Jim's column 16.12.2017

I couldn't believe the small attendance at Coventry City's game at Morecambe last Saturday. Despite there being almost 700 City fans present, the gate of 1,773 was the lowest to watch City in an away league game since 1932 when 1,215 watched us play a Third Division South match at Thames AFC.

Since that grey January day in 1932 these are the ten smallest crowds:

1,773 v Morecambe 2017-18

2,077 v Wimbledon 2002-03
2,275 v Southport 1958-59

2,495 v Rochdale 2015-16

2,505 v Clapton Orient 1935-36

2,544 v Stevenage 2017-18
2,607 v Halifax 1961-62

2,611 v Bury 2016-17

2,791 v Northampton 1933-34

2,828 v Accrington 2017-18

Note: four of the smallest ten have occurred during 2017.

Many City fans will not have heard of Thames AFC before but they were a side formed in 1928 to play in the then new West Ham Stadium in the Custom House area of East London. The stadium was primarily used for greyhound racing and speedway and at the outset had a capacity of 120,000! Initially Thames were members of the Southern League but were voted into the league in 1930. Their stay in the league was

short and unhappy as the club failed to attract support. Despite the capacity of the stadium making it the largest ground in England to ever regularly host league football it holds the unenviable record of attracting the lowest Saturday crowd for a league game with only 469 turning up to watch them play Luton in December 1930. They finished 20th (out of 22) in 1930-31 and bottom the following season after which the club did not apply for re-election and was wound up.

The 1,215 who braved a cold East End day saw a thrilling game with Thames causing an upset by winning 5-2. Before the game Thames were bottom of the league and City were in seventh place, just three points behind second-placed Fulham, having scored 59 goals in 23 games. This was the season that Clarrie Bourton finished as the league's top scorer with 49 goals and he had already netted 30 including four hat-tricks. He fired blanks that day and Frank White and Jock Lauderdale scored City's goals as Thames won only their fourth game of the season and ended a run of five consecutive defeats. They would win only three further games and suffered shattering losses at Cardiff (9-2) and Fulham (8-0) and conceded 109 goals in total.

Ed Blackaby asked me a question about a friendly against Bayern Munich he remembers attending in 1998. He remembers Bayern winning 4-2 and they had German international goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and Brazilian Elber in their line up. Ed wants to know City's line up that night and any other details.

The game was played at Highfield Road on 27 January 1998 and City put up a good fight against their strong German opposition. City had a goalkeeping crisis with Steve Ogrizovic and Magnus Hedman injured and manager Gordon Strachan played Motherwell 'keeper Scott Howie as a guest player. City's line up was: Howie: Boateng, Breen, Hall, Salako: Telfer (sub Shilton 58), Gavin Strachan, Soltvedt, Whelan (sub Hamrouni 73): Dublin (sub Haworth 45), Moldovan.

Moldovan was making his first senior start after joining the club just before Christmas and the substitute El Hamrouni was a Tunisian on trial at the club.

Bayern lined up as follows: Oliver Kahn: Christian Nerlinger, Mehmet Scholl (sub Zickler 77), Thomas Strunz, Giovani Elber, Lothar Matthaus (sub Gerster 62), Bixente Lizarazu, Mario Basler, Thorsten Fink, Michael Tarnat, Carsten Jancker (sub Rizzitelli 77). Ten of the starting XI plus two of the subs were full internationals at the time.

Moldovan opened the scoring in the 9th minute before Scholl equalised on 19 minutes. Elber and Jancker made it 3-1 before half-time. Sub Simon Haworth made it 3-2 before Rizzitelli completed the scoring in the 84th minute to the delight of 140 visiting fans. The attendance was 8,409 and the game was beamed back to German TV where an estimated 3 million viewers watched the action.