Jim's column 17.12.2016

Thursday night's defeat to Sheffield United was City's sixth straight league defeat – ironically with probably their best display of the six. The last time City lost five consecutive league games was four years ago just after the club were relegated from the Championship. Andy Thorn's final game in charge was a 2-2 home draw with Bury and Richard Shaw and Lee Carsley were put in temporary charge of the team. After a thrilling 3-2 League Cup win over Birmingham City, the caretaker duo were in charge for four league games, all of which were lost. A 1-0 loss at Crewe was followed by a 2-1 home defeat to Stevenage and away defeats at Tranmere (0-2) and Shrewsbury (1-4). Mark Robins took over as permanent manager and lost his first game in charge (a 2-1 home defeat to Carlisle).

You have to go back 43 years for the last occurrence of a City side losing more than five consecutive league games. For several months of the 1972-73 season City fans were drooling over the football produced by Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne's team. The signings in October 1972 of Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison sparked an unbeaten run of eight games and three FA Cup victories took them to the sixth round for the first time in 10 years. The Cup run ended at Molineux and City's subsequent form collapsed -they won only one of their last ten games and lost the last seven in a row. The seven included home defeats to Leeds, Derby and Liverpool and away reverses at Everton, Sheffield United, Chelsea and Wolves. The team finished 19^th after being 10^th before the Wolves Cup-tie. There was no rational explanation for the collapse by a very strong and experienced side that in addition to Stein & Hutchison contained Willie Carr, Dennis Mortimer, Chris Cattlin, Roy Barry, Mick Coop and Brian Alderson. Older fans remember that team with fondness and overlook that end of season collapse.

There are only two occasions in which City have lost more than seven consecutive league games. In the 1924-25 relegation season from Division Two they lost eight in a row between early November and early January including heavy away defeats at Hull (1-4), Derby (1-5) and South Shields (1-4). The record run however was set in 1919-20 when City lost their first nine games after joining the Football League Division Two. The run, which commenced with a 5-0 opening day home defeat to Tottenham was:

Aug 30 Tottenham (h) 0-5

Sept 3 Leeds City (a) 0-3

Sept 6 Tottenham (a) 1-4

Sept 11 Leeds City (h) 0-4

Sept 13 Birmingham (a) 1-4

Sept 20 Birmingham (h) 1-3

Sept 27 Leicester (a) 0-1

Oct 4 Leicester (h) 1-2

Oct 11 Fulham (h) 0-1

Manager Will Clayton was sacked after the loss at Filbert Street and secretary Harry Harbourne took over in a caretaker capacity with the board of directors selecting the team until 22^nd November when new boss Harry Pollitt arrived.

One of the most interesting stats from Thursday night was given to me by fellow historian Geoff Moore. Amongst other things he tracks players who have appeared at the Ricoh and tells me that Blades' substitute Leon Clarke set a record by appearing for his seventh different club at the stadium. He first played against the Sky Blues for Wolves at Highfield Road in 2004 and scored in a 2-2 draw. His first appearance at the Ricoh was in 2006 for Wolves then in 2010 he played there for Sheffield Wednesday and the following season he was in QPR colours as a substitute. In November 2012 he scored twice for Scunthorpe before joining City in January 2013. Since leaving City he appeared for Bury in the 6-0 hammering last season and on Thursday night took his total to seven as a brief substitute. Clarke, now aged 31, has played for seventeen different clubs, a number of them in more than one spell and according to Geoff has played for ten of the current League One clubs.

Billy Sharp, who scored both Blades' goals in Thursday's game has now netted eight goals in nine games against the Sky Blues with four of them on live television. He netted in City's 0-4 defeat at Southampton in their final game in the Championship in 2012 and a header at Bramall Lane a year ago before Thursday's brace.

Jim's Column 27.2.2016

I recently had a very nice letter from Margaret Raven, daughter of the late Les Raven. Les was an avid reader of this column and used to write to me regularly with questions. Les passed away in October and amongst his effects Margaret came across a lovely postcard of a team picture of Coventry City and wondered if I had seen it. 

The picture was taken in 1929 and shows the team with a large trophy. I believe the trophy is the Lord Mayor of Coventry's Charity trophy which back in those days was played for in a friendly game between City and another Midland club at Highfield Road and raised money for the Coventry and North Warwickshire Hospital. The games were usually played towards the end of the season and opponents included Wolves, West Brom and Birmingham. The 1929 game took place on 29 April and 3,187 supporters watched City draw 4-4 with Blues with City's goals coming from Jimmy Loughlin (2), Billy Pick and John Starsmore. I can only assume that the trophy was retained by Coventry for six months and then passed to Birmingham for the next six months. If any readers can add anything else please let me know.

My comments in last week's column about the fastest goal by a City substitute has been questioned by Craig Richards. He believes Kevin Drinkell scored a goal against Aston Villa in 1990, ten seconds after coming on at Highfield Road. Fellow historian Dean Nelson supplied a video clip of the said game, a 2-0 victory, and I timed his goal as 55 seconds from when he entered the pitch. However for over 30 seconds after coming on 'Drinks' is kicking his heels as Villa's Kevin Mountfield receives treatment from the trainer but once the ball is in play he nets around ten seconds later from a corner.

The whole question revolves around how one defines 'fastest goal'. If one defines it by the time after entering the pitch then Andrews clearly has the fastest goal. The Drinkell situation however introduces the concept of playing time. The game was delayed for around 45 seconds whilst Mountfield was treated. This was not playing time, it was time that the referee would have added on at the end of the game because of an injury.

Therefore if one defines the fastest goal in terms of the playing time elapsed after coming on then Drinkell's goal is faster. One could make a case for either definition being valid. A very inconclusive situation! For the moment I will stick with my assertion that Wayne Andrews holds the record for scoring 23 seconds after entering the pitch but watch this space.

I investigated the fastest ever debut goal in league football and the record is held by a former City player. In 2004 Freddy Eastwood made his Southend debut v Swansea and netted after 7.7 seconds. He went on to score a hat-trick against a Swansea side that included a young Sam Ricketts.

Keith Ballantyne picked up on my comment that Andrews never started a first team game for the club and wondered if his ten appearances as sub without a start is a club record. The answer is yes it is a record, but last season Shaun Miller also came off the bench in ten league games without a start but did start a League Cup game. Other players to make a number of sub appearances without a start are Mathieu Manset (2013-14) with nine, Dylan McGeouch (2013-14) with eight, and Zavon Hines and Shaun Jeffers each with seven. Gary McSheffrey holds the record of the most sub appearances before making a start (11) with Gary Madine (9) and Callum Wilson (8) not far behind.

I can always rely on fellow historian and friend Geoff Moore to come up with interesting stats. He tells me that when Leon Clarke appeared at the Ricoh for Bury two weeks ago he became the first player to appear at the ground with six different clubs. The six are Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Scunthorpe, City and Bury. In five games in opposition colours he has managed just two goals (both for Scunthorpe in a 2-2 draw in 2012). Danny Pugh, another ex-City man now at Bury has appeared at the stadium for five different clubs.

Geoff also pointed out that we have had a 4-0 half-time lead in three games this season – Gillingham (h), Crewe (a) and Bury (h). He couldn't remember this happening in his 50 plus years watching the Sky Blues. Before this season, the last occasion was the final game at Highfield Road in 2005 when they led Derby 4-0 at the break (and went on to win 6-2). A year earlier, during the brief but exciting Eric Black era, City took a 4-0 half-time lead over Preston (winning 4-1). There were two League Cup games where a 4-0 half-time lead was taken, in 2002 v Rushden & Diamonds (final score 8-0) and in 1964 v Sunderland (final score 4-2). The previous occasion to 2004 in a league game was back in April 1963 when City beat Halifax 5-4 and George Hudson netted a first half hat-trick on his debut with Dietmar Bruck making 4-0 at the break. So in three months this season the Sky Blues have equalled their record for the last 53 years.

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.