with some of the clubs immediately above them. No team from Arsenal in 11th place downward were safe with three points covering seven clubs from Leicester in 15th to Wolves in 21st position. City, bottom at the end of January, had picked up eleven points from eight games (there were two points for a win in those days) and were 19th and breathing slightly easier than two months earlier.

As a schoolboy I travelled to Fulham on the Priory coach from Leamington and stood on the covered Hammersmith End with maybe a thousand other City fans. That day there was a crowd of 20,869 and I witnessed some of my first football hooliganism. The wind spoiled the game and although former England captain Johnny Haynes was outstanding for the home side they couldn't break down City's defence superbly marshalled by Maurice Setters. With four minutes remaining City substitute Brian Hill hit a superb shot into the Fulham goal at the Putney End. The goal sparked a charge from Fulham's hooligan element and with barely a policeman or steward in sight, a battering looked on the cards. As the fists started flying Steve Earle scored an equaliser at our end and the thugs gave up their attack and instead celebrated the goal.

        Fulham's Haynes and City's Ernie Machin tussle for the ball

The point was far more valuable for City than Fulham and three weeks later their demotion was confirmed. The battle for the other relegation place went to the final day with City and Sheffield United level on points but with the Sky Blues having a better goal average. The Blades possibly had the advantage however as they were at home, to Chelsea, whilst City were away, at Southampton. At half-time, with the Blades leading 1-0, City had slipped into the bottom two for the first time since mid-February. The Sky Blues defence managed to hold out against a strong Saints' attack and thankfully Chelsea scored twice in the second half to send Sheffield down.

Fulham and Coventry have managed to avoid each other in league meetings in the last 54 years. Fulham were relegated again the following season and didn't reach the top flight again until 2001 – the season that City were relegated from the Premier League, so the missed each other again. Fulham then had 13 seasons in EPL but after relegation to the Championship they missed the Sky Blues who were in League One by then.

The clubs were drawn together in the second round of the League Cup in 1982-83 when ties were played over two legs. City drew 2-2 at Craven Cottage in front of 6,237 thanks to two goals from new signing Jim Melrose and went through to the next round on away goals after a 0-0 draw at Highfield Road.

Craven Cottage has changed a bit since 1968 but the old Main Stand is still in use and the Cottage still sits in the corner. In 1968 the Riverside terracing was open to the elements and had the flags of all 22 First Division clubs fluttering in the breeze. A stand was built on that terracing many years ago, blocking the view to the river Thames. I've been back to Craven Cottage on numerous occasions since 1968 – I lived 100 yards from the ground in the 1970s and even saw Pele play there in a friendly for Santos – but am looking forward to seeing my team lock horns with the Cottagers.

This season Fulham are the strongest team in the Championship, helped enormously by obscene amounts of parachute money, and need very few points to confirm their promotion back to the Premier League for the third time in five seasons. They also have the best player and top scorer (and probably the highest paid player) in the Championship in Aleksander Mitrovic who currently has 38 league goals to his name. However City inflicted Fulham's heaviest defeat of the season in October winning 4-1 at the CBS Arena. Nevertheless a tough afternoon beckons for the Sky Blues.

Jim's column 9.10.2021

The Sky Blues bounced back from the 0-5 loss at Luton to stun one of the promotion favourites Fulham on Saturday lunchtime with another thrilling home display. Trailing to a first half goal Mark Robins' team destroyed the Cottagers in 20 devastating minutes to win 4-1 and record a sixth straight home league win (seven if you count the last home game at St Andrews. Six home wins from the start of the season is the best since 1950-51 when City set the club record by winning their first eight games at Highfield Road and were unbeaten at home until mid-December. That season City led the old Second Division on New Years Day but their promotion challenge fizzled out in the spring and they finished seventh losing only three home games all season. A half decent away record would have seen City promoted to Division 1 16 years earlier than they were!

Seven consecutive home league wins (counting the final game at St Andrews) is the best run since 1955 when under new manager Jesse Carver the Bantams had excellent home form in Division Three South. The team won six and drew two of the first eight before a run of seven home league wins before suffering a defeat to Northampton in mid-January by which time Carver had decamped to Italy. The club record run of consecutive home league wins is 11 set in 1952-53, again in Division Three South.

                       Coventry City 1955-56

Viktor Gyokeres can't stop scoring right now and has now netted 9 goals in 11 league games, the best start to a campaign by a City striker since Callum Wilson blew the doors off Sixfields in 2013-14 with ten goals in the first 11 games. George Hudson also scored 10 in the first 11 in 1963-64. Vik has some way to catch the inimitable Clarrie Bourton who in 1931-32 scored 14 goals in the first 11 games and became the fastest ever to 20 goals, reaching that figure in just 14 games.

Gyokeres' two goals against Fulham meant he was the first Coventry player to score braces in successive home games since Adam Armstrong in his amazing scoring season in 2015-16. On Halloween 2015 Armstrong scored twice in a 3-2 victory over Peterborough then four days later repeated the feat in a 4-3 win over Barnsley.

It was Fulham's first league visit to Coventry since the 1967-68 season, City's first season in the top flight, when the Londoners shocked the Sky Blues by winning 3-0 with two goals from a young Allan Clarke and one from Joe Gilroy. In the return the following April City grabbed a valuable point in their relegation battle with Brian Hill's only ever goal in the top flight and left Fulham six points adrift at the bottom and virtually doomed for relegation. In the intervening 53 years the teams have somehow avoided each other – both sides have been down to Division Four – until now.

To answer Paul Brucculeri's question, we have met Fulham in a Cup tie since 1967, a two-legged League Cup tie in 1982. The teams drew 2-2 at Craven Cottage with two early goals from Jim Melrose cancelled out before half-time by Tony Gale and former Lockheed Leamington star Roger Brown. The second leg at Highfield Road was a dire game and after no goals in 90 minutes it went to extra-time and finally ended goalless with City going through on the away goals rule. Looking at the line-ups that night it's interesting to note that Fulham had two youngsters, Paul Parker and Ray Houghton, who went on to have stellar careers elsewhere.

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton

Jim's column 1.5.2021

 Coventry City sealed their place in the EFL Championship last weekend despite losing to their bogey team Preston North End. No one expected a smooth passage in the higher division and realistic fans were saying at the start of the season that 21st place would be acceptable. Now we can relax in the knowledge that a second season in tier 2 awaits us. The three-match winning run in six days the week before last was crucial and the true Coventry City relegation fighting spirit emerged with a home win over play-off chasing Barnsley sandwiched between away victories at Rotherham and Stoke. At the crucial time Mark Robins' team came up with not only their first back-to-back victories but made it three wins in a row at Stoke.

Following my piece about former City chairman Erle Shanks two weeks ago I received a nice email from his grandson Chris Pendle who wrote:

Thank you so much for the amazing article on Erle Shanks, my Grandfather, in the Coventry Telegraph last Saturday. Coventry City did recognise what my Grandfather had done for the club because, as from the early 1960s, he was given three seats in the Directors’ Box for life - which I benefited from because, from 1963 onwards, when I was was only 10 years old, he would take me to games on a regular basis. That continued until I was old enough to take him. Later on I still had the use of the tickets until my Grandfather’s death in 1999 since when I have been a season ticket holder.
Your article reminded me of stories from my grandfather particularly the saga of Jesse Carver who my Grandfather felt let him and the club down very badly. I think that the thing that gave him the most satisfaction was the part he played in the club purchasing the ground at Highfield Road.

City travelled to Huddersfield Town today for their penultimate league game and will play their first competitive game at the John Smith's Stadium. The two clubs have miraculously managed to avoid each other, league-wise, for 49 years – since they met in the old First Division in 1972. The Terriers were relegated that season and within three years they were in Division Four. They bounced back however and spent several seasons in tier 2 before being relegated again in 2000-01, the same season that the Sky Blues dropped out of the Premiership. In 2011-12 when Coventry dropped into League One Huddersfield were going in the opposite direction and they missed each other again. Since then Huddersfield have been in the Championship, apart from their two seasons in the top flight that ended the season before last. In 1972 the clubs met at the old ground, Leeds Road which was replaced in 1994 by the current ground previously known as the Galpharm and project managed by former City chief executive Paul Fletcher. City did play a League Cup tie at Leeds Road in 1977 and won 2-0 and have played a pre-season friendly at the new ground in 2009 (a 0-0 draw). That game in 1972 ended in a 1-0 win for the Sky Blues with Ernie Hunt grabbing a goal which guaranteed City's survival with four games of the season remaining.

That leaves Fulham as the club that City have avoided meeting for the longest period. Somehow the West London club and the Sky Blues have not been in the same division since 1968 (City's first season in the top flight) when the Cottagers were relegated. It looks increasingly likely that this will change next season as Fulham struggle to avoid relegation and many City away fans might get their first visit to Craven Cottage.

        City's Ernie Machin tussles with Fulham's Johnny Haynes in City's last league visit to Craven Cottage

The Preston defeat saw City concede their eleventh penalty of the season and Alan Browne duly converted it as have the previous ten penalty takers. Eleven is one short of the club record for a season – in 2013-14 they conceded 12. However in 2013-14 Joe Murphy managed to save five of them and therefore this season's eleven is a record for penalties 'scored' against us. In addition there were penalties conceded at MK Dons and Gillingham in the League Cup, the former which was saved by Marosi. Someone asked me to analyse who had conceded the 13 penalties. The offenders were:

Ben Wilson 3

Kyle McFadzean 3

Michael Rose 2

Declan Drysdale 1

Callum O'Hare 1

Ben Sheaf 1

Dom Hyam 1

Sam McCallum 1