Jim's column 14.11.2015

The less said about City's FA Cup exit to Northampton last Saturday the better. I will only point out that in Coventry City's three championship seasons of the 20^th century they made early Cup exits. In 1935-36 under the legendary Harry Storer, City lost to non-league Scunthorpe United in a First Round replay – a major shock, but one that was quickly forgotten as the Bantams raced to the title. In 1963-64 City lost at home to Bristol Rovers in Round 2, following a simple 6-1 win at non-league Trowbridge. Three years later Jimmy Hill's team fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup to Newcastle United in a classic 4-3 game at Highfield Road, after a humbling League Cup exit at home to Third Division Brighton. I'm not suggesting that City are going to win the League One championship but illustrating that Messrs Storer & Hill (our most successful managers of all-time) knew the importance of keeping the focus on the league when putting in a strong promotion challenge.

For a change this week I thought I would write about two books with Coventry City connections that have landed on my desk recently. Firstly, Steve Phelps has produced 'Sky Blue Heroes' which tells the story of the 1986-87 season which of course culminated in the Sky Blues winning the FA Cup. Using a combination of press cuttings and the personal stories from players, club staff, supporters and journalists, Steve uses a chronological timeline and it works really well. I thought I knew everything about that season, especially the cup run but there are some great stories never heard before. For example, the fact that Graham Hover, the club's secretary at the time, kept the club's Cup Final ticket allocation under his bed for safety. Then the story, related by Lloyd McGrath, of what happened in the dressing room at half-time in the semi-final at Hillsborough. City were trailing 1-0 to Leeds and had not performed in the first 45 minutes. Lloyd, not normally known as outgoing, started to sing 'Here We Go, here we go' and suddenly the whole of the dressing room had joined in. One can only imagine the effect the cacophony must have had on the Leeds players on the other side of the thin walls. There is humour: Geoff Foster's nightmare trip on a bus to Sheffield, and sadness: the tears of a young Lee Corden. The book is full of lovely personal stories and it will bring back lots of memories for Sky Blues fans everywhere.

Steve has managed to get several of the 1987 squad to attend his book signing at Waterstones in Coventry on Friday 27^th November from 5.30 – 7.30. At the time of writing this, he is confident that Messrs Bennett, Regis, Ogrizovic, Peake & Gynn will there as well as 'Moxey' the mystery man who appeared on many of those memorable photographs taken on the Wembley pitch after the final whistle. 'Moxey' was in fact, Steve Cockrill, an apprentice who became John Sillett's lucky mascot during the Cup run.

The second book is very different. Bryony Hill, the wife of Jimmy Hill, has written a heart-warming book about her life with JH entitled 'My Gentleman Jim – A Love Story'. Jimmy, who has been struck down by Alzheimer's, has been in a care home for three years – his last public appearance was the unveiling of his statue at the Ricoh Arena. Bryony, who has published several books on gardening and cookery as well as novels, is a natural, easy-to-read author and reminds the reader of JH's varied and successful career as a player, manager, director, chairman, union negotiator as well as a consummate broadcaster. She describes funny and moving stories of their time together, the majority of which involve a host of celebrities from all sports and film and television. We also see another side of the multi-talented JH – a romantic, with a talent for poetry!

Bryony has had a terrific strain on her these last few years as Jimmy succumbed to the terrible disease but her love for him shines through. The section of the book on Alzheimer's is brief but superb. I have personal experience of the devastating effects of the disease and Bryony, from her gruelling experiences with Jimmy, has defined her 'rules' for coping with sufferers and it is something I wish I had read a few years ago.

Strictly speaking it is not a football book but is of interest to Coventry City fans of a certain age who recognise his enormous achievements in football in general and especially to the Sky Blues. He left his mark on football and our football club for ever.

One of many photographs in her book was of JH and the Third Division championship trophy, won by the Sky Blues in 1964. I've never seen this picture before and wondered if anyone knew the relevance of the garden gnome in the picture.

Bryony has a book signing at next Saturday's home game with Gillingham. She will be signing copies of her book in the Family Zone between 1.30 and 2.30.

Jim's column 15.10.11

                                                      Jean-Guy Wallemme in 1998

Coventry City have had few French players in their team over the years. Goalkeeper Fabien Debec comes to mind and Florent Laville, a dodgy loanee defender from Bolton in the Peter Reid era, come to mind. Laville had a long and successful career with Olympique Lyon, winning two championships, but after joining Bolton in 2003 struggled with fitness and form. City’s first Frenchman, Jean-Guy Wallemme had a similar story – he was a star in France, especially in the northern mining town of Lens, captaining the town’s club to win the French League for the first time the previous season. Sadly he was a major disappointment at City and fans wondered why City signed him. Wallemme has been in the news recently having been appointed national coach of Congo.

Jean-Guy played just six league games for the Sky Blues in 1998 and looked impressive in his early games. But his Waterloo came in a 1-5 home defeat to Newcastle. From a fan’s viewpoint he was no worse than anyone in the City side but probably the fact that Alan Shearer, the man he was marking scored twice, made him one of the scapegoats. Shearer muscled him off to score his first and then later the Frenchman slid in to dispossess Shearer only to see the loose ball whipped upfield for Stephen Glass to score the fourth goal.

Wallemme was axed for the next league game at Charlton and never appeared for the first team again. Less than a week later he told French football magazine L’Equippe that however happy he was playing at Coventry he was concerned for his eight-year old son’s schooling and Bryan Richardson admitted that the Frenchman and his family were having a tough time. It seems that from that point on he was just not part of Gordon Strachan’s plans.

By the end of October it was a matter of when he moved back to France rather than if and with his family back in France his mind was not on football. In December he signed for French club Sochaux with City recouping most of the fee.

Unfortunately Sochaux were relegated that season and Jean Guy was on the move again, to St Etienne, newly promoted to the First Division after a period in the doldrums. By 2001 he was managing the Verts, as St Etienne are known, but they too were relegated in his first season as manager and he returned to Lens, as a player and helped them to runners-up position in the league.

Since retiring from playing he has managed at Rouen, SK Ronse in the Belgian second division, US Royenne, a French amateur side and FC Paris. In 2008 he took over as manager of Lens and won promotion to the French First Division but last season they were relegated again and Jean-Guy was axed in January.

In August he was appointed as national coach to Congo (formerly Zaire). In his first match his team were defeated 1-0 by Sudan in an African nations cup qualifier.

Alan Ward read my piece about late goals two weeks ago and got in touch to tell me that last season City conceded 18 of their 58 league goals (around 30%) in either the last five minutes of the first half or the last five minutes of the second half including added time. Conversely they scored only six goals in the same periods (two of them at Watford in August). This season four of thirteen league goals conceded (around 30%) were in the final five minutes of either half and to date City have yet to net in those crucial periods. Even Bury and last year Morecambe scored late goals in League Cup games against the Sky Blues. On checking City’s record since Andy Thorn took over in March I discovered that City have failed to net any late goals in either half – a shocking statistic.

As CCFC historian I am expected to know all the trivia and facts and figures about Coventry City but as the years go on my memory doesn’t always work as it did when I was younger. A recently published book by Steve Phelps will assist me.

 

The book 'Coventry City Miscellany', Steve’s fourth book about City, gives Sky Blues fans loads of facts and figures about their favourite club and it also enlightened me to quite a number of interesting things about the club.  For instance I had forgotten that goalkeeper Magnus Hedman missed a penalty in the shoot –out at Peterborough in a League Cup tie on 11 September 2001 (the day New York’s twin towers were blown up).

I also never realised, until Steve’s book reminded me, that City never paraded the FA cup at Highfield Road in 1987. Nor that QPR manager Neil Warnock managed Scarborough when the Sky Blues were humbled in Yorkshire in a League Cup tie in 1992.

 

 Steve's skill is in pulling the stats and trivia from other sources and presenting them in an easy to read style. He generously acknowledges his sources but his book is more than a cut and paste job . For example he has done a lot of research into City's youth teams of 1987 and 2000 - discovering where the prodigious youngsters ended up

Talking of new books, next Saturday (22^nd October)  I will be attending book signings for my latest book, Sky Blue Revolution, along with several legendary players from the Jimmy Hill Era including Mick Kearns, Dietmar Bruck and Ronnie Farmer. From 11 am until noon we will be at Waterstone’s bookshop in the Precinct in Coventry. Then from 1.45 pm until 2.45 we will be at the G-Casino, next to the Ricoh Arena, and after the Burnley game we will be back in the Casino available to sign books from 5.00 pm. If you are unable to get to the signing sessions but would like a signed copy please ring Waterstone’s on (024) 76 334224 to reserve.