JIM'S COLUMN 16.10.10

Arthur Lightening was a larger than life Coventry City goalkeeper between 1959-1962 who was a hero to many young City fans in that era. A couple of weeks ago I had an email from a lady called Elna Hosier asking for some information about Arthur’s whereabouts. Sadly I had to tell her that Arthur died over 10 years ago in his native South Africa.

Elna said that Arthur used to spend time at her house during summer vacations in the 1950s and I am trying to ascertain where Elna was living at the time. It may have been South Africa or possibly Coventry but I have asked Elna to elaborate a bit.

Arthur joined Coventry in 1959 from Nottingham Forest where he had been the regular goalkeeper for the reserve team. He played 160 games for City before joining Middlesborough early in the 1962-63 season when the Teeside club, a division higher than the Sky Blues at the time, paid a substantial fee for him.

With a surname of Lightening, Arthur was a dream for football headline writers and they had a field day after his debut for ‘Boro, a 6-1 defeat at Newcastle. “Lightening thunder struck," was the headline in the Daily Mirror the following morning.

Lightening made just 14 more Football League appearances for Boro, interrupted by a Quarter Sessions appearance for receiving stolen beer, wine and spirits at his room in the Royal Hotel, Redcar.
Though found guilty, he was given an absolute discharge after the judge described him as "honest, truthful and manly."
Lightening, the court heard, earned £25 a week with an extra fiver for first team appearance money.
In May 1963, he was given permission by the club to attend his brother’s wedding in South Africa, sailed off and never returned. "I though it strange that he only booked a single ticket," the travel agent told the Northern Echo's investigating reporter.

Arthur lived for many years in the Glenwood area of Durban and was closely involved with local side Stella F.C. Bob Weeks, famous for tracking down former City players communicated with Arthur up until his death and discovered that Arthur lost a number of toes on his left foot as a result of a boating accident. He did tell Bob that he always looked for City’s results and had fond memories of his time at Highfield Road.

Planning for next weekend’s 40th anniversary reunion of the Coventry City team that qualified for and played in European competition is well advanced. Around 12-13 former players are expected to attend the Barnsley home game for an event organised by the Former Players Association. Amongst those expected to attend are Willie Carr, Bill Glazier, Ernie Hannigan, Mick Coop, Chris Cattlin, Jeff Blockley, Ian Gibson, Dennis Mortimer, Ernie Machin, Trevor Gould and Ian Goodwin. Neil Martin sadly can’t be with us, he has just had a hip operation and not fit to travel down from Scotland. Nor can new FPA member Brian Joicey. Brian, who would have loved to meet his old colleagues as well as see two of his former teams play (he played for Barnsley after leaving City), cannot get time off work. John O’Rourke and Ernie Hunt are also possibles to attend. Whilst the former players will be entertained in the corporate areas at the game there will be an opportunity for fans to mingle with their former heroes after the game at the G-Casino and all are welcome to attend. A good day is in store!

Jim's column 9.10.10

With a break from league action this weekend I thought I would catch up with a few questions I have received from readers over the last few weeks.

Roger Maddison has been watching the Sky Blues for 46 years and remembers a game between City and the Japan National XI at Highfield Road. Unfortunately none of his friends can remember it and he is questioning his own memory. City did play Japan in a pre-season friendly on 14 August 1978 and won 2-0 with goals from Terry Yorath and Mick Ferguson. A crowd of 5,232 and City’s line up was as follows:

Sealey: Osgood, McDonald, Yorath, Holton, Gillespie, Nardiello,

Wallace, Ferguson, Powell, Hutchison


Natalie Jones recalls a match at Highfield Road in which Spurs were the visitors and had to play in Coventry’s change strip. The game in question was on 27 December 1986 and the story goes that Spurs didn’t realise they would need to change their normal kit as there seemed to be no clash with the Sky Blues blue and white striped shirts and white shorts. In fact Spurs rarely changed their kit at Highfield Road prior to this incident. The referee disagreed and made Spurs wear City’s change kit of yellow shirts with their normal navy blue shorts with the shirts displaying City’s sponsors Granada on the shirts. City won a thrilling game 4-3 with Cyrille Regis netting the winning goal in the dying seconds. Strangely when the clubs met later that season in the FA Cup final at Wembley Spurs wore their normal white shirts with white shorts whilst City wore their normal shirts but with navy blue shorts. However there was more controversey with Spurs’ kit in the final as several players played with shirts without the name of the team’s lager-making sponsors Holsten.

Dave Terry asked me to confirm that Coventry City are the only club to have played in seven different English divisions. The fact is correct Dave, City have played in Divisions 1-4 plus Division Three North and South plus, of course the Premier League. City only spent one season in Division Four (1958-59) and one season in Division Three North (1925-26). The latter season was because of an imbalance of Northern teams in Division Three North (City were the most southerly of the 22 sides) but the following season they were switched to Division Three South. A number of clubs have appeared in six different divisions including Hull City, Grimsby, Watford and Crystal Palace.

It is only two weeks to go before the 40th anniversary reunion of the Coventry City team that played in Europe organised by the Former Players Association. The latest former City player to indicate his attendance is Brian Joicey who just last week joined the FPA after being tracked down in Sheffield where he has lived since playing for Sheffield Wednesday in the early 1970s. Brian scored one of City’s goals in the 2-0 home win over Trakia Plovdiv in the first round second leg game at Highfield Road and is looking forward to meeting up with some of his old teammates from City on 23 October. Just a reminder that any fans who travelled to watch City in Bulgaria forty years ago should contact me as they will invited to attend the celebrations.

Jim's column 2.10.10

What a mixed week for the Sky Blues. Saturday’s 1-2 defeat to Preston was a travesty after all the pressure exerted on the visitors’ goal but then on Tuesday night Doncaster went home rightly aggrieved that they had not won a game they dominated for long periods.

Donny’s boss Sean O’Driscoll has built an excellent side capable of playing lovely passing football and in John Oster he had the man of the match. Oster covered every blade of grass, made Billy Sharp’s goal with a delicious through-ball and showed why back in the 1990s he was a £1.5 million player. In the last 10 years John has played for nine different clubs and rarely spent more than one season in the same club.

Gary McSheffrey scored City’s winning goal with a superb diving header – the first of his second spell at the club. This was the 54th senior goal for the club and he is now 15th in the all-time leading scorers chart, with only Mick Ferguson (58), George Lowrie (59), Ian Wallace (60), Cyrille Regis (62), Jock Lauderdale (65) standing in the way of his entry to the all-time top ten.

Championship pacemakers QPR’s first goalless game (a 0-0 draw with Millwall) means that City are the only side in the division to score in every league game this season. This is City’s best start to a season in this respect since 1954-55 when Jack Fairbrother’s team scored in every one of its first eleven games. The club record was set in 1932-33 when with Clarrie Bourton in his pomp the Bantams netted in the first 16 games with Bourton netting 13 of the team’s 37 goals.

Coventry City have long had a reputation for having good cricketers on their books with a number being good enough to play county cricket including Don Bennett (Middlesex), Freddie Gardner (Warwickshire), Charlie Elliott (Derbyshire), John Mitten and Jack Lee (Leicestershire), Patsy Hendren (Middlesex & England) not to mention legendary manager Harry Storer who played cricket for Derbyshire. I didn’t realise till this week that there is a new entrant in this exclusive club. In August former City goalkeeper Gary Montgomery made his county cricket debut for Lancashire, a year following a switch in codes after being released by Grimsby Town. In all he appeared in three Clydesdale 40 games for Lancashire.

Gary made his debut for the Sky Blues against Chelsea in a League Cup tie in 2001 and played a further eight league games the following season but was never on the winning side for the club and joined Rotherham in 2003. Leamington-born Gary, who is still only 28 years old, was the first boy from my old school, Warwick, to play for City and the first for many years to play county cricket.

Plans for the 40th anniversary of City’s 1970 European campaign on 23 October at the Barnsley home game are well advanced and after last week’s revelation that former Coventry MP, the late Bill Wilson, was on that first trip to Bulgaria, two of his fellow travellers have been in touch with me. Rod Dean and Steve Pittam were among the 37 fans who travelled out to Bulgaria for the first leg of the first round European Fairs Cup tie with Trakia Plovdiv. The Former Players Association would welcome any of that select band who are still around to join the celebrations in the Casino after the game on the 23 October and meet City’s players from 1970 and Plovdiv legend Dinko Dermendjiev. If you were on that long trip to Plovdiv please contact me.

JIM'S COLUMN 25.9.10

Last Saturday’s 2-1 win at Ashton Gate was a welcome result after three games without a victory and, as has been widely reported, was City’s first league victory at Ashton Gate since 1963. Having said that, City have only played nine league games there in the intervening period, and have drawn four of those nine. In addition there have been three cup ties at Ashton Gate resulting in two draws and one win - a Mick Ferguson goal in 1976 gave the Sky Blues a victory in a League Cup tie.

Back in 1963 it was a solitary Ken Hale goal that earned the points in an evening game and took City four points clear at the top of Division Three. Ken’s goal, after only four minutes, was a shot that deflected of a defender’s leg and flew over Mike Gibson the Bristol keeper. Gibson had a much busier night than his opposite number Bob Wesson, who had little to do on his 23rd birthday.

I have said before that if City are going to be serious challengers for a top six place then a number of their bogey grounds will have to be more productive. City have failed at Millwall and Swansea but the win at Ashton Gate gives City fans some hope that other bogeys, such as Leicester, Cardiff and Preston may be exorcised.

This month is the 40th anniversary of City’s first ever European cup tie. In September 1970 City travelled to deepest Bulgaria to face Trakia Plovdiv in the first leg of their first round European Fairs Cup tie with Trakia Plovdiv. City won the away leg 4-1 with a hat-trick from John O’Rourke and a Neil Martin goal and then beat the Bulgarians 2-0 in the second leg with goals from Brian Joicey and Jeff Blockley.

The Former Players Association are planning a reunion of the 1970 City squad at the home game with Barnsley at the end of October and have organised for Trakia’s star player of 1970, Dinko Dermendjiev, to travel to Coventry for the reunion. With the sponsorship of Jason Dickens of The Jade Studio, the graphic designers, Dinko and an interpreter will be flying in from Bulgaria to attend the match and meet City’s players from 1970.

40 years ago a small band of around 50 City supporters travelled out with the team to Bulgaria and one of them, Rod Dean, informs me that another of the group was Bill Wilson, MP for Coventry South at the time. Rod also told me that Bill had passed away last month aged 97, a fact that had passed me by. Bill was not only an avid City supporter having been born and bred in the city, but also an outspoken shareholder whose objectivity would have been useful in the club’s boardroom at some periods over the last 50 years. Unlike other MPs who have jumped on the football bandwagon since the game attracted large amounts of money in the Premier League era, Bill had followed City’s fortunes since the 1920s and could wax lyrically about the golden era of the 1930s.

JIM'S COLUMN 18.9.10

There is an interesting match in the Conference Premier today when the Holdsworth brothers, David and Dean, become the first ever twins to face each other as managers. David is manager of Mansfield Town who travel to South Wales to face Newport County, managed by former City player Dean.

Dean, a striker in his playing days, had a brief spell at Coventry City in 2002-03 season making 17 league appearances and three cup appearances but managing just one goal in arguably City’s worst side of the last forty years. His sole goal however was a stunning curling shot against Cardiff in an FA Cup replay, City’s only home victory between Boxing Day and the end of the season in a slump that almost resulted in relegation. In March 2003 with City’s bankers on the doorstep demanding cost reductions Dean was released and joined Rushden & Diamonds.

Prior to joining the Sky Blues Dean had had a good career after starting as an apprentice at Graham Taylor’s Watford in the mid-1980s. In 1986, along with goalkeeper David James, Tim Sherwood and his twin David, he was part of an outstanding Watford youth team beaten in the FA Youth Cup by an even better City youth team who went on to reach the semi final, a year before they lifted the trophy. His first team chances were limited at Watford however and he went down the leagues to join Brentford where he was a success.

Dean had five years at Wimbledon followed by a similar period at Bolton and scored a good amount of goals for both clubs and after his spell at City he played for MK Dons, one of the few players to appear for the two Dons’ clubs. Later he became chairman of the PFA and has been boss at Newport since 2007. Last season he led his club to the championship of the Conference South with a record 103 points.

Unlike Dean, David, a central defender, did make the grade at Watford and made over 250 appearances for the Hornets between 1986-96 before shorter spells at Sheffield United and Birmingham City. He played his part in the Sky Blues history when in 1998 he scored the very late equaliser for the Blades in the FA Cup sixth round replay at Bramall Lane. The goal took the game to extra-time and ultimately a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out which ended City’s hopes of a semi-final appearance that their performances that spring probably deserved.

David managed Ilkeston Town prior to arriving at Mansfield’s Field Mill in 2008 and his team have made a good start in their third season in the Conference. I will be looking out for the result of this unique game with interest.

There have been a lot of negative comments from City supporters since last weekend and I find it hard to join the chorus of criticism. City have picked up just one point from their last three league games, a home draw sandwiched by away defeats at Millwall and Swansea. Let’s put those results in context. Millwall are unbeaten at home in over 20 games stretching back to last November and are always difficult to beat on their own patch. When Carl Baker was sent off City were holding their own at 1-1 and with 11 men would have got a result. Swansea too are a hard nut on their own ground, losing only three games at the Liberty Stadium in the whole of last season. After a woeful first half City had chances to level the game with a much improved second half performance. The Leicester performance was dire but in mitigation it was a local derby and they are rarely thrillers. Paolo Sousa has got Leicester playing the passing game and they keep possession well making it hard for opponents to get the ball and play themselves. For all the visitor’s possession however City defended well (something they often failed to do last year) and got a valuable point. Leicester showed that the early form was deceptive with a good victory over Cardiff in midweek. Some fans are saying that we are worse off than last season but after six league games last season we had lost our home record (to Swansea) and got a terrible thumping at Blackpool. I think City fans should be patient and judge progress when the season is more advanced than now.

JIM'S COLUMN 11.9.10

Today is the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 disaster in New York when over 3,000 people lost their lives when terrorists flew airplanes into the Twin Towers in Manhattan.

Geoff Wakelin tells me he is giving away his sister-in-law at her wedding today. He and the groom are both ardent City fans - Geoff watched my first City game 53 years ago when Ray Straw scored the winning goal – but he doesn’t say which game!

He was preparing his speech for the wedding reception and wanted to know whether City have ever played and won in any year on September 11th.

They have played 18 league games on that fateful day plus two League Cup ties, one of which, at Peterborough, was on the evening of the awful events in 2001. I remember that night very well – everyone was numb from watching the tragedy unfold in Manhattan on television and the game seemed very insignificant after the goings-on across the Atlantic. Gordon Strachan had been sacked two days earlier and Roland Nilsson and Richard Money were in charge of a City team desperate for a result for the new management team. The game sparked into life in the last two minutes of the ninety minutes when first Magnus Hedman punched a corner into his own net to make it 2-1 to Posh, then with 10 seconds left on the clock Lee Carsley hit a right-foot drive from just inside the penalty area to level the scores and take the tie to extra time. There were no further goals in the extra thirty minutes and the game went to a penalty shoot-out. City won the shoot-out 4-2 but not before Hedman crowned a miserable night by failing to score City’s fourth penalty to clinch the tie. His weak shot straight into the goalkeeper’s hands meant Lee Carsley had to send the Posh keeper the wrong way to secure the victory.

Looking at the list of previous games on this day, it is 34 years since City last won on 11 September. They beat Norwich 2-0 with goals from Mick Ferguson (his fourth in four games) and a Duncan Forbes own-goal. A disappointing game was watched by only 12,948, City’s smallest home gate for over 10 years.

A more memorable game was in 1999 when a strong Leeds side came from behind twice to win 4-3 at Highfield Road. Proving what famous football writer Brian Glanville calls the immutable law of the ex, Gary McAllister scored a penalty for City against his former club before Darren Huckerby netted for Leeds. Huckerby had left City just weeks earlier for £6m but would be a flop at Elland Road scoring just two goals in 40 appearances. John Aloisi and Youssef Chippo were City’s other scorers whilst Lee Bowyer, Ian Harte (penalty) and Michael Bridges netted for Leeds.

Sep 11 1919 h Leeds C L 0-4 1919-20 League
Sep 11 1920 a Blackpool L 0-4 1920-21 League
Sep 11 1926 h Charlton Ath W 1-0 1926-27 League
Sep 11 1937 a Bury W 2-0 1937-38 League
Sep 11 1946 a Newcastle U L 1-3 1946-47 League
Sep 11 1948 h Bradford PA W 2-0 1948-49 League
Sep 11 1950 h Birmingham W 3-1 1950-51 League
Sep 11 1952 a Northampton L 1-3 1952-53 League
Sep 11 1954 a Torquay U W 2-1 1954-55 League
Sep 11 1962 a Watford L 1-6 1962-63 League
Sep 11 1965 a Bristol City D 1-1 1965-66 League
Sep 11 1971 h Nottm Forest D 1-1 1971-72 League
Sep 11 1973 h Man. City W 2-1 1973-74 League
Sep 11 1976 h Norwich C W 2-0 1976-77 League
Sep 11 1982 h Arsenal L 0-2 1982-83 League
Sep 11 1993 a Aston Villa D 0-0 1993-94 League
Sep 11 1999 h Leeds U L 3-4 1999-00 League
Sep 11 2001 a Peterborough W 2-2* 2001-02 League Cup
Sep 11 2002 h Colchester U W 3-0 2002-03 League Cup
Sep 11 2004 a Leeds U L 0-3 2004-05 League

* City won 4-2 on penalties, after extra time.

JIM'S COLUMN 4.9.10

After City’s defeat at the New Den last week manager Aidy Boothroyd described City as ‘soft’ and any fan knows that soft sides do not get results at Millwall. The defeat means it is 55 years since City’s last victory in Docklands – 15 league and cup games. Most City fans know what Aidy means and have watched too many ‘soft’ capitulations by the Sky Blues over recent seasons. If City want to be serious promotion contenders they will have to toughen up and grind out results at places like Millwall. The last Coventry City team to win promotion, Jimmy Hill’s 1967 team, were past masters at picking up points when playing poorly. Mind you the 1967 team failed to win at Millwall, losing an early season game 1-0.

Last week I commented on the small crowd at the Ricoh Arena for the home game with Derby County – the smallest crowd to watch a City home game since 2005 – and last Saturday I noted the dip in attendances across the Championship as a whole.

Of the 12 games played last weekend only two were watched by a crowd higher than last season’s average crowd. At Millwall just over 11,000 watched City’s defeat compared to last season’s average of 10,834 and at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium a similar crowd watched the Yorkshire derby with Hull City. All other 10 games were watched by smaller than last season’s average crowds including Sheffield United 19,000 (last season’s average 25,000), Derby 25,000 (29,000) and Leicester 19,000 (24,000). Whilst all three of the clubs above have had mediocre starts to the season I know that they all have less season ticket holders than last campaign. In addition the gates at Ipswich, Forest, Scunthorpe and Swansea confirm the downward trend in this league.

So Coventry City are not the only club affected by falling attendances and I suspect it is a result of the economic situation the country finds itself in combined with England’s poor showing in this summer’s World Cup.

Dean Nelson sent me a picture of an old programme (see image) recently asking if I could provide more information about it. In February/March 1989 the Bermuda Football Association invited the Sky Blues and Middlesbrough to their island for a series of friendly games. City were lying in fourth place in the old First Division when they left the cold English winter for a warm break in the sun, one place behind Millwall where they had lost 1-0 the previous Saturday. The opening game saw City facing Boulevard Community Club, a team of Rastafarian amateurs who were one of Bermuda’s top club sides. Goals from Gary Bannister, Dean Emerson, Cyrille Regis and Dave Bennett gave City a 4-0 victory. City ended their brief sojourn on the sunny Atlantic island with a 2-1 victory over ‘Boro with goals from Regis and a late winner from substitute Howard Clark. City’s players described the rock hard pitch at the PHC Stadium where all the games were played, as ‘disgraceful’. Manager John Sillett was a little more diplomatic, calling it ‘a little bumpy’.