Jim's Column 30.7.22

The new season kicks off for the Sky Blues tomorrow with a trip to Sunderland's Stadium of Light. It is the first time in their long history that the club have played a competitive game in July. The start of the season has been getting earlier and earlier and has been brought forward a week this year because of the World Cup in November. 100 years or so ago the season wasn't allowed to start until the last Saturday in August because of an agreement with the cricket authorities but gradually the start date has crept forward. The early start would have been unthinkable in the 1950s or 60s when many of the industrial cities and towns of the country closed down their factories for the last week in July and first week in August and workers had no choice but to take their holidays at that time. There would have been some pretty low attendances if games had been played in these two weeks.

During the close season we have lost two of the stalwarts from the Jimmy Hill era, Ronnie Farmer and Jimmy Whitehouse, and my tributes to them can be found at my website (www.jimbrownsjournal.blogspot.co.uk) .

In the last week I have also been made aware that former City goalkeeper Graham Spratt passed away earlier this year. Born six weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939, Graham, who had previously been on Leicester City's books, was signed from Oadby Town as a seventeen-year-old in 1956. He made his debut for the reserves in a 2-2 draw at Swindon in November of that year. His form in the reserves earned him a call-up to the first team at the start of the 1957-58 season and he was praised after an impressive debut in a home 2-2 draw with Watford. It was a miserable season for the club however with a bottom half finish in Division Three South consigning City to the newly formed Division Four. Graham, who at 5 ft 8 ins was short for a goalkeeper, was described as 'the next Reg Matthews in the making' in the Coventry Telegraph and was often the hero for keeping the score down. Despite impressive notices Graham lost his place after a 7-1 thrashing at Southampton at the end of February when Nemo in the Coventry Telegraph described him as 'the star turn' for keeping the score down! Manager Billy Frith felt the youngster needed a break and Graham played just one more first team game, in a 4-1 defeat at Walsall.

That summer Frith signed a new goalkeeper Jim Sanders who managed 10 games before suffering a broken leg. Graham was called up to play against Carlisle and although City lost 2-1 he got positive reviews. Frith however was not convinced and relegated Graham to the reserves, preferring 41-year-old trainer Alf Wood for the next game. Graham was a regular for the reserves for the rest of the season but released by the club the following summer at the tender age of 19 having played 28 league games and two FA Cup ties for the club. After leaving City he played for Rugby Town and became a postman and worked for Royal Mail until his retirement. His daughter Julie tells me that he excelled at most sports and was wicket-keeper for Dunton Bassett cricket team as well as an accomplished bowls player for the Soar Valley club. He lived in Blaby for many years before moving to Mountsorrel in Leicestershire. His wife Sylvia passed away in 1982 and long time partner Thelma passed away four years ago. He leaves two daughters Joanne and Julie. RIP Graham. Sadly Graham was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a number of years ago.

Another former City goalkeeper John Green recently passed away. John never played for the first team but played for the 'A' team in the seasons immediately after World War Two. He was a regular at Diamond Club lunches and often wrote to me with memories of his playing days.

As many of you know I love football books and this summer I have received one of the most interesting ones for a while. Entitled One Shilling (1/-) it is the story of the revolution in football programme design between 1965-85, written by Matthew Caldwell and Alan Dein. As probably the most innovative club of the 1960s under Jimmy Hill, Coventry City feature heavily in the book. Their ground-breaking magazine style programme of 1967-70 was impressive however the award-winning but controversial 1970-71 Sky Blue magazine is given pride of place. The book is dedicated to John Elvin, the man who designed that unique publication. Sadly the club failed to appreciate the quality of Elvin's work and ditched him after one season. Elvin, who had previously worked for West Brom, worked briefly at Chelsea before being diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and dying at the age of 53. If you have an interest in football programmes then the book is a highly recommended read.

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton 

Jim's column 20-2-2021

Three weeks ago I wrote about Coventry City's nursery club in 1940s, Modern Machine Tools and how many of the teenagers who played for that team progressed to playing league football with City. I had an email from John Green.

Thanks for a great article on Modern Machine Tools team last Saturday. In the early days they played in the Coventry Minor League and their home games were played at Spencer Park. I was a goalkeeper and played on a couple of occasions as a stand-in for the injured Reg Matthews. Names I recall from those occasions, Albert Sneddon, John Quinney, Billy Gray, Jimmy and Peter Hill. I had signed for the club on a Sunday evening when Charlie Elliot, who was the chief scout, visited my home following a trial that morning at Highfield Road. A successful Cheylesmore Youth Club team who played in the Youth Club League were invited to play against the Modern Machine team and as goalkeeper I was monitored and coached through the game by Billy Morgan, who had been first team keeper before the war. I went on to play in the City 'A' Team but my father wanted me to finish my apprenticeship and so ended my time at Coventry City.

The 'A' team was City's third XI and in the late 1940s they played in the Birmingham Combination alongside some strong Midland non-league sides such as Nuneaton Borough, Atherstone, Bedworth as well as the 'A' teams from Wolves, West Brom and Birmingham City. I found a programme from January 1948 with John in goal for them for a game at Stafford Rangers. Also in the City team were three players who had played first team games, Bob Ward, Jack Evans and Freddie Gardner. Coventry-born Gardner was more famous as a cricketer, playing over 300 games for Warwickshire between 1947-61.

Loan signing Matty James became Coventry City's seventh captain of the season when he led the team out in the home game with Watford two weeks ago. He follows Liam Kelly, Kyle McFadzean, Michael Rose, Matty Godden, Dom Hyam and Fankaty Dabo. Initially I believed this to equal the club record set in 2016-17 (the League 1 relegation season) when seven different players took the armband. Subsequently I discovered that in 2010-11 eight different players skippered the team.

In 2010-11 Lee Carsley was club captain and led the team in every league game until just before Christmas when he was injured and Michael Doyle took over on four occasions. James McPake skippered the team in a League Cup tie at Morecambe. In January Doyle went on loan to Sheffield United and Keiren Westwood took the armband. In early March in a disastrous home game with Bristol City the club used three different captains – Westwood started but was injured and Marlon King took over but then received a red card for striking Bristol's Damian Stewart and Aron Gunnarsson ended the game with the armband. Richard Wood became the seventh captain for four games before Sammy Clingan made it eight captains when he took over for the final eight games of the season.

A while back Marshall Stewart told me a story about former City secretary Bernard Hitchener. Bernard served the club for over forty years, first as assistant secretary before the war and after the war as secretary until 1963 when he became ticket office manager. Marshall takes up the story.

One of Bernard's tasks at reserve games on Saturday afternoons when City's first team were away from home was to answer the telephone at Highfield Road whenever it rang from the away ground with the latest score. He then passed the news - often bad in the darkest days of the fifties - to the chairman in the directors' box. The chairman's expression communicated the bad news to nearby supporters and it gradually rippled around the ground. Otherwise, when City were losing, the fans had to wait until half time until a member of the ground staff trudged around the pitch to display the latest scores on the pitch-side scoreboard.  

                Bernard Hitchener in the CCFC Ticket Office

What a difference from these days when every game is shown on ifollow, social media reports every incident and goal from every game and the days of a hand operated scoreboard are long gone.

Jim's column 19.4.14

One of the most memorable City away wins that I have ever seen came at Derby County's Baseball Ground in September 1970. Martin Oliver contacted me recently asking to be reminded of a famous 4-3 victory. The Rams, one of the top sides in the country & managed by the arrogant but irrepressable Brian Clough, had lost at home to the Sky Blues the previous season & Brian was determined that it wasn't going to happen again. After 13 minutes City were 0-2 down & had lost the services of their new signingWilf Smith, at the time the most expensive full-back in Britain

The game kicked off in a torrential downpour and within five minutes Smith took a bad knock. Three minutes later, with Smith temporarily off the field and City down to ten men, Kevin Hector scored in off a post. Ernie Hunt came on as substitute and Cantwell reshuffled his side, but on thirteen minutes Alan Hinton slammed in a rebound after Bill Glazier had made a good save. City were two goals down. Game, set and match to Derby, surely.

However, striker Neil Martin, who relished his tussles with the much vaunted Roy McFarland, was winning their aerial battle and it was Martin who, after 28 minutes, reduced the deficit with a hooked shot from Hunt’s cross. Three minutes later Dave Clements levelled the score with a daisy cutter. Against the odds, City were still alive and kicking.

                                                         Neil Martin

The second half was nine minutes old when Martin headed City ahead for the first time. John McGovern levelled the scores again with a shot that flew in off Willie Carr; then Geoff Strong seemed to seal City’s fate when elbowing Wignall off the ball in the penalty box. Penalty to Derby!

Alan Hinton, who boasted one of the most explosive shots in football, stepped up and fired to Glazier’s right, but City’s keeper made a prodigious leap to turn the ball aside. City were left hanging on grimly for a draw, and survived several stomach-churning moments. Two Derby ‘goals’ were disallowed for offside, Strong headed off the line, and Hector hit the bar.

It was still 3-3 when, with only two minutes remaining, City stunned the home crowd. Non-stop Willie Carr blasted the winner to gain a victory that Derek Henderson in the Coventry Telegraph described as probably City’s finest win in the First Division in the face of great adversity.

Last week I wrote about that famous trip to Peterborough 50 years ago this month & I received an email from Diamond Club member John Green. John was a fine goalkeeper in his day & was on City's books just after World War 2. He recently travelled to watch the Sky Blues at Crewe & told me it was his first visit to watch City there since 1963-64 season when he made the trip on the Sky Blue Special train. He cannot recollect the score or details of the game & asked me to refresh his memory. The match in question took place on a Wednesday night in early October and ended 2-2. George Hudson gave City the lead just before half-time. Crewe rallied after the break and goals from Frank Lord and John Dillon swung the scales in their direction. With just four minutes left Hudson flicked on a Mick Kearns free-kick and Ken Hale popped up to equalise.

City's line-up was: Wesson: Sillett, Kearns, Hill, Curtis, Farmer, Humphries, Hale, Hudson, Machin, Rees. The attendance was 7,385 (1,000 City fans).

Of course next weekend is the 50^th anniversary of City's Third Division championship and promotion to Division Two & I will be recalling the events of the famous game against Colchester. So if you have any memories please drop me an email.

Finally, following my piece about the number of home-grown players fielded by the club, Dean Nelson reminded me that on several occasions in the 1981-82 season City fielded a starting line-up containing ten players who had come through the club's youth scheme. The first time it occurred was an away draw at Swansea when the line-up was: Les Sealey, Danny Thomas, Brian Roberts, Steve Jacobs, Paul Dyson, Gary Gillespie, John Hendrie, Gerry Francis, Mark Hateley, Tom English, Steve Whitton. The substitute was Ian Butterworth making Francis the only player to have been signed from elsewhere. In addition to the 11 on duty that day, a further six homegrown players appeared that season: Peter Bodak, Ray Gooding, Martin Singleton, Garry Thompson, Peter Hormantschuk & David Barnes. 17 players all of whom came through the ranks – what would they be worth in today's inflated transfer market.