Jim's column 6.12.14

Last Saturday's goalless draw with Walsall attracted a lot of criticism from City supporters but I for one didn't think it was as bad as several home games this season & whilst the lack of goals is a cause for concern we should be celebrating a more solid defence. Since the Cup exit to Worcester the side have conceded one goal in four matches & that was a sloppy mistake that nine times out of ten would not have been punished. Prior to Worcester they had conceded 17 goals in seven league games. Saturday's clean sheet meant that the team have two successive clean sheets for first time for over a year. The last time consecutive clean sheets were recorded was in autumn 2013 when wins over Walsall (1-0) & Notts County (3-0) took City up to 11^th place despite starting with a ten points deduction.

Several fans have asked me how City's record for the calendar year compares with the worst years in the club's history. So far, in 2014, Steven Pressley's side have won 10 out of 42 league games & won 43 points. The worst calendar year was in 1984 when Bobby Gould's team won just nine games out of 43, totalling 35 points.

In a 46-game calendar year the worst record was in 2011 when Aidy Bothroyd started the year in charge but was replaced by Andy Thorn after 12 games. The team won 11 out of 46 games, earning 40 points. Other bad years were 2003, 1997 & 1996. In all of those years the side amassed only 42 points. In conclusion, therefore, it is not going to be one of the club's worst years.

I didn't mention last week that City's long run without an away victory had been ended with the 1-0 victory at Colchester. Not only was it the first away league win of the season but the first since March 29^th when a Callum Wilson brace earned City a 2-1 win at Crewe. That was 11 away games without victory & just four draws. The club's worst ever away run was between January 1924 & April 1925 when they went 28 trips without a victory.

Last week I wrote about Jack Doran who appeared just once for Coventry City in 1915 but scored two goals. City fan David Selby sent me a pen picture of Doran from the Norwich City A-Z by Mike Davage & I have done some more research.

Davage's book reveals that Doran was gassed at the Battle of Somme & again at Cambrai whilst in Major Frank Buckley's 'Football Battalion'. On being demobbed after the First World War, Doran signed for three clubs within five months of 1919 (Brentford, Newcastle & Norwich). Southern League Norwich were managed at the time by Major Buckley & Doran emulated his feat for City by scoring twice on his debut for the Canaries. In 25 Southern League games the burly, curly-haired, Doran scored 18 goals before fellow Southern League club Brighton stepped in to sign him in February 1920. He scored 10 goals in 10 games for the Seagulls & ended up as top scorer for both clubs that season. That summer the complete Southern League became the new Third Division & Doran netted 21 goals (half of Brighton's total) in their first season in the League, a feat that earned him a call-up to the Ireland team that played England. In 1921-22 he continued his goalscoring, netting ten goals in his first seven games & 23 in total in a struggling side as well as winning two further Irish caps.

His phenomenal scoring attracted considerable interest from bigger clubs & in the summer of 1922 he signed for Manchester City. Doran made only three appearances for Manchester City, scoring once, before the club attempted to convert him to a centre-half. He then moved back to the Third Division for a few months with Crewe but his career was in a nose-dive. Short spells followed with Mid Rhondda United in the Southern League & Shelbourne in Ireland. He also played for Fordsons in the Irish Free State League before finishing his playing career with Boston in the Midland League. He then returned to Ireland where he coached Waterford. After retiring from football, he became a publican in the north-east of England, and died in Sunderland of the effects of tuberculosis, aged 44.

Jim's column 25.10.14

Another disappointing away defeat at Oldham on Tuesday night saw the Sky Blues plunge to 20^th place in League One. It was the tenth away league game without a win, since Steven Pressley's men won 2-1 at Crewe at the end of March. Of the side who started at Oldham only two appeared at Crewe that day, Andy Webster & Jordan Willis. The fact there are so many new faces in the side might be one of the reasons behind City's form but having said that the side went seven games unbeaten earlier in the season.

The run has to get a lot worse to match the woeful away record under Andy Thorn when the team went 21 away league games without a win between April 2011 & April 2012, or the club's worst ever run of 28 in the 1920s.

The defeat at Boundary Park was the worst league defeat since the 1-5 thrashing by Tranmere at home last season & the worst on the road in the league since the 0-4 at Walsall in 2013.

City's away following on Tuesday night, 223, was the lowest of the season and you have to go back to March 2012 to find the previous lowest when 211 brave souls travelled to Cardiff for a midweek 2-2 draw. City's average away following is currently 1,190, one of the best in the division.

Last Saturday league leaders Bristol City had almost 3,800 fans at the Ricoh to see them win 3-1. That was the best away following at the Ricoh since Birmingham City brought 5,700 supporters in March 2012. In a crowd of over 22,000 City drew 1-1 – Marlon King replying for Blues two minutes after Gary McSheffrey had put City ahead.

Last week's review of the George Raynor book attracted a lot of interest from readers. Graham Smith tells me that there is a feature film coming out in the next couple of months about the legendary Brazilian Pele and George Raynor, played by Irish actor Colm Meaney. Raynor was the Swedish coach in the 1958 World Cup final when a 17-year old Pele introduced himself to the world, scoring twice & helping Brazil to beat the Swedes 5-2.

Kevin Ring reminded me that there is another, much older book, written by Raynor himself - 'Football Ambassador at Large'. There is a whole chapter on Coventry City and his year long battle with Erle Shanks and the Coventry board and he talks about the couldn't care less attitude of some City players. In the new book Ashley Hyne mentions Raynor's autobiography, which was ghost-written by famous BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme. It's publication in 1960 by Stanley Paul was controversial in that Raynor strongly criticised the Football Association, who took legal action which had the book removed from book shops but not before several thousand copies had been sold. The book later had the offending passages removed & was re-printed by the Soccer Book Club. If Raynor had any chances of a job in the FA the less than subtle comments in the book scuppered them. Kevin also tells me that George lived on the Binley Road, on the corner of Uxbridge Avenue & the property is still standing.

Reader Tom Cope posed an interesting question- how many corners were there in the 1987 FA Cup final? The answer is that over the full 120 minutes including extra time there were 17 corners, 12 to Tottenham & five to the Sky Blues.

Another reader Keith Ballantyne asked me who the second Coventry City player to win a full international cap for England. He knows that Reg Matthews was the first in 1956 when the Cov kid won five caps in goal and was never on the losing side. The second came 27 years later when Danny Thomas won two caps on a summer tour of Australia. Both games, played in Sydney & Melbourne, ended in draws & Danny (pictured below) started in Sydney but was only a substitute in Melbourne. The only other Coventry City players to win full England caps are Cyrille Regis (one cap v Turkey in 1987) and Dion Dublin (three caps in 1998).