Jim's column 26.1.2019

Coventry City had a fruitless trip to Devon last week, losing, after dominating for long periods, to a pretty average Plymouth team. The man who made the difference was former City man Ruben Lameiras who scored both Argyle goals and is in the form of his life at Home Park. He struggled to win a regular place with Plymouth last season following his move from City but has now scored six goals in his last four games. His career at Coventry was hardly dazzling, although he did score some good goals.

The obvious comment on Saturday from many City fans was 'our former players always come back to haunt us and score'. I have written about this in the past arguing that we only notice the former players who score against us and ignore those that don't and I haven't altered my view. Ruben's goals are the first by a former City player this season and we have faced quite a few ex's. I did some research into last season and only two ex-players netted against the Sky Blues, Daniel Agyei for Walsall in a FLT game and Dominic Samuel for Blackburn in the League Cup game. Both of these were loanees and you have to go back to early 2017 for the last occurrence of a non-loanee to have been on the score-sheet, at Sheffield United when both John Fleck and Leon Clarke scored in the 2-0 loss. I calculated that there were 29 instances of former City players facing the Sky Blues in all competitions last season. Of course a number were defenders and one, Reice Charles-Cook was a goalkeeper, but the evidence doesn't support the theory that ex-players are always netting against us.

In 2012 when Stern John scored for Ipswich against us I made the point that it was his first goal in six appearances against City since he had left in 2007 and that there had been only four other former City players who had scored against us in the last five seasons: Dele Adebola, Jay Bothroyd, Andy Morrell and Calum Davenport. 

Ruben joins an elite group of former players to score two goals in a game against City. Leon Clarke did it for Bury in 2016, the first since 1983 when Steve Whitton of West Ham scored a pair in a 5-2 hammering at Upton Park. Before that Bobby Gould scored both Bristol City goals in a 2-2 draw in a League Cup game at Ashton Gate in 1973 and John Tudor netted two for Newcastle in a 4-2 win over the Sky Blues in early 1972.

The best ever effort by an 'ex' though was probably the famous England test cricketer Patsy Hendren. He left City in 1911 after a brief career but came back to haunt us fifteen years later as a veteran of 37 playing for Brentford. In a 7-3 thumping at Griffin Park Patsy helped himself to four goals in what was his final season as a player.

My good friend Geoff Moore is always coming up with interesting stats and this week he came up trumps again. He tells me that since Lee Burge made his debut for the club in August 2014, in a League Cup game versus Cardiff at Sixfields, a further 100 players have made their debut. Only five of these 100 players have played the equivalent of fifty games for the club (i.e. 4500 minutes game time): Chris Stokes, Charles Reice-Cook, Jack Grimmer, Sam Ricketts and Tom Bayliss. It illustrates the transient nature of football in the lower divisions and the strong reliance on loan players. 31 of those hundred were loans but the trend is that the club is using less. Ten loanees appeared for the club in 2016-17 but there have been only six in the last eighteen months.

Jim's column 15.4.2017

I am writing this before Friday's game but if City have beaten Charlton yesterday it will amazingly be the first time since 2007 that the team have won four home league games in a row. That was the first four games of the Dowie era and although there have been numerous three-game runs in the intervening period the team have never won four. Back in October/November under Mark Venus the team won three league games plus a Checkatrade trophy game in a row, and we all thought the team would pull away from the foot of the table. It wasn't to be and now relegation is virtually certain – it may have happened yesterday or on Monday at Rochdale where the Sky Blues have got such a woeful record.

Long-suffering fan Dave 'Brammy' Bramwell attended the post-match party last Saturday and asked me a question about City goalkeepers. He wanted to know which 'keeper had made the most penalty saves during a season.

I'm pretty sure the answer is Joe Murphy who saved five penalty kicks from seven in 2013-14. Messrs Berrett (Carlisle a), Mooney (Leyton O h), O'Connor (Rotherham a), Lisbie (Leyton O a) & Judge (Brentford a) all had their spot-kicks saved by the agile Irishman. Information about penalty saves is patchy before World War 2 but since then several keepers have saved three in a season including Bill Glazier, Jim Blyth & Murphy himself in 2011-12. Glazier's saves were in that exciting but nail-biting 1967-68 season & his saves were all away from home & from stars of the day Denis Law (Manchester United), Charlie Cooke (Chelsea) & Francis Lee (Man City). Lee, especially, was renowned as one of the top penalty takers of that era & Glazier's efforts were outstanding. Jim Blyth saved three penalties in 1977-78, another exciting season when the Sky Blues scored 75 goals & narrowly missed out on a European spot. Jim saved from Liverpool's Phil Neal in a 1-0 victory at Highfield Road, from Leicester's Dennis Rofe in a 2-1 win at Filbert Street but his most crucial save was in the last minute of the 5-4 victory over Norwich City when he foiled John Ryan's attempt to make it 5-5. In 2011-12 Joe saved from Messrs Hunt (Reading), Martin (Ipswich) & Danns (Leicester).

                                                                    Joe Murphy

On Twitter this week Celebcelery asked if the Sky Blues had ever gone through a whole league season without scoring more than two goals in a game. With four games remaining (before the Charlton game) the team have failed to net more than two in a game and are closing in on a record they won't be proud of. The team has scored only 34 goals in 42 games and only Oldham (29) of the 72 Football League clubs have scored less.

Coventry City's record low number of goals in a season is 35, set in 1919-20 and equalled in 1991-92, but both campaigns were 42-game seasons. The club's lowest for a 46-game season is 41 in 2011-12, the Championship relegation year.

The low total number of goals is also reflected in the club's leading league scorers. Currently three players (Tudgay, Agyei and Sordell) are heading the chart with four goals. But with Agyei and Sordell no longer at the club and Tudgay's appearances, let alone goals, becoming as rare as hen's teeth, we have to look to George Thomas (3 goals) to try and overtake them in the remaining games and avoid another pitiful record. The lowest number of goals by a Coventry leading scorer is six. That was achieved in the club's Premiership relegation season when Hadji, Hartson and Bellamy all managed six. Two seasons ago Messrs Nouble, O'Brien and Samuel each scored six to top the scoring charts.

I have to mention the immutable law of the ex, as the famous football writer Brian Glanville described it, which struck in last week's 2-0 defeat at Bramall Lane. Numerous ex-City players have scored against the Sky Blues but until the trip to Sheffield only three had managed it this season (Mark Marshall, Chris Maguire and Jacob Murphy). Then within five minutes Leon Clarke and John Fleck both netted for the Blades for a unique record – never have two ex's scored in the same game against the club.

Although John Fleck has had an outstanding season Leon has been unable to hold down a regular place and before the City game had netted only one league goal. Predictably however he came off the bench to score against City to follow up his two goals for Bury against us last season. Then on Saturday Clarke and Fleck were at it again, scoring the goals at Northampton that clinched promotion for the Blades.

It was another great Legends Day last Saturday at the Peterborough game with over 40 former players watching the Sky Blues notch their third home win in a row. The crowd, 10,441, was the second largest home crowd of this miserable season. There were several factors for the high attendance – cheap tickets, a post-Wembley euphoria and hopefully the draw of seeing our former players.

Six of the 1966-67 squad were in attendance to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of winning the Second Division title – Bill Glazier, Mick Kearns, Dietmar Bruck, John Tudor, Ronnie Farmer and Dudley Roberts but Bobby Gould had to pull out at the last minute after his mother died. The CCFPA's thoughts are with Bobby, Trevor and the family.

The highlight of a great day was to receive an award recognising ten years as chairman of the Former Players Association from one of my heroes Roy Barry. To be recognised by my fellow committee members and the association's members was a very special moment for me. Thanks to everyone.

Jim's column 3.10.2015

How predictable that Leon Clarke should score for Bury against the Sky Blues at Gigg Lane last week. Once again, the immutable law of the ex, as the famous football writer Brian Glanville described it, struck, to consign City to a defeat they scarcely deserved on their second half performance.

Clarke went one better than most ex-players and scored twice, the second from a contentious penalty. He became the first former City player to score twice in a game against us since 1983 when Steve Whitton of West Ham scored a pair in a 5-2 hammering at Upton Park in what was his first game against his old club since his move that summer.

I can find two other instances of a former player scoring two. In 1973 in a League Cup tie at Bristol City's Ashton Gate Bobby Gould scored both goals in a 2-2 draw. Prior to that John Tudor netted two for Newcastle in a 4-2 win over the Sky Blues in early 1972. Tudor was never a prolific scorer but was a wonderful foil for Malcolm Macdonald who seemed able to score at will against Coventry in that era.

Back in those days there were far fewer instances of former players scoring against their old clubs – players just didn't move around as much – but Ronnie Rees scored for both Nottingham Forest & West Brom, after leaving us in 1968. The best ever effort by an 'ex' though was probably the famous England test cricketer Patsy Hendren. He left City in 1911 after a brief career but came back to haunt us fifteen years later as a veteran of 37 playing for Brentford. In a 7-3 thumping at Griffin Park Patsy helped himself to four goals in what was his final season as a player.

Jim McIlwaine sent me an interesting article in the summer about former City youth player John Matthews. The article states that John is regarding as one of the greatest players ever to play in the League of Ireland. After joining Waterford from the Sky Blues in 1966 he won seven championship medals (six with Waterford and one with Limerick) scoring 156 goals as a left-winger. Jim wondered if I had any more information on John and his father Horace who played for the club in the 1940s.

Horace Matthews (born 1913) was well known in local league football before he joined City in 1945. He was a member of a strong AWA Baginton side and was a logical signing when the club had so many players away in the services towards the end of World War 2. He played five games at outside left in the transitional season of 1945-46, scoring one goal – in a 3-1 home win over Fulham. His only officially recognised games were in the two-leg FA Cup third round ties with Aston Villa in January 1946 which City lost 2-3 on aggregate. I believe that in 1946 he returned to playing in local soccer. I wonder if Horace is in the picture of AWA Baginton's team from 1942-43. Please let me know if you can spot him.

Horace's son John joined City after being spotted playing for GEC and was in the same youth team as Mick Coop and Pat Morrissey. In 1966 Jimmy Hill was approached by Mick Lynch, the manager of Waterford, seeking a young player on loan. JH agreed for young John, who would have probably been released that summer, to go over for six weeks to gain some experience and in his first seven games he helped them clinch their first ever League of Ireland championship. John signed permanently for the club soon afterwards and the club won five more titles over the next six seasons and played in the European Cup against such sides as Manchester United and Celtic. After retiring Johnny, as he became known in Ireland, managed Limerick & Waterford United as well as becoming a referee & TV pundit.

Ron Dickinson was interested in my recent column regarding penalty takers where I pointed out the excellent record from the spot by Ronnie Farmer (1 miss from 23 attempts) and Gary McAllister (I miss from 16). Ron's memory goes further back – to Norman Lockhart, who played for the club from 1947-52 and was the regular penalty taker during that time. I checked the records and discovered Norman's record was 14 successful penalties from 17 attempts. The other great penalty taker for the club was Brian Kilcline. Killer's record doesn't match Farmer & McAllister but he did net 19 spot-kicks while missing five.

Jim's column 4.1.14

An excellent holiday period saw the Sky Blues claim seven points from three games & push up to 10th place in League One. But for a poor refereeing decision & some wayward finishing against Oldham it would have been maximum points from the festive programme. 

Both wins were terrific performances with the 4-2 win over Peterborough the first time City have twice come from behind to win a home league game since Chelsea were defeated 3-2 at Highfield Road on the opening day of the 1997-98 season. That day Dion Dublin scored a hat-trick and Leon Clarke should have had three but had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. 

In the Boxing Day game and on New Years Day at Rotherham a poor first half display was followed by a scintillating second half that saw deficits overturned. City have now come from behind to win on four occasions and to draw three times - the second best record in the division and a remarkable record when you consider that just over a year ago the team hadn't come from behind to win for over three years.

Former City academy players took the honours for opposing teams over Christmas with three of them netting in successive games against the Sky Blues. Swindon's Miles Storey started the run with the late winner at the County Ground in another winless day in Wiltshire - only one win in 13 league visits there since 1952. On Boxing Day Shaun Jeffers, released by the Sky Blues last summer, netted Posh's first goal and then City's youngest ever debutant, Jonson Clarke-Harris, released in 2012, scored Oldham's goal in the 1-1 draw. I don't count Storey as a former player as he never made the first team but it still means that four ex-Sky Blues have netted this season - Cody McDonald (Gillingham) and Chris Birchall (Port Vale) being the earlier ones.

The immutable law of the ex, as the famous football writer Brian Glanville described it, came into force but whilst it seems that ex-City men always score against us the statistics don't bear this out. For example Stern John played against City six times after he left before he netted and numerous prolific scorers never scored after departing. Readers wanted to know which ex-players had scored for more than one club after leaving and there a number including Bobby Gould (Wolves, Bristol C & West Ham), Ronnie Rees (WBA & Forest), Dion Dublin (Villa & Leicester), Darren Huckerby (Leeds & Man City), Robbie Keane (Spurs & Leeds) and Stuart Pearce (Forest & Man City). The best ever effort by an 'ex' though was probably the famous England test cricketer Patsy Hendren. He left City in 1911 after a brief career but came back to haunt us fifteen years later as a veteran of 37 playing for Brentford. In a 7-3 thumping at Griffin Park Patsy helped himself to four goals in what was his final season as a player.

I am not one for mid-season statistics but I have to mention Leon Clarke's scoring achievements in the calendar year of 2013. In 39 starts plus two sub appearances in the year Leon netted 27 goals in all competitions which is the best by a City player since 1963 when George Hudson netted 31 goals. Other City plays to have prolific years are the legendary Clarrie Bourton who netted 43 in 1932, 35 in 1933 and 30 in 1934, George Lowrie 39 in 1947 and Ray Straw 33 in 1958.  Leon is up there with the goalscoring giants of Coventry City's glorious history. We can only hope and pray that he stays at the club through the transfer window.

Follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton

Jim's column 17.3.12

I must learn to keep quiet about stats at City’s games. With an hour gone last week against Birmingham City I leaned forward to tell Dave Long that statistics didn’t support the view that former players always scored against the Sky Blues. Ten minutes later, bang, and Marlon King had equalised for the Blues.

A couple of years when Stern John scored for Ipswich against us I made the point that it was his first goal in six appearances against City since he had left in 2007 and that there had been only four other former City players who had scored against us in the last five seasons: Dele Adebola, Jay Bothroyd, Andy Morrell and Calum Davenport. 

The famous football writer Brian Glanville calls it the Immutable Law of the Ex, that is a player scoring against his former club. It is the first such occurrence against City this season but last season three old boys (John Eustace (Watford) and Bothroyd and Craig Bellamy (Cardiff)) somewhat wrecked my theory.

By my reckoning nine ex-City outfield players have not scored against us this season: Matt Mills, John Eustace, Jay Tabb, Zavon Hines, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Ben Turner, Aron Gunnarrson and Jon Stead, and several of those have played against us twice. However I won’t be betting against Ben and Gunner not finding the net when we travel to Cardiff on Wednesday night.

One statistic I will mention today in the hope that it will end the jinx is the terrible run of away defeats. Defeat today at Watford will be the 11^th in a row and will equal the club’s worst run ever in the Football League. Between January and September 1926 the team recorded the following results:-

Jan	23	1926	a	Doncaster R	L	1-8
Jan	30	1926	h	Wrexham	W	2-0
Feb	6	1926	a	Halifax T	L	0-1
Feb	13	1926	a	Nelson	L	1-4
Feb	27	1926	h	Accrington S	W	2-1
Mar	6	1926	a	Durham C	L	1-4
Mar	13	1926	h	Grimsby T	D	1-1
Mar	17	1926	a	Chesterfield	L	3-4
Mar	20	1926	a	Rotherham U	L	1-2
Mar	27	1926	h	Tranmere R	L	1-2
Apr	2	1926	a	New Brighton	L	1-5
Apr	3	1926	a	Walsall	L	1-4
Apr	5	1926	h	Ashington	W	2-0
Apr	6	1926	h	New Brighton	D	0-0
Apr	10	1926	h	Chesterfield	L	2-4
Apr	17	1926	a	Bradford PA	L	0-3
Apr	24	1926	h	Hartlepools U	W	5-2
May	1	1926	a	Rochdale	L	1-4
Aug	28	1926	h	Northampton	L	0-3
Sep	1	1926	a	Watford	L	0-1

In 1925-26 season the team played in Division Three North and then, in the summer of 1926, switched to Division Three South. By coincidence the 11^th and final game was at Watford where the Sky Blues travel today.

That run ended a few days later with a 1-1 draw at QPR but was then followed by a further seven away defeats! Please don’t let history repeat itself.

At least in 1926 the team scored 10 goals in their eleven defeats. The current run has seen the Sky Blues net only three goals: Gary Gardner at Brighton, Lukas Jutkiewicz at Portsmouth and Conor Thomas at Blackpool. City have scored only seven away goals all season, the worst in all divisions, and are heading to break the club record low of nine, set in 1999-2000, the only other occasion that the team have failed to win a single away game. That season however we only played 19 away games.

Next Saturday is Coventry City Legends Day at The Ricoh Arena and at the time of going to press the Former Players Association have received 50 acceptances from former players. It is the sixth year that the event has been held and the FPA committee hope that the fans will give the club’s legends a great reception when they do their customary half-time parade.

At this year’s event there is a mystery guest. The Association have recently signed their 200^th member and it is one of the club’s top players from the last 50 years who has not been to a City game for many years. His identity will not be unveiled until next Saturday but believe me he is a BIG name.

All of the legends will be in the 1883 restaurant before the game and in the G-Casino after the match, signing autographs and chatting with supporters, with Billy Bell introducing them on stage in Lady Gs. It promises to be a memorable day.

JIM'S COLUMN 23.1.10

I tempted providence last week when I pointed out that the Sky Blues were the only side in the Championship not to concede a goal in the last five minutes this season. Sure enough Ipswich pop up and score in added time to break that impressive record. Admittedly Pompey had done it twice in the cup replay but the league record stood firm until Pablo Counago’s strike.

Talking of Counago his record against the Sky Blues is impressive. The Spanish striker has been playing for Ipswich against City since 2002 but had three seasons away in the middle of the decade. In that time he has played against City on eight occasions (three of which were as a substitute) and scored seven goals, six of them at Portman Road. I think he needs special attention if we come up against him again.

Another Ipswich scorer was our old friend Stern John. After the match a lot of fans were saying that it was so predictable him scoring against his old club under what famous football writer Brian Glanville called the immutable law of the ex, that is a player scoring against his old club. The law doesn’t really work for Stern, that was his first goal in six appearances against City since he left in 2007 (and his first goal anywhere for 32 games!). There have been just four other former City scorers in the last five seasons: Dele Adebola, Jay Bothroyd, Andy Morrell and Calum Davenport. Incidentally it was the fourth different club John has played for against us in those six games and he has now appeared against City for six different clubs.


The football stars of the 1950s are today largely forgotten by the media. Many of them survive on a meagre pension after earning less in a career than today’s Premiership stars earn in a week. It was still however a surprise to learn last week that former 1950s Coventry City star Tommy Capel passed away last October. His death was reported at the time by the Nottingham papers (Forest were his major club and he lived in the city) but didn’t appear on my radar until reported in the Soccer History publication.

Manchester-born Capel played as a teenager for local works team Goslings and then Droylesden before joining Manchester City in 1941. Military service in Burma with the Marines meant he made only a handful of senior games for City in war-time football. In 1947 he joined Chesterfield and later was briefly at Birmingham City before a move to Nottingham Forest in 1949. The dashing inside-forward was a regular scorer and played his best football at the City Ground scoring 72 goals in five seasons including 23 in Forest’s Second Division promotion campaign of 1950-51. Coventry City boss Jack Fairbrother pulled off a major coup signing Capel and his Forest colleague Colin Collindridge in 1954. In his first season at Highfield Road Capel, a ‘bustling’ inside-forward was top scorer with 22 league and cup goals including a brace in the surprise 3-3 FA Cup draw at First Division Huddersfield. The following season under Jesse Carver he was dropped after the first two games and sold to Halifax soon afterwards. After leaving senior football he worked as a travelling salesman for Trent Concrete and played non-league football with Heanor Town in the Midland League. Tommy continued to play for Padstow in the Nottingham Spartan League until past his 50th birthday.