Jim's column 1.2.14

16-year old George Thomas became the sixth youngest player in history to wear the Coventry City shirt on Tuesday night at Leyton Orient. The Welsh youngster, unknown outside the club until a few months ago, was 16 years and 310 days old and was also the third youngest player to start a competitive game for the club-  only two days older than Isaac Osbourne and 37 days older than Brian Hill. The three other younger debutants having been used as substitutes.

The top ten youngest players are now:

1. Jonson Clark-Harris (Aug 2010) 16 years 20 days (sub)
2. Ben Mackey (Apr 2003) 16 years 167 days (sub)
3. Gary McSheffrey (Apr 1999) 16 years 198 days (sub)
4. Brian Hill (Apr 1958) 16 years 273 days
5. Isaac Osbourne (Apr 2003) 16 years 308 days
6.George Thomas (Jan 2014) 16 years 310 days

7. Perry Suckling (Aug 1982) 16 years 320 days
8. George Curtis (Apr 1956) 16 years 351 days
9. Dietmar Bruck (Apr 1961) 17 years 9 days

10. Conor Thomas (Jan 2011) 17 years 71 days (sub)

Sadly the Sky Blues were unable to extend their unbeaten run of five league games at Brisbane Road and suffered their fourth away defeat of the league campaign. For the first time in a league game this season they failed to net an away goal. The highlight of the night was yet another penalty save by Joe Murphy - this time from Kevin Lisbie. The Irish keeper has excelled with spot-kicks this season, saving four of the six he has faced & I believe he set a new club record. Information about penalty saves is patchy before World War 2 but since then several keepers have saved three in a season including Bill Glazier, Jim Blyth & Murphy himself in 2011-12. Glazier's saves were in that exciting but nail-biting 1967-68 season & his saves were all away from home & from stars of the day Denis Law (Manchester United), Charlie Cooke (Chelsea) & Francis Lee (Man City). Lee, especially, was renowned as one of the top penalty takers of that era & Glazier's efforts were outstanding. Jim Blyth saved three penalties in 1977-78, another exciting season when the Sky Blues scored 75 goals & narrowly missed out on a European spot. Jim saved from Liverpool's Phil Neal in a 1-0 victory at Highfield Road, from Leicester's Dennis Rofe in a 2-1 win at Filbert Street but his most crucial save was in the last minute of the 5-4 victory over Norwich City when he foiled John Ryan's attempt to make it 5-5. In 2011-12 Joe saved from Messrs Hunt (Reading), Martin (Ipswich) & Danns (Leicester).

The curtain has fallen on Leon Clarke's Coventry City career and the unhappy striker has had his wish for a move to his hometown club granted. He has left behind a lot of bad will at the club & amongst Sky Blue supporters but at least the club have pocketed a large cheque as some compensation. His scoring record at the club was impressive with 28 goals from 43 games plus 2 substitute appearances in all competitions. This equates to an impressive scoring rate of 1.53 (a goal every 1.53 games) and he is up there with some of the great goalscorers in the club's history. You won't be surprised to learn that leading the way is the legendary Clarrie Bourton with a rate of 1.32 (182 goals in 241 games), followed by David McGoldrick 1.33 (18 in 24), George Lowrie 1.44 & Terry Bly 1.45 (29 goals in 43 games). Leon is fifth in that table and whilst he may end this season as the club's leading league scorer unless Calum Wilson or Franck Moussa overtake his total of 15 league goals, he has failed to beat McGoldrick's 16 league goals of last season which was the best haul since Dion Dublin's 18 back in 1998. Talking of Moussa I understand the Football League has awarded him the second goal at Rotherham, taking his total goals for the season to 12 (10 league & 2 Cup). I find the decision puzzling as however many times I watch the clip of the goal it looks a clear header by Cyrus Christie not Moussa but there you go.

Follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton 

Jim's Column 12.11.11

Coventry City’s poor form continued last week with a home defeat to the league leaders Southampton. Even with the club’s diverse recent records this was still a surprise to me as City have a tremendous record against the Saints. Saturday’s match was the 55^th league encounter between the two clubs in Coventry and the victory was only Saints’ seventh win in the city, and the first since the opening day of the season in 1999.  Between 1950 and 1987 the Saints travelled to Highfield Road for 26 league encounters and failed to win a single game with City winning eighteen games including heavy defeats in Saints’ two promotion seasons 1959-60 (4-1) and 1965-66 (5-1). The latter being the momentous game when George Hudson scored his memorable goal by flicking the ball over Saints’ centre-half Tony Knapp and racing around the statuesque stopper to volley home.

Now the Saints are setting the pace in the Championship with an interesting blend of experienced players and youth from one of the most productive youth schemes in the country that in recent years has helped fund the club’s revival with sales of starlets like Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Another City youngster made his debut as a substitute last weekend. Jordan Willis is just a couple of months past his 17^th birthday but his appearance in a first-team shirt earns him a place in the top ten youngest City debutants which now reads thus:-

1. Jonson Clark-Harris (Aug 2010) 16 years 20 days
2. Ben Mackey (Apr 2003) 16 years 167 days
3. Gary McSheffrey (Apr 1999) 16 years 198 days
4. Brian Hill (Apr 1958) 16 years 273 days
5. Isaac Osbourne (Apr 2003) 16 years 308 days
6. Perry Suckling (Aug 1982) 16 years 320 days
7. George Curtis (Apr 1956) 16 years 351 days
8. Dietmar Bruck (Apr 1961) 17 years 9 days

9. Conor Thomas (Jan 2011) 17 years 71 days

10=. Jordan Willis (Nov 2011) 17 years 73 days
10=. Colin Holder (Apr 1962) 17 years 73 days

Coventry-born Jordan, who is one day younger than Conor Thomas when Conor made his debut as a substitute against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup in January, is the third youngster to join the top 10 in the last fifteen months.

Jim Ridley wrote to me recently and remembers that in the 1970s he watched Northern Ireland play a full international against Portugal at Highfield Road. He cannot remember the details and asked me to refresh his memory and tell him if the great Eusebio played for Portugal.

The game, a World Cup qualifying game, was played at Highfield Road on 28 March 1973.  The civil unrest in Northern Ireland at the time forced the Irish Football Association to seek alternative venues for their home games and this was the first game played outside the province. The Irish team featured several famous names including Tottenham’s world-class goalkeeper Pat Jennings, former City midfielder Dave Clements, who had left City eighteen months earlier to join Sheffield Wednesday, and Martin O’Neill of Nottingham Forest who would later become a very successful manager with Leicester and Celtic. Sadly George Best had announced his international retirement and did not play. The Portuguese, whilst not the force they had been at the 1966 World Cup, were favourites to qualify from a group that also included Bulgaria and Cyprus, the latter had severely dented Northern Ireland’s chances by beating them in Cyprus a month earlier. Two stars of the 1966 Portugal team were still in the team, Eusebio, the star striker and Simoes, a classy winger in his day. Eusebio scored a penalty equalising O’Neill’s earlier goal and the game, watched by a crowd of 11,273, ended 1-1. Later the Irish played internationals at Fulham’s Craven Cottage, Hillsborough, Anfield and Goodison Park.

On 16 March 1968 two brothers were taken to Highfield Road for the younger one’s birthday treat to watch the Sky Blues play Manchester United for the first time in the First Division. The younger brother Paul Moses was a United fan and emailed me with his memories of the game. They were on the terraces and as the crowd got bigger and bigger (the attendance was 47,111, the second highest in the club’s history) the police allowed children on to the running track. City won a memorable 2-0 victory over the Reds who were three games away from lifting the European Cup but whose supporters blamed the defeat on a long midweek trip to Poland. The result was a crucial one for both clubs as City eventually avoided relegation by just one point whilst United were pipped at the Championship post by their Manchester rivals by two points. A different outcome that day would have relegated City and handed the title to United.

Paul and his brother Peter wanted to know City’s line up from that game. It was as follows:

Glazier: Bruck, Cattlin, Machin, Setters, Clements, Hannigan, Hunt, Martin, Tudor, Carr.  Ernie Hunt and Chris Cattlin made their debuts for the Sky Blues and Ernie Machin and Maurice Setters scored City’s goals.

JIM'S COLUMN 20.8.2011

It was a day of double celebration in the McSheffrey household last Saturday. Gary celebrated his 29th birthday by appearing for his home town club at the ground of his former club, Birmingham City. The other celebration was Gary's 200th appearance in a Coventry shirt in all competitions. Gary made his debut as a substitute at Villa Park in February 1999 aged 16 years 198 days and was the youngest ever City player at the time as well as the youngest Premiership player. Subsequently he has lost both records, the former to Ben Mackey and later Jonson Clarke-Harris, and the latter to Aaron Lennon. He is the 45th Coventry player to reach the 200 game milestone and the first since Michael Doyle.

Talking of young debutants, several readers have been asking where the current crop of youngsters stand in the chart of youngest ever City players. Despite Gael Bigirimana, Josh Ruffels and Conor Thomas being only 17-years old, Thomas is the only one to make the top ten youngest. All three were born in October 1993 and are therefore 18 in October. When Thomas debuted as a substitute against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup last season he was 17 years and 71 days placing him 9th in the all-time chart (62 days older than Dietmar Bruck) but the youngest to play an FA Cup tie. By all accounts none of the lads let the side down at Selhurst Park and we have to hope that they all have big futures ahead of them, preferably with the Sky Blues.

Similarly several readers were wondering if the team that finished the game on Tuesday evening was the youngest City team ever. My friend Geoff Moore tracks this record very closely and assures me that City have fielded younger teams. The average age of Tuesday nights final XI was 22.8 years. That is some way off the age of the side that played at Manchester City in November 1980 which was 21 years and 58 Days. The team that day by the way was: Les Sealey: Steve Jacobs, Harry Roberts, Andy Blair, Paul Dyson, Gary Gillespie, Peter Bodak, Garry Thompson, Mark Hateley, Danny Thomas, Steve Hunt. City lost 0-3. In 2003 Gary McAllister put out several City teams with an average age of under 22.

City's depressing start to the season continued at Selhurst Park losing to two late goals and you have to go back a long way to find the last time the team lost their first three league games. It has happened on only three previous occasions: 1968-69, 1949-50 and 1919-20. The good news is that in none of those seasons were the team relegated. In 1919-20, the club's first season in the Football League, the team lost their first nine games before staging a miraculous recovery to finish 20th out of 22, albeit with the help of some bribery. In 1949-50, Harry Storer's team rallied to finish 12th. In 1968-69 City were hampered by playing their first two games away from home because the new stand at Highfield Road wasn't ready but won their fourth game (4-2 against West Brom) and despite a long struggling season did enough to stay in Division One.

Fortunately for me I have been spared the sight of the Sky Blues this season. Owing to family health problems I am extending a stay in France and may not see my beloved Sky Blues for some time. The internet and in particular internet radio enables me to keep track of news and games but Tuesday night’s game left me with nails bitten to the quick and I forced to drain my sorrows with copious amounts of red wine!

Jim's column 14.8.10

After the promising opening-day victory over financially troubled Portsmouth last Saturday the League Cup hoodoo struck again at Morecambe on Tuesday evening but at least it was a night for records. The Sky Blues became the first team to play at The Globe Arena, the Shrimps’ new stadium, in what was their first ever meeting with Morecambe who had never been in the Football League until two years ago.

With just over 20 minutes of the game remaining manager Aidy Boothroyd used his second substitute of the evening, bringing on Leicester youngster Jonson Clarke-Harris for David Bell. The Academy youngster, just 20 days past his 16th birthday, became City’s youngest ever first team player, breaking Ben Mackey’s record set in 2003 by almost six months.

The ten youngest City debutants are now:-

1. Jonson Clarke-Harris (Aug 2010) 16 years 20 days
2. Ben Mackey (Apr 2003) 16 years 167 days
3. Gary McSheffrey (Apr 1999) 16 years 198 days
4. Brian Hill (Apr 1958) 16 years 273 days
5. Isaac Osbourne (Apr 2003) 16 years 308 days
6. Perry Suckling (Aug 1982) 16 years 320 days
7. George Curtis (Apr 1956) 16 years 351 days
8. Dietmar Bruck (Apr 1961) 17 years 9 days
9 Colin Holder (Mar 1961) 17 years 73 days
10. Lol Harvey (Nov 1951) 17 years 101 days

Coventry City seem to have a problem with trips to West Lancashire, perhaps it is the cool breezes off the Irish Sea. City have failed to win at Blackpool since the 1920s and have been thumped at Bloomfield Road heavily in recent years. A few miles down the road at Preston they fare no better and have never won a league game in almost 20 visits stretching back to 1949 - although they did win a League Cup tie at Deepdale in 2000. Even Southport was an unhappy hunting ground for City with an FA Cup defeat to the then non-league side in the 1920s. This week City’s first visit to Morecambe ended in an embarrassing defeat for a strong ‘reserve’ team containing many of last season’s first team regulars including Wood, McPake, McIndoe and Bell.

Goalkeeper Colin Doyle’s stay at Coventry City will probably go down as the shortest career in the club’s history. He arrived on loan from Birmingham on Tuesday morning, played in the discomforting defeat at Globe Arena, and on Wednesday morning was recalled to St Andrews owing to Ben Foster’s injury. Sadly he will bracketed with the Italian goalkeeper Rafaele Nuzzo whose only first team appearance was in the 5-1 League Cup defeat at Tranmere in 1999.

Last but not least it is sad to report the death last week of former Coventry City Commercial Manager Arthur Pepper. Arthur was a larger than life man who played his part in the Sky Blue’s history and always had a smile on his face. I remember his happy and jovial personality cheering up City’s long-faced fans on the flight back from Munich following City’s hammering in 1970.