Jim's column 6.12.14

Last Saturday's goalless draw with Walsall attracted a lot of criticism from City supporters but I for one didn't think it was as bad as several home games this season & whilst the lack of goals is a cause for concern we should be celebrating a more solid defence. Since the Cup exit to Worcester the side have conceded one goal in four matches & that was a sloppy mistake that nine times out of ten would not have been punished. Prior to Worcester they had conceded 17 goals in seven league games. Saturday's clean sheet meant that the team have two successive clean sheets for first time for over a year. The last time consecutive clean sheets were recorded was in autumn 2013 when wins over Walsall (1-0) & Notts County (3-0) took City up to 11^th place despite starting with a ten points deduction.

Several fans have asked me how City's record for the calendar year compares with the worst years in the club's history. So far, in 2014, Steven Pressley's side have won 10 out of 42 league games & won 43 points. The worst calendar year was in 1984 when Bobby Gould's team won just nine games out of 43, totalling 35 points.

In a 46-game calendar year the worst record was in 2011 when Aidy Bothroyd started the year in charge but was replaced by Andy Thorn after 12 games. The team won 11 out of 46 games, earning 40 points. Other bad years were 2003, 1997 & 1996. In all of those years the side amassed only 42 points. In conclusion, therefore, it is not going to be one of the club's worst years.

I didn't mention last week that City's long run without an away victory had been ended with the 1-0 victory at Colchester. Not only was it the first away league win of the season but the first since March 29^th when a Callum Wilson brace earned City a 2-1 win at Crewe. That was 11 away games without victory & just four draws. The club's worst ever away run was between January 1924 & April 1925 when they went 28 trips without a victory.

Last week I wrote about Jack Doran who appeared just once for Coventry City in 1915 but scored two goals. City fan David Selby sent me a pen picture of Doran from the Norwich City A-Z by Mike Davage & I have done some more research.

Davage's book reveals that Doran was gassed at the Battle of Somme & again at Cambrai whilst in Major Frank Buckley's 'Football Battalion'. On being demobbed after the First World War, Doran signed for three clubs within five months of 1919 (Brentford, Newcastle & Norwich). Southern League Norwich were managed at the time by Major Buckley & Doran emulated his feat for City by scoring twice on his debut for the Canaries. In 25 Southern League games the burly, curly-haired, Doran scored 18 goals before fellow Southern League club Brighton stepped in to sign him in February 1920. He scored 10 goals in 10 games for the Seagulls & ended up as top scorer for both clubs that season. That summer the complete Southern League became the new Third Division & Doran netted 21 goals (half of Brighton's total) in their first season in the League, a feat that earned him a call-up to the Ireland team that played England. In 1921-22 he continued his goalscoring, netting ten goals in his first seven games & 23 in total in a struggling side as well as winning two further Irish caps.

His phenomenal scoring attracted considerable interest from bigger clubs & in the summer of 1922 he signed for Manchester City. Doran made only three appearances for Manchester City, scoring once, before the club attempted to convert him to a centre-half. He then moved back to the Third Division for a few months with Crewe but his career was in a nose-dive. Short spells followed with Mid Rhondda United in the Southern League & Shelbourne in Ireland. He also played for Fordsons in the Irish Free State League before finishing his playing career with Boston in the Midland League. He then returned to Ireland where he coached Waterford. After retiring from football, he became a publican in the north-east of England, and died in Sunderland of the effects of tuberculosis, aged 44.

Jim's column 29.11.14

I get many requests for information from relatives of former Coventry City players & I found the latest request very interesting. Jo Loraine contacted me about her grandfather by the name of Jack Doran.

Jo is doing some research for her 84-year old mother whose father John(Jack) Doran was playing for City in 1914 when war was declared and subsequently joined up to fight in France with the 17th Middlesex Battalion, known as the football battalion. Her mum wanted to know how Jack came to be playing at Coventry as he must have been only about 17 at the time.

I didn't have too many details of Jack but know that Coventry spotted him playing in junior football for Newcastle Empire FC & signed him in May 1914, just months before the outbreak of war. It appears he joined the Army in September 1914 & made only one first team appearance for the club. On 20 March 1915 (presumably when he was on leave from the army) he played in a Southern League Division Two game versus Welsh club, Ebbw Vale, and scored two goals in a 3-1 win.

During the war, whilst on service with Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he was awarded both the Distinguished Combat Medal & the Military Medal. After the war he joined Norwich City and he subsequently played for Brighton, Manchester City, Crewe, Mid-Rhondda, Shelbourne, Fordsons (an Irish club) & Boston United. He won three international caps for Ireland. Most of my information was gleaned from the excellent book 'The Complete Who's Who of Coventry City footballers' by Martin & Paul O'Connor.

I think Jack must hold a record for being the only Coventry City player to score two goals in his only game for the club. In addition I was able to furnish Jo with a Coventry City team picture, with Jack in it, taken in the summer of 1914.

Lifelong City fan Terry White contacted me recently regarding his brother's 60^th birthday next May. He is keen to get hold of the programme from the game played on the day his brother was born, 2^nd May 1955 when City entertained QPR at Highfield Road. He has trawled many websites looking for it without success.

The game in question was the penultimate home game of the 1954-55 season on a midweek night & a small 4-page programme was issued. The programme is very rare & although I have a copy myself I can't remember seeing it on programme dealer's lists over the past 20-30 years. I was able to send Terry a scan of my copy.

The game ended 5-1 with goals from Alan Moore, Ray Sambrook, Barry Hawkings & Tommy Capel (2). Only 7,350 attended the game & I doubt many there kept the flimsy 4-page programme.

Glenn Hulbert is an exiled City fan on Vancouver Island, British Columbia & e-mailed me concerning City's record attendance. He started watching City as a seven-year old in 1952, was a regular in the 1960s and still recalls some of the old names like Arthur Lightening, a South African goalkeeper, Scots winger Stewart Imlach, Welsh winger Ronnie Rees, centre-forward Ray Straw & Ernie Machin.

He wanted information on City's record attendance. He says that the official record crowd is 51,455 recorded against Wolves on 29th April 1967 but he believes that in 1938, in a game against Aston Villa there was a crowd estimated at 60,000 +. He also remembers standing on the Spion Kop in the 1960s watching City play Sunderland in the 5th round of the FA Cup, & believed that  was the unofficial record attendance, probably 65-70,000.
Glenn rightly says that many fans got into the ground that night when some of the gates were broken down. The official crowd was 40,487 however reliable eye-witness  estimates would suggest that the actual number in the ground was around 50,000 but certainly not 65-70,000.

The official record crowd at Highfield Road was 51,452 for the famous Wolves game in 1967. The Aston Villa crowd of 67,271 was in 1937 but was at Villa Park & over 20,000 City fans made the trip up the A45 for a 0-0 draw. The highest for a home game v Villa was 44,930 in 1938. This was the official record crowd until the Wolves game. All these attendances are those recorded with either the Football League or the Football Association.

Finally, there is news of former City & Romania centre-forward Viorel Moldovan. Many believe that his signing in December 1997 was the catalyst for the exciting spring of 1998 when, but for a penalty shoot-out defeat at Bramall Lane, City would have reached the FA Cup semi-finals and maybe another Wembley final. Moldovan, now aged 42, is a coach in his home country & last season led Rapid Bucharest to promotion to the top division. He has been rewarded with appointment as coach to the national under 21 side. Moldovan, of course, will always be remembered for scoring the goal that ended the Villa Park hoodoo in the memorable 1-0 FA Cup win there that season. Moldovan never really settled in England & after appearing in the 1998 World Cup (& scoring against England) he was sold to Turkish club Fenerbahce with City netting a small profit.