Jim's column 4.5.24

Liam Kitching suffered the fate of a third red card at Blackburn last Saturday and became the first Coventry player to 'see Red' three times in a season. The Ewood red followed dismissals at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day and at Norwich in February. Against the Owls he was unfortunate to be severely intimidated by Wednesday's Bambo Diaby but there is little excuse for the latter two although his offence at Blackburn did save a certain goal and the 10 men managed to hang on for a draw. 

Several readers asked which Coventry City player has had the most red cards and the roll of honour is as follows:

Four: Paul Williams

Three: Kitching, Gustavo Hamer, Kyle McFadzean, Carl Baker, Michael Doyle, Youssef Safri, David Thompson, Dion Dublin, Noel Simpson.

Simpson, a midfield player who made 269 appearances for the club between 1948-57 and was captain for a good period, played in an era when you had to do something pretty serious to get sent off, usually fighting. Between 1946-1960 City only had six players sent off and three were for Simpson. Noel was renowned for his short fuse and all three early baths were for fighting.

                                          Noel Simpson

It's exciting times for former Sky Blues Andy Whing and Craig Pead. They are the management team at Solihull Moors who tomorrow will be playing in the National league play-off final at Wembley for a place in the Football League. They face Bromley and whatever the result we will have a brand new club in the League. Then, next Saturday, the team is back at Wembley to face Gateshead in the FA Trophy final. There are a few other Sky Blue connections including former first-teamer Callum Maycock who made eight appearances in 2016-17 and has made over 180 appearances for the Moors and ex-academy full back Joe Newton. Also likely to be in the squad is Tyler Bruck, grandson of City legend Dietmar Bruck. Good luck to the Moors tomorrow and next week.

On the subject of former players it's Legends Day today at the final home match of the season against QPR and as usual there will be a good number of former Sky Blues players in attendance. There are several ex-players making their first appearance at the event, now in its seventeenth year, including Richard Shaw, David Thompson and Frank Nouble, the man who scored the winning goal against Gillingham on that memorable evening in 2014 when the team returned to Coventry after the year playing in Northampton. Frank may only have played one season for the club but he will be remembered for that famous goal in front of 27,000 Coventry fans. If you're at the game today please give our former heroes a good round of applause.

If you enjoy this column and would like to hear more about Coventry City's history you can listen to the Sky Blue History Podcast which is available on Spotify. Claudio Cardellino and I talk about all things Sky Blue.

Jim's Column 20.3.2021

 Coventry City's defeat at Luton on Tuesday evening saw the Sky Blues punished yet again for indiscipline. Whilst many believe that Kyle McFadzean didn't handle the ball on the goal-line three minutes before half-time, the referee sent off the defender and awarded the home side a penalty from which they duly scored.

Kyle became the 150th City player to be sent off since World War Two and joined an elite group of players to receive a red card three times. He received his marching orders at Rotherham last season and earlier this season for two yellow cards at Reading.

The previous members of the 'Three Red Cards' club are:

Dion Dublin, Paul Williams, David Thompson, Youssef Safri, Michael Doyle and Carl Baker.

'Fadz's' red card was the sixth for a Coventry player this campaign (five in the league, 1 in the League Cup) and we are now one card shy of the club record of seven in a season. The current record was set in the first two seasons after relegation from the Premiership (2001-02 and 2002-03) both saw seven red cards (all in the league).

The culprits back then were:

2001-02: Lee Hughes (2), Youssef Safri (2), David Thompson, Marc Edworthy and Jay Bothroyd.

2002-03: Calum Davenport, Safri, Craig Hignett, Dean Gordon, Gary Caldwell, Gary McSheffrey and Youssef Chippo.

Penalties conceded-wise we are heading for a new club record. Tuesday night's penalty was the eleventh conceded (10 League, 1 League Cup) and all 11 have been successfully converted by the opposition. The record for spot-kicks conceded in a season is 12 in 2013-14 season in League One and Joe Murphy set a record himself by saving five of them.

One record equalled on Tuesday night was the most penalties converted by the opposition in a season. The 11th, scored by Luton's Elijah Adebayo, matches the 1979-80 season when the Sky Blues conceded 11 and all were successfully converted.

I looked at the effect of those penalties on the final score of the relevant games. In 1979-80 only three results would have changed, a loss at Tottenham would have been a victory and defeats v Man United and Aston Villa would have been draws. The extra four points (there were only two points for a win in those days) would have lifted the team from 15th to 10th in the final table.

This season four league results would have been different if the penalties had not been awarded: two defeats (Watford and Forest) would have been draws, and two draws (Norwich and Birmingham) would have been victories. Theoretically, the penalties conceded made the difference of six points, and without them the team would now be in relative mid-table safety with 44 points. They also wouldn't have been eliminated from the League Cup at Gillingham!

Nigel Vines was in touch this week. His first game was a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Highfield Road. He remembers it was the game in which City's Roy Barry broke his leg. He asked if I could tell him the year. It was March 1970 and happened early in the game when Roy made a somewhat reckless challenge with Wednesday's Tommy Craig and came off worst. Many fans heard the crack of the bone and knew immediately it was serious. Referee Clive Thomas booked Roy as he was being put on a stretcher to leave the pitch. Roy had only joined the Sky Blues from Dunfermline in the previous October and had had a massive effect on City's form – they lost only three league games that he started before his tragic injury. After the Wednesday game City's route to European qualification wasn't affected and they achieved the club's highest ever finish, sixth. Roy's recovery was long and hard and he didn't play first team football again until the final game of the following season missing the European campaign that he had helped achieve.

             Roy Barry stretchered off in March 1970 after breaking his leg

Nigel also pointed out that in my piece last week about City games where they finished with nine or ten men I didn't mention the 3-3 draw with Portsmouth last year at Fratton Park after being reduced to 9 men. Apologies for that omission.

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

Jim's column 4.2.2017

City suffered another bad defeat at Northampton last weekend in a game marred by several pitch invasions and flares on the pitch causing the game to be held up several times. City's chances of a result were not helped by a red card for Jordan Willis in the 19^th minute – a somewhat harsh decision but one which was upheld by the FA. Jordan is the fifth City player to receive his marching orders this season, following Dion Kelly-Evans, Jordan Turnbull, Ben Stevenson & Lewis Page. In those five games City went on to win two (West Ham & Chesterfield) and lose three (Bradford, MK Dons & Northampton). The club record of seven red cards in a season is now under threat. That record was set in 2001-02, City's first season out of the top flight for 34 years when the following players 'saw red':

Lee Hughes v Bradford City (a)

Youssef Safri v Gillingham (a)

David Thompson v Millwall (a)

Marc Edworthy v WBA (a)

Lee Hughes v Grimsby (a)

David Thompson v Wolves (a)

Jay Bothroyd v Crystal Palace (a)

All seven were away from Highfield Road and City ended up wining three of them (Gillingham, Grimsby & Palace) with Hughes & Bothroyd both scoring before receiving the red card, and losing the other four. City finished nine points shy of the top six that season & whilst it's all hypothetical if those four games had been won, City would have been in the play-offs!

The following season that number was equalled when the following received their marching orders:-

Calum Davenport v Brighton (a)

Youssef Safri v Crystal Palace (h)

Craig Hignett v Burnley (a)

Dean Gordon v Sheff United (a)

Gary Caldwell v Nottm. Forest (a)

Youssef Chippo v Watford (h)

Gary McSheffrey v Wimbledon (h)

Another unwelcome stat from last Saturday was the third hat-trick of the season by an opposition player. Cobblers' Keshi Anderson followed Bristol Rovers' Billy Bodin and Cambridge's Luke Berry in scoring a hat-trick against the Sky Blues. That is the first time City have conceded three hat-tricks in a season since 1995-96 when Alan Shearer (Blackburn), Gary McAllister (Leeds) and Savo Milosevic (Aston Villa) netted three apiece. The worst season for conceding hat-tricks was in 1925-26 when five opposing players did it. It was City's only season in Division Three North and Fenner (Wigan Borough), Jepson (Accrington), Keetley (Doncaster), Cookson (Chesterfield) and McDonald (Bradford PA) all scored three.

Last week I wrote about Joe Elliott's first ever City game - a friendly against Preston North End in 1956 – and it prompted Rod Dean to write about his memories of the game.

Last week's piece on the Preston 1956 game was massive nostalgia for me. My father had purchased a brand new Ford Popular in 1954 for £390 (he paid in cash utilising my school satchel) - a basic black car with no heater, no indicators (my father added those himself). It was an exciting time for our family and we took trips down to the Cotswolds and travelled to my first City away match at Northampton in the Autumn of 1955 (attendance 20,000 - a bit larger than last Saturday).

 We stood on the 'famous duck boards' that were used in the football season and then removed for the cricket season (Northampton's ground was shared with the county cricket team). The only problem was that my father had yet to pass his driving test! He did eventually pass at his third try - a different world in those days when a lot of drivers had never taken tests!

The one thing I remember about the Preston game is the absolute run around Finney  gave the 'Ageing' Charlie Timmins - Charlie had been a real 'servant' to the club since the 1940's, was a real favourite with the fans but was coming to the end of the road. Such changes were rare in those days but as you said ' Raynor switched Charlie with Frank Austin at half time' - I can remember my father saying after the match as we walked to the car ' Frank did a real good job and kept Finney quiet' It's over 60 years ago but it only seems like yesterday - some matches you remember like it was yesterday others are a total blank! Yes Frank had a good day!

                                                           Tom Finney in action

I had been to Wembley the previous season to see England beat Scotland 7-2 but Finney had not been selected so it was my first and last view of this 'English Titan' - he and Stanley Matthews were the scourge  of Scottish Football  in the 40's and 50's.