Jim's column 11.2.12

                                        Coventry City v West Ham, 9.2.1952

This week marked the 60^th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne on the death of her father, King George VI. The king died on 6 February 1952 and three days later before the start of City’s home Second Division game against West Ham United there was a minute’s silence for the late king (see picture). On a very cold day City lost 1-2 and remained at the foot of the table. It was a season not dissimilar to this one with City in the relegation zone for most of the season and eventually relegated on the last day of the season.

Conor Thomas has had an amazing year by any standards. Just over a year ago, weeks after making his first team debut as a 17-year old, he was recognised as an outstanding talent by Liverpool and had an exciting spell at Anfield training with some of the Premier League's top players. This season he has been involved with the first team from the off and has been a virtual automatic choice in midfield all season.

At Blackpool last week he scored his first senior goal and although he was injured and missed last week's game against Ipswich there was reason for celebration in the Thomas household. Conor, aged 18 years and 94 days, became the fifth youngest Coventry City scorer of all time. Some outstanding Coventry City players failed to net their first goal before Conor including Garry Thompson, Peter Ndlovu and Bobby Gould, all of whom were in the first team at a tender age. The four younger scorers were as follows:

1.   Brian Hill.   v Gillingham. 1958. Aged 16 years 273 days

2.   Colin Holder v Shrewsbury 1961.  Aged 17 years 78 days

3.   Tommy English v Bristol City 1979. Aged 17 years 308 days

4.   Willie Carr v  Charlton 1968. Aged 18 years 21 days

Brian Hill scored his first goal on his debut and is still the youngest ever player to start a City game. He went on to have a long and successful career at the club, playing in five divisions of the Football League (Divisions 1,2,3,4 and Division 3 south) and played his final game for the Sky Blues in December 1970, 12 years after his debut.

Colin Holder had a very brief career for the club, making just nine appearances and scoring four goals. He was released soon after Jimmy Hill arrived at the club and moved into non-league circles. 

Tommy English burst on to the first team scene in 1979, as a replacement for the injured Ian Wallace and scored on his home debut. He scored 22 goals in 76 appearances before joining Leicester City in 1982. 

Willie Carr needs little introduction as he is a true legend of the club. He made his debut as a 17-year old substitute at Highbury in 1967 and notched his first goal in an FA Cup tie with Charlton a few months later.

Talking of record breakers I have to mention the old as well as the young and City’s new signing Herman Hreidarsson certainly fits into the latter category. His debut in the Middlesbrough home game last month made him the fifth oldest Coventry City debutant. He’s not quite as old as Dennis Wise was when he made his bow exactly six years previously in 2006 but if he could half the impact that Wise had then City may be able to avoid the drop. The ten oldest debutants are as follows:-

1	Dennis Wise	21 January 2006	Derby Co. (h)	39 years 37 days
2	Gordon Strachan	15 April 1995	Sheffield Wed (h)	38 years 64 days
3	Jim Sanders	23 August 1958	Darlington (h)	38 years 28 days
4	Steve Walsh	24 August 2002	Crystal Palace (h)	37 years 263 days
5	Hermann Hreidarsson	21 January 2012	Middlesbrough (h)	37 years 197 days
6	Vicente Engonga	15 February 2003	Rotherham (a)	37 years 179 days
7	Andy Goram	29 September 2001	Gillingham (a)	37 years 169 days
8	Arjen De Zeeuw	15 September 2007	Bristol City (h)	37 years 153 days
9	Danny Shone	5 January 1929	Brighton (h)	36 years 253 days
10	Danny Shea	25 August 1923	Barnsley (h)	35 years 292 days

Jim's column 4.2.12

                                                              John Craven

As I sat listening to BBC CWR's commentary from Bloomfield Road, Blackpool on Tuesday night I, like City fans all around the world, was wondering if this season's away hoodoo was on the verge of being ended. Leading for twenty five nail-biting minutes through Conor Thomas' first senior goal, three points and the first away victory looked more than possible. Then, like at Crystal Palace and at home to Burnley, the opponents did a smash and grab raid to send Andy Thorn and his men back down the M6 pointless and I presume utterly depressed. That scourge of City, Kevin Phillips, came on as a substitute (what a luxury Ian Holloway has) and along with other subs Bednar and Fleck, grabbed a victory out of the jaws of defeat. Someone pointed out that City have dropped five points to Blackpool in the dying minutes this season after their very late equaliser at the Ricoh earlier in the campaign.

In context it was not an unexpected defeat, Blackpool, fresh out of the Premier League have a bigger budget than the Sky Blues and a much bigger squad - comparison of the two benches on the night confirms this - and the Tangerines will be paying players like Phillips, Bednar and Barry Ferguson will not be on low wages. As usual though the loss is depressing because we were leading with 87 minutes on the clock. Bloomfield Road remains a graveyard for City where they have failed to win since their solitary victory in 1923 and gained a solitary point in Eleven other league trips. I remember following City there twice in the 1970-71 season, the only year that the clubs were both in the top flight at the same time. Despite having Tommy Hutchison and another future City player, the abrasive late John Craven, Blackpool were one of the poorest sides in the top division in City's 34-year stay there. However they easily beat City 3-1 in a pre-season friendly and won the league game in December, 1-0 with Craven scoring. If I remember correctly the Seasiders won only one more game all season. Defeat for the Sky Blues in 1970 was almost a depressing as Tuesday night but back then at least the team were comfortably in mid-table.

Jim's column 28.1.12

As of today Coventry City's away form is the worst in the whole Football League including the Premiership. They are the only one of the 92 teams not to have won on their travels this season and with the precarious position the club are in it is a situation that has to change for the Sky Blues to have any chance of avoiding relegation to League One.

Kevin Halls raised the point in an email this week, asking what is City's worst season for away form and whether they have gone a whole season without a win on the road. It has only happened once since City joined the Football League in 1919 and you don't have to go back very far - in 1999-2000 CiTy failed to win away in the Premiership and even lost at already doomed Watford on the final day. Ironically this was the season that the team, which included Gary McAllister, Robbie Keane and the Moroccans, Hadji and Chippo, and we're dubbed the entertainers for their excellent home displays and results. Their away record that season was w0 d5 L12 and this was the only season since the club joined the League in 1919 when they have failed to win a single away game. City were the only league side to fail to win away that season and only the second Premiership side to draw a blank on the road (Leeds were the first in 1992-93).

Their have been four occasions when they have won just once on the road.

1924-25.     W1. D3. L17
1931-32.     W1. D6. L14
1967-68.     W1. D10 L10
1990-91.     W1. D5. L13

To put those stats in context, 1924-25 was the season City were relegated from Division Two and the only win didn't come until April when they won 2-1 at Clapton Orient. 1931-32 was the season that Clarrie Bourton set the league and club scoring record of 49 league goals but despite his prowess in front of goal City managed just one win, at Gillingham (3-1) in October. 1967-68 was City's first season in the top flight and the solitary away win didn't arrive until the first weekend in February when an Ernie Hannigan goal earned a single goal victory at the Hawthorns. City were bottom at the time but the win sparked a run of four successive home wins that proved decisive in the successful relegation battle (maybe there is an omen there). 1990-91 was the season that John Sillett was replaced by Terry Butcher. City's only away victory came in October, just before John's untimely exit, at Bramall Lane, 1-0 thanks to a Brian Borrows penalty.

To summarise then, the worst season for away form was 1999-2000 with no wins but things were worse than today in 1924-25 and 1967-68 when the first wins didn't arrive until April and February respectively.

Saturday's victory made it three home league wins in a row for the first time for almost two years. In February 2010 Chris Coleman's team notched wins over Nottm Forest (1-0), QPR (1-0) and Scunthorpe (2-1) to briefly suggest they may make the play-offs only to dash the fans' hopes by failing to win any of the next 11 games. To find the last time a City team won four home league games in a row you have to go back to 2006-07 when Iain Dowie's arrival sparked four successive home victories. To repeat my comment about away form, promotion form at home is essential to avoid the drop.

Finally the Sky Blues managed three goals in a game for the first time this season and the first since the away win at Portsmouth last April. You have to go back to October 2010 for the last instance at home when they defeated Barnsley 3-0. Barnsley are due at the Ricoh next month and we have to hope that the Sky Blues can continue their excellent home record against the Tykes who haven't won in Coventry in 23 visits since 1924 and have lost eight of their last nine here.

Jim's column 21.1.12

Jamie Scott was in touch recently seeking some information about his great grandfather, George Anthony Davison who he believed played for Coventry City in the years preceding World War One. Jamie did have information on his relative’s First World War career though.

With the help of fellow City historians Martin and Paul O’Connor and Stephen Byrne I was able to give Jamie some details about his great-grandfather. According to the birth, deaths and marriages information there was a George Alexander Davison born in 1890 in Tynemouth, near Newcastle. If this is him (which seems more than probable), it would suggest that the entry in the 1891 census is also him: aged one, living at 21 Stoney Row, Wallsend, with his parents William Albert Davison (37, carpenter, born London) and Mary Eleanor Davison (19, born Northumberland). I have asked the family if this tallies with their account, as it might clear up the confusion with the middle name.

Before joining Coventry City in the close season of 1913 Davison had played for  North East side Bedlington United, Watford and Blyth Spartans. He played just one season for City and made 38 appearances in their Southern League side, scoring 18 goals plus one FA Cup game (and one goal). He was leading scorer for the club that season but could not stop City being relegated to Southern League Division Two.

Apparently he had been a 'prolific' scorer for Blyth before his arrival at Highfield Road. In his penultimate game he scored a hat-trick against Watford.
In the summer of 1914 he joined Bristol Rovers and continued to score goals in Southern League Division One netting 20 goals in 57 games.

Jamie, who despite being born in the North East now lives in Coventry, takes up the story:

‘After moving to Bristol Rovers George joined the Durham Light Infantry and at some stage went to the Western Front, where he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme. He got caught by some shrapnel, which injured one of his legs, with worse damage being averted by a 1915 penny in his trousser pocket which deflected some of it. My mother still has the penny which is bent in half and has a hole plumb in the middle of it. This explains why he dropped out of professional football after the war but continued to play.

My granny told me a story of how, when she was a small child she was in the crowd at a match – she’s not sure if it was at Coventry or Bristol Rovers. She was in her mother’s arms and was waving  her arms about and knocked the hat off a man in front of her. The chap got nasty and George jumped into the crowd and chinned him. An early Cantona?

Interestingly, my father was an exceptional keeper and apparently got offered a contract by Tottenham when he was in the Royal Marines, but declined. He played in an inter-forces cup competition and claimed to concede only one goal, a penalty in the final, and got his nose popped by his captain for letting the side down. My oldest nephew  was a schoolboy with Forest, but now opens bat for Yorkshire CC and England Lions ( wearing Michael Vaughan's which he gave him when he retired as he grew up with their dad in Sheffield), and his younger brother has a place at the M.C.C. academy starting in the coming season. Joe and Billy Root. Keep an eye out for them. Unfortunately, it seems that the gene pool saved all the good ones up for the lads as I am the clumsiest, most dyspraxic unco-ordinated idiot you've ever met. There you go.’

After the war he must have moved back to the North East as he is recorded as playing for West Stanley FC, a now defunct club who played in the Northern League.

Jim's column 14.1.12

                                          Jim McInally on the day he signed for the Sky Blues

The honour of playing in the 1987 replica shirts did little to inspire the current Coventry City team to great heights and the club’s FA Cup run ended with a wimper almost before it had started. Since the club moved to the Ricoh Arena in 2005 City have won only four of the ten home FA cup ties, losing five of them, a pitiful record and a far cry from the excellent FA Cup record at Highfield Road. Between 1972 and 2005 the Sky Blues lost only four of 41 home ties in the competition. It is a similar story in the League Cup with two wins and three defeats since the move to Longford seven years ago. Years ago Birmingham City fans used to say St Andrews was cursed by a gypsy – I am beginning to wonder if the Ricoh is cursed because City seem incapable of beating all but the poorest sides there.

The Cup defeat at the hands of the Saints, the second of the season against a well-marshalled but hardly outstanding Championship side, means the Sky Blues have only reached the fifth round of the trophy twice in eleven seasons – a dreadful record when the club’s overall FA Cup history is considered. Over a hundred years ago the club carved out a giant-killing reputation by reaching the quarter-finals as a non-league side, beating two First Division clubs on the way, which was talked about in the city for years. Then in 1963 Jimmy Hill’s team sparked the Sky Blue Revolution by reaching the last eight as a Third Division club. Even under Iain Dowie and Chris Coleman the club pulled off shocks in the Cup competitions – frankly, it is hard to see the current side pulling off any shocks anywhere, whether in league or cup. One consequence of relegation this season would be City having to start their FA Cup campaign at the First Round stage for the first time since 1963-64. More potential banana skins for our beloved team!

Dean Nelson alerted me to two former City players plying their trade as managers in Scotland. Dean spotted former City defender Jim McInally as manager of Third Division Peterhead who faced Celtic in the Scottish Cup last week. City bought Jim from Nottingham Forest in 1986. He was one of three signings manager Don Mackay was allowed to make after the sale of Terry Gibson to Manchester United. The blond full-back played only five games in a City shirt and was never on the winning side. He is best remembered for scoring the best headed own goal I've ever seen in a 0-3 defeat at Arsenal. When John Sillett & George Curtis took over they managed to sell him and fellow Scot Dave Bowman to Dundee United, where they both had successful careers. Within a year Jim won the first of 10 Scottish caps and between 1986 and 1995 went on to play almost 300 games for Dundee United. Since retiring in 1999 Jim has been a coach at Celtic and manager at Irish club Sligo Rovers, Greenock Morton, East Stirling and since October Peterhead. Sadly his team failed to make an impression on the mighty Celtic and lost 0-3.

The other ex-City man managing north of the border is Colin Cameron. Former Scottish international Colin spent the 2006-07 season at the Ricoh after joining on a free transfer from Wolves but was released in 2007 whereupon he joined MK Dons. He returned to Scotland in 2008 and appeared for Dundee and Arbroath before joining Cowdenbeath as player/assistant manager in 2010. Last summer he was promoted to player-manager after Jimmy Nicholl left to join Kilmarnock and is doing a great job as Cowdenbeath are top of Division Two and have lost only twice all season. Despite being 39 years old, Colin has been a regular in the team and on 2 January scored his first goal of the season in the 4-0 thumping of East Fife. Last weekend his team gave Premier League Hibs a fright in the Cup before going down 2-3.

Jim's column 7.1.12

                                                 Lee Hurst, debutant at The Dell in 1991

It’s FA Cup Third Round day but sadly what was once one of the most exciting days in the domestic football calendar is now a mere shadow of its former self with so many clubs putting out weakened sides. The fans have got wise to it of course and gates at FA Cup ties this weekend will continue the downward trend see for the last 10-15 years. The decline in attendances is largely to do with the fact that clubs have such a large number of season ticket holders these days. Most clubs charge their season ticket holders extra for cup games and many supporters cannot afford £20 plus in the week after Christmas. City’s home gates in the competition in recent years bear this out. The big clubs may show little respect for the famous old competition but fans of lower division clubs will turn out in force when they get a smell of a Cup upset. Just last season only 8,000 turned out at the Ricoh for the Crystal Palace third round tie, less than half the crowd a week earlier when QPR were in town. But three weeks later over 5,000 City fans travelled to St Andrews for the fourth round tie. I read that Andy Morrell’s Wrexham are taking over 2,000 fans to Brighton for their big day out. Similarly I would expect Salisbury City, Tamworth and Stevenage to have the biggest away followings in their history for plum ties at Sheffield United, Everton and Reading respectively. The romance of the FA Cup lives on!

Today’s gate against Southampton will be affected by the Save Our City-organised protest but unless there is a sizeable following from the South Coast I wouldn’t expect the crowd to be much higher than last season’s Palace gate.

City and the Saints have been drawn against each other three times previously in the competition and Saints have the edge having progressed twice to City’s once. It is exactly 100 years ago that City won the first FA Cup encounter, 2-0 at the Dell. ‘Boxer’ Turnbull and Harry Parkes scored the goals in front of a 12,500 crowd. City, who had a reputation as giantkilling in those days, by virtue of their famous 1910 Cup run, were rewarded with a plum home tie with First Division Manchester United but in front of a 17,000 Highfield Road crowd were thumped 5-1.

The second encounter with the Saints came in the first round in 1959 when the clubs were vying with each other for promotion from Division Three. City failed to capitalise on home advantage and were held 1-1 and got a 5-1 hammering in the replay at the Dell. It was a similar story on the last occasion the clubs were drawn against each other, in the fourth round in 1991. An Alan Shearer penalty cancelled out a Brian Kilcline goal in a 1-1 draw at Highfield Road and an injury-hit Sky Blues travelled to the Dell more in hope than conviction. Missing key players Trevor Peake, Paul Edwards, David Speedie and Kevin Gallacher, they were further hampered by an early injury to Steve Ogrizovic. Goals from Jimmy Case and Rod Wallace sent Saints through to round five but City were lucky to get away with only a two-goal defeat. One City youngster, midfielder Lee Hurst, made his debut as a substitute that night, coming on to play out of position at left back.

The defeat at West Ham made it 14 away league games without a victory for the Sky Blues and some readers wondered if a record was getting close. The club record is 28 away games without a win set over two seasons between January 1924 and April 1925. The latter season, 1924-25, saw City relegated from Division Two – hope that’s not an omen. The post-war record is 25 set between November 1954 and December 1955, whilst the worst run since relegation from the Premiership was 16 between March and December 2005 when Micky Adams was in charge.

Jim's column 31.12.11

                                                        The donkey-kick outlawed in 1971.

Andy Thorn’s Sky Blues finally came good on Monday with a heart-warming Christmas victory over Bristol City thanks to Gary Deegan’s second half goal. Today sees the final game in what has been the most miserable year in the club’s Football League history. Monday’s victory was only the seventh League victory of the year and another win is required over Brighton today if we are to avoid the club record low for a year. A win would take the points total for the year to 40. In 2003 Gary McAllister’s team managed eight wins from 46 games and accumulated 42 points.

Before City were relegated from the Premier League in 2001 they had an outstanding Christmas home record. In the 48 years between 1953 and 2001 only five sides lowered City’s colours at Highfield Road in games played between Christmas Eve and New Years Day. In that time City played almost forty games. The victors were:

1979-80            Nottm Forest  0-3

1981-82            West Brom    0-2

1984-85            West Ham     1-2

1985-86            Ipswich            0-1

1994-95            Tottenham        0-4

No visiting side won at the famous old ground between 1953 and 1979 and there were some memorable Christmas games including the 5-4 over Norwich in 1977, the 3-2 wins over Manchester United (1997) and Arsenal (1999) and the famous 3-0 battering of Aston Villa in 1992.

Since 2001 however City’s excellent Christmas form has deserted them and of twelve home games in eleven seasons the Bristol win was only the fifth victory with five defeats and two draws.

The victory ended a terrible run of results, eleven games without a win. That run equalled the poor run at the end of the 2009-10 season which cost Chris Coleman his job but is not the worst in recent memory. In 2003 City went 16 games without a win straddling the 2002-03 season and the start of the following season.

Bemoaning City’s dreadful position George Ling emailed asking what the record lowest points total is in the Championship. I haven’t got all my record books to hand but can confirm that the lowest total since the division was increased to 24 clubs (and therefore 46 games) in the late 1980s, was 26 by Stockport County in 2001-02. By coincidence that season Stockport were the first club City met after being relegated from the Premiership – City won 2-0 at Edgeley Park. In 1983-84 Cambridge United finished bottom of the old Division Two with 24 points from 42 games.

Welsh club Bangor City’s historian Huw Pritchard was in touch with me recently after discovering a programme of a game between Bangor and the Sky Blues from 1971. He wanted information about the friendly game played on 17 May and I was able to furnish him with some details.

City lined up as follows: Eric McManus: Jimmy Holmes, Chris Cattlin, Ernie Machin, Bill Asprey, Brian Alderson, Ernie Hunt, Billy Rafferty, John O'Rourke, Willie Carr, Dennis Mortimer. Asprey, a former Stoke City defender, was City’s first team coach at the time.

Bangor, then a top non-league side playing in the Northern Premier league, strengthened their side by including several guests from the First Division. Manchester United’s Shay Brennan, Manchester City’s Tony Book, Liverpool’s Ron Yeats and former England captain Jimmy Armfield (Blackpool) evened up the teams and helped Bangor to a 4-2 victory. Their goals were scored by McGowan, Conde and Fleming (2) while Rafferty and O’Rourke replied in front of an estimated 5,000 crowd. According to match reports Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt attempted the donkey-kick, possibly for the last time in a public match before it was outlawed that summer.