Jim's column 15.10.22

I have got to know Dennis Mortimer well in the last few years through the Former Players Association (CCFPA) and I’m pleased to see he has written his biography with the help of Richard Sydenham. Entitled ‘The Full Morty’ it is published by Pitch Publishing at £25.

Like most football clubs, Coventry City have sold many of their star players over the years. I became anaesthetised to their loss a long time ago but still remember the pain when Dennis left City days before Christmas in 1975. I was at an office Christmas party in London when a colleague broke the devastating news and was so distraught I had to go home with Christmas spirit the last thing on my mind. For him to leave was bad enough but to join the Villa was like an arrow to the heart. I had watched him for six years, graduating from the captain of the most exciting youth team the club have ever produced through to the first team where he dazzled from the start and had become, by 1975, alongside Tommy Hutchison, the mainstays of Gordon Milne’s team. In the classic FA Youth Cup final of 1970 that went to four games he outshone the Tottenham starlets Steve Perryman and Graeme Souness to such an extent that Souness was sent off for throwing (but missing) a punch at Dennis in the first replay.

I watched him at Highbury in early 1973 dominatinging for England under 23s against Holland and scoring two goals. He should have been picked for England then but there were so many good English midfield players at the time. I am not exaggerating when I consider him the best uncapped Englishman of that era.

Of course he went on to success at Villa Park - winning the League Cup, captaining the club to League championship and the European Cup, glory, sadly, he would not have had at Highfield Road.

In his book Dennis has much praise for the set up at Coventry in his time there. A remarkable scouting system, a care and education for the young apprentices and a route through to the first team not offered by many First Division sides at the time made it an attractive proposition for talented youngsters

Dennis also lifts the veil on the petty in-fighting and jealousy at Villa which saw many of the European heroes alienated by the club for a time and Dennis himself hounded out.

He is a regular attendee at CCFPA Legends’ Days and is revered by his former team-mates and City fans of my age group. He is a genuine guy who deserves the success he has had and deserves success with his biography.

Dean Nelson sent me a lovely picture taken in February 1963, during the winter of the big freeze. It shows the players of Coventry City and Wolves boarding an aeroplane at Cork airport for a return flight to Birmingham. The clubs had just met in a hastily arranged friendly in Cork.

Football in England was impossible with snowbound and frozen pitches causing the majority of league and FA Cup games to be postponed every weekend since Christmas. A week earlier Jimmy Hill, always the innovator, had persuaded Manchester United manager Matt Busby to play a friendly in Dublin. Now, with another game called off, he contacted Wolves manager Stan Cullis to play a friendly in ice-free Cork. A heavy muddy pitch at Flower Lodge, the home of Cork Hibs suited Wolves’ long-ball game and although City had chances, especially in the first half playing with the wind at their backs, Wolves scored three goals in 11 minutes early in the second half to win 3-0. The scorers for a star-studded First Division side were Ron Flowers, Barry Stobart and Chris Crowe and 6,500 spectators braved the heavy rain to see an entertaining match with City flying home £100 better off. A match programme was hastily printed and the centre page of the four-page effort is shown. Flower Lodge is now a Gaelic sports stadium. In the photograph Jimmy Hill is clear, wearing a hat, with his hands on the shoulders of Stan Cullis. City players include George Curtis, John Sillett, Dietmar Bruck and Ken Hale. Wolves stars include internationals Peter Broadbent and Ron Flowers.

Two weeks later the signs were that the long spell of dreadful weather in England was coming to an end and with City hopeful of playing a league game the  following Saturday. Hill wanted his team to have some more match practice and organised another date with Wolves, this time in Belfast at Celtic Park. On the night City were guilty of poor finishing and uncertain goalkeeping and lost 6-3. Hill’s foresight was rewarded with the club’s best FA Cup run for over 50 years - they reached the sixth round by virtue of six games in 25 days before losing out to the eventual winners Manchester United.

Jim's column 23.1.2016

Dublin-based Pat Sweeney was very sorry to hear of the passing of Jimmy Hill. He never saw him as player but remembers him taking the Sky Blues to Dublin in 1963.

He wrote to me:

'In the winter of 1963 there was "the Big Freeze" in Britain bringing football to stand still. The weather was not as bad in Ireland so some clubs came to train and play in Dublin. Coventry played Manchester United on a Saturday in late January/early February at Glenmalure Park, the then home of Shamrock Rovers. The ground was packed out to the end lines, a great game, ending in a 2-2 draw.

I was 15 years old then, there was no television, the only football news was in newspapers and Football Monthly'.

The winter of 1962-63 was the worst in living memory and City didn't play a game between Boxing Day and the last week in February. Game after game was called off because of snowbound or icy pitches as the country virtually ground to a halt. The FA Cup third round tie at Lincoln, scheduled for the first weekend of January was eventually played in March after 16 postponements because of snow or ice and this pattern was repeated all over the country.

At the end of January after the coming Saturday’s game at Shrewsbury was postponed, Jimmy Hill grasped the nettle. A call to Manchester United’s manager Matt Busby resulted in a hastily arranged friendly in Dublin. Hill always seeking publicity for the club, had realised that Ireland was far less badly hit by the weather and using his contacts in the Fair isle organised this tasty friendly. Hill had first tried Joe Mercer at Aston Villa but Joe’s players were worried about getting injured. Busby however was more adventurous and, like Hill, was desperate for his team to get some competitive play, and duly put out his strongest team including his expensive forward line of : Johnny Giles, Albert Quixall, David Herd, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton.

City flew out of Birmingham's Elmdon Airport on the Friday and the following day, when only four games were played on the English mainland, City and United met at Shamrock Rovers’ Glenmalure Park in a game that belied the two division’s difference in status. With United’s stars rattled by City’s enthusiasm City recovered from an early Quixall goal to lead 2-1 at half-time with goals from Ronnie Farmer and Jimmy Whitehouse. With Willie Humphries and Ronnie Rees giving Shay Brennan and Noel Cantwell an uncomfortable afternoon and Brian Hill marking Law like a limpet, City had chances to increase their lead. Bobby Charlton finally saved United’s red faces nine minutes from time with an equaliser but Coventry City had made a major impression, and also a few bob from a 15,000 crowd.

                                                         Brian Hill

The following Saturday, again after another early postponement (a home game with Port Vale) City flew to Cork to play Wolves in a friendly. Whilst not the force they had been in the late 1950s, Wolves were in the top six in Division One (higher than Manchester United) and fielded experienced internationals Ron Flowers and Peter Broadbent. On a miserably wet day, the muddy pitch suited Wolves’ style perfectly and although City had chances in the first half, Wolves’ strength and experience told and they ran out 3-0 winners in front of a drowned crowd of 6,500.

Pat wanted to know the Sky Blues' line up on that Saturday in Dublin. They lined up as follows: Bob Wesson: John Sillett, Mick Kearns, Brian Hill, George Curtis, Ronnie Farmer, Willie Humphries, Ken Hale, Terry Bly, Jimmy Whitehouse, Ronnie Rees.

Dave Long found my attendance statistics last week very interesting and wanted to know when City had last had more than 15,000 for a night league game before the Walsall game, other than the famous Gillingham game last season. The Walsall crowd was 15,671 and was the largest night crowd, apart from Gillingham, since City were relegated from the Championship in 2012. That season they entertained Leeds in February and the attendance was 15,704 but there were over 3,200 Leeds fans at the game, which City won 2-1 with two Gary McSheffrey goals. You have to go back a further two years, to March 2010 for the previous largest crowd of City fans. City lost 1-2 to Cardiff in front of 16,038 and there were over 15,000 Coventry supporters present. Saturday's crowd of 17,140 takes the average for the season to 13,461, a 44% increase over last season's final average. Let's hope the two results last week were a minor blip and that the higher gates are maintained.

The long unbeaten home run came to an end last Saturday against Burton. The Brewers were the first side to win a league game at the Ricoh since last April when Crewe lowered the colours – a run of 13 without loss. It was the best run from the start of a season since 1955 when City's Third Division South side under the management of Jesse Carver (until New Years Eve) and then George Raynor, remained unbeaten in 15 home games before losing 1-0 to Northampton on the 18^th February. This season's run did set a new record for City at the Ricoh, topping the 12-game run under Micky Adams in 2005-06 and was the best unbeaten home run since a 15-game run without loss under Gordon Milne between March 1978 and February 1979. I heard some fans moaning after the Burton loss but it is worth remembering the woeful home form of last season when between September and the season's end the team won only three home games out of 18. No wonder our crowds slumped to under 7,000.