Jim's column 8.4.2023

The Sky Blues nine-match unbeaten run came a shuddering halt last Saturday against an impressive Stoke City team. The run which had taken the team to the verge of the play-off zone, consisted of five wins (three of them away) and four draws. It's the best unbeaten league run since the 2019-20 League One title-winning campaign when the Sky Blues were unbeaten in 14 games at the point the season was suspended because of the lockdown. That run was the best since 1967 when Jimmy Hill's side went 25 league games without defeat on their way to lifting the old Second Division title.

The size of the defeat was worrying – the worst home defeat since Blackburn won by the same scoreline at St Andrews early in the 2020-21 season and the heaviest at the CBS Arena since Yeovil won there 6-2 almost five years ago to the day. City and Yeovil's fortunes have diverged incredibly since that game on Easter Monday 2018. Yeovil failed to win any of their last eight games whilst it was a wake-up call for Coventry and they were promoted via the play-offs. The following season Yeovil were relegated from League Two and currently stand 21^st in the National League, five points away from safety and look likely to be relegated to National League South. In April 2018 there were 10 places between the clubs now there are 85.

The result did little to spoil Legends Day which took place for the 15^th time. Everyone who attended had a great time and although we had two former players pull out on the morning due to Covid there was an excellent turn out. We have lost a good number of the older CCFPA members in the last three years and it is heartening to see the younger generation coming more to the fore including Max Biamou, Reda Johnson and Gary McSheffrey. 1980s goal machine Terry Gibson came for the first time and made a big impression on supporters. There are many pictures of a great day at www.ccfpa.co.uk

Saturday's attendance of 23,625 was the largest home gate of the season and took the season's average to 19,675 which is a small increase on last season's final average. With home games against Watford and Birmingham still to come I'm sure the final figure will surpass last season's average attendance.

I've just discovered that former Coventry City coach Colin Dobson passed away, aged 82, in February. Colin, who hailed from Teeside, joined Sheffield Wednesday from school and made almost 200 games for the Owls between 1961-66. An inside-forward, the equivalent of the number 10 in the modern game, Colin scored 53 goals and won two England under 23 caps whilst at Hillsborough.

                                            Colin Dobson in the early 1990s

Despite being a virtual ever present in the 1965-66 season he was omitted from Wednesday's team for the FA Cup final which they lost 3-2 to Everton. This may have been behind his move to Huddersfield that summer and he went on to play 175 games for the Terriers, helping them to win promotion to the First Division in 1970. He came up against the Sky Blues in 1966-67 and scored Town's first goal in the 3-1 defeat of City at Leeds Road in November 1966 – City's last defeat that season as they powered to the Second Division title.

After leaving Huddersfield in 1971 Colin moved to Bristol Rovers and helped them win promotion from Division Three in 1974 before hanging up his boots in 1976. He joined Coventry City as youth team coach in 1977 and had five successful years aiding in the development of some outstanding youngsters including Mark Hateley, Danny Thomas and Tom English. Colin worked under managers Gordon Milne and Dave Sexton and was promoted to first team coach under Sexton but left in 1983. John Sillett brought him back to work with the youths again in 1990 but he left in 1992. Peter Hormantschuk remembers him as 'a great coach and a true gentleman'.

His coaching career took him to the Middle East where he worked in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman as well as youth coach at Sporting Lisbon, Port Vale and Aston Villa. In later years he turned to scouting with Stoke City, where he was credited for discovering Ben Foster, and Watford.

Jim's column 1.4.23

It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City centre-half Tony Knapp at the age of 86. In 1967 Tony had the onerous task of replacing City legend George Curtis after the iconic club captain had suffered a broken leg at Nottingham Forest in the club's second game in the top flight. Manager Jimmy Hill moved quickly to find an emergency replacement and signed Tony from Southampton for £25,000 in time to make his debut in City's first home game in Division 1 against Sheffield United. His Highfield Road career lasted only 12 games until Noel Cantwell, Hill's replacement as manager, arrived and quickly recognised Maurice Setters as Curtis's medium term replacement.

Tony's debut was a 2-2 draw with Sheffield United and his last game was against Sunderland and ended with the same score. After losing his first team place he played 11 games for the reserves and in his final appearance lined up alongside Curtis as the skipper began his come-back from injury. It was a difficult time for the Sky Blues as they struggled to find their feet after promotion and injuries to key men Ian Gibson and Bobby Gould as well as Curtis didn't help the cause. There were 4-0 defeats at Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United and Tony struggled to hold the weakened team together. On top of this Hill was keen for a replacement to be appointed and maybe not fully focused on the issues.

Fellow defender Dietmar Bruck remembers Tony with affection: “George's injury was a big blow to us, it was like a death in the family. Tony came in and gave us some stability with his experience and cool defending. He was a lovely fellow but after Noel arrived he signed his former United mate Maurice Setters'.

Tony was born in Newstead a mining community in Nottinghamshire and was spotted as a 17-year-old by Leicester City playing for the local colliery team. He made great strides at Filbert Street and made his first team debut in a Second Division game at Stoke in February 1956 but was unable to cement a regular place until 1959 by which time Leicester were in the First Division. He was unfortunate to to find himself involved in a straight fight for the number 5 shirt with the equally proficient Ian King, and eventually to lose out after injury handed his rival the upper hand during the 1960-61 campaign. Already having represented the Football League against the Scottish League in march 1960, Tony found himself in a 14-man England squad early the next season when he couldn't even win back his place in Leicester's first team, and the term 'travelling reserve' for the national side took on a bleak irony for him. As King held down the pivotal role for Leicester's run to the 1961 FA Cup final, Tony turned down a £30,000 move to Chelsea, and then spent the summer weighing the relative options of bids from Liverpool and Southampton, joining the latter for a Saints' club record fee of £27,500. I all he made 92 appearances for Leicester.

Tony spent six seasons at the Dell and was a member of a team renowned for exciting attacking football under manager Ted Bates. Tony brought an elegance and class not often seen in his position and missed only a handful of games in that time. He was a key player in the club's 1963 FA Cup run where they reached the semi-final only to lose narrowly to Manchester United, victors over Coventry in the quarter-final. The team finished fifth in Division Two in 1963-64 and fourth the following campaign before, under Tony's captaincy, winning promotion in 1965-66, pipping the Sky Blues at the post. The Saints had reached the top flight for the first time. 

Dietmar remembers facing Tony's Southampton team that season: 'We beat them 5-1 at Highfield Road early in the season. I scored a screamer from 25 yards but George Hudson got all the headlines when he scored his famous goal. It was Tony that he bamboozled with his cheeky flick before heading the goal'.

Thanks to Ron Davies's 37 goals Southampton survived in the First Division but they had conceded 92 goals and manager Bates signed Everton's Jimmy Gabriel signalling Tony's end at the Dell after 260 first team games.

After being released by Coventry in March 1968 Tony spent that summer in the USA with Los Angeles Wolves before re-emerging in England in 1969 briefly with Bristol City and then Tranmere Rovers where he made 42 appearances. 

His first foray into management was at Southern League Poole Town as player-manager in 1971 but it was abroad that he would make his biggest impact, managing the Icelandic national side in two spells (1974-77 and 1984-85) as well as four leading Norwegian clubs (Viking Stavanger, Fredrikstad, Vidar Stavanger and Brann Bergen) and several lower division clubs. In retirement he lived in Stavanger with his wife Kirsti, children Christian and Charlotte and grandchildren Pernille and Adrian.

RIP Tony

Jim's column 18.3.23

The deaths of two former Coventry City players have come to light recently and they must have passed under my radar at the time. Until his death in Australia in July 2021 Norman Greenway, aged 96, was the oldest living former player and played a handful of games for the club as a guest in wartime football. Mike Dixon played almost twenty years later and he passed away last November, aged 85.

A centre-forward, Mike was a fringe player with Second Division Luton when City manager Billy Frith signed him for City in the summer of 1961 and he made his debut in a 3-0 home win over Newport County. His first goal came four days later in a 3-3 draw at Swindon and he had a good scoring record in a struggling team that autumn. 

                                                       Mike Dixon

He appeared in the infamous Kings Lynn FA Cup defeat in November 1961 which precipitated Frith's departure and the arrival of Jimmy Hill and Mike scored the winning goal in Hill's first game against Northampton. With six goals in Hill's first six games it looked like Dixon would be part of JH's plans but an injury in January ended his season and he wasn't retained at the end of the season. In total Mike scored 12 goals in 20 appearances for City.

Born in Willesden, London on 14^th March 1937 the teenage Mike (he preferred to be called Mick) made a name at local Luton side Sundon Park FC and had short spells with both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion on trial without making a first team appearance. He then developed his game at Hitchin Town before Luton Town took him to Kenilworth Road in April 1957. In 1959 the Hatters, then a First Division side, reached the FA Cup final and two weeks before the final he was given his first team debut at West Brom. Luton suffered relegation the following season and Mike's only appearance was in a 5-1 home loss to Wolves but at least he netted the consolation goal. His third and final game for Luton was at the end of the 1960-61 season just before he joined Coventry.

After leaving City in 1962 he dropped into non-league with Cambridge United, managed by former City player Roy Kirk, and later played for Stevenage, Dunstable Town, Biggleswade, Weymouth, Poole and Sittingbourne.

Mike continued to live in Luton and avidly followed the career of his more famous footballing son Kerry Dixon whobegan his career at Dunstable before building a glittering career of more than 600 games between 1980-1997 with a host of clubs most notably Reading, Chelsea and Luton Town. Kerry also won international caps for England as well as managing Doncaster Rovers, Hitchin Town and Dunstable Town.

Norman Greenway was born in Coventry on 24^th August 1924, one of seven children, and lived at 10 Dunchurch Highway, off Broad Lane. His family have the letter from the club's manager Harry Storer in March 1943 advising him that he had been selected to play inside left in the game at Birmingham City, and that he was allowed to bring his father with him! Norman, 18-years-old at the time, had been playing for Coventry Gauge and he was one of numerous local league players who deputised for the club's players who were in the armed services during the war. City won 2-1 at St Andrews in front of a tiny crowd of around 1,000 and the match report praised his 'valiant efforts' and felt fans would be seeing more of him in the future. Norman made another five appearances that season and was never on the losing side. His final game was a 7-0 home win over Notts County on 26^th April. He was never called upon after that season and Norman went back to play in local football but after the hostilities he made a name for himself in non-league football. He was a regular scorer for Nuneaton Borough in 1945-46 and 1946-47 before joining Bedworth Town. In 1952 he was at Atherstone and a year later had moved to Lockheed Leamington. In 1957 he and his wife Norma emigrated to Australia and settled in New South Wales. He followed the Sky Blues for the rest of his life and his son Neale, daughter-in-law Pam and grandson Blake have continued the love for the club from down under. They are all thrilled to have been invited to become Honorary Members of CCFPA.

                    

The Sky Blues' draw at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday evening extended the club's unbeaten run to eight games, the best of the season and equalling the best run since the club regained their Championship place in 2020. The team did go eight unbeaten in November/December 2020 when they won three and drew five games. The current run consists of four wins and four draws. The draw means City have still to record a victory in four visits to the DW Stadium.

Jim's column 11.3.23

It's sad to report the death of former Coventry City goalkeeper Dick Dighton. Dighton, who died aged 71 on 1^st March after a long illness, was City's goalkeeper in the 1968 FA Youth Cup final against Burnley. He spent two years at Highfield Road as an apprentice professional but never played for the first team and joined Peterborough United in 1969.

Born in Corby in 1951 he was an outstanding schoolboy goalkeeper and made his debut for Corby Town as a 15-year-old at Nuneaton Borough in the Midland Floodlit Cup on May 3rd 1967 – Corby's youngest ever player. That summer he was signed on apprentice forms by Jimmy Hill and played for the 'A' and 'B' teams, vying with David Icke for the jersey in Youth Cup games. City's youth team was outstanding that season with future internationals Willie Carr and Jeff Blockley and future first-teamers Graham Paddon and Trevor Gould.

Dick played in the Youth Cup semi final second leg against Crystal Palace and kept his place for the two-leg final against Burnley. City won the first leg at Highfield Road 2-0 with goals by Paddon and Bob Allen in front of almost 15,000. There was tragedy in the second leg at Turf Moor when Dick was kicked in the head by Mick Docherty, son of Tommy, and suffered concussion and double vision. He struggled on until half-time but conceded two goals to David Hartley and finally withdrew at half-time after which Trevor Gould went in goal. Burnley won 2-0 to take the trophy 3-2 on aggregate. Dick had the consolation two weeks later of lifting the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup with a 4-1 aggregate victory over an Arsenal side which included Charlie George and Ray Kennedy.

City had a glut of 'keepers at the time including Icke, Martin Clamp as well Bill Glazier's deputy Alan Dickie and as a result Dick played one reserve game the following season – against Manchester United in front of 10,000 at Highfield Road – before Noel Cantwell released him in 1969. 

                                                               Dick in 1968

I'll let Dick's friend Clive Smith take up the story: 'Dick was soon snapped up by Peterborough where he stayed for around three years, making eight appearances. His league debut actually came against Cambridge United when he was on loan at Stockport County. Unfortunately Noel Cantwell, sacked by Coventry in 1972, turned up at Peterborough and once again released him. Some managers just take a dislike to some people it seems. Dick’s next move was to high flying Kettering Town under the managership of Ron Atkinson. Dick was soon in the first team and was a key figure in the 1973 Southern League Championship side. Memories of the campaign included Dick being sent off at Dartford for calling the referee a rude name, and a top of the table clash away at Wimbledon where ‘Big Ron’ was well pleased with the way things were going, 0-0 at half time in front of a big an agitated crowd. “Just as we ran out for the second half,” Dick remembered, “Ron stopped me and punched me in the stomach. ‘Keep a clean sheet this half and you’ll get an extra fiver in your pay packet at the end of the game’ he said. Well, Wimbledon won a corner in the first minute, and scored! First thing I thought of was ‘there goes my extra fiver!” Graeme also recalls that his dad was unlucky with injuries throughout his career. Losing his place in 1974 at the start of the season because of an ingrown toenail! '

'The next few years saw Dick playing for a number of local clubs, Rushden, Itrhlingborough, Cottingham and others. A few games here and there as he appeared to lose interest. Starting work in the Post Office at Corby in September 1977 would ironically lead him back to Corby Town. Coach Matt McIllwain was contacted by his workmates to tell him he should get a decent goalkeeper and that Dick Dighton was available if he would only get in touch with him. Matt couldn’t believe it. He duly got in touch and persuaded Dick to once more get his boots on. And ironically again, his first game back for the Steelmen after 14 years, was away at Nuneaton Borough! And once again, Corby lost 3-1!'

'Corby under new manager Colin Clarke were on the up and all was going well in the 1982/83 season until a home game against Addlestone and Weybridge on January 3rd 1983. Challenging for a cross from a corner, he landed heavily after a collision and was carried off with a cruciate ligament injury which brought a premature end to his career, though he did attempt a comeback, playing five games in the 1985/86 season. Clearly struggling with his knee Dick finally called it a day and took his goalkeeping coaching badges and became a much sought after goalkeeping coach around the leagues, eventually ending up at Corby Town with Graham Drury and the title winning team in the early 2000s.'

After retiring from the Post Office he set up his own painting and decorating business. Many thanks to Dick's widow Ann and son Graeme for their help.

Dick's funeral takes place on Wednesday 22^nd March at Kettering (Warren Hill) Crematorium.

I remember watching Dick in those brilliant Youth Cup games in 1968 but had no idea of his fascinating story. RIP Dick. 

Jim's column 25.2.23

The Sky Blues recorded their 12^th league victory of the season at Rotherham last Saturday with goals from Jamie Allen and Viktor Gyokeres giving them a 2-0 win. It was pointed out to me that in all twelve wins this season the team have kept a clean sheet – a staggering statistic and one that supports the theory that City have improved the defensive issues which marred the first season back in the Championship (2020-21).

Before today's game City had conceded 33 goals in 32 games. Only three sides had conceded less goals this season – the top two, Burnley (28) and Sheffield United (30), and Luton (32). Let's not forget that seven of those goals were conceded in two crazy home games against Swansea (3-3) and Norwich (2-4). 

In 2020-21 City conceded 61 goals then 59 last season. This season barring a monumental collapse they should comfortably improve on those figures. Yet we still hear fans bemoaning the sale of Dominic Hyam and saying it weakened the defence, a theory I don't agree with. The form of Kyle McFadzean has been the biggest factor, in 22 games when Fadz has played the team have conceded 17 goals, in the 10 games when he has been absent they have conceded 16.

Saturday's victory in South Yorkshire makes it 15 clean sheets for the season (all with Ben Wilson in goal). The club record is 18, set in 1938-39 and equalled in 1958-59. The final season before the outbreak of the war saw City finish fourth in the old Second Division for the second year running. The days of the prolific scoring of Clarrie Bourton were over and manager Harry Storer adopted more cautious and defensive tactics. The season consisted of 42 games and the experienced Bill Morgan played in 41 games with 17 clean sheets with the more junior Alf Wood standing in for a 1-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday. Twenty years later City kept 18 shut-outs from 46 games on the way to promotion from the old Division Four. Manager Billy Frith used four goalkeepers in the season and their records were as follows:

Jim Sanders 10 games 4 clean sheets

Graham Spratt 1 game 0 clean sheets 

Alf Wood 10 games 5 clean sheets 

Arthur Lightening 25 games 9 clean sheets

Wood was the club's coach at the time and called out of retirement to play following Sanders breaking his leg. Neither Sanders, Spratt nor Wood played league football after this season.

Since 1959 the best clean sheet record has been in 1970-71 when they kept 17 (Glazier 16, McManus 1). There were 16 shut-outs in seasons 2001-02, 2015-16 and 2017-18. 

Ben Wilson is closing in on the club record by a goalkeeper. Morgan holds the record with 17, followed by Bill Glazier with 16 in 1970-71 and Ben is now level on 15 with Glazier (1969-70), Steve Ogrizovic (1987-88), Morgan (1937-38) and Horace Pearson (1934-35). 

I promised to mention a few more City caretaker managers this week. 

2002 After Don Howe in 1992 we have had Steve Ogrizovic and Trevor Peake as joint caretakers for the final game of the 2001-02 season after Roland Nilsson was sacked.

2004 In May 2004 Steve Ogrizovic stepped up again following Eric Black's departure but didn't manage a game after Peter Reid was appointed and took charge for the final game of the season.

2005 In January 2005 Assistant Manager Adrian Heath stepped up following Reid's sacking. Heath took charge for a 3-0 FA Cup win over Crewe and a 2-3 loss at Ipswich before Micky Adams arrived as new boss.

2007 Two years later Heath was given the caretaker role again after Adams was sacked. Adrian took charge for five games. He won one, drew one and lost three before Iain Dowie arrived as the new man in charge.

Jim's column 18.2.23

Two home games in four days have given Coventry City fans plenty of talking points and the Sky Blues have gathered four points to push them three places up the table. The Luton game saw the visitors net a goal in 37 seconds with defender Tom Lockyer taking advantage of some sloppy defending to put the Hatters ahead. I was thinking it was the fastest goal by an away side at the CBS Arena but after checking I can cofirm that it is the second fastest after Gregor Rasiak's 27-second goal for Reading in October 2009. Rasiak's effort set up the Royals for a 3-1 win with the veteran Pole scoring a second after Jobi McAnuff had scored – Freddy Eastwood scored a consolation for City. 

Rasiak loved playing the Sky Blues – in six starts against them he scored seven goals, for Southampton, Derby, Watford and Reading, and was never on the losing side.

The four fastest goals by visiting players since the move to the Arena in 2005 are:

27 seconds Rasiak (Reading) 2009-10

37 seconds Tom Lockyer (Luton) 2022-23

53 seconds Matt Rhead (Lincoln) 2017-18

59 seconds Marc Richards (Northampton (FLT)) 2016-17

There were faster away scorers in the Highfield Road days with the quickest ever being Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke's 13-second effort in Villa's 3-0 win in 1995. The fastest City goal at the CBS Arena was Daniel Agyei's 20-second goal in a EFL Trophy game with Northampton in 2016. Agyei, who was on loan from Burnley, had scored on his debut for the club at Bradford and in total scored five goals in 19 appearances before returning to Burnley in January 2017. Agyei is currently playing for Crewe in League Two. The fastest City league scorer at the Arena is Clinton Morrison who netted in 37 seconds in a 2-2 draw with Ipswich in 2008-09.

Last week I wrote about Bob Dennison, City's caretaker manager in 1972 following the departure of Noel Cantwell. Since World War Two there have been 16 occasions when Coventry City were under 'caretaker' management. The first six instances were in the last century:

1947 Following the death of manager Dick Bayliss, the chairman Frank Stringer took over team matters for 15 games until the end of the season when Billy Frith was appointed.

1948 Frith was sacked in November 1948 and chairman George Jones took over for three games until Harry Storer arrived as manager.

1953 Storer's six-year reign ended in November 1953 and chairman Jones took over temporarily for ten games until new boss Jack Fairbrother took the reins.

1954 Fairbrother stood down in November 1954 after the death of his wife in a domestic accident (City were fourth in Division Three South at the time). Chief Scout and former player Charlie Elliott took over and managed the team for 33 games until the end of the season.

                                           Charlie Elliott as a player in the 1930s

1972 Bob Dennison took over after the sacking of Noel Cantwell (see last week's column).

1992 Terry Butcher was sacked in January 1992 and his assistant Don Howe was appointed caretaker. Don managed to keep the Sky Blues up despite a last day defeat at Villa Park. He was never officially given the manager's role and at the end of the season he turned down the offer of a co-manager role with Bobby Gould.

                                           Don Howe

Next week I will cover some of the caretaker managers from this century.

Jim's column 11.2.23

Regular reader Keith Ballantyne watches the BBC Quiz show Pointless and alerted me to last week's show where the final featured a question on Coventry City. The finalists were asked to name Coventry City managers from 1919 and the two female contestants named Gordon Strachan and (incorrectly) Steve Bruce. Strachan wasn't a pointless answer (four people had named him) but there were numerous pointless answers including Terry Butcher, Chris Coleman and Joe Mercer. Keith tells me that his immediate thought for the most obscure answer was Bob Dennison and then wondered what Bob's record had been during his brief spell as Caretaker Manager in 1972.

Bob was City's chief scout under manager Noel Cantwell when, in March 1972, chairman Derrick Robins sacked Cantwell after four and half years in charge. The Sky Blues had suffered a shock FA Cup defeat at home to Hull City and lay 18^th in Division One, five points off the relegation zone. Robins asked Dennison to take the manager's role on a caretaker basis which was expected to be until the end of the season. His first game in charge was a home game with West Brom and ended in a 2-0 defeat and four days later there was a 1-1 home draw with West Ham. By this time the team had gone eight league games without a win and a trip to bottom club Nottingham Forest ended in an embarrassing 4-0 loss. Defeats at Tottenham (0-1) on Good Friday and at home to Manchester United (2-3) the following day set the alarm bells ringing and left City just two points above the relegation zone as their rivals picked up valuable points.

                              Bob Dennison with son Richard

On Easter Tuesday City's poor run finally ended with a thumping 4-1 home win over Everton with goals from Ernie Hunt (2) Willie Carr and Chris Chilton. A 1-0 win at Huddersfield a week later virtually ensured safety and left the Terriers on the brink of relegation. In the final four games the Sky Blues managed a good home win over Sheffield United, a draw with Manchester City which effectively ended the Blues' title hopes and there were defeats to Leicester and Arsenal. Bob, who had said from the outset that he wasn't interested in the job long term, ended with an unspectacular record of played 12, three wins, two draws and seven defeats. We will never know whether City would have been relegated if Cantwell had been still at the helm but Dennison ensured the club were safe well before the end of the season.

Whilst he was in charge there was the Brian Clough saga with chairman Robins convinced Clough would leave Derby, despite the Rams being close to lifting the League trophy. Unfortunately Clough used City to increase his package at the Baseball Ground and probably had little intention of coming to Highfield Road.

Dennison, who played for Newcastle, Forest and Fulham before World War Two and Northampton for three seasons after 1945, was an experienced manager before he joined City as Chief Scout in 1967. He had been elevated to manager at Northampton in 1948 after his playing days were over and managed the Cobblers for six years. In 1954 Middlesbrough, just relegated from the First Division, lured him to the North East but in nine seasons he was unable to take them back up but did unearth some outstanding players including the goalscorer extraordinaire Brian Clough. In 1962 he signed Ian Gibson from Bradford Park Avenue, a player that went on to play a key part in the Sky Blues history. Prior to coming to Coventry he had managed non-league Hereford United for four years. After his caretaker role in 1972 he went back to scouting before retiring in 1978. His son Richard was assistant secretary at the club from 1969-76. Bob died in 1996 at the age of 84.

Coventry have had numerous caretaker managers in their history including Don Howe, Steve Ogrizovic, Adrian Heath and Lee Carsley. There have been periods also when there has been no manager and team affairs were handled by the chairman at the time or a director. This was the case in 1928 after the departure of James Kerr, in 1947 following the death of Dick Bayliss and in 1953 between Harry Storer leaving and Jack Fairbrother arriving. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to cover the various caretaker managers in the club's history.