Jim's column 29.4.2017

It's very sad to report the death of former City player Ray Paul who passed away two weeks ago, aged 94. Ray only came on to the CCFPA radar last year when he attended Legends Day for the first time. Growing up Ray was an outstanding all round sportsman who, at the age of 16, was offered trials for the England Schools Rugby team but his father would not let him attend. He was also a talented gymnast, keen swimmer and squash player who at the age of 50 finished 4th in a national squash competition. Football however was his first love and as the son of Nuneaton Borough trainer George Paul he made his mark at Manor Park. A quick centre forward, Ray became a striking sensation with the ‘Boro’ scoring 42 goals in the 1941-42 season and 119 goals in 83 games up to the end of World War Two.

Ray turned out for Coventry City as a guest player in the wartime Football League North and scored 8 goals in his ten appearances. He made his debut in a 4-1 defeat for the City in September 1944 at the Hawthorns v West Brom. Two weeks later he scored a hat-trick on his home debut in a 4-3 victory over Port Vale and went on to score eight goals in ten starts for the Bantams. In the same Coventry side at the time were City stalwarts such as George Mason, Walter Metcalf and Billy Frith.

Ray also played as guest in six games for Nottingham Forest up to 1945-46. He finished his career with Atherstone Town in 1948 and later ran a wallpaper shop in that town.

His daughter Tessa Newbold contacted me to tell me the sad news: 'He had been in a nursing home following a serious health episode last August and his dementia and prostate cancer finally got the better of him, although he was still fighting and insisting that he still felt absolutely fine up to the last week.

'The timing of his invitation the Legends Day last year was perfect.  As I am sure you noticed, he was already in the grip of dementia, but he absolutely loved the day and didn't stop talking about it for weeks.  Many thanks once again for giving both him and us a very special time.  He remembered that when most other things left his mind immediately.  His programme for the day and his FPA tie were never far from his hand so he could show any visitor - usually several times!'

Ray's funeral will take place at St James's Church, Colwall, Worcestershire on 11 May at 2.30pm and all are welcome.

City's final home game against Walsall last week saw them sign off with another home win, making it four wins and a draw from their final five games. It is remarkable to think that the team didn't lose a home game until the second Saturday in November and were unbeaten in 11 home league and cup games (14 if you count last season!). Between November and March it all went wrong with one home league win and one draw in 10 games, despite three Checkatrade victories. The average league attendance for the season was 9,203, a drop of almost 27% on 2015/16, and the lowest average since the club were elected to the Football League in 1919, apart from the season at Northampton. When away fans are stripped out of the figures the average City fans attended home games was 8,243, a fall of 29%.

Two weeks tonight at Nailcote Hall, Berkswell, there is a reunion of the Boys of '87 to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our victory at Wembley. All of the '87 team bar Brian Kilcline and David Phillips will be present for what promises to be a great evening.

To buy tickets (£50 per person) ring Nailcote on 02476 466174 or email at info@nailcotehall.co.uk. Please consult the venue’s website www.nailcotehall.co.uk for further details.

This is the final column of the season – next week will be my statistical review of the campaign. Keep the history questions coming – they will be dealt with next season. I hope all my readers have an enjoyable season and can forget about the woes of our football club for a time!

Jim's column 13.2.2016

As I write this the finishing touches are being made to the Jimmy Hill celebration that took place at the Cathedral last night. I hope it was a successful event – the hard work from all the parties involved deserved to be rewarded – and today our attention turns to Legends Day.

It is the ninth Legends Day since the Former Players Association was formed in 2007 and as usual there will be a host of stars at today's game. Legends Day has caught the attention of City supporters with over 500 people will be enjoying hospitality today. Amongst the guests will be a good contingent of the Hill family, including at least three of his children.

Hopefully 1987 FA Cup final skipper Brian Kilcline has arrived safely from Portugal and Bill Glazier is jetting in from Spain. There are lots more of City's former stars attending including Ian Wallace, Bobby Gould, Garry Thompson and Greg Downs. It promises to be another memorable day and I would encourage fans to be at their seats for the half-time parade of the stars and give them a fantastic reception.

I mentioned last week that a 'new' member, 93-year old Ray Paul, was attending and he is very excited about what will be his first visit to the Ricoh. A centre forward, Ray, who was the son of a trainer of near neighbours Nuneaton Borough, joined his dad and became a striking sensation with the ‘Borough’ scoring 42 goals in the 1941-42 season. Ray turned out for Coventry City as a guest player in the wartime Football League North and scored 8 goals in his ten appearances. He made his debut in a 4-1 defeat for the City in September 1944 at the Hawthorns v West Brom. Two weeks later he scored a hat-trick on his home debut in a 4-3 victory over Port Vale and went on to score eight goals in ten starts for the Bantams. In the same Coventry side at the time were City stalwarts George Mason, Walter Metcalf and Billy Frith. Ray also played as guest in six games for Nottingham Forest up to 1945-46. I'm looking forward to finding out what became of Ray after the war but I believe he played for Atherstone Town and ran a wallpaper shop in that town.

                                                                Ray Paul

Ray is definitely the earliest surviving player to become a member of CCFPA but Colin Collindridge at 96 is our oldest surviving former player but wasn’t signed for the City until 1954. Another member Jack Lovering who is also 93 was a WW2 junior for CCFC but didn’t make his first team debut for the Bantams until 1946.

Before last week's game at Vale Park Mike Prince asked me if City had played a friendly there in the late 1970s. He remembers going as a boy with his dad. The only friendly in that era was on 10 August 1976 when Gordon Milne took his team to the Potteries for a pre-season game. City won 3-0 with goals from David Cross (2) and Alan Green. The team was: Blyth: Coop, Holmes, Craven, Lloyd (Brogan), Dugdale, Beck (Cartwright), Green, Cross, Murphy (Ferguson), Powell.

Keith Ballantyne emailed me recently. He had been watching a video of City's final game at Highfield Road in 2005 which resulted in a 6-2 victory for the Sky Blues. He commented that Andrew Whing scored very quickly after coming on as a substitute and wondered if it was the quickest goal ever by a City sub. I watched the video myself and timed Whing's goal at 55 seconds after coming off the bench. There are several contenders for the title of fastest goal by a sub. In addition to Whing there are three other City subs who scored, according to match reports, 'within a minute' of coming on: John Beck at West Brom in a 3-3 draw in 1978, Noel Whelan v Burnley in the FA Cup in 2000 and Laurent Delorge at Sheffield United in 2001 (his first touch in league football). Unless anyone has evidence to the contrary I believe the fastest was recorded by Wayne Andrews at Barnsley in 2006. Wayne's goal (on his debut) came 23 seconds after he came off the bench for Leon McKenzie. Andrews' career at Coventry was severely hampered by injuries and in his two years at the club he never started a game but made 10 substitute appearances but never scored another goal.