Jim's column 21.4.2018

I'm writing this before last night's home game with Stevenage, a game that will help decide Coventry City's fate this season. The Sky Blues need three wins from their final four games to make certain of a top-seven finish and thus earn a play-off position for the first time ever. They may not need three wins however, depending on the results of the clubs around them.

I've been doing some research into the teams that have played in the play-offs since they were inaugurated in 1987. The first season, for the only time, featured three sides immediately below the automatic promotion places plus the side immediately above the relegation places. So, for example, in the Division Two play-off games Charlton Athletic, who had finished 20th in the old Division One battled it out with Oldham, Leeds United and Ipswich who had finished 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively in the old Division Two. In the days before the play-off finals were played at Wembley, Charlton beat Leeds in the final after two legs and a replay, to retain their top flight status. The following season the system was unchanged and Chelsea, who finished fourth from bottom in the old Division One, were relegated in a two-leg play-off final against Middlesbrough. In 1989 the system changed and the four sides immediately below the promoted teams fought it out for the extra promotion place with a two-leg final. The final became a one-off game at Wembley in 1989 and has remained unchanged since then with the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff hosting the final when Wembley was closed for rebuilding.

In the 30 years since the play-offs were introduced Preston North End have qualified the most times, with 10 appearances, but have only made it to the final three times, all of them ending in defeat. Last season's Championship play-off winners Huddersfield Town are second best with nine appearances with five final appearances and four victories. Ipswich have reached the play-offs on eight occasions (all in the championship) but have been knocked out at the semi final stage seven times but won the final once in 2000. Lower down the leagues Scunthorpe have reached the play-offs eight times but won the final only twice. Tranmere and Torquay who are no longer in the league have both reached the play-offs on six occasions each.

Looking at City's possible opponents in the League Two play-offs there are mixed findings. Exeter reached their first play-off last season but lost at Wembley to Blackpool. Notts County have reached the play-offs four times. They won the Division Two play-off in 1991, a year after winning the Third Division final and been losing finalists on one other occasion. Lincoln have a miserable record, qualifying for the League Two play-offs five years running between 2003-2007, losing the final twice and semi-finals on three occasions. Mansfield, perhaps City's greatest threat of reaching the top seven, have twice reached the League Two play-offs but never won them.

All City fans are acutely aware that their team has never qualified for the play-offs but how many other teams have failed. The simple answer is ten but five of those have an unbroken run in the top flight since 1987 and one, Aston Villa, have spent only two seasons out of the top flight and gained automatic promotion in one (1988). Villa also look certain to be in this year's Championship play-off. Then there are the two clubs playing in the Football League for the first time this season, Forest Green and Newport County. The old Newport were voted out of the league in 1988 so barely had a chance to reach the play-offs. That leaves two others: Crawley Town and Oxford United. Whilst neither has been in the play-offs both have won promotions in the last few years.

So strictly speaking City aren't the only side not to have reached the play-offs but their record since leaving the Premiership in 2001 is without doubt the worst of all.

It's award time again and congratulations go to Jack Grimmer who has been selected in the PFA League Two team of the season. He is only the seventh Coventry City player to be honoured since the awards were introduced in 1974. The others are:-

1983 Danny Thomas (Division 1)

2009 Danny Fox (Championship)

2009 Keiren Westwood (Championship)

2013 Leon Clarke (League One)

2014 Callum Wilson (League One)

2016 Adam Armstrong (League One)

                                                          Danny Thomas winning a CCFC player of year award

In 2015 the Football League (EFL) introduced their own awards and Lee Burge and Jordan Willis were the first City players selected for their efforts this season. The awards are testimony to the excellent defensive performances (Yeovil apart) put in by the club's defenders this season. It is still possible for the defence to set a new club record low goals conceded in a 46-match season. The record is 47, set in the 1958-59 promotion season. Before last night the team had let in 41 goals.

Jim's column 30.4.2016

As I wrote last week, this month sees the 80^th anniversary of Coventry City's first ever promotion in the Football League from Division Three South. This week in 1936 saw City, the league leaders, play their nearest rivals Luton Town twice in three days. Going into the first game, at Kenilworth Road, on Saturday 25^th April 1936 only goal average separated the teams who both had three games to play. Only one team was promoted in those days and there were no play-offs - it had become a two-horse race for the promotion place (and title).

The game was billed as a battle beaten the two goal machines. City had the legendary Clarrie Bourton who, whilst not scoring at the prolific rate of his record-breaking 1931-32 season when he netted 49 league goals, had scored 21 goals. Leading the Hatters' forward line was 22-year old Joe Payne. Nominally a wing-half, two weeks earlier he had been moved to centre-forward because of injuries and had netted 10 goals in a 12-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers – a League individual scoring record.

                         City captain George Mason shakes hands with Luton skipper George Fellowes at Kenilworth Road.

In front of a ground record crowd of 23,559, Payne netted for the home side in the first half but Bourton equalised 12 minutes from time to keep City top on goal average. On the same day Aston Villa's relegation from Division One was confirmed – their first since they had been founder members of the Football League in 1888.

Two days later the action moved to Highfield Road for a game re-arranged because of bad weather in December. According to the Midland Daily Telegraph, City’s officials anticipated a new record gate and manager Harry Storer announced that an expert ‘packer’ had been employed to ‘ensure that no standing space on the terrace and popular side will be wasted’. The game kicked –off at 6.15, too late according to the night-shift workers who would have to leave the match before the end to ‘clock-on’ at 8pm, and the gates were opened at 5 pm.

A crowd of 42,809, over 11,000 more than the record set at an FA Cup tie against Sunderland six years previously, crammed into the ground to watch a tense game end 0-0.

The following day the Midland Daily Telegraph under the headline “A Scene Of Chaos”, described the aftermath: ‘Highfield Road looked this morning as though it had been struck by a tornado last night. Cartloads of paper and other rubbish was left behind by the record crowd ..…. while the condition of the barriers smashed to match-wood on the Swan Lane side, near to the corner of the old stand, provided ample evidence of the crush.’

A rare football-orientated editorial in the Midland Daily Telegraph summed up one of the most memorable nights in the club’s history: ‘Coventry has never witnessed such a spectacle before – an attendance nearly equal to a quarter of Coventry’s entire population lined the ground, perched on the top of stands, clung to advertising signs, fences and posts. Hundreds sat on the grass close to the touchline; humanity was packed as close as it could be within the capacious Highfield Road enclosure, and yet thousands who went to see the match had perforce to remain outside.’

It was reported that a large number of people ‘gate-crashed’ one of the entrances and one Nuneaton ‘enthusiast’ sent a postal order for one shilling in lieu of his admission. He admitted walking in through the broken gate but evidently thought the game and the occasion was so worthwhile that he paid his ‘honest-bob’ for it.

Amazingly no one was hurt despite some madcap jinks by some spectators to get a better view. On the top of the Spion Kop ‘rows of stones’ were erected by supporters in order to get a better view of the action. The MDT speculated that ‘many tons of packing from the back of the banks must have been pulled up’ to form a makeshift grandstand. A major disaster must have been narrowly averted. Spectators climbed advertising hoardings, the old wooden scoreboard on the Kop and onto the roof of the covered end as well as being forced from uncomfortably packed terraces onto the perimeter of the pitch, pre-dating the scenes 31 years later when 51,452 were shoe-horned in for the famous Wolves game. The newspaper hypothesized that to enable a capacity for 60,000 would ‘not entail much alteration to existing conditions’.

The draw left City with what looked like the easy task of beating Torquay in their final game five days later to clinch promotion but they would be without captain George Mason, injured in the first Luton game. Luton travelled to QPR ready to pounce if Coventry slipped up. Another big crowd at Highfield Road was expected for what promised to be a momentous game.

Congratulations to Adam Armstrong for being selected for the PFA League One team of the season. Since the PFA awards were instigated in 1974 only five City players had previously been recognised in this way. Armstrong follows Danny Thomas (1983), Kieron Westwood and Danny Fox (2009), Leon Clarke (2013) and Callum Wilson (2014).

Finally, BBC CWR's Clive Eakin has confirmed that Andy Rose was on the pitch for 35 seconds before he scored the winning goal against Bradford last week. This is 12 seconds longer than the record set by Wayne Andrews at Barnsley in 2006. His goal was also timed at 12 seconds from the referee's whistle restarting play after the stoppage – this is around four seconds longer than Kevin Drinkell's goal against Villa in 1990, if the goal time is judged from the referee's restart of the game.