Last Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Derby County lifted the Sky Blues to fourth place in the Championship after three games. It meant that the team had won its first two home games for the first time since moving to the Ricoh Arena in 2005 - in fact it was the first time since 2002 when Gary McAllister’s team beat Sheffield United and Crystal Palace in their first two home games.
Sadly the attendance was a pitifully low 13,139 - the lowest home league crowd ever at the Ricoh and the lowest since February 2005 when 12,148 were at Highfield Road for a 1-2 defeat to Wigan. No doubt the poor weather and the Sky live television coverage had an impact last week but the prices charged to ‘walk-up’ supporters is undoubtedly a big factor in these economically trying times. Even more worryingly about Saturday’s gate is that it is almost two thousand lower than the previous lowest Saturday home gate, set against Barnsley last January. Perhaps the low crowd will persuade Ray Ranson and his team to review their policy in this area.
Lowest gates at the Ricoh 2005-10
1. 13,139 v Derby Co. (2010-11)*
2. 14,036 v Scunthorpe (2007-08)
3. 14,326 v Sheffield United (2009-10)
4. 14,621 v Burnley (2008-09)
5. 14,992 v Cardiff (2008-09)
6. 15,031 v Barnsley (2009-10)*
7. 15,035 v Barnsley (2008-09)
8. 15,149 v Swansea (2008-09)
9. 15,165 v Reading (2009-10)*
10. 15,190 v Peterborough (2009-10)*
* Saturday home games
Who would bet on a City victory at Millwall this afternoon? It is the Sky Blues’ first visit to the New Den for five years and history and form is against them. City have not won at Millwall (Old or New Den) in 14 league and cup games stretching back to their last win on Boxing Day 1955. Millwall have a tradition for strong home form and hold a Football League record of 59 unbeaten home games between 1964 and 1966. They are currently unbeaten at home in 19 league and cup games, the last defeat being by Wycombe Wanderers last November.
Alan Wainwright asked me about a great goal of the past. He wanted to know at which end of Highfield Road did George Hudson score his memorable goal against Southampton. After checking with my fellow City historian Rod Dean I was able to confirm that ‘The Hud’s’ classic goal was scored at the Covered End (the City end) in September 1965.
George scored many great goals for the club but this was arguably his most memorable goal when, with his back to goal he flicked the ball over Southampton centre-half Tony Knapp's head, turned, then casually headed past a startled keeper. City won the Tuesday evening game 5-1, having lost 1-0 to the Saints at the Dell a week earlier. At the end of that season the Saints pipped the Sky Blues to promotion by one point.
Kevin Ring tells me that former City youngster Craig Faulconbridge is still playing professional football at the age of 32. The Nuneaton-born striker was on City’s books for several years as a teenager and got close to a first team call-up after a couple of substitute appearances in pre-season friendlies in 1996 before a broken leg hampered his progress. Manager Gordon Strachan let him go on loan to Dunfermline in 1998 and he scored a memorable goal for the Pars which effectively wrecked Celtic’s title hopes and handed the league to Rangers. Competition for striking places at Coventry was fierce with Dublin, Huckerby and Whelan in great form and a further loan to Dunfermline and another to Hull City preceded Craig’s release from City in 1999. Craig joined Wrexham and played over 100 games in three years at the Racecourse Ground before another three years at Wycombe Wanderers. After spells at Oxford City and Carshalton he joined Woking last season and helped them reach the Blue Square South play-offs and Kevin tells me that this season he is a fixture in Woking’s first team.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Jim's column 21.8.10
Coventry City’s woes with goalkeepers continued at Watford last Saturday with Everton loanee Iain Turner lasting only 18 minutes before succumbing to injury but allowing promising youngster Michael Quirke to have his day in the limelight. Michael is three weeks short of his nineteenth birthday and he is the youngest goalkeeper to play first team football for the club since Perry Suckling made his debut in 1982 as a sixteen year old.
Quirke became the fourth goalkeeper used by City in three matches this season which I am confident is a record for the club. I have been enquiring with other football statisticians and discovered that in 1968 Nottingham Forest used four different keepers in four consecutive games. City rarely use more than two keepers in a season but in 2001-02 (the first after relegation from the Premiership) they used five keepers. Chris Kirkland played in the opening game at Stockport. Chris was sold to Liverpool days later and Magnus Hedman took over. Then the big Swede was injured and Andy Goram came in on loan, making seven appearances. Goram was however cup-tied and could not play against Chelsea in the League Cup and reserve Gary Montgomery stepped in for his debut, just a day after his 19th birthday. After Christmas Hedman had more injury problems and Tim Flowers came on loan to make it five ‘keepers in one season.
In 2004-05 four different players donned the ‘keeper’s jersey. Scott Shearer, Luke Steele and Ian Bennett all started games and Stephen Hughes pulled on the jersey when loanee Bennett was sent off against Stoke City at Highfield Road.
Paul Walker asked me to settle an argument regarding former England international full-back Mick Mills. Paul believed that Mills’ only involvement was as assistant manager to Terry Butcher in the early 1990s but his friend argued that Mills had joined City as a player and appeared for the first team. Paul is correct Mills, who had managerial experience with Stoke City and Colchester, was appointed by Butcher soon after the former England captain took over as manager in October 1990. A year later however the new regime (including chairman Peter Robins and director Bryan Richardson) forced Butcher to jettison Mills for cost-cutting reasons, and replace him with Don Howe. Weeks later Butcher was relieved of his duties and replaced by Howe in a caretaker role. Mills, a right-back in his playing days, was a key member of Bobby Robson’s outstanding Ipswich team of the 1970s and had many memorable head to head duels with Tommy Hutchison.
Dave Perkins asked me to publish City’s all-time record against Manchester United which is:-
League Pl W D L for agst
Home 37 13 8 16 44 52
Away 37 6 8 23 26 72
Total 74 19 16 39 70 124
In addition there have been nine Cup meetings of which City have won four, drawn one and lost four. City have won their last two Cup meetings at Old Trafford (1987 and 2007).
Derek Paterson, a City fan based in New Zealand, sent me an email recently giving me news of former City goalkeeper Jonathan Gould. Gould, now aged 41, is the assistant coach (and goalkeeping coach) for the New Zealand-based Wellington Phoenix, the only NZ team playing in the A-League (the Australian professional league).
Derek tells me that last season Gould had to sit on the bench as substitute goalkeeper on five occasions because of an injury crisis at the club but fortunately was not called upon. The Phoenix became the first NZ team to reach the A-League play-offs by virtue of finishing fourth in the league season. They failed to reach the play-off finals but hugely improved the image of New Zealand football.
Jonathan, the son of former City player and manager Bobby Gould, played 25 games for the Sky Blues between 1992-96 before a successful career with Celtic and Preston. He also won two international caps for Scotland, despite being born in London.
Quirke became the fourth goalkeeper used by City in three matches this season which I am confident is a record for the club. I have been enquiring with other football statisticians and discovered that in 1968 Nottingham Forest used four different keepers in four consecutive games. City rarely use more than two keepers in a season but in 2001-02 (the first after relegation from the Premiership) they used five keepers. Chris Kirkland played in the opening game at Stockport. Chris was sold to Liverpool days later and Magnus Hedman took over. Then the big Swede was injured and Andy Goram came in on loan, making seven appearances. Goram was however cup-tied and could not play against Chelsea in the League Cup and reserve Gary Montgomery stepped in for his debut, just a day after his 19th birthday. After Christmas Hedman had more injury problems and Tim Flowers came on loan to make it five ‘keepers in one season.
In 2004-05 four different players donned the ‘keeper’s jersey. Scott Shearer, Luke Steele and Ian Bennett all started games and Stephen Hughes pulled on the jersey when loanee Bennett was sent off against Stoke City at Highfield Road.
Paul Walker asked me to settle an argument regarding former England international full-back Mick Mills. Paul believed that Mills’ only involvement was as assistant manager to Terry Butcher in the early 1990s but his friend argued that Mills had joined City as a player and appeared for the first team. Paul is correct Mills, who had managerial experience with Stoke City and Colchester, was appointed by Butcher soon after the former England captain took over as manager in October 1990. A year later however the new regime (including chairman Peter Robins and director Bryan Richardson) forced Butcher to jettison Mills for cost-cutting reasons, and replace him with Don Howe. Weeks later Butcher was relieved of his duties and replaced by Howe in a caretaker role. Mills, a right-back in his playing days, was a key member of Bobby Robson’s outstanding Ipswich team of the 1970s and had many memorable head to head duels with Tommy Hutchison.
Dave Perkins asked me to publish City’s all-time record against Manchester United which is:-
League Pl W D L for agst
Home 37 13 8 16 44 52
Away 37 6 8 23 26 72
Total 74 19 16 39 70 124
In addition there have been nine Cup meetings of which City have won four, drawn one and lost four. City have won their last two Cup meetings at Old Trafford (1987 and 2007).
Derek Paterson, a City fan based in New Zealand, sent me an email recently giving me news of former City goalkeeper Jonathan Gould. Gould, now aged 41, is the assistant coach (and goalkeeping coach) for the New Zealand-based Wellington Phoenix, the only NZ team playing in the A-League (the Australian professional league).
Derek tells me that last season Gould had to sit on the bench as substitute goalkeeper on five occasions because of an injury crisis at the club but fortunately was not called upon. The Phoenix became the first NZ team to reach the A-League play-offs by virtue of finishing fourth in the league season. They failed to reach the play-off finals but hugely improved the image of New Zealand football.
Jonathan, the son of former City player and manager Bobby Gould, played 25 games for the Sky Blues between 1992-96 before a successful career with Celtic and Preston. He also won two international caps for Scotland, despite being born in London.
Monday, 16 August 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Jim's column 7.8.10
The new football season opens today, far too early for my liking. Many football fans are still on holiday (myself included) and will be unable to make the opening game at the Ricoh against Portsmouth. Starting the season on the first Saturday in August is a relatively new phenomenon; a hundred years ago the League had an agreement with the Cricket authorities not to start the season until the first of September and for many decades the football campaign did not commence until the third Saturday in August. To start the season this early in the 1950s and 60s would have been crazy when the majority of Coventry’s factories closed down during the first two weeks of August and the city resembled a ghost town with the majority of families leaving town for the seaside or sunnier climes.
It has been another summer of change at Coventry City with new manager Aidy Boothroyd making adjustments to his squad. Gone are Marcus Hall (without a fan’s farewell), Clinton Morrison (not surprising but his going leaves a gap to be filled) and Stephen Wright (no tears spilled). A slew of new players have arrived including two players who return for a second spell with the club. Both Lee Carsley and Gary McSheffrey appeared for City in both the Premiership and the Championship before leaving to improve their career elsewhere. Carsley has had a long career in the Premiership and now aged 36 is presumably seen as the experienced defensive midfielder that helps get you out of this desperate division. In my opinion City have not had an effective ‘tackling’ defensive midfield player since Youssef Safri and in the interim period have had to see numerous ineffective players in this role. Sammy Clingan showed glimpses last season of filling the role but before him Stephen Hughes, Michael Doyle, Guillaume Beuzelin, Tim Sherwood and numerous others failed to understand the role that is crucial in English league football and , as we saw to England’s cost in South Africa, the World game. All of the best teams in the World Cup had at least one of these players, some , like Brazil, had two. The archetypal player in this role was Nobby Stiles, who could win the ball in the tackle (as well as man-marking the opposition’s top player) and feed it to the players who could make things happen. Similarly Coventry City’s Lloyd McGrath did the job to a tee, going about his job in a quiet and efficient way, rarely getting into the opposition’s penalty area, let alone scoring.
I’m hoping Carsley can play an important role in City’s team but note that he played only nine games for Birmingham City last term. His age however means that we will be relying more on his experienced football brain than his aging legs.
Several readers have asked me about other players like Carsley and McSheffrey, who returned to the club for second spells and there are several including Marcus Hall, Gary Bannister, Gary McAllister, Roland Nilsson and 20-odd years ago Mick Ferguson and Les Sealey returned for brief loan spells. Roy O’Donovan, of course, also rejoins for a second spell, having played for the youth team ten years ago without ever appearing for the first team and Colin Hawkins trod the same path a few years ago. In 1952 manager Harry Storer, seeking goals desperately to keep City in the Second Division, turned to former City legend George Lowrie for salvation. Lowrie had scored 50-odd goals in three seasons for City in the late 1940s before a big money move to Newcastle but his return to Coventry was not a success, he was over the hill and failed to save City from relegation.
It has been another summer of change at Coventry City with new manager Aidy Boothroyd making adjustments to his squad. Gone are Marcus Hall (without a fan’s farewell), Clinton Morrison (not surprising but his going leaves a gap to be filled) and Stephen Wright (no tears spilled). A slew of new players have arrived including two players who return for a second spell with the club. Both Lee Carsley and Gary McSheffrey appeared for City in both the Premiership and the Championship before leaving to improve their career elsewhere. Carsley has had a long career in the Premiership and now aged 36 is presumably seen as the experienced defensive midfielder that helps get you out of this desperate division. In my opinion City have not had an effective ‘tackling’ defensive midfield player since Youssef Safri and in the interim period have had to see numerous ineffective players in this role. Sammy Clingan showed glimpses last season of filling the role but before him Stephen Hughes, Michael Doyle, Guillaume Beuzelin, Tim Sherwood and numerous others failed to understand the role that is crucial in English league football and , as we saw to England’s cost in South Africa, the World game. All of the best teams in the World Cup had at least one of these players, some , like Brazil, had two. The archetypal player in this role was Nobby Stiles, who could win the ball in the tackle (as well as man-marking the opposition’s top player) and feed it to the players who could make things happen. Similarly Coventry City’s Lloyd McGrath did the job to a tee, going about his job in a quiet and efficient way, rarely getting into the opposition’s penalty area, let alone scoring.
I’m hoping Carsley can play an important role in City’s team but note that he played only nine games for Birmingham City last term. His age however means that we will be relying more on his experienced football brain than his aging legs.
Several readers have asked me about other players like Carsley and McSheffrey, who returned to the club for second spells and there are several including Marcus Hall, Gary Bannister, Gary McAllister, Roland Nilsson and 20-odd years ago Mick Ferguson and Les Sealey returned for brief loan spells. Roy O’Donovan, of course, also rejoins for a second spell, having played for the youth team ten years ago without ever appearing for the first team and Colin Hawkins trod the same path a few years ago. In 1952 manager Harry Storer, seeking goals desperately to keep City in the Second Division, turned to former City legend George Lowrie for salvation. Lowrie had scored 50-odd goals in three seasons for City in the late 1940s before a big money move to Newcastle but his return to Coventry was not a success, he was over the hill and failed to save City from relegation.
Monday, 10 May 2010
JIM's End of Season review
Another disappointing season came to miserable end last Sunday with an embarrassing home defeat to Watford. The defeat was the final act of the Chris Coleman era and the likeable Welshman was summarily relieved of his duties on Tuesday morning. Strangely it was the biggest home defeat of his time in charge and the biggest since the game preceding his arrival in February 2008, a 0-5 FA Cup thumping from West Brom.
They say one week is a long time in politics but seven weeks is a very long time in football. On 16 March a win over Cardiff would have lifted Coleman’s men into the top six in the Championship with a reasonable chance of a play-off place if they could maintain their impressive post-Christmas run. Eleven games later and with only five points out of a possible 33 the club are, like Gary McAllister’s team in 2003, fortunate that the season didn’t go on to 48 games. Like 2003 City were never going to pull out of their dreadful slump which took them from 8th place to 19th.
Coleman’s record (a league win ratio of 28%) is worse than all his seven predecessors in this division, bar McAllister. The quality of the football was poor too but in my opinion he has left City a better legacy than his predecessor Iain Dowie and on the whole the quality of his signings was far superior. A new manager will have good players at this level such as Keiren Westwood, James McPake, Martin Cranie, Richard Wood and Carl Baker. Under Coleman however there have been far fewer highlights than in the Dowie era. Last season there were superb wins over the two promoted clubs Wolves and Birmingham plus a memorable Cup replay win over Blackburn and the visit of the mighty Chelsea. This season it is hard to come up with a real highlight other than the hard-fought victory over high-flying Nottm Forest.
Points: The team collected 54 points, exactly the same as last season’s total. 49 of those points came before 10 March in 35 games, the remaining five came from the 11 games since 10 March. This is almost a replica of last season.
Home Form: The home record was won 8, drew 9, lost 6, almost identical to last season. Goals scored were one more at 27 and 29 were conceded, three more than in 2008-09. Between the Newcastle defeat in December and the Cardiff game in early March the team went eight unbeaten at home and then failed to win any of the final six home games. In early March the home form was quite impressive and only Newcastle and Swansea had lost less home games, then the wheels fell off!
Wins: City won only thirteen league games, the same number as last season. Only the three relegated teams won less games. In December they did however win three in a row for the first time since October 2007.
Away Form: Five away games were won, the same number as last year. All five wins were against teams who finished in the bottom third (Plymouth, Peterborough, Crystal Palace, Barnsley & Watford). They failed to win at the seven grounds they have never won at (Leicester, Swansea, Cardiff, Preston, Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Middlesbrough).
Biggest win: The biggest victory was a 3-1 home win over Barnsley, only one of two occasions that the side won by two clear goals, the other was at Barnsley. For only the second time since the side were relegated from the Premiership they failed to score more than three goals in a game.
Biggest defeat: The 0-4 defeat to Watford last weekend was the heaviest defeat.
Goals: Once again goals were hard to come by with only 47 goals scored, only one more than in 2002-03, the worst season since relegation from the Premier League. Only three teams scored less (Plymouth, Peterborough and Swansea).
Final position: The final position of 19th means that the Sky Blues have finished in the top ten only once in eight years of second tier football. But for Crystal Palace’s ten point deduction City would have finished 20th. They are the only club, bar long-serving Premiership clubs and recent promotees from the Conference, not to have been promoted or reached the play-offs since the play-offs were introduced in 1987. City are now the second longest serving Championship club, after Preston. During the same period Preston have reached the play-offs on four occasions.
Leading scorers: Clinton Morrison was top scorer with 11 goals (all league). Leon Best netted 10 before his move to Newcastle in January and Freddy Eastwood scored eight.
Doubles: City did the double over two sides – Barnsley and Peterborough. Four clubs, Reading, Derby, Cardiff and Newcastle achieved the feat against City.
Appearances: For the second season running Keiren Westwood started the most games, missing just two league games and one League Cup game. Clinton Morrison however appeared in all 46 league games and all three Cup games, coming off the bench in eight league games. In his two seasons at the club Clinton has only missed one game out of 102 – an impressive record. Four players failed to start a league game but made substitute appearances (Gary Madine, Shaun Jeffers, Ashley Cain and Leon McKenzie) although Cain & Jeffers did start the League Cup game. Nathan Cameron and Callum Wilson appeared as subs in the League Cup but did not start a game.
Players used: Thirty one players were used in league games. In addition Adam Walker, Cameron & Wilson made one League Cup appearance. Of the 34, 17 players made their debuts during the season, six of them loan players. In addition to the 34 players used, five more, Danny Ireland, Curtis Wynter, Michael Quirke, Conor Grogan and Jacob Blackwell all sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.
Records: At the end of his final season Marcus Hall reached 308 first team appearances for the club, leaving him in 15th place in the club’s all-time appearance chart. With Marcus leaving and Elliott Ward likely to follow shortly the leading appearance makers remaining at the club are Michael Doyle (278) and Isaac Osbourne (135). It remains to be seen whether Doyle will be with us next season.
Substitutes: Freddy Eastwood made the most substitute appearances (16). Loanee Gary Madine made nine appearances from the bench without starting a game, a club record. Three City substitutes scored goals: Morrison (twice) and David Bell.
Average attendance: Home 17,305 (2008-09 17,411). Away 17,426 (2008-09 17,592). The home average attendance fell by less than 1%.
Highest home attendance: The biggest league crowd was 22,207 for the visit of Leicester City in October.
Lowest home attendance: 14,326 v Sheffield United. (the lowest ever at the Ricoh was v Scunthorpe in 2007-08 – 14,036). The Barnsley ‘gate’ of 15,031 was the lowest for a Saturday home game since the stadium opened in 2005. The Hartlepool League Cup crowd of 6,055 was the lowest for any first team game at the Ricoh. The Portsmouth FA Cup crowd was the lowest at home in the competition since before City joined the Football League – you have to go back to 1909 when City were in the Southern League for a lower ‘gate’.
Highest away attendance: The biggest league crowd was 39,334 at Newcastle in February – the largest to watch City in a league game since 39,761 watched their final Premiership away game at Villa Park in 2001.
Lowest away attendance: 5,013 v Scunthorpe. The lowest to watch a City away league game since September 2002 when 2,077 watched them play Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.
Won from behind: (1) Watford (a). 1-2 down and won 3-2. The best comeback however was from 0-2 down at home to Middlesbrough to draw 2-2, the first time they have achieved that at home in 14 years.
Lost from in front: (6) Preston (a), Derby (a), Ipswich (a), Newcastle (a), Cardiff (h) & Portsmouth FAC (h). Three of those defeats came from goals in added time. In a further five games City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws. Six defeats from in front equalled the worst season in the last 43 years.
Firsts: City won at Plymouth for the first time since 1965 and at Watford for the first time in six visits and beat Scunthorpe for the first time ever in a league game. There was still no win at Blackpool and Bloomfield Road is becoming a bogey ground. Preston’s Deepdale also remains a bogey ground – City have now played 14 league games there and failed to win.
Hat-tricks: (1) Freddy Eastwood notched City’s first league hat-trick since 2002 against Peterborough.
Opposing hat-tricks: (0) None. However Grzegorz Rasiak of Reading scored three goals in his sides two wins over City and has now scored seven goals in seven appearances against the Sky Blues including every game he has started. Ipswich’s Pablo Counago and Sheffield United’s Richard Cresswell scored their eighth goals against City this season.
Own goals: For City: (1) Baptiste (Blackpool)
Own goals: By City: (1) Wright (v Portsmouth FAC (h))
Penalties: For City: (1) Morrison (Doncaster h). Two were missed: Clingan (Swansea h) and Best (Doncaster h).
Penalties: Against City: (7) Adam (Blackpool a), Clarke (Sheff Wed a), Whittingham (Cardiff a), Lovenkrands (Newcastle a), Church (Reading a), Davidson (Preston h), Graham (Watford h). In addition Konstantapoulos saved Hulse of Derby’s penalty in the game at Pride Park and Westwood saved Gary Hooper’s against Scunthorpe at home.
Fastest Goal scored: 3 minutes: Morrison (Ipswich a).
Fastest Goal conceded: 1 minute : Rasiak (Reading h).
Red cards: Coventry: (4) Jordan Clarke (Derby a), Stephen Wright (QPR a), Leon Barnett (Newcastle a) & (Scunthorpe h)
Red cards: Opponents: (2) Kozluk (Barnsley a), Ormerod (Blackpool h)
Television: City appeared on live television five times, three times on Sky, once on ITV4 (Portsmouth h) and once on BBC1 (Leicester a). Of the three Sky games City won one (Ipswich (h)) but lost at Derby and Scunthorpe.
Cup form: City were unable to beat Premiership opposition in the FA Cup for the third year running. Despite a good draw at Fratton Park Pompey, the eventual finalists, beat the Sky Blues in the replay with an extra-time goal. In the League Cup Chris Coleman gave little respect to the competition by playing eight reserves or youth players against League One side Hartlepool and the Sky Blues were beaten at home at the first hurdle by a lower division side for the first time since 1984 when Walsall defeated them.
Man of the Match awards: The leaders in Andy Turner’s man of the match awards were: Eastwood (6), Baker (6), Clingan (5), Westwood (4), Morrison (4), Wood (4), Best (4).
Finally a first: In the home game with Nottingham Forest Amy Hearn, the substitute referee, became the first female to referee a Football League game.
They say one week is a long time in politics but seven weeks is a very long time in football. On 16 March a win over Cardiff would have lifted Coleman’s men into the top six in the Championship with a reasonable chance of a play-off place if they could maintain their impressive post-Christmas run. Eleven games later and with only five points out of a possible 33 the club are, like Gary McAllister’s team in 2003, fortunate that the season didn’t go on to 48 games. Like 2003 City were never going to pull out of their dreadful slump which took them from 8th place to 19th.
Coleman’s record (a league win ratio of 28%) is worse than all his seven predecessors in this division, bar McAllister. The quality of the football was poor too but in my opinion he has left City a better legacy than his predecessor Iain Dowie and on the whole the quality of his signings was far superior. A new manager will have good players at this level such as Keiren Westwood, James McPake, Martin Cranie, Richard Wood and Carl Baker. Under Coleman however there have been far fewer highlights than in the Dowie era. Last season there were superb wins over the two promoted clubs Wolves and Birmingham plus a memorable Cup replay win over Blackburn and the visit of the mighty Chelsea. This season it is hard to come up with a real highlight other than the hard-fought victory over high-flying Nottm Forest.
Points: The team collected 54 points, exactly the same as last season’s total. 49 of those points came before 10 March in 35 games, the remaining five came from the 11 games since 10 March. This is almost a replica of last season.
Home Form: The home record was won 8, drew 9, lost 6, almost identical to last season. Goals scored were one more at 27 and 29 were conceded, three more than in 2008-09. Between the Newcastle defeat in December and the Cardiff game in early March the team went eight unbeaten at home and then failed to win any of the final six home games. In early March the home form was quite impressive and only Newcastle and Swansea had lost less home games, then the wheels fell off!
Wins: City won only thirteen league games, the same number as last season. Only the three relegated teams won less games. In December they did however win three in a row for the first time since October 2007.
Away Form: Five away games were won, the same number as last year. All five wins were against teams who finished in the bottom third (Plymouth, Peterborough, Crystal Palace, Barnsley & Watford). They failed to win at the seven grounds they have never won at (Leicester, Swansea, Cardiff, Preston, Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Middlesbrough).
Biggest win: The biggest victory was a 3-1 home win over Barnsley, only one of two occasions that the side won by two clear goals, the other was at Barnsley. For only the second time since the side were relegated from the Premiership they failed to score more than three goals in a game.
Biggest defeat: The 0-4 defeat to Watford last weekend was the heaviest defeat.
Goals: Once again goals were hard to come by with only 47 goals scored, only one more than in 2002-03, the worst season since relegation from the Premier League. Only three teams scored less (Plymouth, Peterborough and Swansea).
Final position: The final position of 19th means that the Sky Blues have finished in the top ten only once in eight years of second tier football. But for Crystal Palace’s ten point deduction City would have finished 20th. They are the only club, bar long-serving Premiership clubs and recent promotees from the Conference, not to have been promoted or reached the play-offs since the play-offs were introduced in 1987. City are now the second longest serving Championship club, after Preston. During the same period Preston have reached the play-offs on four occasions.
Leading scorers: Clinton Morrison was top scorer with 11 goals (all league). Leon Best netted 10 before his move to Newcastle in January and Freddy Eastwood scored eight.
Doubles: City did the double over two sides – Barnsley and Peterborough. Four clubs, Reading, Derby, Cardiff and Newcastle achieved the feat against City.
Appearances: For the second season running Keiren Westwood started the most games, missing just two league games and one League Cup game. Clinton Morrison however appeared in all 46 league games and all three Cup games, coming off the bench in eight league games. In his two seasons at the club Clinton has only missed one game out of 102 – an impressive record. Four players failed to start a league game but made substitute appearances (Gary Madine, Shaun Jeffers, Ashley Cain and Leon McKenzie) although Cain & Jeffers did start the League Cup game. Nathan Cameron and Callum Wilson appeared as subs in the League Cup but did not start a game.
Players used: Thirty one players were used in league games. In addition Adam Walker, Cameron & Wilson made one League Cup appearance. Of the 34, 17 players made their debuts during the season, six of them loan players. In addition to the 34 players used, five more, Danny Ireland, Curtis Wynter, Michael Quirke, Conor Grogan and Jacob Blackwell all sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.
Records: At the end of his final season Marcus Hall reached 308 first team appearances for the club, leaving him in 15th place in the club’s all-time appearance chart. With Marcus leaving and Elliott Ward likely to follow shortly the leading appearance makers remaining at the club are Michael Doyle (278) and Isaac Osbourne (135). It remains to be seen whether Doyle will be with us next season.
Substitutes: Freddy Eastwood made the most substitute appearances (16). Loanee Gary Madine made nine appearances from the bench without starting a game, a club record. Three City substitutes scored goals: Morrison (twice) and David Bell.
Average attendance: Home 17,305 (2008-09 17,411). Away 17,426 (2008-09 17,592). The home average attendance fell by less than 1%.
Highest home attendance: The biggest league crowd was 22,207 for the visit of Leicester City in October.
Lowest home attendance: 14,326 v Sheffield United. (the lowest ever at the Ricoh was v Scunthorpe in 2007-08 – 14,036). The Barnsley ‘gate’ of 15,031 was the lowest for a Saturday home game since the stadium opened in 2005. The Hartlepool League Cup crowd of 6,055 was the lowest for any first team game at the Ricoh. The Portsmouth FA Cup crowd was the lowest at home in the competition since before City joined the Football League – you have to go back to 1909 when City were in the Southern League for a lower ‘gate’.
Highest away attendance: The biggest league crowd was 39,334 at Newcastle in February – the largest to watch City in a league game since 39,761 watched their final Premiership away game at Villa Park in 2001.
Lowest away attendance: 5,013 v Scunthorpe. The lowest to watch a City away league game since September 2002 when 2,077 watched them play Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.
Won from behind: (1) Watford (a). 1-2 down and won 3-2. The best comeback however was from 0-2 down at home to Middlesbrough to draw 2-2, the first time they have achieved that at home in 14 years.
Lost from in front: (6) Preston (a), Derby (a), Ipswich (a), Newcastle (a), Cardiff (h) & Portsmouth FAC (h). Three of those defeats came from goals in added time. In a further five games City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws. Six defeats from in front equalled the worst season in the last 43 years.
Firsts: City won at Plymouth for the first time since 1965 and at Watford for the first time in six visits and beat Scunthorpe for the first time ever in a league game. There was still no win at Blackpool and Bloomfield Road is becoming a bogey ground. Preston’s Deepdale also remains a bogey ground – City have now played 14 league games there and failed to win.
Hat-tricks: (1) Freddy Eastwood notched City’s first league hat-trick since 2002 against Peterborough.
Opposing hat-tricks: (0) None. However Grzegorz Rasiak of Reading scored three goals in his sides two wins over City and has now scored seven goals in seven appearances against the Sky Blues including every game he has started. Ipswich’s Pablo Counago and Sheffield United’s Richard Cresswell scored their eighth goals against City this season.
Own goals: For City: (1) Baptiste (Blackpool)
Own goals: By City: (1) Wright (v Portsmouth FAC (h))
Penalties: For City: (1) Morrison (Doncaster h). Two were missed: Clingan (Swansea h) and Best (Doncaster h).
Penalties: Against City: (7) Adam (Blackpool a), Clarke (Sheff Wed a), Whittingham (Cardiff a), Lovenkrands (Newcastle a), Church (Reading a), Davidson (Preston h), Graham (Watford h). In addition Konstantapoulos saved Hulse of Derby’s penalty in the game at Pride Park and Westwood saved Gary Hooper’s against Scunthorpe at home.
Fastest Goal scored: 3 minutes: Morrison (Ipswich a).
Fastest Goal conceded: 1 minute : Rasiak (Reading h).
Red cards: Coventry: (4) Jordan Clarke (Derby a), Stephen Wright (QPR a), Leon Barnett (Newcastle a) & (Scunthorpe h)
Red cards: Opponents: (2) Kozluk (Barnsley a), Ormerod (Blackpool h)
Television: City appeared on live television five times, three times on Sky, once on ITV4 (Portsmouth h) and once on BBC1 (Leicester a). Of the three Sky games City won one (Ipswich (h)) but lost at Derby and Scunthorpe.
Cup form: City were unable to beat Premiership opposition in the FA Cup for the third year running. Despite a good draw at Fratton Park Pompey, the eventual finalists, beat the Sky Blues in the replay with an extra-time goal. In the League Cup Chris Coleman gave little respect to the competition by playing eight reserves or youth players against League One side Hartlepool and the Sky Blues were beaten at home at the first hurdle by a lower division side for the first time since 1984 when Walsall defeated them.
Man of the Match awards: The leaders in Andy Turner’s man of the match awards were: Eastwood (6), Baker (6), Clingan (5), Westwood (4), Morrison (4), Wood (4), Best (4).
Finally a first: In the home game with Nottingham Forest Amy Hearn, the substitute referee, became the first female to referee a Football League game.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 1.5.10
Another season comes to close tomorrow and after the euphoria of early March it has to be said the season has finished with a whimper, again. It is forty years ago this month that the Sky Blues last finished in a top six position, a record second to none in the Football League. In April 1970 Noel Cantwell’s side qualified for European football by finishing sixth – above, believe it or not, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham. The European place was clinched with a win at Molineux (the tenth away win of the season) on the Friday night before the FA Cup final between Leeds and Chelsea. An early Brian Joicey goal was enough to clinch the points and send a large Sky Blue following in the 23,000 crowd delirious. It was the second away win in four days – on the Tuesday night a John O’Rourke hat-trick earned a 4-1 win at Forest’s City Ground. In September the Former Players Association are planning to reunite the squad from 1970 at a City home game.
I am afraid the death of former City player Ken Watkins last November passed me by. Ken, who passed away on 26 November 2009, aged 86, lived on Hipswell Highway.
Ken was a right-half who played for Humber FC during World War 2 and was one of many promising young local players called in by City when the first teamers were away in the war. Ken never played in a peacetime game for the club, his 14 appearances coming in the wartime period 1943-1945, eight of them in the transitional 1945-46 season when City played in a Southern regional league with many First Division clubs. In August 1945 Ken played at right half in a 2-0 win over Arsenal (the first ever competitive game against the Gunners) in front of the biggest League crowd of the season, 20,943. Ken also made one guest appearance for Port Vale in 1946 and later played for Rugby Oakfield before coaching Humber after the war. He was also a talented cricketer and I believe he played the odd game for Warwickshire and was a top player for a number of years in the Coventry leagues.
Kieron Beaman emailed me recently. He is the Grandson of Joe Beaman, a City player and manager from before the First World War. Kieron read about Ken Satchwell’s appearance at the Legend’s Day and remembers ‘Satch the Snatch’ scoring four goals in a game for City – against Wrexham on Christmas Day 1959. He asked how many City players have scored four in a game.
The following have all scored four or more in a league game:
Clarrie Bourton (3 occasions)
George Lowrie (3)
Arthur Bacon (2)
Billy Lake (2)
Bill Paterson (1)
Jimmy Rogers (1)
George Stewart (1)
Ken Satchwell (1)
Mick Ferguson (1)
Two players achieved the feat in a League Cup game:
Cyrille Regis
Steve Livingstone
Lowrie had a golden period in 1947 scoring four goals on three separate occasions between April and November. In the same period he also netted three hat-tricks.
Mick Ferguson was the last City player to score four in a league game, in a 4-1 victory over Ipswich in December 1979.
Next week is my final column of the season when I will present my customary Review of the Season.
I am afraid the death of former City player Ken Watkins last November passed me by. Ken, who passed away on 26 November 2009, aged 86, lived on Hipswell Highway.
Ken was a right-half who played for Humber FC during World War 2 and was one of many promising young local players called in by City when the first teamers were away in the war. Ken never played in a peacetime game for the club, his 14 appearances coming in the wartime period 1943-1945, eight of them in the transitional 1945-46 season when City played in a Southern regional league with many First Division clubs. In August 1945 Ken played at right half in a 2-0 win over Arsenal (the first ever competitive game against the Gunners) in front of the biggest League crowd of the season, 20,943. Ken also made one guest appearance for Port Vale in 1946 and later played for Rugby Oakfield before coaching Humber after the war. He was also a talented cricketer and I believe he played the odd game for Warwickshire and was a top player for a number of years in the Coventry leagues.
Kieron Beaman emailed me recently. He is the Grandson of Joe Beaman, a City player and manager from before the First World War. Kieron read about Ken Satchwell’s appearance at the Legend’s Day and remembers ‘Satch the Snatch’ scoring four goals in a game for City – against Wrexham on Christmas Day 1959. He asked how many City players have scored four in a game.
The following have all scored four or more in a league game:
Clarrie Bourton (3 occasions)
George Lowrie (3)
Arthur Bacon (2)
Billy Lake (2)
Bill Paterson (1)
Jimmy Rogers (1)
George Stewart (1)
Ken Satchwell (1)
Mick Ferguson (1)
Two players achieved the feat in a League Cup game:
Cyrille Regis
Steve Livingstone
Lowrie had a golden period in 1947 scoring four goals on three separate occasions between April and November. In the same period he also netted three hat-tricks.
Mick Ferguson was the last City player to score four in a league game, in a 4-1 victory over Ipswich in December 1979.
Next week is my final column of the season when I will present my customary Review of the Season.
Sunday, 25 April 2010
JIM'S COLUMN 24.4.10
Today Coventry City face their former manager Gordon Strachan for the first time in a competitive game since he left the club in September 2001. Strachan did bring his Celtic team to the Ricoh for Richard Shaw’s testimonial game in 2006 but the game at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium is a landmark. Some eagle-eyed folk did spot the wee man in the Ricoh stands at the fixture between City and Boro’ earlier in the season, some weeks before his predecessor Gareth Southgate was sacked and his subsequent selection as Southgate’s successor was not a big surprise. Gordon didn’t have a very good record against Boro’ whilst managing City, winning only two games out of eight. Many fans will remember the opening game of what turned out to be the relegation season in 2000 when an average Boro’ side won 3-1 at Highfield Road with debut boy Alan Boksic scoring twice and giving poor Colin Hendry the runaround. That day many City fans realised that City’s 34-year stay in the top flight was going to be seriously under threat.
The Riverside is one of several Championship grounds where City have never won. Opened in 1995, City had the honour of scoring the first opposing goal there (Isaias netting), but in five league visits they have picked up only one point, as well as losing two cup ties there.
Last August I highlighted that there were seven away grounds where City had never won a league game: Leicester’s Walker’s Stadium, Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium, Scunthorpe’s Glanford Park, Preston, Boro’s Riverside, Swansea’s Liberty Stadium and Cardiff’s new stadium. I said that if City failed to win at all of these grounds then the chances are they will not be in the play-off mix come next April. Here we are at the final away game of the season and barring a surprise win today City have not won at any of the seven grounds and are not in the play-offs.
I spoke to former City player Lol Harvey at last week’s game and he reminisced about the late Charlie Timmins who he played alongside in the 1950s. Lol was close to Charlie in his playing days but the pair had lost touch until I put them in touch about four years ago and they had re-established a fine friendship. One of the most interesting comments that a sad Lol made was regarding Charlie’s playing ability. He pointed out that unusually for a defender of that era, he wasn’t a great tackler but did have exceptional passing ability and was renowned for his runs into the opponent’s half of the pitch. Lol described how Charlie would advance over the halfway line and be looking for centre-forward Ted Roberts. He could deliver an excellent cross and would invariably find Ted with his deep crosses.
Graham Williams sent me an email recently reminding me that former City player Martin Jol is enjoying a successful first season as manager at Ajax Amsterdam. The British papers have concentrated on Steve McClaren’s rehabilitation at FC Twente but Jol has rebuilt his own career after being treated shabbily at Tottenham. With one league game remaining Ajax are a point behind Twente and any slip by McClaren’s team next weekend will hand the title to Ajax. Jol’s team are also in the Dutch Cup Final and will face Feyenoord in the first ever two-legged final. The games, with the first leg in Amsterdam tomorrow and the second in Rotterdam on 6 May, will be attended by home fans only in an effort to avoid crowd trouble.
The Riverside is one of several Championship grounds where City have never won. Opened in 1995, City had the honour of scoring the first opposing goal there (Isaias netting), but in five league visits they have picked up only one point, as well as losing two cup ties there.
Last August I highlighted that there were seven away grounds where City had never won a league game: Leicester’s Walker’s Stadium, Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium, Scunthorpe’s Glanford Park, Preston, Boro’s Riverside, Swansea’s Liberty Stadium and Cardiff’s new stadium. I said that if City failed to win at all of these grounds then the chances are they will not be in the play-off mix come next April. Here we are at the final away game of the season and barring a surprise win today City have not won at any of the seven grounds and are not in the play-offs.
I spoke to former City player Lol Harvey at last week’s game and he reminisced about the late Charlie Timmins who he played alongside in the 1950s. Lol was close to Charlie in his playing days but the pair had lost touch until I put them in touch about four years ago and they had re-established a fine friendship. One of the most interesting comments that a sad Lol made was regarding Charlie’s playing ability. He pointed out that unusually for a defender of that era, he wasn’t a great tackler but did have exceptional passing ability and was renowned for his runs into the opponent’s half of the pitch. Lol described how Charlie would advance over the halfway line and be looking for centre-forward Ted Roberts. He could deliver an excellent cross and would invariably find Ted with his deep crosses.
Graham Williams sent me an email recently reminding me that former City player Martin Jol is enjoying a successful first season as manager at Ajax Amsterdam. The British papers have concentrated on Steve McClaren’s rehabilitation at FC Twente but Jol has rebuilt his own career after being treated shabbily at Tottenham. With one league game remaining Ajax are a point behind Twente and any slip by McClaren’s team next weekend will hand the title to Ajax. Jol’s team are also in the Dutch Cup Final and will face Feyenoord in the first ever two-legged final. The games, with the first leg in Amsterdam tomorrow and the second in Rotterdam on 6 May, will be attended by home fans only in an effort to avoid crowd trouble.
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