Jim's column 14.9.13

 Coventry City's attendances hit a new low last Sunday for the visit of Colchester United to the Sixfields Stadium. The attendance of 1,789 was the lowest crowd for a home league game since the club joined the Football League in 1919, beating a record set in 1928 when 2,059 watched a Monday afternoon game against Crystal Palace.

Several readers have pointed out that according to the Breedon Complete Record book published in 1991 there was a crowd of 1,660 for a home game with Hartlepools United in 1926. The attendances in the book were the gates reported in local newspapers & could often be incorrect. However since the book was published I have carried out research on the official Football League records and confirmed that attendance to be incorrect. There was in fact a crowd of 4,744 at that game. The Football League records only go back to 1925 so there may be other attendance inaccuracies in the Breedon book before that date.

Although the Colchester attendance was the lowest of the three gates at the Sixfields the home contingent was the highest. For the Bristol game there were only 1088 home supporters, 1506 for the Preston game & 1517 for Colchester. Colchester traditionally have one of the smallest away followings (only 173 of them turned up at the Ricoh last season) so City's gates at their temporary home may now have bottomed out.

Several readers have asked me to list other smaller crowds for home games. Here are the ten lowest crowds in league games since official records began in 1925:

1,789 v Colchester  2013-14

2,059 v Crystal Palace 1927-28

2,068 v Preston 2013-14

2,204 v Bristol City 2013-14

3,974 v Newport County 1954-55

4,744 v Hartlepools 1925-26

4,785 v QPR 1953-54

5,073 v Ashington 1925-26

5,329 v Brighton 1930-31

5,479 v New Brighton 1925-26

To find a Coventry City league crowd lower than Sunday's gate you have to go back to the Southern League season of 1909-10 when an estimated 1,500 watched the home game against Portsmouth.

Last week whilst writing about Callum Wilson's goalscoring feats, I mentioned the efforts of George Lowrie who scored seven goals in the first three games of 1947-48. By coincidence I received an interesting email from Colin Turner. He tells me that his daughter is an optometrist working in care homes in South Wales & recently tested the eyes of a 90 year old lady who is the widow of George Lowrie. He wanted me to write something about Lowrie's career that his daughter could show Mrs Lowrie.

George Lowrie was born in December 1919 in Tonypandy, South Wales. His football career started with Swansea in 1935 but he was unable to break into the first team and moved to First Division Preston. Having no luck at Deepdale either he signed for Coventry in June 1939 for £1,750 -  big fee for Coventry then. Manager Harry Storer saw George as the ideal replacement for the legendary Clarrie Bourton who had left eighteen months before but never really replaced. Storer guaranteed him first team football but couldn't have foreseen that World War 2 would take seven years out of George's playing career.

George scored on his debut against Barnsley on the opening day of the 1939-40 season, in a game declared void when war was declared a week later, and had to wait until 1946 for his 'official' debut. During the war he was a prolific scorer as a guest for Northampton, then later back at Coventry where he scored 43 goals in 52 games, and also for Wales for whom he won eight wartime caps and scored a hat trick against England at Wembley. Army duties restricted his appearances later in the war and he was still in uniform during 1946-47, his golden season. He scored 29 goals, including five hat tricks, in 36 games. He attracted the attention of several Division 1 clubs during the following season and it seemed to affect his form, although he still managed 18 goals in 22 games, including another three hat tricks. He was transferred to Newcastle for a then club record fee of £18,500 but because of injuries and form failed to win a regular place at St James' Park and eighteen months later moved on to Bristol City for £10,000. In February 1952 with Coventry facing relegation from Division Two Harry Storer re-signed him but he could not help avoid the drop. In 1953 he was given a free transfer & returned to Wales to play for non-league Lovells Athletic. He died in South Wales in 1989.

Jim's column 7.9.13

Coventry City's phenomenal August goalscoring feats slowed down somewhat at Shrewsbury last week although Callum Wilson's early goal threatened another goal glut. In the end City scored 16 goals in the month of August and thanks to Dave Mobley for making me aware of a Football League record the team came close to breaking.

Dave checked the league tables for all four divisions going back to the war and found that no team had scored more than 18 goals by 31 August (before the war the league season rarely started before the last Saturday in August). He pointed out that before the Shrewsbury game the Sky Blues had scored 15 so on Saturday afternoon needed three to equal the record and four to break it.

 The highest August scorers are:

18 goals                Liverpool 1969 , Crystal Palace 1960

16 goals                Arsenal 2004 , Ipswich Town 1999 , Manchester United 1999 , Chester City 1972,  Sheffield United 1969 , Q P R 1962 , Charlton 1968 , West Ham 1968.

As it turned out the one goal put them in joint second place in the all-time table.

What a extraordinary start to the season Callum Wilson is having. After starting just three league games before the start of the season he cannot stop scoring. His goal at Shrewsbury was his sixth in the first five league games a feat not achieved by a Coventry City player since 1954-55 when Eddie Brown netted six in the first five unbeaten City games. Only two other City players have matched that feat, the great Clarrie Bourton in 1935-36 and George Lowrie who netted seven goals in the first THREE games in 1947-48, all of which were scored in August.

No City players from the last thirty years have managed five or more goals in the first five games but others to have achieved it are:

1977-78 Ian Wallace

1965-66 George Hudson

1964-65 George Kirby

1963-64 George Hudson

1960-61 Ray Straw & Billy Myerscough

1932-33 Clarrie Bourton

Last week's obituary for Gerry Baker prompted some nice comments from various readers but two comments are worth reporting. Former City player Ian Goodwin, who was a youth team player when Gerry was at the club remembers him fondly: 'He was a wonderful man who always had time to offer help and advice to the younger players. He certainly helped me and will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.'

Bob Nelsen, an American City fan who lives in California, met Gerry a few years ago: 'I had the honour of meeting him one time at the Tile Hill Social Club, where he was introduced to me as a former American international.  I was quite surprised by his Scottish accent and we had a good laugh about that.  I thanked him for his service to both the USA and CCFC.  He was a modest and jolly gentleman.'

Two weeks ago I wrote about the League Cup tie with Leicester City in 1964-65 and Leicester's full-back Richie Norman scoring. I said that Norman had later managed Nuneaton Borough but Rod Grubb kindly pointed out that this was incorrect & that Norman had only ever been physiotherapist at Nuneaton.

Jim's column 31.8.13

Last Saturday evening I received the sad news that former City player Gerry Baker had passed away earlier that day at the age of 75. It seems only five minutes since I laughed and joked with him at the last Legends Day in March when he was full of beans and posed for pictures with his fellow ex-City great Scots such as Stein, Carr, Hutchison & Wallace.

Gerry was born on 11 April 1938 in New Rochelle in New York State, where his English father ( a sailor) and Scottish mother had settled, but after a year in the States, the family moved to his father's native Liverpool, so that he could assist the war effort by joining the Merchant Navy. During their time on Merseyside, his younger brother Joe was born and the two brothers both had outstanding football careers. Gerry & Joe both won international caps for the countries of their birth despite their broad Scottish accents. 

A few weeks after Joe's birth, the family were evacuated to Scotland and the football mad brothers were brought up in Motherwell, playing football first for his school sides of Park Primary and St. Joseph's Secondary, as well as Craigneuk Boys Club.

Gerry's skills soon brought him to the attention of local side Larkhall Thistle, and after only six games, the 15 year old headed south to join Chelsea where he starred in their youth, third and reserve teams (scoring four goals in six starts), before making one appearance for the Chelsea first team, against Luton Town in a Southern Floodlight Cup match in September 1956. He returned to Scotland later that year suffering from homesickness, and was quickly snapped up by his home town team of Motherwell.

Gerry's first team chances were limited at Motherwell and he was regularly played at outside left, which was not his favoured position. A move to St. Mirren in early 1959 kick-started his career and he scored on his debut in a 2-1 win over a Hibs side which contained his brother Joe. He also helped the Saints to the Scottish Cup final, scoring seven goals en route, and then netted the third goal in the clubs 3-1 final win over Aberdeen at Hampden.

The following season, Gerry made history by scoring an incredible ten goals in a Scottish Cup tie against Glasgow University, which St Mirren won 15-0. (Unbelievably brother Joe scored nine against Peebles Rovers for Hibs a year later.)

 In 1960 Gerry caught the eye of Manchester City who paid £30,000 for his signature and he crossed the border again, playing alongside the great Denis Law, but once more did not settle in the south and a year later he was on the move to Hibernian. He was a regular scorer for Hibs for two seasons & once again attracted the English scouts. In November 1963 former Newcastle legend Jackie Milburn paid £25,000 to sign Gerry for Ipswich Town. He was unable to stop Ipswich being relegated from Division One that season but was a regular at Portman Road for four seasons scoring 58 goals in 135 games.

Noel Cantwell signed Gerry for the Sky Blues two weeks after taking over from Jimmy Hill as City's manager in October 1967, paying Ipswich £25,000. He made his debut in a disastrous 0-3 home defeat to Fulham which sent the team to the foot of the table. Fellow Scot Ernie Hannigan made his debut the same day. Gerry netted his first goal for City in a 1-1 home draw with West Ham on a snow-bound pitch with his speed unnerving the normally calm Bobby Moore.

Gerry was small for a striker but he was good in the air. His real strength however was in his speed and finishing. He scored further goals at home to Liverpool, Newcastle and Charlton but his most memorable goal came in a 2-1 home win over Chelsea in February 1968. The previous week City had won their first away game of the season and only their second league win since September & the first of many great escapes was underway. Cantwell had signed centre-forward Neil Martin and he made his debut in an all Scottish forward line of: Hannigan, Baker, Martin, Ian Gibson & Willie Carr (Baker always considered himself a Scot despite his US passport). City trailed the high-flying Londoners 1-0 at half time but Gerry headed an equaliser before Hannigan clinched a vital win with a searing shot.

Gerry played 22 games that season, scoring five goals & helping the Sky Blues avoid the drop. The following season he lost his place to Ernie Hunt and made only 11 appearances scoring a solitary goal, against Newcastle at home. That season he did however make himself available for the U.S.A. team as it began qualifying matches for the 1970 World Cup. His first cap came in a 4–2 World Cup qualifying defeat to Canada on 17 October 1968.

Over the next month, Gerry started six games with the U.S.A. and scored twice in a 6–2 victory over Bermuda. His seventh & last cap came in a 1–0 loss to Haiti which put the U.S.A. out of contention for a spot in the finals.

His final first team game for Coventry came in September 1969 when deputising for the injured Hunt he won one of two penalties in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. The following month he joined Brentford on loan where he scored two goals in eight games before being released by the Sky Blues at the end of the season. In total he played 34 games and scored six goals.

Gerry then signed as a player-manager with Southern League Margate, but was limited by several injuries, first a dislocated shoulder in August 1970, then broken ribs in the November. Despite these injuries, Gerry played a total of 48 games (16 goals) before leaving the club in September 1971. He joined Nuneaton Borough and played 30 games (9 goals) under David Pleat for one season, followed by spells with Bedworth United, Worcester City & Racing Warwick.

Brother Joe, who won eight caps for England in the early 60s, passed away 10 years ago.

After retiring from professional football Gerry worked for Jaguar Cars in Coventry, and took up golf. His late wife Ann was a champion sprinter in her heyday, and daughters, Karen and Lorraine, were both international athletes. Lorraine represented Great Britain in the 1984 & 1992 Olympics, finishing fifth in the 800 metres in 1984. Gerry & Ann returned to live in Scotland some years ago & Ann passed away last year after a long illness. Gerry's funeral took place in Motherwell yesterday .

Gerry Baker RIP

On Saturday evening I received the sad news that former Coventry City striker Gerry Baker had passed away earlier that day, aged 75. Signed by by Noel Cantwell from Ipswich in 1967 Gerry played a key role in keeping the Sky Blues in Division 1 in their inaugural season in the top flight. Between 1967-69 Gerry made 34 league & cup appearances for the club before joining Southern League Margate. He won several US international caps by virtue of being born in New York and later played for Nuneaton Borough.

A full obituary will appear in next week 's column

Jim's column 24.8.13

                                                 The 1908-09 team with Buckle far right on front row

This summer I have had contact with American Tom Ferner who it turns out is the Great, Great Grandson of former Coventry City player Harry Buckle. Buckle was a star of Coventry City for three seasons between 1908 and 1911. His arrival coincided with the club's move up from the Birmingham League to the Southern League in 1908. He was a feared left winger having won two Irish international caps and had previously played for Sunderland (in Division 1), Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers before moving to Highfield Road.

The club's directors appointed him as player-manager for the 1909-10 season and that campaign he helped guide the club to the FA Cup quarter finals defeating First Division Preston & Nottingham Forest before succumbing to Everton in front of a record 19,000 crowd at Highfield Road. This was a monumental achievement for a Southern League team & the proceeds of the run enabled the club to build a new grandstand (later superceded by the Sky Blue Stand in 1964).

Buckle was the club’s top marksman in his first two seasons and  contributed 44 goals in his 126 league and cup appearances before leaving Highfield Road In the summer 1911. Harry returned to his native Belfast, working (unusually for a  Catholic at the time) in the Harland & Wolff shipyards and played for Belfast Celtic, then Glenavon at the outbreak of World War 1 and in 1917 became secretary-manager of Belfast United as well as playing for them. He finished his footballing career from 1922-26 at Fordsons in Cork and won an Irish Cup Winners medal with them aged 45 in 1926 as player- manager before retiring in 1927!

Tom Ferner and his family knew little of their 'famous' relative & were grateful to learn of his football career in Coventry. Tom joined the Former Players Association as an Associate member & is hoping to get to the UK at some future date to learn more about his forefather's heritage.

Brunton Park, Carlisle was the scene of a convincing Sky Blues victory last Saturday with four goals scored without reply. For the second game running the team led 3-0 at half time a feat not achieved by a City team since 2007. This time City's defence kept their cool & a clean sheet to deservedly came back down the M6 with three points. It was a nice revenge for last season's results against the Cumbrians who under former Coventry youth team player Greg Abbott were the only side to do the double over the Sky Blues during the reign of Mark Robins. At half-time the side looked capable of emulating the City side of 1959 who won 6-1 at Brunton Park, a record post-war away win subsequently equalled in 2002 at Walsall.

One historical statistic that has passed me by this season was that in the games at Crawley & Leyton Orient the Sky Blues took the field with a record five Coventry-born players. Cyrus Christie, Jordan Clarke, Jordan Willis, Callum Wilson & Conor Thomas are all 'Covkids' and topped the record of four set up last season. I'm struggling to think of any more 'Covkids' who might breakthrough to the first team but I believe Lewis Rankin is one. The number of home-grown players coming through to the first team is a great credit to Gregor Rioch & his staff at the club's academy.

Last week's piece about John Galley prompted Graeme Baldwin to email me with his memories of the game against Rotherham at Christmas 1966. He was stood in the old Covered End that day & remembers the police having to save the pitch-invading City fan from a real thumping by John Galley. Graeme also remembers travelling to Rotherham a couple of days later to watch the return and getting beaten up by some Rotherham fans near the railway station.

I missed one high-scoring game from the last 50 years – the 1-8 home defeat in the League Cup to Leicester City in 1964. Chris Turner remembers it well as it was the only ever time he left Highfield Road before the end of a game. The final humiliation he recalls was a 30 yard goal from Leicester's full-back Richie Norman in front of the main stand. Richie, of course was manager at Nuneaton Borough after his playing days. Steve Thompson remembers it well too & thought the heavy defeat signalled the end of goalkeeper Bob Wesson's City career. In fact Bob was standing in that night for the cup-tied Bill Glazier who had recently been signed for a world record fee for a goalkeeper of £35,000. Wesson came back into the first team some five months later after Glazier broke a leg & played a further 40 odd first team games. The main cause for the heavy defeat to Leicester was the loss through injury of captain George Curtis. George was injured early in the game & was taken off when the score was 3-0 just before half-time. It was the season before the introduction of substitutes & City laboured on with 10 men & were no match for their First Division opponents.

Jim's column 17.8.13

Coventry City's first game outside of the city boundaries took place at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium last Sunday and what a goal feast the small band of around 1,000 City fans witnessed. 3-0 ahead at half-time for the first time in over six years, Steven Pressley's young team ran out 5-4 winners over relegated Bristol City. 

I have been bombarded with questions all week about other high scoring games involving the Sky Blues and have compiled a list of all those games where there were eight or more goals in the last fifty years:

1963-64 City 8 Shrewsbury 1

1963-64 QPR 3 City 6

1964-65 City 5 Ipswich 3

1964-65 City 1 Leicester 8 (League Cup)

1964-65 City 3 Rotherham 5

1964-65 City 5 Newcastle 4

1974-75 Middlesbrough 4 City 4

1977-78 City 5 Norwich 4

1981-82 Southampton 5 City 5

1983-84 Southampton 8 City 2

1985-86 City 7 Chester 2 (League Cup)

1985-86 City 4 Birmingham 4

1990-91 City 5 Nottm Forest 4 (League Cup)

2002-03 City 8 Rushden & Diamonds 0 (League Cup)

2004-05 City 6 Derby 2

It was the first 5-4 scoreline since the famous victory over Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in November 1990 when City led 4-0 before half-time only to be pegged back by a ten-minute Nigel Clough hat-trick before Steve Livingstone grabbed the winner. It was only the fourth time in the club's history that they have won 5-4 with the others coming in 1977 (the famous Christmas game when only a late Jim Blyth penalty save avoided a 5-5 draw with Norwich), 1965 (City led top of the table Newcastle 5-1, only to hang on to win) and 1963 (George Hudson netting a hat-trick on his debut). City have only once been on the receiving end of a 5-4 scoreline, at Southampton in 1950.

As expected the crowd at Sixfields was pitifully low and boosted by over 1000 Bristol City fans. the official attendance of 2,204 was just above the lowest home league crowd in the club's history, 2,059, set in February 1928 for a Monday afternoon 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. A couple of readers pointed out that according to the Breedon Complete Record book published in 1991 there was a crowd of 1,660 v Hartlepools United in 1926. However there has subsequently been more research and the official league attendance records confirm the gate at this game was actually 4,744. My feeling is that the all-time low crowd will be broken before too long at Sixfields unless a good number of City fans have a change of heart and travel to Northampton.

I have a few reader's queries to cover over the coming weeks and will start with one from Dean Nelson who remembers Rotherham's John Galley being hit by a City fan in 1966 and seemed to think there was another instance. Galley, normally a centre-forward who had tormented City's defence (and scored a hat-trick on his Millers' debut) in the aforementioned 3-5 game in 1964, had taken over the 'keeper's jersey in the Christmas game at Highfield Road after regular 'keeper Alan Hill had broken his finger trying to stop a goal-bound Bobby Gould shot. Galley upset the City fans behind the old Covered End & one angry fan climbed over the wall & attacked Galley. Police dragged the culprit away & removed him from the ground but Galley was seen as the villain of the piece by the home supporters. City ran out 4-2 winners. If anyone can recall another incident where a fan attacked a visiting goalkeeper please let me know.

Jim's column 10.8.13

Saturday's opening day defeat at Crawley Town was unusual in that it was the first time Coventry City have lost an away game on the opening day of the season since 1995. Then Ron Atkinson's side, including big money signings Paul Williams, Paul Telfer & John Salako, lost 0-3 at St James' Park, Newcastle. In the seventeen intervening seasons the Sky Blues had only played away on four occasions and never lost:

2001 won 2-0 at Stockport

2005 drew 1-1 at Norwich

2007 won 4-1 at Barnsley

2012 drew 1-1 at Yeovil

The club's record on the first day of the league season has generally been good. Of the thirteen home games since 1995 only four have been lost:

1996 lost 0-3 to Nottm Forest

1999 lost 0-1 to Southampton

2000 lost 1-3 to Middlesbrough

2011 lost 0-1 to Leicester

Aaron Phillips' appearance as a substitute at Crawley meant he became the 885th player to wear the shirt in competitive football since the club joined the League in 1919. More importantly he became only the fifth City player to follow his father into the first team. His father, David, was a member of the 1987 FA Cup winning side and made 123 appearances for the club between his arrival from Manchester City in 1986 and his move to Norwich three years later. Let's hope it is the start of a long and successful career with the Sky Blues.

The other four father & sons to play for the club are:

Ted and Dudley Roberts

Bobby and Jonathan Gould

Tony and Mark Hateley

Gordon and Gavin Strachan

Talking of opening day games Keith Ballantyne emailed asking to be reminded of a postponed City game in London in the late 1980s. He remembers catching a train to London and being met by City fans telling him the game had been called off. The game in question was at Tottenham's White Hart Lane in August 1988 and the game was called off on the Saturday morning because the local authority would not issue a safety certificate to Spurs' new East Stand.  City also had an opening day game at Watford postponed in 2003 after Watford's on-loan striker Jimmy Davis was killed in a car crash on the M40 earlier that day. The Watford board called the game off in mid morning citing 'tragic circumstances' but it was several hours before the news of Davis' death were released.

For those City fans not travelling to Northampton tomorrow (and there will be many) I urge you to support the charity game at the Ricoh Arena. In a game arranged by the Former Players Association, supported by the Sky Blue Trust & the Diamond Club, a Coventry City Legends XI take on a Midlands all stars XI, kick off 2pm. The game, to celebrate the 130^th anniversary of the formation of Singers FC, will raise money for various charities including the Acorns Children's Hospice. As I write this several City former players have pledged their services including Noel Whelan, Darren Huckerby, Dave Bennett & Claus Jorgensen. It promises to be a fun afternoon. More details can be found at www.ccfpa.co.uk

Meanwhile at Sixfields Stadium the Sky Blues take on Bristol City. A very small crowd is expected & many people have asked me this week what is the lowest crowd for a City league game. The record low was set in February 1928 when 2,059 attended a Monday afternoon game against Crystal Palace in a Third Division South fixture. The game ended in a 2-2 draw. There was a smaller crowd for a competitive game at Highfield Road – in October 1985 1,086 turned up for a meaningless Full Members Cup group game against Millwall. Earlier results meant that neither club could progress in the competition but the game went ahead & ended 1-1.