Jim's column 27.9.14

Coventry City played in front of two very small crowds last week with the trips to Scunthorpe & Rochdale. They were amongst the lowest post war attendances at Coventry City away league games. The list shows the twelve smallest crowds since 1945 & the Scunthorpe gate was the fourth lowest & the lowest for 12 years when City faced Wimbledon at Selhurst Park in front of a miserly 2,077. I remember attending the game & thinking that there looked less than a thousand people in the stadium & that the ‘official’ attendance had been enhanced by absent season ticket holders.

2,077 v Wimbledon 2002-03*
2,275 v Southport 1958-59
2,607 v Halifax 1961-62

2,866 v Scunthorpe 2014-15
3,229 v Colchester 2012-13 

3,261 v QPR 1962-63

3,270 v Wimbledon 1991-92*

3,360 v Newport County 1961-62*

3,375 v Stevenage 2013-14*

3,454 v Crawley 2013-14*

3,458 v Torquay 1961-62*

3,583 v Rochdale 2014-15*

* Saturday games

Saturday’s gate at Rochdale was slightly better than the Scunny crowd but at 3,583 was the seventh smallest to watch a Saturday away game since the war. It does make you wonder how these clubs survive but the two team’s victories over the Sky Blues showed that it’s not just about money, even in League One. Of course the Rochdale bogey was not broken & the defeat means that City have lost all six visits to Spotland stretching back to 1920.

Following Reda Johnson’s red card at Scunthorpe, several people asked me what City’s record was in games when they were reduced to ten men. Johnson is only the fourth City player dismissed since we left the Championship in 2012. Jordan Stewart was the culprit at Walsall in 2012-13 & last season Dan Seabourne  & Carl Baker received their marching orders. You have to go back to February 2010 for the last time City won a game with 10 men. By coincidence Scunthorpe were the visitors to the Ricoh when Leon Barnett received a red card after 59 minutes. City were leading 1-0 through a Jon Stead goal at the time & extended their lead on 68 minutes through Sammy Clingan before Grant McCann scored a consolation in the 83^rd minute. City hung on to win 2-1.

Since then City have had eleven men dismissed & have drawn two & lost nine of those games. The eleven red cards were for: Marlon King (2), Carl Baker (2), Aron Gunnarsson, Martin Cranie, Gael Bigirimana, Richard Keogh, Stewart, Seabourne & Johnson.

The last time City won an away game with ten men was in the Eric Black era in 2004 at Cardiff when loanee Peter Clarke was ordered off after 24 seconds but City managed to win 1-0 thanks to a Gary McSheffrey penalty. It was a good period for the Sky Blues – the win at Ninian Park was City’s fourth away win in a row.

Prompted by the news in August that England Ladies player Fara Williams had won her record 130th international cap, Mr R A Berry wrote in asking what happened to Cobi Jones who played briefly for the Sky Blues in 1994-95 season.  The dread-locked Jones was a US international who had impressed at the 1994 World Cup. City chairman Bryan Richardson had tried to sign his US teammate Alexei Lalas who chose Italian club Padova instead. Jones was his second choice & arrived in September 1994, around the time Dion Dublin & Steven Pressley arrived at the club, and made his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 home win over Leeds United. His mazy run was ended by Chris Fairclough’s challenge in the penalty area & Paul Cook scored from the resulting penalty. Cobi made 25 appearances (18 starts, 6 subs) & scored two goals, the only goal in a home victory over Norwich & the other in the famous 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace which preceded Phil Neal’s sacking & the appointment of Ron Atkinson. After Big Ron’s arrival Jones only made two sub appearances.

He returned to the States that summer & after impressive appearances for his country in the Copa America was signed by Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. After just four games in Brazil he was back in the USA & joined Los Angeles Galaxy for the inaugural MLS season in 1996. In eleven seasons with Galaxy he played over 300 MLS games & twice helped them to lift the MLS Cup as well as being voted US Athlete of the Year in 2005. When he finally retired from international football he had won 164 caps & played at three World Cups. He was a coach at Galaxy & worked under Ruud Gullit before being caretaker boss in 2008 when the Dutchman was sacked & then worked under his successor Bruce Arena. He left Galaxy in 2011 & has since worked for New York Cosmos but is now back in California working in the media covering his beloved Galaxy. His shirt number of 13 has been officially retired by the club.

Cobi won more caps for the USA than any other player & his record of 164 caps is the seventh highest in world football.

If you have a question about Coventry City's history send me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com & I will attempt to answer it.

Jim's column 20.9.14

With no column last week I have to start by mentioning the incredible attendance at the Gillingham game two weeks ago. The final figure of 27,306 was largest City home crowd for a night league game since August 1978 when the defending league champions Nottingham Forest visited Highfield Road and 28,585 watched an enthralling 0-0 draw. That was three years before Jimmy Hill decided to make the club all-seater and reduce the capacity of the old stadium to just over 20,000. Later the capacity was increased by the re-opening of the Spion Kop terracing and the visit of Liverpool in August 1987 pulled in over 27,500 for an afternoon game but that was never bettered. The previous best 'night' crowd for a league game was 27,212 for a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City in 2006. The Gills crowd was the sixth highest crowd for a City game at the Ricoh and the second highest for a league game, topped only by the 28,184 for Leeds in 2010-11 but there were over 6,000 Leeds fans present.

Dave Long asked how the Gillingham crowd compared with the total number of City fans who travelled to Sixfields for league games last season. That figure was 39,599 at an average of  1,722 per game. We can only hope that City’s home gates never slip as low again & the attendances of the 2013-14 season are an one-off & consigned to the history books.

How sad then that the attendance versus Yeovil last Saturday dropped to just over 11,000. Coincidentally the last big crowd at the Ricoh, for the JPT regional semi-final with Crewe in 2013, was followed days later by the visit of Yeovil. Then the crowd slumped from 31,054 for Crewe to 11,277 for Yeovil. A number of factors affected last Saturday’s attendance. Firstly the ticket prices for Yeovil were back to normal with no ‘special deal’. Secondly, the Gillingham game was an ‘event’ and attracted a lot of floating fans as well as many non-City fans who just wanted to be there for the homecoming. Thirdly, many people cannot afford to pay for two games in just over a week & would always opt for the Gillingham game. Finally, there are a number of fans who are sticking by their ‘Not One Penny More’ stance & vow not to return to the stadium until the owners have gone. It's unlikely that crowds will increase appreciably unless the team show consistent home form & they look capable of a serious challenge on the top six. The current form suggests that after years of under-performing the latter may be possible this campaign. Midweek games traditionally attract lower crowds & the Sky Blues have no midweek home league games between now and Christmas. If the reasonable form continues gates could well stay over 10,000 for the foreseeable future, although a Tuesday night game v Scunthorpe in February might test my prediction.

Today the Sky Blues travel to Rochdale, a ground that they have always struggled on. They have failed to win on all four visits, one league game in the 1920s & three Cup trips since 1971. In 1971 Noel Cantwell's side had played in Europe but were dumped out of the FA Cup by Third Division Rochdale for whom David Cross, later to join City scored. Then in 1991 in a League Cup tie Terry Butcher's team took a 4-0 first leg lead to Spotland only to slip up 0-1 to a Fourth Division side. The last banana-skin was in 2003 in the FA Cup fourth round when Gary McAllister's team were humbled 0-2. Surely Steven Pressley's side can come away with something today.

City’s new striker Simeon Jackson became City’s first international player for over two years when he appeared for Canada against Jamaica, the country of his birth, last week. Simeon, who has won around 40 caps for Canada and is City's first ever Canadian international, came on as a substitute in the 3-1 victory in Toronto. The last time a City player played for his country was in June 2012 when Sammy Clingan & James McPake appeared for Northern Ireland in a 6-0 drubbing from Holland in Amsterdam with Oliver Norwood whose loan from Manchester United had formally ended also appearing. Neither Clingan nor McPake appeared again for the Sky Blues after their appearance in Holland. McPake, who won his only cap that night, had spent the second half of the 2011-12 season on loan at Hibernian & three weeks after the Holland game he joined Hibs on a permanent basis. He has recently joined Dundee, newly promoted to the SPL. Clingan, who left the club as a free agent in June 2012 is appearing for Kilmarnock in the SPL.

If you have a question about Coventry City's history send me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com & I will attempt to answer it.

Jim's column 6.9.14

I am writing this before the Ricoh homecoming on Friday night when the Sky Blues will run out at their home ground for the first time in nineteen months to a large excited crowd. With tickets being released in dribs & drabs and no certainty about how much of the stadium will be open, the attendance is difficult to predict but people in the know are expecting around 25,000. Numerous people have asked me how that will match up against other City attendances at the stadium & here are the top crowds before last night.

31,407 v Chelsea (FA Cup) 2008-09. Lost 0-2

30,154 v Crewe (JPT) 2012-13.  Lost 0-3

28,184 v Leeds United  2010-11.  Lost 2-3

28,163 v West Brom (FA Cup) 2007-08. Lost 0-5

28,120 v Middlesbrough (FA Cup) 2005-06.  Drew 1-1

27,992 v Wolves 2007-08. Drew 1-1

27,212 v Birmingham 2006-07. Lost 0-1

26,856 v Wolves 2005-06. Won 2-0

26,723 v Leicester 2005-06. Drew 1-1

Let's hope the result against Gillingham was better than the majority of packed crowds there have been at the stadium since it opened in 2005. Only one of the nine games above were won!

With two good away draws at MK Dons & Swindon & an away win at Wycombe in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the Sky Blues have now gone five league & cup games without defeat since the League Cup exit to Cardiff. This is the best run by Steven Pressley's team since the start of this year when the Boxing Day victory over Peterborough sparked a six game unbeaten run which was ended on 24 January at the Emirates Stadium. For a time on Saturday it looked like the Swindon hoodoo might be broken but in the end City had to be content with one point. It is now fifty four years and seven league visits since the Sky Blues won at the County Ground in a league game.

Dan Donovan wanted to know if he was correct in thinking that the five smallest crowds at Sixfields last season were the lowest in the club's history. It was worse than that Dan – prior to last season the smallest League home crowd for the club was 2,059 against Crystal Palace in 1927-28 but last season City had TEN league crowds lower than that, six of them under 1700.

The ten smallest crowds were:

1,603 v Carlisle

1,618 v Crewe

1,627 v Port Vale

1,637 v Walsall

1,673 v Bradford C

1,697 v Stevenage

1,789 v Colchester

1,816 v Tranmere

1,961 v Rotherham

1,966 v Shrewsbury

There was also an even smaller crowd for the Hartlepool FA Cup replay in December with 1,214 watching City progress to the Third round.

I saw some great statistics on City's history at the Ricoh Arena (2005-13) produced by Rich Tomlinson for his excellent CCFCTV blog. One of the most interesting highlighted City's W-D-L record at the stadium which is, won 81, drawn 58, lost 67 producing a pitiful win percentage of 40%. This is pretty shocking when you consider that the average between 1919 and 1967 was 57% and the win ratio regularly topped 65% in the 1930s & 1950s with 90% in 1935-36 & 80% in 1966-67. The stats support the view that there might be a curse on the new stadium, perhaps from that Leicester City shirt allegedly buried by one of the contractors. Interestingly the win ratio at Sixfields last season was better than all of the last six seasons at the Ricoh which failed to produce a win ratio over 40%. My conclusion is that the club's home form is going to have to improve dramatically for City to have any chance of featuring in the promotion race.

Jim's column 30.8.14

It promises to be a memorable night at the Ricoh on Friday night with a large crowd expected for the homecoming from Northampton against Gillingham. City haven't had a home league crowd over 20,000 since March 2012 when the visit of Birmingham City attracted 22,240 to see a 1-1 draw. There were of course 31,054 for the Crewe game in the JPT Regional final in February 2013.

I thought I would take the opportunity to answer some of the questions I received during the summer. One question regarded this year's FA Cup final when Arsenal came from 0-2 down to beat Hull City. Several people asked me when that had last happened. It was 2006 when Liverpool trailed West Ham 0-2 only to force a 3-3 draw & win the trophy on penalties in Cardiff. The last time a team managed it at Wembley and without needing penalties was in 1966 when Everton came from two down to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 with goals from Mike Trebilcock (2) & Derek Temple. That year also saw Coventry City go out of the FA Cup to the eventual winners - City losing 3-0 at Goodison Park in the fifth round. Of course City also lost to the eventual winners this season – at Arsenal in January. In answer to Craig Richards' question this was the sixth occasion. The others being 1963 (Manchester United), 1966 (Everton), 1981 (Tottenham), 1985 (Manchester United) and 2009 (Chelsea). One other interesting statistic from the FA Cup final was that Hull City were the first team to score twice in the 90 minutes and not win since Tottenham in 1987.

Dean Nelson sparked some interest on Twitter this week by pointing out the 46^th anniversary of a famous evening victory over West Brom at Highfield Road. A first-half hatrick from Ernie Hunt plus a goal from Ernie Machin took City to a 4-2 victory over the Baggies – a repeat of the scoreline a year earlier in City's inaugural First Division season. The real star of the show however was Ian Gibson or 'Gibbo' as he was known by all City fans. 'Gibbo' had been left out of City's first two games of the season & had left manager Noel Cantwell in no doubt of his feelings – he wanted a move. After losing the opening two games Cantwell recalled him for the first home game against West Ham but the mercurial Scot had had a quiet game. Against Albion however he was at his irresistible best. City went ahead in the second minute when a challenge by John Kaye on Gerry Baker resulted in a penalty which the cheeky Hunt slotted past Rick Sheppard. On 15 minutes a stunning 35-yard ball from Gibbo found Hunt who slammed in a second. Former City man Ronnie Rees pulled a goal back two minutes later but Hunt struck again on 25 minutes after a jinking run by Gibbo. Machin added the fourth in the second half before a later Tony Brown effort completed the scoring. Gibson was given a standing ovation for what for me was one of the finest individual performances I have ever seen from a City player. After the game Cantwell was generous in his praise of the wee Scot, saying: 'I would be mad to sell Gibson'.

Almost exactly a year later City defeated Albion again at Highfield Road in the first home game of the 1969-70 season. Albion had been big spenders in the close season but injuries meant they had to give a debut to 19-year old goalkeeper Gordon Nisbet. Nisbet, later to convert to a full-back, had a nightmare first-half & conceded three goals from Willie Carr, playing as a striker alongside Neil Martin. Krzywicki pulled one back but City ran out 3-1 winners. A week later they completed the double with a 1-0 victory at the Hawthorns. City certainly had the Indian sign over Albion in those days.

Following my piece on Coventry City's overseas-born players I had a few questions. Ed Blackaby wanted to know if Michael Petrasso, a loanee from QPR last season, was the first Canadian to play for the club. Yes, Ed, he was, and although new signing Simeon Jackson is a Canadian international he was born in Jamaica. Clive Baskerville pointed out that Cyrille Regis, like Arphexad & Negouai, was also born in a French overseas departement, French Guyana, which qualifies him as the 16^th French-born City player.

Talking of Christian Negouai (born in Martinique), Mark Page & several other readers had no recollection of this player. He was a loan player from Manchester City who played two games in 2004-05 soon after Micky Adams took over as manager. He was primarily a defensive midfielder who could also play as a striker. He made his two appearances at Newcastle in an FA Cup defeat & two weeks later in a home league defeat to Burnley. He was substituted in the latter game after a particularly uninspiring performance & returned to Man City soon afterwards. Injuries blighted his career which took him back to the continent with Standard Liege, Norwegian club Aalesund & Brussels. Whilst playing for Liege Christian was credited with the fastest goal in Belgian league history, netting after just 11 seconds.

If you have a question about Coventry City's history send me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com & I will attempt to answer it.

Jim's column 23.8.14

Two more overseas-born players have already made their debuts in a Sky Blue shirt this season. Simeon Jackson came off the bench for ten minutes or so of action against Barnsley on Tuesday night following Reda Johnson's introduction at Bradford. Jamaican-born Jackson, who grew up near Toronto & has won international honours for Canada, has been a prolific scorer for Rushden & Diamonds & Gillingham in the past whilst the French-born Benin international Johnson was a popular player at Hillsborough.

It set me thinking about the number of Coventry City players born outside the UK & Ireland and I discovered we are nearing the 100 mark. This season's debutants, Jackson and Reda Johnson take the total to 96.

The 96 include a number of players who were born to British parents (eg David Phillips & Terry Butcher) and others who subsequently took British nationality (eg Wilf Smith, Gerry Baker & Dietmar Bruck).

Of the 96, all but 17 have made their debuts since the Premier League started in 1992 illustrating the influence of foreign players on English football in the last twenty years. Two South African-born players, Fred Gibson & Percy Mackrill, were the first foreign-born players in the 1920s & Basque refugee Emilio Aldecoa was the first post-war foreigner in 1945-46 and went on to play for Barcelona & Spain. Then in the 1950s & 60s we had the Black South African Steve 'Kalamazoo' Mokone who thrilled the crowds but frustrated the coaches, Indian-born winger Nelson Stiffle whose stay was brief & legendary White South African goalkeeper Arthur Lightening.

The foreign legion have had mixed results with the club. From the dazzlingly skilful Peter Ndlovu in the 1990s to the instantly forgettable Ukrainian Alex Evtushok, from the legendary Swede Roland Nilsson to the catastrophic Italian goalkeeper Rafaele Nuzzo. How many City fans can remember the Australian Jamie McMaster, the Spaniard Vicente Engonga or the Congolese Chrstian Yulu. Sadly, too many of the club's imports have been useless.

Which countries have provided the most players to Coventry City? The answer is France with 15, easily outstripping its nearest rival Belgium who have provided six. The 15 Frenchmen include two born in French overseas departements (Pegguy Arphexad from Guadeloupe & Christian Negouai from Martinique) plus a raft of failures such as Jean Guy Wallemme, Youssef Sofiane, Kevin Malaga & Fabien Debec. A number of the French-born players have also represented their father's country at international level including Reda Johnson (Benin), Yazid Mansouri (Algeria) & Faysal El Idrissi (Morocco).

The most successful country for imports is probably Morocco with all three of their players having successful careers at City (Hadji, Chippo & Safri), closely followed by Sweden, who provided the peerless Nilsson, the safe hands of Hedman, offset by the rarely seen talents of Thomas Antonelius (or was it Gustafsson).

The top countries are as follows:

France 15 players

Belgium 6

South Africa 5

Denmark 5

Australia 4

Jamaica 4

Jim's column 16.8.14

What a Coventry City debut at Bradford for new captain Reda Johnson. The French-born son of an American Beninese father & an Algerian mother not only became the first Coventry City central defender to score on his debut but then added a second goal to become only the seventh City player to score more than one goal on his first Football League appearance.

Reda was the 89^th City player to score on his competitive debut since City joined the League in 1919, and follows the following to score more than one: 

 

1928 Tommy Bowen v Norwich (h) 2

1954. Jack Lee v Crystal Palace (h) 2

1963.  George Hudson v Halifax (h) 3

1992.  Mick Quinn v Man City. (h)  2

1999.  Robbie Keane v Derby County (h)  2

2013.  Chris Maguire v MK Dons (a) 2

Sadly his goals were unable to help City avoid defeat at Valley Parade & it is now 55 years & 13 visits without a win there. The Sky Blues equalled another record last Saturday by taking the field with seven debutants and then using Shaun Miller to make it eight new men in total. That equalled the club's post-war record set in 2003 when Gary McAllister used seven debutant starters plus one new sub in a League Cup tie against Peterborough at Highfield Road. For the record those debutants eleven years ago were: Scott Shearer, Stephen Warnock, Patrick Suffo, Michael Doyle, Dele Adebola, Graham Barrett, Claus Jorgensen with Andy Morrell a substitute. City won 2-0 with goals from Adebola & Barrett.

On Wednesday evening the Sky Blues were dumped out of the League Cup by Cardiff City to extend City's poor recent record in the competition. Only once in the last six seasons have they progressed past the First Round. Cardiff joined Hartlepool, Morecambe, Bury & Leyton Orient as first round victors over City. The one exceptional season in the last six was two seasons ago when Andy Thorn managed the side to a victory at Dagenham & Redbridge before handing over to caretaker Richard Shaw who inspired an exciting win over Birmingham City -one of only three League Cup victories at the Ricoh. By the time the third round tie at Arsenal was played, Mark Robins was in charge & he oversaw a brave but heavy defeat at the Emirates. City's record in the League Cup might seem poor but I read this week that Ipswich have lost to lower league opposition in nine of the last 12 seasons.

As expected the attendance for the Cardiff game was the smallest for a League Cup tie involving the Sky Blues since the competition was inaugurated in 1960. The previous low was 1,904 at Dagenham two years ago & the previous home low was 5,519 for a second round game in October 1985 when Chester were the visitors to Highfield Road & were comprehensively defeated with Cyrille Regis grabbing five goals in a 7-2 victory.

Steve Menary wanted to know about City's pre-season friendlies in 1992-93 season. Under new manager Bobby Gould, the team played the following games:

20 July 1992 Morton (a) 2-2 Scorers; Bowen & Ndlovu.

22 July 1992 Clydebank (a) 1-0 Flynn

25 July 1992 Airdrie (a) 1-1 Sansom

8 August 1992 Brescia (at St Andrews) 1-0 D Smith (International tournament)

9 August 1992 Birmingham (at St Andrews 0-1 (International tournament)

Jim's column 9.8.14

The new football season kicks off today for the Sky Blues with a trip to Yorkshire to face the Bantams of Bradford City. Here's hoping Steven Pressley's new look side can improve on City's shocking record at Valley Parade where only one victory has been gained in twelve visits, that was back in 1959 in the old Third Division. Last season City came very close, only to concede a 90th penalty which enabled Nahki Wells to complete his hat-trick and make the final result 3-3.

There has been sad news during the summer with three former City players passing away. In June Don Bennett, one of the last professional footballers to play first-class county cricket, died, followed in July by Bill Farmer & Billy Gray.

Bill(y) Gray (03/12/1931 – 18/07/2014)

Bill was born in Binley of Scottish parents in 1931. During the war he was evacuated for a time to Stonehouse in Scotland. He was a precocious young player who impressed playing for Binley Youth Club before graduating in 1946 to play for Modern Machine Tools which was effectively City's nursery side after the war. Bill impressed City's management & he was offered a professional contract in 1948, joining a host of other talented youngsters at Highfield Road. During his National Service he was a PT instructor in the army based on the Isle of Wight. A skilful wing-half, Bill got his chance in October 1951 as a stand-in for the injured Don Dorman. He made just two first team appearances, a 1-1 home draw with Birmingham & a 1-3 defeat at Leicester, before returning to the reserves. In 1954 he left the club & went to work at Morris Motors as a machinist whilst still playing football for Southern League Kettering Town. Before long however he was playing for Morris Motors in Coventry's local leagues. He later worked at the Jaguar plant.

Bill moved to Northumberland nine years ago to be close to his family but two years ago made a sentimental return to the city to attend the 2012 CCFPA Legends Day and met up with several of his former City pals including Lol Harvey & Trevor Lewis. His son Alan told me that he took a lot of persuading to attend that day arguing that nobody would remember him & that he would not go on to the pitch. He relented however, thoroughly enjoyed himself & spoke of nothing else for weeks afterwards. Sadly he succumbed to Parkinson's disease.

                                                                Billy Gray

Bill Farmer (24/11/1927 – 02/07/2014)

Born in Guernsey along with his better known younger brother Ron, the siblings were two of the few professional footballers to have come out of the Channel Islands. Bill cut his footballing teeth there with both St Martin’s FC and St Aubin’s FC. He then spent three seasons at Nottingham Forest, along with Ron, eventually making 58 first team appearances between the sticks between 1953-56. He had signed for non-league Brush Sports in Loughborough when Oldham Athletic came in for him in summer 1957 but he only had five first team outings for the Boundary Park club by the time he joined Worcester City for the 1958-59 season.

In the meantime in November 1958 brother Ron had been signed up from Forest by Bantam’s manager Billy Frith. Billy was persuaded to take a look at Bill as potential additional goalkeeping cover for the popular Arthur Lightening and brought him to Highfield Road in August 1959. In the event Bill only made a handful of reserve appearances for City and he soon moved on to Corby Town where he retired in 1960.

Don Bennett

(18/12/1933 – 12/06/2014)

Don Bennett, who died in June, grew up in an age when outstanding sportsmen could play more than one sport at the top levels. In the same era Willie Watson & Arthur Milton both represented England at both cricket & football & future City manager Noel Cantwell did likewise for Ireland. A prodigious cricketer in his youth in West London Don joined the Lords groundstaff on leaving school and at the age of 16 made his first-class debut for Middlesex. He went on to make almost 400 appearances for the county over 18 seasons as a right-handed middle order batsman and medium fast bowler. Football was his second love and he spent eight winters as a regular in Arsenal’s reserve team as a full back or left winger before Billy Frith signed him for Coventry City in 1959. He made his City debut on the wing in a 4-0 home win over Bournemouth but soon moved back to become first-choice right-back as City went close to promotion in his first season. Don was always a late starter in the football season owing to his cricket commitments; he never appeared before mid-September and was never photographed in the pre-season team picture. However apart from the first half dozen or so games of the season he was a regular until early 1962, making 77 appearances in a City shirt. After Jimmy Hill became manager in late 1961 Don lost his place & was released the following summer enabling him to concentrate on his cricket. In the 1960s he regularly supported Coventry players’ testimonials by bringing a Middlesex team to the Wellesbourne 6-a-side tournament. After retiring from cricket in 1968 he became a coach, and was responsible for a very successful Middlesex first XI until 1997, later becoming the club President.

                                                             Don Bennett