Jim's column 26.11.22

The World Cup is well underway in Qatar now and although Coventry City have no current players at the tournament I’m sure City fans will be following the progress of Sky Blue Academy graduates Callum Wilson and James Maddison in the England shirt.

Trying to be topical I thought I would answer some World Cup themed questions.

Paul Brucculeri from Alderman’s Green asked me to remind him of the name of the long- bearded American World Cup defender who nearly signed for the Sky Blues many years ago. It was in 1994 after the World Cup in the USA when City attempted to sign US central defender Alexi Lalas. I’m sure he was close to joining the Sky Blues and did travel to Coventry but eventually signed for Italian club Padova. He played there for two seasons before returning to play for New England in the newly formed MLS. Lalas went on to win 96 caps for his country as well as appearing in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Paul also asked if City had had any US born players other than Cobi Jones (another star of the US 1994 World Cup team). There have been two others, Gerry Baker and Jack McBean. Baker, the son of Scottish parents, was born in New York State but his parents moved back to Scotland when Gerry was quite young. Gerry had a successful career north of the border and with Ipswich before signing for City in the twilight of his career in 1967. He played 34 games for the Sky Blues and won several caps for the USA.

                              Gerry Baker

Californian McBean came to the club on loan from LA Galaxy in that horrendous autumn of 2016 when Mark Venus had taken over as manager following Tony Mowbray’s departure. A striker, Jack made six appearances, three from the bench, failed to find the net and made very little impression on Sky Blue fans.

Wales are appearing in their first World Cup finals since 1958 when they massively over-achieved before narrowly losing to Brazil in the quarter finals. As with Gareth Bale today, Wales had a talismanic figure in John Charles, who had moved to Juventus a year earlier for a British record fee of £65,000. John Sills remembers City signing one of the Welsh heroes, Ron Hewitt a couple of years later.

John writes: ‘Ron arrived at City just in time for the semi-final and Final of the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup, scoring both goals in City's 2-1 win over West Ham in the final. If I remember correctly, his second goal came at the Spion Kop end as he cut inside the penalty area from his inside-left position, side-stepping a defender, and hitting a powerful low shot into the far side of the goal - or was it the near side? I used to commentate myself to sleep with that goal for many weeks afterwards - that victory being the high spot of my first year of following 'The Bantams'. I was 10 years old.’

The veteran Hewitt played 65 first team games for City and scored 26 goals but after Jimmy Hill arrived in late 1961 he was out of favour and in March 1962 joined Chester. He had won five full caps for Wales but never played for his country after the 1958 World Cup. In the team photo from 1960 with the Southern Professional Floodlit trophy he is far left in the back row.

Jim's column 19.10.13

Former Coventry City striker Gerry Baker who passed away in August didn't live to see the publication of a book telling the story of his and his brother Joe's footballing career. The book The Fabulous Baker Boys Is an incredible story of two brothers who scored more than 500 goals between them and donned international jerseys for England & the United States. Despite being brought up in Scotland and having broad Scots accents they never had the chance to play for the country they felt was their own.

I wrote about Gerry's career in his obituary at the time of his death and how, by virtue of being born in the USA he became the first top-flight European footballer to represent the States - this was before the international qualifications changed in the 1980s allowing players to qualify by virtue of parents & grandparents places of birth. Joe's story is equally as fascinating - he was born in Liverpool and aged 19, became the first man to play for England having never played in the Football League. His goal scoring feats at Hibernian saw him selected to play alongside greats such as Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton & Johnny Haynes. Between 1959 & 1966 Joe won eight full caps & but for the emergence of a young striker called Geoff Hurst months before the 1966 World Cup would have almost certainly been in Alf Ramsey's squad for the tournament. There are humorous stories of Joe, with his broad Scots accent, turning up for international duty.

Young Joe's scoring & international performances had the top English clubs chasing his signature but with the maximum wage still in force, the lure of the Italian lire was too great & Joe signed for Torino, around the same time as Denis Law joined them. The book tells how Joe, who was on £12 at Hibs was given an unbelievable £12,000 signing on fee. Joe & Denis' time in Turin was a disaster on the pitch and culminated in a serious car crash which left Joe hospitalised.

Once recovered he returned to the UK & signed for Arsenal (the maximum wage had been removed in the meantime) and scored goals for fun for the Gunners & later Nottingham Forest before winding his career down at Sunderland and back in Scotland with Hibs. The Forest side of 1966-67 was outstanding   , finishing second in the league & but for a bad injury sustained by Joe in the FA Cup sixth round against Everton, may have won the FA Cup. I remember seeing Joe play for Forest against Coventry at the City Ground the following season, City's first in Division One, on the night George Curtis broke his leg. A battling Sky Blues team led three times, with substitute Bobby Gould scoring twice, in a thrilling 3-3 draw & Joe netted one of the Forest goals. A week later in the return game at Highfield Road Joe ripped City's makeshift defence apart scoring twice in a 3-1 win.

Although Gerry only spent a couple of years at Coventry near the end of his career & his time at Highfield Road is only briefly covered in the well-researched book, I would still recommend the book as an excellent read for all football fans. The author, Tom Maxwell a Scottish football historian, has worked with the Baker family including Gerry, before his death, and gives a great insight into British football in the 1950s & 60s, an era when footballers were paid modest wages and the average football fan could relate to them, something it's not possible to say these days.

Ian Harris wrote to me recently regarding the largest away followings Coventry City have had. Until recent seasons there have been no official figures for the number of away fans at games so any figures I quote are estimates that were quoted in the Coventry Telegraph at the time, some which may have been based on ticket sales for all-ticket games. The largest number of City fans at an away game has to be the estimated 50,000 who travelled to Wembley Stadium in August 1987 for the Charity Shield game versus Everton. During the previous season's FA Cup run there were approximately 25,000 tickets sold by the club to City fans for the final, but it's likely that a good few more obtained tickets elsewhere. There were 27,500 at the semi final v Leeds at Hillsborough and 15,000 at the sixth round tie at Hillsborough. Other large followings include the FA Cup tie at Villa Park in 1965 (20,000), a league game at the same venue in 1937 (20,000 in a crowd of 68,000), 15,000 at Molineux in 1966 and 14,000 at the same ground for the FA Cup tie in 1973. Since 1987 the largest City away following is probably the estimated 11,000 who travelled to Old Trafford for the League Cup game in 2007. Can anyone remember any other big away followings?

Follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton

Jim's column 7.9.13

Coventry City's phenomenal August goalscoring feats slowed down somewhat at Shrewsbury last week although Callum Wilson's early goal threatened another goal glut. In the end City scored 16 goals in the month of August and thanks to Dave Mobley for making me aware of a Football League record the team came close to breaking.

Dave checked the league tables for all four divisions going back to the war and found that no team had scored more than 18 goals by 31 August (before the war the league season rarely started before the last Saturday in August). He pointed out that before the Shrewsbury game the Sky Blues had scored 15 so on Saturday afternoon needed three to equal the record and four to break it.

 The highest August scorers are:

18 goals                Liverpool 1969 , Crystal Palace 1960

16 goals                Arsenal 2004 , Ipswich Town 1999 , Manchester United 1999 , Chester City 1972,  Sheffield United 1969 , Q P R 1962 , Charlton 1968 , West Ham 1968.

As it turned out the one goal put them in joint second place in the all-time table.

What a extraordinary start to the season Callum Wilson is having. After starting just three league games before the start of the season he cannot stop scoring. His goal at Shrewsbury was his sixth in the first five league games a feat not achieved by a Coventry City player since 1954-55 when Eddie Brown netted six in the first five unbeaten City games. Only two other City players have matched that feat, the great Clarrie Bourton in 1935-36 and George Lowrie who netted seven goals in the first THREE games in 1947-48, all of which were scored in August.

No City players from the last thirty years have managed five or more goals in the first five games but others to have achieved it are:

1977-78 Ian Wallace

1965-66 George Hudson

1964-65 George Kirby

1963-64 George Hudson

1960-61 Ray Straw & Billy Myerscough

1932-33 Clarrie Bourton

Last week's obituary for Gerry Baker prompted some nice comments from various readers but two comments are worth reporting. Former City player Ian Goodwin, who was a youth team player when Gerry was at the club remembers him fondly: 'He was a wonderful man who always had time to offer help and advice to the younger players. He certainly helped me and will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.'

Bob Nelsen, an American City fan who lives in California, met Gerry a few years ago: 'I had the honour of meeting him one time at the Tile Hill Social Club, where he was introduced to me as a former American international.  I was quite surprised by his Scottish accent and we had a good laugh about that.  I thanked him for his service to both the USA and CCFC.  He was a modest and jolly gentleman.'

Two weeks ago I wrote about the League Cup tie with Leicester City in 1964-65 and Leicester's full-back Richie Norman scoring. I said that Norman had later managed Nuneaton Borough but Rod Grubb kindly pointed out that this was incorrect & that Norman had only ever been physiotherapist at Nuneaton.

Jim's column 31.8.13

Last Saturday evening I received the sad news that former City player Gerry Baker had passed away earlier that day at the age of 75. It seems only five minutes since I laughed and joked with him at the last Legends Day in March when he was full of beans and posed for pictures with his fellow ex-City great Scots such as Stein, Carr, Hutchison & Wallace.

Gerry was born on 11 April 1938 in New Rochelle in New York State, where his English father ( a sailor) and Scottish mother had settled, but after a year in the States, the family moved to his father's native Liverpool, so that he could assist the war effort by joining the Merchant Navy. During their time on Merseyside, his younger brother Joe was born and the two brothers both had outstanding football careers. Gerry & Joe both won international caps for the countries of their birth despite their broad Scottish accents. 

A few weeks after Joe's birth, the family were evacuated to Scotland and the football mad brothers were brought up in Motherwell, playing football first for his school sides of Park Primary and St. Joseph's Secondary, as well as Craigneuk Boys Club.

Gerry's skills soon brought him to the attention of local side Larkhall Thistle, and after only six games, the 15 year old headed south to join Chelsea where he starred in their youth, third and reserve teams (scoring four goals in six starts), before making one appearance for the Chelsea first team, against Luton Town in a Southern Floodlight Cup match in September 1956. He returned to Scotland later that year suffering from homesickness, and was quickly snapped up by his home town team of Motherwell.

Gerry's first team chances were limited at Motherwell and he was regularly played at outside left, which was not his favoured position. A move to St. Mirren in early 1959 kick-started his career and he scored on his debut in a 2-1 win over a Hibs side which contained his brother Joe. He also helped the Saints to the Scottish Cup final, scoring seven goals en route, and then netted the third goal in the clubs 3-1 final win over Aberdeen at Hampden.

The following season, Gerry made history by scoring an incredible ten goals in a Scottish Cup tie against Glasgow University, which St Mirren won 15-0. (Unbelievably brother Joe scored nine against Peebles Rovers for Hibs a year later.)

 In 1960 Gerry caught the eye of Manchester City who paid £30,000 for his signature and he crossed the border again, playing alongside the great Denis Law, but once more did not settle in the south and a year later he was on the move to Hibernian. He was a regular scorer for Hibs for two seasons & once again attracted the English scouts. In November 1963 former Newcastle legend Jackie Milburn paid £25,000 to sign Gerry for Ipswich Town. He was unable to stop Ipswich being relegated from Division One that season but was a regular at Portman Road for four seasons scoring 58 goals in 135 games.

Noel Cantwell signed Gerry for the Sky Blues two weeks after taking over from Jimmy Hill as City's manager in October 1967, paying Ipswich £25,000. He made his debut in a disastrous 0-3 home defeat to Fulham which sent the team to the foot of the table. Fellow Scot Ernie Hannigan made his debut the same day. Gerry netted his first goal for City in a 1-1 home draw with West Ham on a snow-bound pitch with his speed unnerving the normally calm Bobby Moore.

Gerry was small for a striker but he was good in the air. His real strength however was in his speed and finishing. He scored further goals at home to Liverpool, Newcastle and Charlton but his most memorable goal came in a 2-1 home win over Chelsea in February 1968. The previous week City had won their first away game of the season and only their second league win since September & the first of many great escapes was underway. Cantwell had signed centre-forward Neil Martin and he made his debut in an all Scottish forward line of: Hannigan, Baker, Martin, Ian Gibson & Willie Carr (Baker always considered himself a Scot despite his US passport). City trailed the high-flying Londoners 1-0 at half time but Gerry headed an equaliser before Hannigan clinched a vital win with a searing shot.

Gerry played 22 games that season, scoring five goals & helping the Sky Blues avoid the drop. The following season he lost his place to Ernie Hunt and made only 11 appearances scoring a solitary goal, against Newcastle at home. That season he did however make himself available for the U.S.A. team as it began qualifying matches for the 1970 World Cup. His first cap came in a 4–2 World Cup qualifying defeat to Canada on 17 October 1968.

Over the next month, Gerry started six games with the U.S.A. and scored twice in a 6–2 victory over Bermuda. His seventh & last cap came in a 1–0 loss to Haiti which put the U.S.A. out of contention for a spot in the finals.

His final first team game for Coventry came in September 1969 when deputising for the injured Hunt he won one of two penalties in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. The following month he joined Brentford on loan where he scored two goals in eight games before being released by the Sky Blues at the end of the season. In total he played 34 games and scored six goals.

Gerry then signed as a player-manager with Southern League Margate, but was limited by several injuries, first a dislocated shoulder in August 1970, then broken ribs in the November. Despite these injuries, Gerry played a total of 48 games (16 goals) before leaving the club in September 1971. He joined Nuneaton Borough and played 30 games (9 goals) under David Pleat for one season, followed by spells with Bedworth United, Worcester City & Racing Warwick.

Brother Joe, who won eight caps for England in the early 60s, passed away 10 years ago.

After retiring from professional football Gerry worked for Jaguar Cars in Coventry, and took up golf. His late wife Ann was a champion sprinter in her heyday, and daughters, Karen and Lorraine, were both international athletes. Lorraine represented Great Britain in the 1984 & 1992 Olympics, finishing fifth in the 800 metres in 1984. Gerry & Ann returned to live in Scotland some years ago & Ann passed away last year after a long illness. Gerry's funeral took place in Motherwell yesterday .

Gerry Baker RIP

On Saturday evening I received the sad news that former Coventry City striker Gerry Baker had passed away earlier that day, aged 75. Signed by by Noel Cantwell from Ipswich in 1967 Gerry played a key role in keeping the Sky Blues in Division 1 in their inaugural season in the top flight. Between 1967-69 Gerry made 34 league & cup appearances for the club before joining Southern League Margate. He won several US international caps by virtue of being born in New York and later played for Nuneaton Borough.

A full obituary will appear in next week 's column

Jim's column 10.11.2012

                                       Gerry Baker, spotted at Ricoh this week.

What a treat – two Coventry City wins in a week - could the tide by turning at last. I hope I won’t tempt fate by pointing out that City notched their first trio of successive wins for December 2010 when they defeated Burnley and Middlesbrough at home and Scunthorpe away to reach the heady heights of fifth place in the Championship. They haven’t won four in a row since December 2002!

Sadly the gates at this week’s games were pitifully low. The gate for the Arlesey FA Cup game was 6,594, the lowest for a home FA Cup tie since December 1908 when 6,215 watched City draw 1-1 with Wrexham in a Fifth Qualifying Round tie. Gates were generally poor in the Cup last week and City’s was only bettered by Portsmouth who had 7,560 for the visit of Notts County.

Tuesday night’s gate plumbed new depths for the Sky Blues with only 8,862 present for the visit of Crawley – the lowest home league crowd since March 1992 when 8,454 turned up for the midweek game against Norwich just three days after almost 24,000 had watched the Sky Blues entertain Manchester United. The crowds are drifting down to the lowest in the last 50 years with the smallest since 1962 being the 7,478 who watched the Watford game in January 1986. The Crawley gate means that City’s average this season is just 10,514 and unless it improves it will be the lowest average since 1961-62, the season Jimmy Hill took over as manager.

The FA Cup victory, City’s biggest home win since they moved to the Ricoh in 2005, set up a revenge game for the Sky Blues. The draw paired City with the winners of the Rochdale v Morecambe replay. Both of these clubs have knocked City out of Cup competitions in recent years, Rochdale in the 2003 FA Cup and Morecambe in 2010-11 League Cup, and older fans will remember the even bigger shock in 1971, when City lost at Spotland on a dreary Monday afternoon after the original game had been postponed.

David McGoldrick is the man of the moment and became the first City player to score 10 goals before the end of November since Michael Mifsud in 2007. Mifsud reached double figures on 3 November, beating McGoldrick by three days. Mifsud achieved it in only nine starts, McGoldrick has had 14 starts. McGoldrick is something of an enigma. Forest fans don’t speak highly of him – his nickname at the City Ground was McGoaldrought – and he scored only nine goals in 75 appearances (but only 36 starts) in three seasons. Prior to that he scored only 15 goals in 75 games (55 starts) for Southampton but obviously did enough to persuade Forest’s manager Billy Davies to pay £1m for him. He can’t seem to stop scoring for the Sky Blues and it has to be hoped that he can stay at the club beyond his loan period.

The introduction of Arlesey Town’s substitute, player-manager Zema Abbey, prompted the question from John Woodfield and Dean Nelson: when was the last time a player-manager appeared against the Sky Blues?

The answer is, to my knowledge, Gillingham’s Andy Hessenthaler who played several games for the Gills v the Sky Blues between 2001-2004 during his time as player-manager at the Priestfield Stadium. The last appearance was in City’s 5-2 win there in 2004 when Richard Shaw famously scored his only City goal and Hessenthaler got his marching orders. Another is Paul Simpson who played for and managed Rochdale to the aforementioned Cup win in 2003. My memory of the Premiership years is failing me and I have to thank Paul O’Connor for reminding me of several player-managers who played against us in the Premier League including three Chelsea men (Glen Hoddle, Ruud Gullit & Gianluca Vialli), Liverpool’s Kenny Dalglish and Trevor Francis. Francis, I believe, is unique in that he did it twice (for QPR and Sheffield Wednesday) and scored against the Sky Blues in a 2-1 QPR victory in 1988-89.  I do have good memories of the 1960s and remember Bill McGarry (PM of Bournemouth) and Jimmy Scoular (PM of Bradford PA) in the 1962-63 season. There may be more but it’s not as strange as it sounds.

I bumped into former Coventry City player Gerry Baker after Tuesday night’s game. It is always nice to chat to Gerry – a true gentleman – but it was sad to hear that his wife Anne passed away recently after a long illness. Gerry was down from his Motherwell home visiting his family in Coventry and took the opportunity to make a rare visit to the Ricoh. He was full of stories of the Sky Blues early seasons in Division One and reminisced about the late Ernie Machin.