Jim's column 29.11.14

I get many requests for information from relatives of former Coventry City players & I found the latest request very interesting. Jo Loraine contacted me about her grandfather by the name of Jack Doran.

Jo is doing some research for her 84-year old mother whose father John(Jack) Doran was playing for City in 1914 when war was declared and subsequently joined up to fight in France with the 17th Middlesex Battalion, known as the football battalion. Her mum wanted to know how Jack came to be playing at Coventry as he must have been only about 17 at the time.

I didn't have too many details of Jack but know that Coventry spotted him playing in junior football for Newcastle Empire FC & signed him in May 1914, just months before the outbreak of war. It appears he joined the Army in September 1914 & made only one first team appearance for the club. On 20 March 1915 (presumably when he was on leave from the army) he played in a Southern League Division Two game versus Welsh club, Ebbw Vale, and scored two goals in a 3-1 win.

During the war, whilst on service with Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he was awarded both the Distinguished Combat Medal & the Military Medal. After the war he joined Norwich City and he subsequently played for Brighton, Manchester City, Crewe, Mid-Rhondda, Shelbourne, Fordsons (an Irish club) & Boston United. He won three international caps for Ireland. Most of my information was gleaned from the excellent book 'The Complete Who's Who of Coventry City footballers' by Martin & Paul O'Connor.

I think Jack must hold a record for being the only Coventry City player to score two goals in his only game for the club. In addition I was able to furnish Jo with a Coventry City team picture, with Jack in it, taken in the summer of 1914.

Lifelong City fan Terry White contacted me recently regarding his brother's 60^th birthday next May. He is keen to get hold of the programme from the game played on the day his brother was born, 2^nd May 1955 when City entertained QPR at Highfield Road. He has trawled many websites looking for it without success.

The game in question was the penultimate home game of the 1954-55 season on a midweek night & a small 4-page programme was issued. The programme is very rare & although I have a copy myself I can't remember seeing it on programme dealer's lists over the past 20-30 years. I was able to send Terry a scan of my copy.

The game ended 5-1 with goals from Alan Moore, Ray Sambrook, Barry Hawkings & Tommy Capel (2). Only 7,350 attended the game & I doubt many there kept the flimsy 4-page programme.

Glenn Hulbert is an exiled City fan on Vancouver Island, British Columbia & e-mailed me concerning City's record attendance. He started watching City as a seven-year old in 1952, was a regular in the 1960s and still recalls some of the old names like Arthur Lightening, a South African goalkeeper, Scots winger Stewart Imlach, Welsh winger Ronnie Rees, centre-forward Ray Straw & Ernie Machin.

He wanted information on City's record attendance. He says that the official record crowd is 51,455 recorded against Wolves on 29th April 1967 but he believes that in 1938, in a game against Aston Villa there was a crowd estimated at 60,000 +. He also remembers standing on the Spion Kop in the 1960s watching City play Sunderland in the 5th round of the FA Cup, & believed that  was the unofficial record attendance, probably 65-70,000.
Glenn rightly says that many fans got into the ground that night when some of the gates were broken down. The official crowd was 40,487 however reliable eye-witness  estimates would suggest that the actual number in the ground was around 50,000 but certainly not 65-70,000.

The official record crowd at Highfield Road was 51,452 for the famous Wolves game in 1967. The Aston Villa crowd of 67,271 was in 1937 but was at Villa Park & over 20,000 City fans made the trip up the A45 for a 0-0 draw. The highest for a home game v Villa was 44,930 in 1938. This was the official record crowd until the Wolves game. All these attendances are those recorded with either the Football League or the Football Association.

Finally, there is news of former City & Romania centre-forward Viorel Moldovan. Many believe that his signing in December 1997 was the catalyst for the exciting spring of 1998 when, but for a penalty shoot-out defeat at Bramall Lane, City would have reached the FA Cup semi-finals and maybe another Wembley final. Moldovan, now aged 42, is a coach in his home country & last season led Rapid Bucharest to promotion to the top division. He has been rewarded with appointment as coach to the national under 21 side. Moldovan, of course, will always be remembered for scoring the goal that ended the Villa Park hoodoo in the memorable 1-0 FA Cup win there that season. Moldovan never really settled in England & after appearing in the 1998 World Cup (& scoring against England) he was sold to Turkish club Fenerbahce with City netting a small profit.