Coventry City's international managers

After three weeks of speculation Frank Lampard has been named as the new Coventry City head coach and takes charge of his first game today at home to Cardiff City. Frank, of course has had an illustrious playing career playing almost 900 games and scoring over 200 goals as well as winning 106 full caps for England. His appointment is probably the highest profile one since Ron Atkinson arrived in 1995, and for a time helped the club hold their head above water in the Premier League. Time will tell whether it is a good decision as Frank has the ghost of Mark Robins and his seven years of success looking over his shoulder.

He is the 42^nd City manager/head coach (excluding caretaker or interim managers) since the club joined the Football League in 1919. He is also the 17^th former international to sit in the boss' chair and the eighth former England international. Of the 17 only one, Roland Nilsson, can top Frank's number of caps. Roland won 116 caps for Sweden in a dazzling playing career.

                                                Roland Nilsson, City's most capped manager

The seventeen former internationals are as follows:

Roland Nilsson (Sweden) 116 caps

Frank Lampard (England) 106

Terry Butcher (England) 77

Iain Dowie (Northern Ireland) 59

Gary McAllister (Scotland) 57

Phil Neal (England) 50

Gordon Strachan (Scotland) 50

Noel Cantwell (Republic of Ireland) 36

Chris Coleman (Wales) 32

Steven Pressley (Scotland) 32

Don Howe (England) 23

Gordon Milne (England) 14

Peter Reid (England) 13

Joe Mercer (England) 5

Harry Buckle (Northern Ireland) 3

Harry Storer (England) 2

Eric Black (Scotland) 2

Ed Blackaby is regularly in touch with tit-bits about Coventry City's history and recently came up with a fact that was new to me. It concerns Johnny Stevenson, a young Scottish player who was on City's books in the late 60s/early 70s. He was the nephew, through marriage, of City forward at the time, Gerry Baker. Johnny, a midfielder, was part of probably City's greatest ever youth team which included Dennis Mortimer, Alan Green, Bobby Parker and Jimmy Holmes. The team reached the FA Youth Cup final in 1970 only to lose to Tottenham after a two legged final and two replays. Johnny was one of only three members of that team who didn't progress to the first team (David Icke and Ivan Crossley were the others) In those days I used to attend youth games when they were held at Highfield Road and remember the memorable performances by that team. They beat Brentford 13-0 and Shrewsbury 6-0 with Johnny scoring a stunning donkey kick goal a few weeks after Ernie Hunt did it in 1970, before it was outlawed. 

Ed reminded me that Johnny moved back to Scotland after being released in 1972 and played for Hearts for three seasons and briefly for St Johnstone before emigrating to Australia. The surprising information is that he played two games for the Australian national team in 1978 whilst appearing for Sydney City. In 1978 he was selected to play against Greece and the following year against Yugoslav club side Partizan Belgrade. The latter game probably doesn't count as a full international as it was against a club side. We can however say that Johnny was an Australian international.

                                     The 1970 youth squad

It reminded me of another former Coventry City player, full-back Terry Springthorpe, who emigrated to the US in 1951 (months after a big money move from Wolves) and in 1953 was capped by the USA against England!

Dennis Churms RIP

I was sad to hear that Dennis Churms, the oldest former Coventry City player, had passed away last weekend. Dennis, who was 93-years-old, had lived in the Folkestone area for many years despite hailing from Rotherham in Yorkshire. As chairman of CCFPA I tried very hard on a number of occasions to persuade him to attend a Legends Day but he was never quite fit enough to make the trip from the south coast. 

Dennis played his early football with Cheshire side Spurley Hey FC before signing for his hometown club in 1950. Having to play in reserve team football for three seasons he finally got a first team opportunity in Rotherham's home Division 2 game with Nottingham Forest (3-0) playing at inside-forward (midfield). He retained his place the following week in a 1-1 away draw with Luton. Rotherham were a leading side in the old Second Division in the mid 1950s and the following season achieved the club's highest ever position in the Football League. They finished third and missed out on promotion on goal difference to Birmingham on the final day of the season with Dennis appearing in ten games. After just two games the following season he joined Coventry in the summer of 1956. 

He joined a club in turmoil having lost manager Jesse Carver halfway through the previous campaign and staggered through to the end of the season with Carver's number two, George Raynor in charge. Rather than having faith in the coaching ability of Raynor – who would take Sweden to the World cup final in 1958 – the board appointed Harry Warren. Warren had been manager of Southend since the war without ever threatening to get the Shrimpers out of Division Three South. The appointment was disastrous and the club went backwards under Warren – finishing 16^th. Churms atarted the season as first choice inside forward and scored the only goal on his debut against Exeter City. He managed one more goal, in a 5-1 home win over QPR but lost his place after ten starts.

By March 1957 he was playing for Exeter City for whom he 45 appearances, scoring eight goals. In 1958 Exeter finished rock bottom of Division Three South and had to apply for re-election with Dennis released. He joined Southern League Folkestone Town in 1959 and went on to become one of the most revered players in the club's history and he continued to live in the town after his playing retirement in 1967.

This was a period when non league Folkestone attracted players from the Football League in part with the offer of a day job and even in some cases accommodation with it. In 1959-60, Folkestone rejoined the Southern League as Folkestone Town FC and gained promotion to the Premier Division and it started a golden era for the club with some exciting FA Cup runs. In 1965 Dennis was part of the team that reached the third round by beating Third Division Gillingham and Wimbledon before losing to Crewe. Coincidentally, if Folkestone had beaten Crewe they would have faced the Sky Blues in round four.

Dennis spent 34 years working for British Railways as an electrician before taking early retirement in 1993. He remained active regularly playing squash and golf and taking a keen interest in football and horse racing. Richard Murrill the secretary of Folkestone Invicta FC told me that Dennis was an unassuming man who, like many of his generation, maintained his great dignity right until the end.

His funeral will take place on 11^th October at Hawkinge Crematorium, near Folkestone (11.30).

Last week week I wrote about former City players who currently manage home international teams. There are numerous other international bosses with Coventry City connections. In addition to Lee Carsley, former players Sam Allardyce and Stuart Pearce have managed England for one game only and Joe Mercer managed the national team in the summer of 1974 whilst the general manager of the Sky Blues. Joe was asked to take the reins following the sacking of Sir Alf Ramsey and the arrival of Don Revie and lost only one of his seven games at the helm. Pearce was caretaker manager for one game (a 2-3 home loss to Netherlands in 2012). Allardyce took the job in 2016 but only lasted one game, a 1-0 away victory over Slovakia, before being relieved of his duties over a press-led sting.

Gordon Strachan is the only former Coventry player to manage Scotland and was in charge of the national team for 40 games between 2013-17, suceeding Craig Levein and being followed by Malky Mackay.

Craig Bellamy is the fifth former Coventry player to manage Wales. Terry Yorath was in charge for 41 games (1988-93), Bobby Gould for 24 games (1995-99), Chris Coleman for 49 games (2012-17) and Robert Page for 45 games (2020-24) being the others.

Prior to Michael O'Neill the only former Coventry player to manage Northern Ireland was Dave Clements who was appointed player-manager in 1975, succeeding Terry Neil. He was also playing for Everton at the time and managed the national team for 11 games before handing the reins to Danny Blanchflower in 1976 after accepting an offer to play for New York Cosmos.

Former CCFC players managing international teams

How many clubs have had three former players as managers of home international sides at the same time? Three Coventry City former players are currently managing national teams. Lee Carsley is interim boss of England, Craig Bellamy is in charge of Wales and Michael O'Neill is back in charge of Northern Ireland for a second spell.

The three had mixed fortunes as players for the Sky Blues. Birmingham-born Carsley had a stellar career with Derby County and Blackburn Rovers before Gordon Strachan signed him in December 2000 with City struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League. A holding midfielder, Lee played 21 games in that relegation season and another 26 the following season before moving back to the Premiership with Everton. He was a virtual ever present with Everton over the next six years before two seasons at Birmingham City. In 2010 Coventry boss Adie Boothroyd re-signed Lee, now aged 36, and made him captain but a career-ending injury kept his appearances down to 25. He was appointed coach of the under 18 team and after leading them to runners up spot in the Premier Academy League he was promoted to coach of the Development Squad as the first team were relegated to League One. Weeks into the 2012-13 season he and Richard Shaw were appointed caretaker managers after the departure of Andy Thorn. The pair held the fort until Mark Robins was appointed and the following February Lee was sole caretaker manager for five games after Robins left and before Steven Pressley arrived. Carsley moved on soon afterwards and built an impressive career as a coach with Brentford, Sheffield United, Birmingham and the England under 20 and under 21 teams. This culminated in him leading the under 21 national side to the European Championship title last year and earned him the promotion to his current role this summer following Gareth Southgate's departure.

Craig Bellamy was in the same 2000-01 relegation team as Carsley but Sky Blues' fans' memories of the Welsh striker are far less memorable. Signed for £6 million, to replace Robbie Keane, Bellamy scored only eight goals (three of them penalties) in 39 games for the Sky Blues. In his partial defence he was recovering from a cruciate ligament injury and later revealed he never really want to sign for Coventry. Fortunately City were able to sell the volatile striker to Newcastle for £6.5 million. The move suited both parties!

                                                                Craig Bellamy as CCFC player
 

It's hard for most Sky Blue fans to remember Michael O'Neill. Gordon Strachan signed him fron Hibernian in 1996 and he teamed up again with his former Hibs manager Alex Miller, Strachan's number two. A left-winger, O'Neill had had two good seasons at Newcastle in the late 1980s (he scored two goals for the Magpies against City in a 2-2 draw in 1987). Unfortunately he was injured on his Coventry debut and was out for over a year. In March 1998 he went on loan to Aberdeen and Reading after just six appearances for the Sky Blues and that summer moved permanently to Wigan Athletic. A full international with 31 caps, O'Neill ended his playing career with Ayr United in 2004 and after very successful spells managing Brechin City and Shamrock Rovers he was appointed manager of Northern Ireland in 2011 leading his country, against the odds, to the 2016 Euros. He left his position in 2020 a few months after taking the Stoke manager's job but failed to push the Potters above mid-table in three seasons and was sacked in 2022. His previous success at international level convinced Northern Ireland to reappoint him in December 2022 and despite modest resources is doing a fine job.

 

Michael O'Neill as a CCFC player

Next week I will cover some of the previous Home International managers with Coventry City connections.