Tuesday night’s home defeat to Cardiff City put a large dent in Coventry City’s play-off hopes, especially after Saturday’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Plymouth Argyle. The gap between City and sixth-placed Cardiff is now five points and the Bluebirds have a game in hand.
In the face of some dreadful hype from supporters and the media I have urged a dose of realism for several weeks, pointing to the ambitious points total required for a play-off place and the fact that City faced home games with some of their bogey sides. Cardiff are one of those teams who have an impressive record in Coventry, having lost just once in the league since 1966, the final game of Dennis Wise’s short but impressive stay at the club. Cardiff boss Dave Jones is certainly getting his revenge on his former club who supposedly mistreated him after his 1979 transfer from Everton. Jones, like fellow signing Gary Collier, never recovered from a nightmare start in a defeat at Stoke on the opening day of the season, and started on nine games in almost three seasons. Since 2001 Jones has brought Wolves and Cardiff to Coventry on seven occasions and lost only once.
Five points have therefore been dropped against two teams supposedly out of form and ‘there for the taking’ and City followers are again guilty of counting their chickens before they hatch. Numerous reasons will be put forward for the two relatively poor performances and, yes, it was a dreadful penalty decision that cost City a vital penalty on Tuesday but my theory is that the players and the management had been taken in by the play-off hype.
Chris Coleman is normally a stubbornly measured interviewee who rarely gets carried away, but ahead of the Cardiff game he admitted in the press to looking at the league table ‘400-500 times a day’. Whilst this is probably a wild exaggeration, the fact that he even looked at the table is not good news. Judging from the team’s second half performance he would have spent his time better preparing them or watching videos of his impressive opponents.
Returning to the number of points required for the play-offs, Geoff Moore has provided me with some statistics on the number of teams achieving 69 points or above in all divisions since the play-offs came into being. No club has ever got into the play-offs with less than 70 points and until you get above 72 points the chances of getting there are less than 50:50. Many believe that this season 69 or even 68 points will be enough but the stats do not support that. By the way in 2000 Bristol Rovers reached 80 points in Division Two and missed out on the play-offs, finishing 7th.
Points In top six Out of top six % in top six
81 10 0 100
80 13 2 87
79 13 0 100
78 17 1 94
77 8 0 100
76 18 1 95
75 17 2 89
74 16 8 67
73 17 5 77
72 13 11 54
71 10 12 45
70 5 25 17
69 0 21 0
More stats were requested by several people including Steve Pittam and Dave Long. It’s the common belief that the Sky Blues’ results are better when Sammy Clingan is in the team and this table goes some way to supporting that view.
I looked at the record of each player this season and calculated the number of points won as a percentage of the points available when they were playing. I have only included the starting line-ups as it gets too complicated with substitutes. If a player had started every league game this season his record would be: Played 37, won 13, drawn 11, lost 13, points 50 which is 45% of the points available. The results make interesting reading and the top ten players are:
Pl W D L Points % points
McPake 13 7 4 2 25 64.1
Bell 13 6 5 2 23 58.9
Baker 9 4 3 2 15 55.5
Clingan 23 10 8 5 38 55.1
Barnett 13 6 2 5 20 51.2
Wright 30 11 11 8 44 48.9
Gunnarsson 28 11 8 9 41 48.8
Westwood 35 13 11 11 50 47.6
Cranie 30 11 8 10 41 45.5
McIndoe 37 13 10 12 49 44.1
James McPake and David Bell amazingly have only been on the losing side twice each and are well ahead of the field at the moment, and Baker, who has started only nine games is also ahead of Sammy. The Irishman however has an impressive record and it was not a coincidence that the team slipped from 11th to 17th during his absence from the side in the autumn. Bell’s position in the table may surprise many fans who feel we haven’t seen his best form this term but City’s strong form since early December coincided with his return from injury and has allowed Chris Coleman to play a true wide player on the right.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 13.3.10
Another away victory last Saturday at London Road, Peterborough, strengthened City’s case for a play-off place and with some of their rivals stuttering the odds are falling on a miracle happening. City fans are quite rightly getting excited about the prospect of the team’s first foray into the play-offs but there is still a long way to go, with probably around 23 points from 11 games required. History tells us that as the race for a top six place reaches a climax the form of the leading protagonists will inevitably improve. City’s remaining home games look relatively easy but how often have we looked at fixtures and marked them down as a banker only to see our team blow an opportunity. As well, the recent home records against Cardiff, Preston and Watford are far from impressive. My advice to City fans is enjoy the ride – it’s so rare for us to be in contention for some glory and if the club’s recent history is anything to go by it might be some time before we get the chance again.
Today’s home game with struggling Plymouth Argyle gives the Sky Blues the chance to achieve their best run of league wins for eight years. Victory would mean a fourth success in a row and the best since December 2002 when under the managership of Gary McAllister the team beat Stoke (a), Wolves (a), Derby (h) and Reading (h). The mini-run took City to sixth place in the Championship and earned Gary the manager of the month award. Unfortunately the wheels fell off and the Sky Blues recorded just one victory in the remaining 21 games and missed relegation by a whisker. It is 12 years since a City team won five in a row – Gordon Strachan’s impressive side in 1997-98.
Mick Sanders enjoyed the short obituary to Birmingham goalkeeping legend Gil Merrick a couple of weeks ago. The article reminded him of one of his earliest City memories - George Mason's testimonial match in April 1953. He recalls it was between Coventry City and a Midlands All Star XI. City’s forward line was strengthened by two guests, Derby’s former England man Jack Stamps and Cardiff’s former City player Ken Chisholm. Merrick played in goal for a team that included the famous flying Wolves wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen. The game, watched by a crowd of 11,143 was a thrilling exhibition match and ended in an 8-5 win for the All Stars for whom Arthur Rowley scored three goals, Hancocks 2, Peter Murphy, Ronnie Allen and a Martin McDonnell own goal. City’s scorers were Stamps (3), Barry Thomas and Eric Johnson. As Mick points out in his email, it was an opportunity to see some of the top players of the day including some of the mighty Wolves team and the great Gil Merrick in goal.
The acceptances are flying in for this year’s Legends Day and it is expected that around 50 former Coventry City players will be attending the event at the Sheffield Wednesday home game at the end of the month. The Former Players Association are organising the event and acceptances have been received this week from such luminaries as Neil Martin, Alan Green, John Williams and Wilf Smith.
Today’s home game with struggling Plymouth Argyle gives the Sky Blues the chance to achieve their best run of league wins for eight years. Victory would mean a fourth success in a row and the best since December 2002 when under the managership of Gary McAllister the team beat Stoke (a), Wolves (a), Derby (h) and Reading (h). The mini-run took City to sixth place in the Championship and earned Gary the manager of the month award. Unfortunately the wheels fell off and the Sky Blues recorded just one victory in the remaining 21 games and missed relegation by a whisker. It is 12 years since a City team won five in a row – Gordon Strachan’s impressive side in 1997-98.
Mick Sanders enjoyed the short obituary to Birmingham goalkeeping legend Gil Merrick a couple of weeks ago. The article reminded him of one of his earliest City memories - George Mason's testimonial match in April 1953. He recalls it was between Coventry City and a Midlands All Star XI. City’s forward line was strengthened by two guests, Derby’s former England man Jack Stamps and Cardiff’s former City player Ken Chisholm. Merrick played in goal for a team that included the famous flying Wolves wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen. The game, watched by a crowd of 11,143 was a thrilling exhibition match and ended in an 8-5 win for the All Stars for whom Arthur Rowley scored three goals, Hancocks 2, Peter Murphy, Ronnie Allen and a Martin McDonnell own goal. City’s scorers were Stamps (3), Barry Thomas and Eric Johnson. As Mick points out in his email, it was an opportunity to see some of the top players of the day including some of the mighty Wolves team and the great Gil Merrick in goal.
The acceptances are flying in for this year’s Legends Day and it is expected that around 50 former Coventry City players will be attending the event at the Sheffield Wednesday home game at the end of the month. The Former Players Association are organising the event and acceptances have been received this week from such luminaries as Neil Martin, Alan Green, John Williams and Wilf Smith.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 6.3.10
Last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Scunthorpe means the Sky Blues stay in the race for a play-off position in the Championship. It is a tall order but a continuation of the current form could push the club into the top six and a first ever play-off situation.
The 2-1 victory was the first ever league win over the Iron, although the clubs have met on only four occasions. The victory took City to 46 points from 34 games and it is interesting to note the points total at the same stage in previous seasons.
2001-02 56 (final points: 66 11th)
2002-03 46 (final points: 50 20th)
2003-04 49 (final points: 65 12th)
2004-05 35 (final points: 52 19th)
2005-06 44 (final points: 63 8th)
2006-07 41 (final points: 56 17th)
2007-08 39 (final points: 53 21st)
2008-09 47 (final points 54 17th)
Assuming City are going to need around 72 points to reach the play-offs, they will require 26 points from 12 games. Their best last 12 games in the last eight years was 19 points in 2005-06, the year Dennis Wise dragged City up by their boot-straps. Surprisingly City have been in as good a position or better on four previous occasions, even in the dreadful 2002-03 season, and blown play-off chances. In their first season after relegation they had 56 points at this stage and looked a better than good bet for a play-off position.
The Scunthorpe victory made it seven home league games without defeat since Newcastle won at the Ricoh in early December, the best run since 2005-06 when in the Wise revival City went eleven games without a home defeat from November until the end of the season.
Leon Barnett suffered the ignominy of red cards in two successive appearances by virtue of his two yellow cards against Scunthorpe. For once the dismissal did not stop City taking all the points, the first time that has happened since March 2004 when loanee Peter Clarke was ordered off in the first minute at Ninian Park but City won 1-0 thanks to a Gary McSheffrey penalty. Since then City have had 18 players dismissed and never won a game.
Leon joins an elite group of nine City players sent off twice in a season. The full list is Paul Cook, Liam Daish, Paul Williams, Dion Dublin, David Burrows, Lee Hughes, David Thompson and Kevin Kyle. He is not the first player to receive successive red cards though; Dion also achieved that feat in 1996-97 season being ordered off against Sunderland (home) and Blackburn (away). Kyle went close to emulating him two years ago, ordered off in two successive starts (Blackpool (a) and Burnley (h)) but he had an innocent substitute appearance between those games.
Dean Nelson emailed me this week. He has recently acquired a City programme from 1964 and wanted more information on the game. It is a friendly game at Highfield Road against the Great Britain Olympic XI played on Monday 2 March 1964. City produced a full programme but only 4, 827 turned up on a cold night for a game the British team used as a warm up for an Olympic qualifying tie in Greece the following week. City, top of the Third Division at the time, put out a virtual first team, but failed to score against what was a team of amateurs as at the time professional players were not allowed in the Olympic Games. According to the match report the Amateurs soaked up City pressure with a ‘defensive barrier formation’ and then snatched the only goal of the game twenty minutes from time through Hendon forward J Quail. The British team may have kept City at bay but a week later in Athens the roof caved in and they lost 4-1 and went out of the Qualifying competition and failed to go to the Olympics in Tokyo that summer.
City’s team that night was: Dave Meeson: John Sillett, Mick Kearns, Brian Hill, George Curtis, Ron Farmer, Willie Humphries, Graham Newton, George Hudson, Dietmar Bruck, Ronnie Rees.
The planning for this years Legends Day is well underway and many former Coventry City players will be attending the event at the Sheffield Wednesday home game at the end of the month. The Former Players Association are organising the event and already signed up to come are Dennis Mortimer, Tommy Hutchison, Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt. The half-time pitch presentation, such a hit in previous years will take place again.
The 2-1 victory was the first ever league win over the Iron, although the clubs have met on only four occasions. The victory took City to 46 points from 34 games and it is interesting to note the points total at the same stage in previous seasons.
2001-02 56 (final points: 66 11th)
2002-03 46 (final points: 50 20th)
2003-04 49 (final points: 65 12th)
2004-05 35 (final points: 52 19th)
2005-06 44 (final points: 63 8th)
2006-07 41 (final points: 56 17th)
2007-08 39 (final points: 53 21st)
2008-09 47 (final points 54 17th)
Assuming City are going to need around 72 points to reach the play-offs, they will require 26 points from 12 games. Their best last 12 games in the last eight years was 19 points in 2005-06, the year Dennis Wise dragged City up by their boot-straps. Surprisingly City have been in as good a position or better on four previous occasions, even in the dreadful 2002-03 season, and blown play-off chances. In their first season after relegation they had 56 points at this stage and looked a better than good bet for a play-off position.
The Scunthorpe victory made it seven home league games without defeat since Newcastle won at the Ricoh in early December, the best run since 2005-06 when in the Wise revival City went eleven games without a home defeat from November until the end of the season.
Leon Barnett suffered the ignominy of red cards in two successive appearances by virtue of his two yellow cards against Scunthorpe. For once the dismissal did not stop City taking all the points, the first time that has happened since March 2004 when loanee Peter Clarke was ordered off in the first minute at Ninian Park but City won 1-0 thanks to a Gary McSheffrey penalty. Since then City have had 18 players dismissed and never won a game.
Leon joins an elite group of nine City players sent off twice in a season. The full list is Paul Cook, Liam Daish, Paul Williams, Dion Dublin, David Burrows, Lee Hughes, David Thompson and Kevin Kyle. He is not the first player to receive successive red cards though; Dion also achieved that feat in 1996-97 season being ordered off against Sunderland (home) and Blackburn (away). Kyle went close to emulating him two years ago, ordered off in two successive starts (Blackpool (a) and Burnley (h)) but he had an innocent substitute appearance between those games.
Dean Nelson emailed me this week. He has recently acquired a City programme from 1964 and wanted more information on the game. It is a friendly game at Highfield Road against the Great Britain Olympic XI played on Monday 2 March 1964. City produced a full programme but only 4, 827 turned up on a cold night for a game the British team used as a warm up for an Olympic qualifying tie in Greece the following week. City, top of the Third Division at the time, put out a virtual first team, but failed to score against what was a team of amateurs as at the time professional players were not allowed in the Olympic Games. According to the match report the Amateurs soaked up City pressure with a ‘defensive barrier formation’ and then snatched the only goal of the game twenty minutes from time through Hendon forward J Quail. The British team may have kept City at bay but a week later in Athens the roof caved in and they lost 4-1 and went out of the Qualifying competition and failed to go to the Olympics in Tokyo that summer.
City’s team that night was: Dave Meeson: John Sillett, Mick Kearns, Brian Hill, George Curtis, Ron Farmer, Willie Humphries, Graham Newton, George Hudson, Dietmar Bruck, Ronnie Rees.
The planning for this years Legends Day is well underway and many former Coventry City players will be attending the event at the Sheffield Wednesday home game at the end of the month. The Former Players Association are organising the event and already signed up to come are Dennis Mortimer, Tommy Hutchison, Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt. The half-time pitch presentation, such a hit in previous years will take place again.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 27.2.10
Regular reader Peter Louch recollects a Rugby Union game being played at Highfield Road around 1958 and asks if I had any details of it.
The game Peter remembers took place on 19 February 1958 when the touring Australian team were defeated 8-3 by a Midland Counties XV. Around 8,000 spectators watched a good game on a pitch described by the Coventry Evening Telegraph as having ‘very little grass but well rolled’. Coventry Rugby Club were the top club side in the country and the Warwickshire team, comprising mainly of Coventry players would win the County Championship, the premier domestic competition in those days, in seven out of the next eight years. That day there were ten ‘Cov’ players in the Midland team and their ‘star’ winger Peter Jackson, who had scored England’s winning try against the Wallabies two weeks previously, made the only try of the game for captain Fenwick Allison.
There had been two previous Rugby Union games at the ground. In 1924 the All Blacks had played Warwickshire and in 1952 the South African Springboks had played a Midland Counties XV. A few weeks later it was suggested that Warwickshire play the County Championship final at Highfield Road. Their opponents, Cornwall, planned to bring 4,000 fans and it was doubtful that Coundon Road could accommodate everyone who wanted to see the game. After some discussion it was decided it was impractical and the game went ahead at Coundon Road.
Next Saturday City travel to Peterborough for a league game for the first time since 1964. They did play a League Cup tie at London Road on the fateful day of 11 September 2001 (and won on a penalty shoot-out), a game which in hindsight should not have gone ahead with the shocking news from New York. That was Roland Nilsson’s first game in charge, just days after the departure of Gordon Strachan.
That last league visit witnessed one of the largest City away followings (before the Cup treks of ’87) as an estimated 12,000 fans travelled the 50 or so miles to attempt to clinch promotion from Division Three in the penultimate game of the season. City failed to perform on the night, losing 2-0 to goals from Peter Thompson & Derek Dougan, and were left having to beat Colchester on the final day to clinch promotion. The crowd next Saturday is likely to be a lot less than that famous game in 1964, that night there was a Peterborough league record 26,307.
Last week’s game at St James’ Park, Newcastle was watched by 39,334, the largest crowd to watch a Coventry City league match since they dropped out of the Premiership in 2001. City’s final away match that season, that infamous game at Villa Park on 5 May which sealed City’s fate was attended by 39,761. Since then there have been only two league gates of more than 30,000 – at Manchester City in 2002 (33,335) and at Sunderland in 2007 (33,591). The largest home league crowd is 27,992 for the visit of Wolves in April 2008.
The game Peter remembers took place on 19 February 1958 when the touring Australian team were defeated 8-3 by a Midland Counties XV. Around 8,000 spectators watched a good game on a pitch described by the Coventry Evening Telegraph as having ‘very little grass but well rolled’. Coventry Rugby Club were the top club side in the country and the Warwickshire team, comprising mainly of Coventry players would win the County Championship, the premier domestic competition in those days, in seven out of the next eight years. That day there were ten ‘Cov’ players in the Midland team and their ‘star’ winger Peter Jackson, who had scored England’s winning try against the Wallabies two weeks previously, made the only try of the game for captain Fenwick Allison.
There had been two previous Rugby Union games at the ground. In 1924 the All Blacks had played Warwickshire and in 1952 the South African Springboks had played a Midland Counties XV. A few weeks later it was suggested that Warwickshire play the County Championship final at Highfield Road. Their opponents, Cornwall, planned to bring 4,000 fans and it was doubtful that Coundon Road could accommodate everyone who wanted to see the game. After some discussion it was decided it was impractical and the game went ahead at Coundon Road.
Next Saturday City travel to Peterborough for a league game for the first time since 1964. They did play a League Cup tie at London Road on the fateful day of 11 September 2001 (and won on a penalty shoot-out), a game which in hindsight should not have gone ahead with the shocking news from New York. That was Roland Nilsson’s first game in charge, just days after the departure of Gordon Strachan.
That last league visit witnessed one of the largest City away followings (before the Cup treks of ’87) as an estimated 12,000 fans travelled the 50 or so miles to attempt to clinch promotion from Division Three in the penultimate game of the season. City failed to perform on the night, losing 2-0 to goals from Peter Thompson & Derek Dougan, and were left having to beat Colchester on the final day to clinch promotion. The crowd next Saturday is likely to be a lot less than that famous game in 1964, that night there was a Peterborough league record 26,307.
Last week’s game at St James’ Park, Newcastle was watched by 39,334, the largest crowd to watch a Coventry City league match since they dropped out of the Premiership in 2001. City’s final away match that season, that infamous game at Villa Park on 5 May which sealed City’s fate was attended by 39,761. Since then there have been only two league gates of more than 30,000 – at Manchester City in 2002 (33,335) and at Sunderland in 2007 (33,591). The largest home league crowd is 27,992 for the visit of Wolves in April 2008.
Monday, 22 February 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 20.2.10
Cormac O’Malley is a Coventry City fan in Ireland and emailed me during the bad weather last month asking about the games that City played in Ireland during the big freeze of 1963. The weather was so bad in England that City did not play a single game during the month of January and most of February but over in Ireland there was far better weather and football pitches were playable. City manager Jimmy Hill, always looking for a new idea, contacted Manchester United boss Matt Busby and at short notice organised a friendly with United for Saturday 2nd February. The venue was in Dublin at Shamrock Rovers’ Glenmalure Park (a ground demolished in 1990 to make way for a housing estate). United had a big following in Dublin owing to the Irish connections that went back to players like Johnny Carey and Busby-babe Billy Whelan and would have been well supported in the 15,000 crowd.
Owing to the last minute arrangements (the game was only announced in Friday’s Coventry Evening Telegraph) it is highly likely there was a programme issued and I have never seen one advertised in 40-odd years of collecting.
Third Division City, unbeaten in all competitions since mid-October, gave the First Division giants a real shock and the Reds needed a Bobby Charlton goal nine minutes from time to scrape a 2-2 draw. Albert Quixall put United ahead after 25 minutes but with the Irish crowd roaring on the underdogs City led at half-time with a Ronnie Farmer lob and a Jimmy Whitehouse glancing header. Both sides had chances after the break with man of the match Whitehouse beating United ‘keeper Harry Gregg three times only to see his efforts go just wide. Finally Charlton, arguably the most famous and popular footballer in the country at the time, slid home the equaliser from a David Herd pass. The goal signalled a pitch invasion by hundreds of boys and it took several minutes to clear the pitch. Later both teams were entertained to dinner by Shamrock Rovers and City flew home having got some valuable match practice and won a lot of friends in Dublin as well as reportedly making £200 from the shared receipts. Less than two months later the clubs met in the FA Cup sixth round at Highfield Road and City again gave United a tough game before the Reds ran out 3-1 winners.
A week after the Dublin trip, another postponement at Highfield Road prompted Hill to call Wolves manager Stan Cullis and they quickly organised a friendly in Cork at the then home of Cork Hibs, Flower Lodge. A heavy muddy pitch 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 and City flew home £100 better off. This time a programme was hastily printed and the centre page of the four-page effort is shown. Flower Lodge is now a Gaelic sports stadium.
By Wednesday 20th February the signs were that the long spell of dreadful weather in England was coming to an end and with City hopeful of playing Barnsley on 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. Goals from Terry Wharton (2), Alan Hinton (2), Crowe and Ted Farmer put Wolves 6-1 ahead at one stage and Ken Hale (2) and Brian Hill gave the City some late pride in front of a 6,000 crowd. Celtic Park was demolished in the 1980s and the site turned into a shopping centre.
City flew back to a thawing country and the Barnsley league game duly went ahead three days later, City’s first competitive game since 29th December and Hill’s team went on to play 11 league and cup games in 36 days. They remained unbeaten until the last Saturday in March when Manchester United ended the 23-game unbeaten run in that famous cup tie but in the subsequent sixteen league games in seven weeks (the season was extended until almost the end of May) the toll of so many games was felt and City lost touch with the leaders and finished fourth.
Owing to the last minute arrangements (the game was only announced in Friday’s Coventry Evening Telegraph) it is highly likely there was a programme issued and I have never seen one advertised in 40-odd years of collecting.
Third Division City, unbeaten in all competitions since mid-October, gave the First Division giants a real shock and the Reds needed a Bobby Charlton goal nine minutes from time to scrape a 2-2 draw. Albert Quixall put United ahead after 25 minutes but with the Irish crowd roaring on the underdogs City led at half-time with a Ronnie Farmer lob and a Jimmy Whitehouse glancing header. Both sides had chances after the break with man of the match Whitehouse beating United ‘keeper Harry Gregg three times only to see his efforts go just wide. Finally Charlton, arguably the most famous and popular footballer in the country at the time, slid home the equaliser from a David Herd pass. The goal signalled a pitch invasion by hundreds of boys and it took several minutes to clear the pitch. Later both teams were entertained to dinner by Shamrock Rovers and City flew home having got some valuable match practice and won a lot of friends in Dublin as well as reportedly making £200 from the shared receipts. Less than two months later the clubs met in the FA Cup sixth round at Highfield Road and City again gave United a tough game before the Reds ran out 3-1 winners.
A week after the Dublin trip, another postponement at Highfield Road prompted Hill to call Wolves manager Stan Cullis and they quickly organised a friendly in Cork at the then home of Cork Hibs, Flower Lodge. A heavy muddy pitch 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 and City flew home £100 better off. This time a programme was hastily printed and the centre page of the four-page effort is shown. Flower Lodge is now a Gaelic sports stadium.
By Wednesday 20th February the signs were that the long spell of dreadful weather in England was coming to an end and with City hopeful of playing Barnsley on 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. Goals from Terry Wharton (2), Alan Hinton (2), Crowe and Ted Farmer put Wolves 6-1 ahead at one stage and Ken Hale (2) and Brian Hill gave the City some late pride in front of a 6,000 crowd. Celtic Park was demolished in the 1980s and the site turned into a shopping centre.
City flew back to a thawing country and the Barnsley league game duly went ahead three days later, City’s first competitive game since 29th December and Hill’s team went on to play 11 league and cup games in 36 days. They remained unbeaten until the last Saturday in March when Manchester United ended the 23-game unbeaten run in that famous cup tie but in the subsequent sixteen league games in seven weeks (the season was extended until almost the end of May) the toll of so many games was felt and City lost touch with the leaders and finished fourth.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 13.2.10
It was sad to hear of the death of Birmingham goalkeeping legend Gil Merrick who passed away, aged 88, last week. Sparkhill-born Merrick played over 700 games for the Blues between 1939 and 1960 and won 22 caps for England. He was England’s number 1 ‘keeper in an era when there was a glut of outstanding English goalkeepers such as Bert Williams (Wolves), Ted Ditchburn (Spurs) and Ray Wood (Manchester United). Gil was unfortunate to be in goal on the occasions of England’s heavy defeats to Hungary in 1953 (3-6 at Wembley) and 1954 (1-7 in Budapest) and lost his place after the 1954 World Cup. Whilst Gil was a one-club man, he actually played one game for Coventry City, as a guest in a wartime game in 1943. Alf Wood was City’s regular keeper that season but for some reason was unavailable on 3 April for a game at Derby and Merrick played in goal in a 1-1 draw with the Rams.
City’s line up that day in the Football League North championship was: Merrick, O’Brien, Elliott, Snape, Mason (G), Boileau, Coen, Barratt, Lowrie, Lager, Greenway. I think Gil was the last remaining member of that team although Norman Greenway, who originally hailed from Whoberley, was alive in Canberra, Australia about thirteen years ago, and if alive would be almost ninety now.
Leon Best’s move to Newcastle United prompted Frank Hughes, a long suffering City fan, to email me about other City strikers joining Newcastle. He reminded me of two, George Lowrie and John Tudor. Lowrie, who joined the Magpies for a big fee (£18,500) in 1948 never reproduced his City scoring form at St James’ Park. For City he netted 59 goals in 85 games (a bit more prolific than Leon!) but at Newcastle he managed only 12 games in eighteen months and scored five goals. Tudor, on the other hand was never a prolific scorer for City (15 goals in 77 games) although on occasion he did play in the centre of defence, most notably at Forest in 1967 on the night George Curtis broke his leg. He left City for Second Division Sheffield United in 1968 and scored 33 in 76 games before a big money move to Newcastle in 1971. Playing alongside Supermac (Malcolm Macdonald, John was a regular for almost five seasons and scored 58 goals in 187 games. Leon Best’s record for City was 22 goals in 104 appearances although 25 of the appearances were as a substitute.
Talking of Newcastle, City travel there for a league game on Wednesday night for the first time since the Sky Blues left the Premiership. City’s recent record at St James’ Park is not good, they failed to win in eight Premiership encounters between 1992-2000 and picked up a solitary point in March 1998 when Dion Dublin, playing at centre-back, marked the England centre-forward Alan Shearer out of the game. In the seven defeats they conceded 24 goals and scored only two. It is almost 22 years since the Sky Blues last won up there, then goals from Regis, Gynn and Speedie gave City a comfortable 3-0 win. If those stats are not bad enough then United’s home form this season (unbeaten in 17 league and cup) points toward a busy night for City’s defenders. The Forest hoodoo was smashed this week so lets keep our fingers crossed for the Newcastle bogey going west. A blank from Leon Best would help.
City’s line up that day in the Football League North championship was: Merrick, O’Brien, Elliott, Snape, Mason (G), Boileau, Coen, Barratt, Lowrie, Lager, Greenway. I think Gil was the last remaining member of that team although Norman Greenway, who originally hailed from Whoberley, was alive in Canberra, Australia about thirteen years ago, and if alive would be almost ninety now.
Leon Best’s move to Newcastle United prompted Frank Hughes, a long suffering City fan, to email me about other City strikers joining Newcastle. He reminded me of two, George Lowrie and John Tudor. Lowrie, who joined the Magpies for a big fee (£18,500) in 1948 never reproduced his City scoring form at St James’ Park. For City he netted 59 goals in 85 games (a bit more prolific than Leon!) but at Newcastle he managed only 12 games in eighteen months and scored five goals. Tudor, on the other hand was never a prolific scorer for City (15 goals in 77 games) although on occasion he did play in the centre of defence, most notably at Forest in 1967 on the night George Curtis broke his leg. He left City for Second Division Sheffield United in 1968 and scored 33 in 76 games before a big money move to Newcastle in 1971. Playing alongside Supermac (Malcolm Macdonald, John was a regular for almost five seasons and scored 58 goals in 187 games. Leon Best’s record for City was 22 goals in 104 appearances although 25 of the appearances were as a substitute.
Talking of Newcastle, City travel there for a league game on Wednesday night for the first time since the Sky Blues left the Premiership. City’s recent record at St James’ Park is not good, they failed to win in eight Premiership encounters between 1992-2000 and picked up a solitary point in March 1998 when Dion Dublin, playing at centre-back, marked the England centre-forward Alan Shearer out of the game. In the seven defeats they conceded 24 goals and scored only two. It is almost 22 years since the Sky Blues last won up there, then goals from Regis, Gynn and Speedie gave City a comfortable 3-0 win. If those stats are not bad enough then United’s home form this season (unbeaten in 17 league and cup) points toward a busy night for City’s defenders. The Forest hoodoo was smashed this week so lets keep our fingers crossed for the Newcastle bogey going west. A blank from Leon Best would help.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 6.2.10
City’s late equaliser against Blackpool last week ensured that City’s good home record against the Seasiders was preserved. Blackpool haven’t won in Coventry since April 1937 when they virtually clinched promotion to Division One with a 2-1 victory. However it’s not that big a deal as the clubs have only met in three seasons since then, in 1970-71 and the last two seasons. On the other hand City have not won in five trips to the Golden Mile since 1923.
Brett Ormerod’s red card was the first for an opponent at the Ricoh Arena for almost two years and the 18th visitor in total since City moved to the new stadium in 2005. Of those 18 only two of the sides affected have won the game, Hull (2-0) in 2005-06 after John Lynch was sent off and West Brom (1-0) after Diomansy Kamara in 2006-07, and both sides led before late red cards.
Before Saturday’s derby defeat at Pride Park Nottingham Forest were the hottest team in the Championship with a 19-game unbeaten run. Billy Davies’ side come to the Ricoh on Tuesday night and a good game is anticipated. Looking at the statistics however a City victory is unlikely. Forest, amazingly, have lost on only two of their last 15 league visits to Coventry, stretching back to 1987. Those two Sky Blue victories came in seasons that Forest were relegated, a 4-0 win in 1999 when Darren Huckerby scored a hat-trick for the second Saturday in a row, and a vital 2-0 win in April 2005 which lifted the Sky Blues away from the relegation zone and left Forest deep in the mire thanks to goals from Gary McSheffrey (penalty) and Dele Adebola. The latter, of course, is now in Forest’s squad and may get a game, although is unlikely to be in the starting line up. If he gets a game I am sure he will get a great reception as one of the most popular players of the post-Premiership period.
Before then, today, City travel to Ashton Gate, yet another ground where City rarely get a result. City last won there in the Third Division promotion campaign in 1963-64 thanks to a solitary Ken Hale goal and in eight subsequent league visits have picked up four draws but the last four trips have all been pointless. City did win a League Cup tie in 1976 thanks to Mick Ferguson’s goal but were lucky to get away with a 3-3 draw in the FA Cup in 2007, only putting off the inevitable for a week or so before losing to the League One side and prompting Micky Adams’ departure as manager.
Duncan Say e-mailed me after hearing Danny Baker on BBC’s 6-0-6 programme recounting his version of the day that David Speedie took over from Oggy in goal at Millwall. Baker seemed to suggest that Speedo let in four goals, or at least some of them and Duncan questioned Danny’s memory.
Duncan was right, Danny Baker's memory is not very good. The game was on 9 September 1989 and City arrived at the Den top of the old Division 1 (after only four games it has to be said). Oggy did get injured early on and let in three goals in a nightmare first half. Speedie took over between the posts after the break and David Smith pulled a goal back on 65 minutes. Speedo was finally beaten in the last minute by a thunderbolt from Ian Dawes but only after he had pulled off some fine saves.
Brett Ormerod’s red card was the first for an opponent at the Ricoh Arena for almost two years and the 18th visitor in total since City moved to the new stadium in 2005. Of those 18 only two of the sides affected have won the game, Hull (2-0) in 2005-06 after John Lynch was sent off and West Brom (1-0) after Diomansy Kamara in 2006-07, and both sides led before late red cards.
Before Saturday’s derby defeat at Pride Park Nottingham Forest were the hottest team in the Championship with a 19-game unbeaten run. Billy Davies’ side come to the Ricoh on Tuesday night and a good game is anticipated. Looking at the statistics however a City victory is unlikely. Forest, amazingly, have lost on only two of their last 15 league visits to Coventry, stretching back to 1987. Those two Sky Blue victories came in seasons that Forest were relegated, a 4-0 win in 1999 when Darren Huckerby scored a hat-trick for the second Saturday in a row, and a vital 2-0 win in April 2005 which lifted the Sky Blues away from the relegation zone and left Forest deep in the mire thanks to goals from Gary McSheffrey (penalty) and Dele Adebola. The latter, of course, is now in Forest’s squad and may get a game, although is unlikely to be in the starting line up. If he gets a game I am sure he will get a great reception as one of the most popular players of the post-Premiership period.
Before then, today, City travel to Ashton Gate, yet another ground where City rarely get a result. City last won there in the Third Division promotion campaign in 1963-64 thanks to a solitary Ken Hale goal and in eight subsequent league visits have picked up four draws but the last four trips have all been pointless. City did win a League Cup tie in 1976 thanks to Mick Ferguson’s goal but were lucky to get away with a 3-3 draw in the FA Cup in 2007, only putting off the inevitable for a week or so before losing to the League One side and prompting Micky Adams’ departure as manager.
Duncan Say e-mailed me after hearing Danny Baker on BBC’s 6-0-6 programme recounting his version of the day that David Speedie took over from Oggy in goal at Millwall. Baker seemed to suggest that Speedo let in four goals, or at least some of them and Duncan questioned Danny’s memory.
Duncan was right, Danny Baker's memory is not very good. The game was on 9 September 1989 and City arrived at the Den top of the old Division 1 (after only four games it has to be said). Oggy did get injured early on and let in three goals in a nightmare first half. Speedie took over between the posts after the break and David Smith pulled a goal back on 65 minutes. Speedo was finally beaten in the last minute by a thunderbolt from Ian Dawes but only after he had pulled off some fine saves.
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