Jim's column 12.10.2019

Coventry City's excellent unbeaten start came to a shuddering halt at Rotherham's New York Stadium last Saturday. It was the Sky Blues' biggest league defeat for eighteen months -since that 2-6 debacle against Yeovil in the League Two promotion season. You have to go back to Easter Monday 2013 for the last time they lost by four goals in an away league game. That was a 0-4 defeat at Walsall near the end of the season. Left-back Jordan Stewart received his marching orders for two yellow cards in the 64th minute with the Saddlers, managed by current Villa boss Dean Smith, already 2-0 ahead and two late goals made it an embarrassing scoreline for manager Steven Pressley. It's interesting to look at City's team that day – it included a number of players who have gone on to greater things including Cyrus Christie, substitute Callum Wilson and John Fleck but some who have almost disappeared without trace and barely remembered by City fans. William Edjenguele and Callum Ball made their final starts in sky blue that day and Derby loanee James Bailey, Stephen Jennings and Franck Moussa were all on their way to the exit door.

The unbeaten run is over but let's not forget that it was the club's second best start ever in league football, falling five short of the club record set in 1937-38 which I have written about in earlier columns. I don't fancy waiting another 82 years for a similar start. The 10-game run was also the best unbeaten run since Tony Mowbray's exciting team were unbeaten in 11 games in October and November 2015.

Tranmere are tomorrow's visitors at St Andrews and won't be easy opponents. City's home record against them is quite good – only two defeats in ten games but the Sky Blues have a woeful record at Birkenhead with just one victory in nine visits (in 1938!). Those fans who travelled to watch City at Sixfields in 2013-14 will remember the 5-1 thrashing dished out by the Merseyside club that day with Ryan Lowe registering a hat-trick. Older fans will remember another 5-1 drubbing at Tranmere in a 1999 League Cup tie when City were a Premier League Club but threw Italian goalkeeper Rafaele Nuzzo in for his one and only senior game. It will be the fourth different venue that Tranmere have played away games against City, Highfield Road, Ricoh Arena, Sixfields and now St Andrews.

Following my mention of City's great home record in 1955-56 (they remained unbeaten from the start of the season until February) David Walker was in touch with his memories of the legendary manager Jesse Carver:

Thanks for the piece on longest unbeaten runs, especially the piece about Jesse Carver.

Amazing how some things stick in your mind, but that season (1955-56) was special, in one particular way.

Standing behind the goal, at the Swan Lane end that year, we seemed always to be watching a mediocre first half, with the City not looking too effective and short of ideas.

As the second half started, Mr Carver would appear from the tunnel and lean back against the terrace wall, just standing there, watching things, arms folded and obviously missing nothing. He was very distinctive in that light coloured sports jacket (as per the picture) and it was as if a someone had thrown a switch and got the team playing.

How? I reckon he had spent the first half weighing up the opposition, sorted out the needs in the dressing room at half time and came out to see the results, which usually gave us a lot to cheer.

Also, it was good to see long time director Erle Shanks in the picture. Derrick Robins gets a lot of plaudits, but Mr Shanks was a great supporter of the club, when there was not much money about.

Jim's column 18.10.14

                                                        George Raynor

Sixty years ago next year Coventry City, then a struggling Third Division South outfit hit the back pages of the national newspapers by enticing top English coaches Jesse Carver and George Raynor from their well-paid positions as head coaches of AS Roma & Lazio respectively. It was seen as a massive coup by the City board & its chairman Erle Shanks & the highly respected men arrived in Coventry to a fanfare of publicity.

Carver, who had won Serie A with Juventus & built up a great reputation in Italy, would only stay at Highfield Road for six months, before being lured back to Italy with a massive salary but Raynor would stay for almost eighteen months. After Carver jumped ship George stepped into the manager's position but in the summer of 1956 he was demoted to coach again after the arrival of Harry Warren. Raynor was a football purist who had led Sweden to the Olympic gold medal in the 1948 London Olympics & third place in the 1950 World Cup. His ideas didn't sit well with Warren's out-dated & neanderthal tactics & when Sweden came again, seeking a man to lead them in their home World Cup in 1958, George was grateful to leave the primitive, up and under Third Division style of play.

Amazingly for a man who football has largely forgotten about, there have been two books published this year on George Raynor. Italian journalist Federico Farcomeni has written a short E-book of 64 pages entitled 'George Raynor- The Untold Story of English Football's Forgotten Giant' which makes for interesting reading and is available in Kindle form for only £1.53. Meanwhile Ashley Hyne has produced a far more meatier biography of Raynor entitled 'The Greatest Coach England Never Had'. Hyne's research is excellent, for instance he interviewed former City player Lol Harvey, one of the few ex-City men still alive who played under Raynor. Whilst the section about his time at Coventry are fairly brief the author weaves a story of a man misunderstood in his own country but revered in Sweden. Returning to Sweden in 1957 with just a year to prepare a team for the '58 World Cup he had the job of revitalising a team that had failed to qualify for the 1954 final stages & had regressed considerably since he had left them to go to Italy in 1953.

With the help of clever tactics & his own brand of motivation Raynor prepared his team with infinite detail & became the first Englishman to coach a team to the World Cup final. Unbeaten in the group stage, they went on to defeat USSR & holders West Germany to reach a final against the odds-on favourites Brazil. Sweden took an early lead but the silky skills of Garrincha, Didi & 17-year old Pele swept the hosts away in a 5-2 defeat. Raynor however was a Swedish national hero but when he returned to England a few months later the only job he could get was at Midland League Skegness.

One of the best stories in the book is about Sweden's meeting with the great Hungary side of the early 1950s. The Magyars were unbeaten in three years when Sweden arrived in Budapest just a week before Hungary were due to meet England at Wembley in what would turn out to be a watershed game for England. Raynor had done his homework & recognised the danger of Hidegkuti, the deep-lying centre-forward. He played a zonal marking system to counter Hidegkuti & instructed his forwards to close down their markers when they were not in possession (in modern parlance, a pressing game). The plan worked and Sweden got a creditable 2-2 draw. The arrogant English press saw the result & said England had little to fear from the Hungarians at Wembley. After the match Raynor met up with England manager Walter Winterbottom & gave him advice on how to play the Hungarians. Sadly Winterbottom ignored the advice, gave Hidegkuti the freedom of the pitch & England suffered their first home loss to continental opposition in an embarrassing 6-3 defeat.

George Raynor's death went unrecorded by the local & national press and he is still a largely forgotten man in football circles but Ashley Hyne's book does the man's fascinating life justice.

Today, the league leaders Bristol City are in town, rejuvenated by Steve Cotterill & boasting a couple of outstanding strikers in this division in Aaron Wilbraham & Kieran Agard. City did the double over them last season but it will take a massive effort to beat the Robins today. Cotterill's team have an amazing record at the Ricoh, winning four of the six meetings and drawing one. The only City victory was in the last meeting on Boxing Day 2011 when a Gary Deegan goal gave the Sky Blues their first win in 11 games.

Jim's column 23.2.2013

In last week's column I wrote about Mark Robins' record as a manager and it generated a lot of interest with many surprised that his win percentage was higher than Jimmy Hill. I mentioned the managerial reign of Jesse Carver, the last City boss to be lured away to another club and fellow Sky Blue historian Paul O'Connor pointed out that Carver & Robins league records are remarkably similar.

 The two records are:

	PL	W	D	L	FOR	AGST	PTS	PTS per GAME	%WINS
Carver	26	14	4	8	47	31	46	1.769	53.85
Robins	25	13	5	7	45	27	44	1.760	52.00

Paul points out that it’s not a fair comparison but if managers since 1919 are compared on points per game assuming 3 points for a win, they have the two best records of any manager (apart from Lee Carsley!). Carver actually had a higher percentage of wins than Robins. Paul also pointed out that Harry Storer, Jack Fairbrother, Eric Black and Roland Nilsson all had a higher wins percentage than Jimmy Hill. It is worth noting too that Carver’s record was based on a strong home record (12 wins, 2 draws and 0 defeats) as opposed to Robins’ poor home record but strong away record.

City's interest in  the Johnstone's Paint Trophy ended on a cold night in Cheshire as City failed to do themselves justice until the referees watch ticked past the 90 minute mark and a good number of their fans, including me, had left the Gresty Road stadium. BBC CWR had poor Dan ringing in without knowing the final score and he argued till he was blue in the face that the game had ended 0-0. I was 20 minutes down the M6 when I managed to pick up CWR and learned that I had missed the late goals. This is not going to be Coventry's year for a trip to the final at Wembley and our hopes now rely on finishing the league season with a strong vein of form to reach the automatic promotion places or more realistically the play- off positions. Their rivals have been catching up with their games in hand and as far as City fans are concerned, with mixed results. Swindon shook off the departure of Paulo Di Canio and won well at Tranmere, who seem to have hit the wall. Whilst Bournemouth slipped up badly at Preston, Yeovil's outstanding form has lifted them into the top six. As of this morning two points separate the top six and with Seventh-placed Brentford a further two points behind and the Sky Blues four points behind the Bees.

Today four of the top six meet each other with Sheffield United travelling to Bournemouth and Doncaster entertaining Yeovil. After today's home game with Crewe the Sky Blues have two massive games with a trip to Bournemouth's Dean Court on Tuesday night followed by a home cracker with current leaders Swindon Town. With 13 games left the Sky blues probably need 27 points (9 wins) to finish in the top six. Any defeats in the next three games could signal the end of City's play-off push.

City travel to Dean Court for a league game for the first time since the 1963-64 promotion season when they slipped up 1-2 to the Cherries and their only win in 11 league games there since the war was in April 1957. They did travel there for a League cup tie in 1988 when John Sillett's team comfortably won 4-0 on the way to a 7-1 aggregate win. Since then the ground at Dean Court has been transformed with the pitch being rotated 90 degrees and all the stands being rebuilt. After last week's ninth away win at Bury City are now on the brink of equalling the club record of 10 wins on the road set in 1969-70.

Swindon are another side who haven't played the Sky Blues for many years until this season. They did have one season in the Premier League in 1993-94 but before that City and Swindon hadn't met in league action since 1964-65 when the Robins were relegated from Division Two.

Next Saturday's game is also the annual Legends Day at the Ricoh, the seventh year running the event that brings City's former players together has been held. I hate to tempt fate but the Sky Blues have never lost on the six previous Legends Days. Around 50 former players are expected to be entertained to lunch by the Former Players Association and will be presented to the fans in the traditional half-time parade. Several attendees will be making their first appearance at a Legends Day including former player and manager Bobby Gould, Kevin Gallacher, Gerry Baker and a veteran from the 1950s, Ronnie Waldock. After the game tHe day ends in the traditional way with appearances on the stage at the G Casino. It should be a great day.

Jim's column 16.2.2013

At the end of another tumultuous week in the history of Coventry City the Sky Blues have lost their 11th manager in 12 years with Mark Robins, 146 days into the job, leaving to join Huddersfield Town. Many fans are understandably upset and annoyed that Robins has walked out on the club, especially as he has been instrumental in a big turnaround in the club's fortunes since arriving in late September.

In those 146 days his team have played 25 league games, winning 13, drawing five and losing seven. In cup competitions they have played eight, winning five and losing three. His win ratio in league games is 52% , the best in the club's history, even emulating Jimmy Hill's record in the Sky Blue era, although to be fair JH's career spanned six years.

Robins' team has lifted the fans' spirits after the depressing relegation season and a woeful start to this campaign. The away form especially has been phenomenal, setting a club record of six consecutive league wins and losing only twice in 12 games and the club record of 10 away wins in a season stands a fair chance of being broken. The goals have flowed in especially in November and December when McGoldrick was on fire and the goals per game of 1.80 is the best under modern managers. 

Not everyone has been totally convinced about Robins however. One blogger this week didn't think Robins was the Messiah and pointed out that the home form under him has been very poor, five league defeats since he arrived and only five wins in 13. The critic also pointed out that with City's salary budget (allegedly one of the three largest in the division) they should be winning this many games and be in a top six position. He went on to say that the two home defeats last week highlighted the shortcomings in defence, and the lack of punch in attack and a feeling that maybe we have been rumbled. On several occasions Robins' team has shown little idea how to break down a hard-working, defence-minded team of which there are many in this league and who all seem to raise their game at the Ricoh.

The irony is that the club have for the first time in years lost a manager to another club after sacking nine of their previous managers, the exception being Gary McAllister who resigned to support his dying wife. Some have argued this week that the club have treated some of their managers so badly that they deserve being shafted by Robins.

The last man to walk out on Coventry City to join another club was Jesse Carver in 1956 after six months in charge. It was a major shock in the football world when City unveiled Carver as their new manager. The Liverpudlian Carver was a highly rated coach in Italy at the time and many wondered why he chose to manage an English Third Division side. Chairman Erle Shanks made him one of the highest paid managers in the English game with a salary close to £100 per week (at a time when most players were earning £15). 

 Carver arrived with a tan that complemented his man about town personality and with his tailored light grey suits and camel coat he looked more like a Hollywood film mogul than a football manager. He warned supporters not too expect too much but his words went unheeded – promotion talk was, as always, in the air.
 His innovations were far-reaching, from wooden shoes and bathrobes for the players to prevent them catching cold whilst getting out of the showers to made to measure lightweight continental boots for all the players. He also bought 40 footballs, one for each player on the staff as he expected them to practice their ball skills at all times. He also brought from Italy former Swedish national coach George Raynor as his number two, another man with an outstanding reputation on the continent.
Over 24,000 fans were at the opening day win over Bournemouth and the football was slick and exciting. At home Carver’s team were unbeatable but away from home they struggled for results and promotion hopes looked slim. Throughout the autumn rumours persisted of a move back to Italy but these were quashed by Shanks.
 By now it had become apparent that Carver and Raynor’s continental style was not quite enough to win promotion amidst the hurly-burly of the Third Division and Carver re-shaped his approach. In December he bought Ken McPherson from Middlesbrough, a big bustling centre-forward and the team won five games on the trot culminating in a 5-1 thrashing of Millwall in front of a crowd of 30,000.
 But there was another major story brewing. Behind the scenes Carver had made it clear to Shanks – he wanted to leave. The Midlands didn’t suit his wife’s health and he made an urgent request to be released from his three-year contract. The board reluctantly agreed and Carver left the club on New Years Eve. He denied that there were any other offers for his services but within hours of him returning to Italy on 3^rd January 1956 Internazionale announced he would be their new manager.
 City released him on the understanding that he didn’t work in England during the remaining period of his Coventry contract. He did return to a coaching job at Tottenham in 1958 but failed to settle and later he moved to Portugal. After a spell in the USA he retired to England in the late 1960s.
 Between Carver and Robins Coventry had 26 permanent managers and 19 have been given their P45s. The seven not sacked include four who moved upstairs (George Curtis, Joe Mercer, Gordon Milne and Ron Atkinson), one who walked out (Bobby Gould), Gary McAllister and one, Jimmy Hill, who left football for a plum job in television. Now JH was a true messiah!