Jim's column 22.12.2018

Benny Glover is not a name that immediately springs to mind when talking about Coventry City’s promotion squad of 1967 and although he had one of the shortest playing careers in the club’s history he did appear for the club in that momentous season. Sadly I discovered last week that he passed away earlier this year.

Fifty two years ago last weekend Benny Glover made his one and only appearance for the Sky Blues when he played the last thirty or so minutes as a substitute in City’s 3-2 victory over Cardiff City at Highfield Road. Five days later he celebrated his 20^th birthday.

Born in Birmingham he was the eighth of 14 children and was pinched by the Sky Blues from under the noses of Aston Villa and Birmingham City. He came for a trial at Ryton in 1964 and agreed to play as an amateur. He played as a wing half in the club’s youth team that season, appearing in the same team as Mick Coop, John Burckitt, John Matthews and Pat Morrissey. By the summer of 1966 he had made sufficient advancement to be offered a professional contract and then made rapid progress after less than a dozen reserve appearances to be considered for the first team.

On a Friday afternoon in early November 1966 club captain George Curtis walked up to him in the corridor outside the dressing rooms at Highfield Road and asked, ‘Chicken or steak for lunch tomorrow, Benny?’

He had been called into City’s 13-man squad because of a doubt to Dietmar Bruck. If Bruck had failed a fitness test Glover would have been 12^th man and substitute. As it turned out Bruck played and Benny had to wait a further three weeks for his big chance.

The Cardiff game was a memorable one for quite a few reasons. City’s record signing, Ian Gibson, was restored to the first team by Jimmy Hill after six games on the sidelines. Whilst the two had not patched up their differences – caused either by Hill refusing to pay Gibbo’s bonuses or by his tendency to play too deep, depending on who you believe – the Scot’s form over the next few weeks healed the rift.

With Bill Glazier injured, his deputy Coventry-born Peter Thomas made his debut in goal, it would be his only ever appearance too. Another league debutant was Leamington’s Mick Coop who had appeared as a substitute and played in a League Cup game. Mick went on to play over 400 games for the club.

The win was the start of a terrific run of 25 unbeaten games which extended from November through to the end of the season and many looked back on Hill’s decision to recall Gibson (largely forced on him because of injury) as a watershed in that great campaign.

In Ben Glover’s 30 minutes of fame against Cardiff he almost scored after being put clean through with only the goalkeeper to beat. He came on for the injured John Tudor and although he was substitute on two further occasions he failed to get on the pitch and had to be content with regular reserve team football for the next twelve months.

The competition for midfield places was tough at Highfield Road with Willie Carr and Pat Morrissey in direct competition and in February 1968 as Noel Cantwell started to thin down a big professional playing staff Benny was released. He joined Southern League Weymouth making over 230 appearances for the Dorset side over four years and in 1972 joined Salisbury City.

                                                           Benny receiving his award from Paul Fletcher in 2007 

In retirement Benny lived just outside Tewkesbury. He enjoyed a game of golf and one of his three children, daughter Mandy, represented Great Britain at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta in the volleyball team and is still a major force in British volleyball. He returned to the club in 2007 when the Former Players Association organised a 40th anniversary reunion of the boys of 1967. He met former colleagues he had not seen for almost 40 years and received a memento from City chief executive Paul Fletcher.

Jim's column 15.12.2018

How many of the small crowd at Highfield Road on Saturday 14th November 1964 realised they were watching a future Italian international now described as 'one of Italy's finest goalscorers' and a legend at Lazio and New York Cosmos.

The game was a little-known friendly game that took place on a cold Saturday afternoon. City's first team had played at Bury the previous evening (losing 5-0) and the reserves had a free Saturday so Jimmy Hill arranged a game for the reserves against Swansea Town Reserves.

I don't know how many fans attended the game but they witnessed an impressive performance by City's stiffs who ran out 6-2 winners with goals from Pat Morrissey, Graham Newton (3), Dave Clements and Dennis Oakes. Several other players with first team experience played including Bob Wesson, Alan Turner and Hugh Barr. Many of those who played are at City's game with Luton Town today on the inaugural Jimmy Hill Day.

I recently came across the teamsheet for the game for the first time. It is interesting in that half a dozen of the Swansea players autographed the sheet including their right winger Giorgio Chinaglia, who scored one of the Swans consolation goals. The 17-year-old Italian had moved to Wales with his family in the early 1950s and he had made his Swansea first team debut the previous month. In 1966, frustrated at a lack of opportunities at Vetch Field (he started only four games) he moved back to Italy with his family and by 1969 was playing in Serie A for Lazio. In 1973-74 he was top scorer in Italy as Lazio won Serie A. Giorgio won 14 full caps for Italy and is recognised as one of the all-time top Italian strikers. In 1976 he joined New York Cosmos and over the next seven years he played over 400 games for them scoring more than a goal a game and was leading scorer in all seven seasons. Chinaglia died in 2012.

Jim's column 1.12.2018

Kenny Hibbitt only spent two seasons at Coventry City towards the end of his playing career and was much more closely linked with Wolves where he made over 500 appearances. He has recently published his autobiography in conjuction with Tim Nash, a Wolverhampton-based journalist. Kenny sent me a copy and although there is only one chapter covering the Highfield Road spell the book makes fascinating reading.

He started his career as an apprentice at Bradford Park Avenue but soon caught the eye of numerous scouts and signed for Wolves as a 18-year-old, spending two years in the reserves before becoming a regular in the first team from 1970 until 1984. He played in two winning League Cup finals and won a solitary England under 23 cap in an era when you had to be outstanding to play in the national team.

Wolves and City, of course, were massive local rivals in the late 60s and 70s and players like Kenny, John Richards and Derek Dougan were thorns in City's sides of that era with honours probably even between the Midland rivals in that period. The most memorable clash came in 1973 in the FA Cup sixth round tie at Molineux. City, rejuvenated by the signings of Tommy Hutchison and Colin Stein, were confident of a result but in front of 53,000 Richards and Dougan exposed the frailties of Bobby Parker and won 2-0. Wolves went on to lose unluckily to Don Revie's Leeds in the semi-final, a result that haunts Hibbitt to this day.

Relegation battles under first Bobby Gould and later Don Mackay, dominated his two seasons at Coventry (1984-86) but he writes fondly of this spell of his career. After hanging up his boots he managed Walsall and Cardiff and in the book highlights the issues of managing in the lower divisions, namely, lack of money, covering a multitude of roles and the 24/7 dedication required. There are lots of funny stories and big name characters who crossed his path in a dazzling career. The book, 'Seasons of My Life' wonderfully describes the golden era of playing in the early 1970s and the depressing side of managing in the lower divisions of the 1980s.

Last week I wrote about two City outfield players who went in goal in emergencies, David Speedie and Roy Kirk and promised to mention a few more this week. The last was Stephen Hughes who took over the goalkeeping jersey in a home game with Stoke City in 2005 after the City goalkeeper Ian Bennett was shown a red card in the 41st minute. Hughes repelled all Stoke's efforts to score and the game ended 0-0. Prior to that you have to go back to 1977 when Jim Blyth was injured in a home game with West Ham. Bobby McDonald went in goal for the last half hour but couldn't prevent 'Pop' Robson from scoring a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw. The previous season, at Maine Road, 'keeper Bryan King was dazed in a challenge early in the game but stoically continued until the hour mark by which time City were 3-0 down. John Craven took over in goal and kept Man City's formidable attack out until the final minute when Dennis Tueart made the final score 4-2.

In the 1960s there was only one incidence of an outfield player going in goal – again at Maine Road, in 1965, when Bill Glazier was stretchered off after 41 minutes with a broken leg following a clash with Glyn Pardoe. With City losing 1-0 and things looking bleak Ronnie Rees went in goal. Three minutes later Ken Hale equalised for City and Rees and City's brave defenders kept the home side out to earn a famous 1-1 draw.

If any readers remember any other City outfield players going in goal please let me know.

Jim's column 24.11.2018

Coventry City have a history of developing young talent and blooding them in the first team that stretches back to before World War Two. Harry Storer, City's legendary manager in the 1930s gave Second Division debuts to teenagers such as Ted Roberts, Plum Warner, Ellis Lager and George Mason. In the 1960s Jimmy Hill had faith in youngsters like Bobby Gould, Ronnie Rees and Mick Coop before a glut of kids came through under Noel Cantwell - the team that reached the 1970 Youth Cup final spawned eight first teamers, all of them making their debuts as teenagers. It has continued almost non-stop ever since with few barren periods where the club had to rely on the transfer market. Last week Mark Robins put out a first team at Cheltenham in the Football League Trophy that was the youngest starting XI in the club's history. The average age of the team that took the field was 21 years and 33 days, 25 days less than the previous record set at Maine Road in 1980.

The team comprised of: O'Brien (26), Grimmer (24), Mason (21), Eccles (18), Williams (19), Thompson (19), Jones (21), Bayliss (19), Bakayoko (22), Ngandu (17), Shipley (21). When the first substitute Sam McCallum (18) came on the average age dropped to 20 years 301 days and when Jack Burroughs (17) came on for Tom Bayliss it dropped even further, to 20 years 236 days. The final substitution – Jak Hickman (18) for Johnny Ngandu – pushed the average up a shade. Some people will argue that it was a meaningless game in a fairly meaningless competition but it still qualifies as a competitive first team game. Congo-born Ngandu meanwhile became the sixth youngest player to start a first team game. He was only 19 days past his seventeenth birthday and slots into the top ten.

1. Brian Hill (April 1958) 16 years 273 days
2. Isaac Osbourne (April 2003) 16 years 308 days
3. Perry Suckling (August 1982) 16 years 320 days
4. George Curtis (April 1956) 16 years 351 days
5. Dietmar Bruck (April 1961) 17 years 9 days
6. Johnny Ngandu (November 2018) 17 years 19 days
7. Colin Holder (April 1962) 17 years 73 days
8. Conor Thomas (Jan 2011) 17 years 92 days
9. Lol Harvey (Nov 1951)  17 years 101 days
10. Bobby Parker (March 1970) 17 years 137 days

                                                                 Johnny Ngandu 

Going back to 1980, Gordon Milne was reaping the benefit of many years of the club investing in youth and luring some of the country's best talent to Coventry. The young team would go on to reach the League Cup semi final and only lose out on a trip to Wembley by virtue of a late West Ham goal in the semi final second leg. The team that Milne put out at Maine Road was: Les Sealey (23), Steve Jacobs (19), Brian Roberts (25), Andy Blair (20), Paul Dyson (20), Gary Gillespie (20), Peter Bodak (19), Garry Thompson (21), Mark Hateley (19), Danny Thomas (19), Steve Hunt (24). Nine homegrown players plus Gillespie who was signed as a 17-year old.

Many thanks to Geoff Moore for his statistical help.

Keith Ballantyne regularly asks interesting questions and was recently struck by the somewhat unusual occurrence of a player scoring, and then finding himself in goal a couple of minutes later - the game in question being Ipswich v Preston, and the player being Paul Gallagher after the Preston goalkeeper received a red card, all substitutes having been used.

He wanted to know whether this unique honour has ever fallen to a City player. He recalled David Speedie going in goal for Oggy during a 4-1 defeat at Millwall in 1989, but it was David Smith who scored for City on that occasion. With the advent of multiple substitutions and the almost universal inclusion of goalkeeping substitutes it is very uncommon these days to find an outfield player going 'between the sticks'. I was able to tell him that no City player has scored a goal and then donned the goalkeeper's jersey. The nearest incident to this occurred in 1958 in a home game with Aldershot. City goalkeeper Jim Sanders broke his leg and full-back and captain Roy Kirk went into goal for the last half an hour. With six minutes left and City winning 7-1 they were awarded a penalty. Kirk raced from his goal to the other end to take the penalty but blasted it over the bar.

Next week I'll tell you about other outfield players who went in goal for City.

Keith's other question is regarding goalkeepers who have scored for and against City. He remembers, only too well that Oggy scored against Martin Hodge and Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-2 draw at Hillsborough in 1986 as he was at that game but he seems to remember that another keeper did the same to Oggy some years later, and Watford came to his mind as the offending side, but he's not really sure.

It was Watford Keith and a goalkeeper called Steve Sherwood. In January 1984 City entertained the Hornets, then managed by Graham Taylor. It was a very windy day at Highfield Road and Sherwood's long punt bounced on the edge of the City penalty area. City's goalkeeper, Raddy Avramovic and Watford's Nigel Callaghan challenged for the ball but the Yugoslav 'keeper missed his punch and the ball ended up in the City net. Watford went on to win 2-1. I'm not aware of any other goals scored by goalkeepers in City games.

Jim's Column 10.11.2018

Coventry City's five-game winning run, their best in the league since 1998, came to end at the Ricoh on Saturday when the team had to settle for a point against a very efficient Accrington side, whose league position doesn't flatter them. The Lancashire club, who ran away with the League Two title last term, close sides down and make it very difficult to find space and their goal came from a typical piece of pressing in City's midfield. Michael Doyle earned City a point with his first goal of the season when he was on hand to score from close range when the Accrington goalkeeper, the son of former Middlesbrough and Blackburn winger, spilled Jodi Jones' low shot.

Doyle has never been a prolific scorer but that goal won him a place in City's history books. He is now the third oldest City player to score a senior goal behind Dennis Wise and Gary McAllister. Doyle was aged 37 years and 119 days on Saturday and is over two years younger than Dennis Wise when he scored the last of his six goals for the Sky Blues on 30th April 2006. 'Wisey' was substitute that day and came off the bench to score in the 90th minute as City recorded a 3-1 victory over Cardiff City. The game turned out to be Dennis' final appearance of a 24-year career. Coincidentally McAllister's final goal in football was also in his final game, for the Sky Blues in a 1-1 home draw with Sunderland in December 2003. Gary stood down temporarily as City's player-manager after the game and a few weeks later resigned to look after his sick wife.

The top ten oldest goalscorers for the club are as follows:

	Player	Last goal		Age
1	Dennis Wise	30/4/2006		39 years 135 days
2	Gary McAllister	8/12/2003		38 years 348 days
3	Michael Doyle	3/11/2018		37 years 119 days
4	Danny Shea	15/11/1924		37 years 9 days
5	Dick Lindley	24/9/1921		36 years 285 days
6	Danny Shone	5/1/1929		36 years 253 days
7	George Mason	27/12/1949		36 years 113 days
8	Steve Staunton	2/4/2005		36 years 73 days
9	Joey Jones	25/12/1922		35 years 359 days
10	Alex McClure	10/12/1927		35 years 250 days

Five of them played their football in the 1920s and were all largely 'over the hill' when they came to Coventry. More recently George Mason was a defender who went on to play for another two seasons for City's first team without scoring again. Other over 35s who scored for City include Richard Shaw, Charlie Timmins and Kevin Kilbane.

I have to thank the statisticians at www.Enfa.co.uk for their help in discovering the facts on this one. They pointed out that Stanley Matthews was over 48 when he scored his final league goal for Stoke City in 1963 and Billy Meredith was 50 years and 6 months old when he netted an FA Cup goal for Manchester City in 1925 (almost four years after his last league goal).

'Doyler' also becomes the first City player to score at three different levels of the Football League having netted in the Championship during his first spell with the club, then last season in League Two. In the 1960s Mick Kearns, Brian Hill, George Curtis, Ronnie Farmer, Dietmar Bruck and Ernie Machin all scored in three different divisions. Dietmar only managed seven league goals in almost 200 games for the club but managed to score in Divisions Three, Two and One.

Ben Lipman posed that question and also wanted to know if Doyle holds the record for the timespan between his first and last goals for the club. Michael's first goal for City was in August 2003 in a 1-1 draw at Ipswich, over 15 years ago. My calculations show that he set the record last season, overtaking Ted Roberts who scored his first goal (on his debut) in a 4-0 home win over Bradford Park Avenue in March 1937. His career was severely interrupted by the war but he returned to the club and scored the last of his 85 goals on Boxing Day 1951 in a 3-0 home win over Bury – a span of over 14 years.

                                                                       Ted Roberts

Jim's column 3.11.2018

City's fifth league win in a row against Doncaster last weekend makes it the best run since Gordon Strachan's outstanding team won the same number of league games in a seven win run in all competitions in January/February 1998. Following a 2-2 home draw with Arsenal on 17th January 1998, City set off on a run of victories as follows:

24 January Home Derby (FAC) 2-0 (Dublin 2)

31 January Away Bolton 5-1 (Whelan, Huckerby 2, Dublin 2)

7 February Home Sheff. Wed. 1-0 (Dublin (pen))

14 February Away Aston Villa (FAC) 1-0 (Moldovan)

18 February Away Southampton 2-1 (Whelan, Huckerby)

21 February Home Barnsley 1-0 (Dublin (pen))

28 February Away Crystal Palace 3-0 (Telfer, Moldovan, Dublin)

The incredible run of victories came to an end on 7th March when Sheffield United held the Sky Blues to a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup sixth round.

I hope I don't put the jinx on things but one more victory today against Accrington would equal the best league runs in the club's history. On three occasions City have won six on the bounce 1908, 1954 and 1964. The last occurrence, in the Jimmy Hill era, saw City clinch promotion on the final day of the 1963-64 season with a 1-0 home win over Colchester, and then open the 1964-65 campaign with five straight wins. Similarly in 1954 City won the last three Division Three South games of 1953-54 and proceeded to start the 1954-55 season with three victories. The 1908 run is the only time the club has recorded six league wins on the bounce in the SAME season. The 1907-08 season was the most successful in the club's 25-year history to that date. They reached the FA Cup 1st round (the equivalent of the third round now) for the first time and finished fourth in the Birmingham & District League (their highest ever final position). After losing at Wolves to their reserve side, City beat Worcester City home (4-2), Walsall home (3-0), Brierley Hill away (3-1), Brierly Hill home (6-0) and Stoke Reserves home (5-0). The run came to an end with a 4-0 defeat at Burton United. By coincidence City's next league game is away to Burton Albion!

Before Burton however the Sky Blues are in Cup action twice in four days with trips to Walsall in the FA Cup and Cheltenham in the Checkatrade (EFL) Trophy. City have met the Saddlers twice before in the FA Cup and won both. In 1924-25 City travelled to the Black Country for the equivalent of a First Round tie and won 2-1 at Walsall's Hillary Street ground with goals from Fred Morris and Fred Herbert. City were struggling near the foot of the Second Division and the victory over their Division Three North opponents was a boost and they went on to reach the Third Round by defeating Nelson, from the same division, in round two. In the Third round First Division Notts County were too strong, winning 2-0 at Highfield Road in front of almost 22,000.

The other FA Cup meeting with Walsall was in 1947-48 in the Third Round. The Saddlers, by now in Division Three South, had eliminated non-league Vauxhall Motors and Norwich City to get to the Third Round and a massive 34,278 crowd including many thousands from Walsall, City's biggest crowd since the war, watched City win 2-1 with two goals from Les 'Plum' Warner, Doug Lishman replying for Walsall. In the fourth round City went out to Luton, losing 3-2 at Kenilworth Road.

Jim's column 28.10.2018

Two away wins in four days not only lifted the Sky Blues to eighth place in League One (their highest position since May 2016) but got two troublesome monkeys off their back. The deserved win at Roots Hall, with a late scrambled goal, was the first at Southend since 2006 and only the fifth in 25 trips to the seaside town. They then followed up with a comprehensive thrashing of lowly Bradford City, ending a 59-year wait for victory at Valley Parade. Although Mark Robins was not happy with parts of the Bradford game I thought it was a very impressive away performance and City could have scored more goals with Jonson Clarke-Harris, who was in imperious form, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick of headers.

The two victories mean they have won four league games in a row for the first time since November 2015 when under Tony Mowbray the team beat Peterborough (h), Barnsley (h), Colchester (a) and Gillingham (h) to go to the top of League One. Those four games harvested 14 goals with Jacob Murphy scoring five and Adam Armstrong four. Have the Sky Blues ever had two better loan players? Lots of readers have been asking when did City last win five in a row. I'm probably giving the kiss of death on matters but you have to go back to February 1998 and the Premiership days to discover the answer. 1998 was of course the golden spring when City knocked Liverpool, Derby and Villa out of the FA Cup and should have reached the semi final but it is easy to forget the impressive league form in that period. Between early January and early April the team were unbeaten in nine league games and by the end of the season had lost just once in 21 league and cup games (counting the Sheffield United cup replay as a draw!). Embedded in that incredible run was a run of five straight league wins and two FA Cup victories.

Michael Doyle achieved another milestone this week when he overtook Richard Shaw in the all-time list of most Coventry City appearances. He's now made 364 appearances in all competitions for the club and stands seventh in the list. This season he has overtaken Shaw, George Mason and Tommy Hutchison and is now closing in on Mick Kearns on 385 with Bill Glazier's 402 also under threat.

The top ten at the moment is:

1. Steve Ogrizovic 601
2. George Curtis 543
3. Mick Coop 499
4. Brian Borrows 488
5. Bill Glazier 402
6. Mick Kearns 385
7. Michael Doyle 364
8. Richard Shaw 362
9. George Mason 359
10. Tommy Hutchison 355

Jim's column 20.10.2018

After successive wins over Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers the Sky Blues now face two tough away games in four days. They have poor records against Southend, today's opponents, and Bradford City, who they visit on Tuesday evening. The Shrimpers have been a bogey club for City going back to the 1960s when they were unbeaten in three consecutive games at Highfield Road and put 11 goals in City's net – a 3-3 draw in 1961-62 followed by 4-3 and 5-2 victories in the next two seasons (they were the first post-war opposition to score five at Highfield Road).

City have no victories in the last five meetings with the Essex club and only four wins in 24 league visits to the seaside resort. Their last victory at Roots Hall was a Friday night game in 2006. Freddy Eastwood scored twice to cancel out goals by Stephen Hughes and Colin Cameron (a penalty) and looked to have earned a point for the home side until Dele Adebola popped up with the winning goal. City's last two visits there have ended in 3-0 and 3-1 defeats.

Valley Parade is another unhappy hunting ground for the Sky Blues. They have failed to win in their last 10 trips stretching back to the last win there in 1959-60 when George Stewart (2) and Ron Farmer gave City a 3-1 win. It's not just Valley Parade that City have a problem with the Bantams – they have recorded only one win in the last 12 meetings, a 1-0 home win in April 2016 when Andy Rose netted the solitary goal. Jordy Hiwula will remember the 2017 game at the Ricoh – he scored the second goal in Bradford's 2-0 victory, a result that left the Sky Blues 14 points from safety and virtually relegated.

Keith Ballantyne regularly corresponds with me on City's history and in the summer following Ernie Hunt's death he posed a couple of interesting questions. He wanted to know if Ernie had ever appeared at Highfield Road before joining City in March 1968.

He played at Highfield Road for Swindon in:

1960-61: a 1-1 draw and scored.

1961-62: City won 2-1

1962-63: City won 2-0

1964-65: City won 3-2 (he scored a pen)

And for Wolves in:

1966-67: City won 3-1

The other question concerned the 'Three Ernies' – Hunt, Machin and Hannigan. Keith wondered how many times all three played in the same City team. Ernie Machin joined City from Nelson in 1962, Hannigan joined from Preston in November 1967 and Hunty came from Everton in March 1968.

                                                                Ernie Hannigan

                                                                 Ernie Hunt

                                                             Ernie Machin

In 1967-68 all three appeared together in four games. All three started seven games in 1968-9 (Hannigan appeared in three more as substitute). In 1969-70 Hannigan only started seven games in total and Hunt started in six of them but Machin was absent in all of them. So in total there were only eleven games when all three started.

Keith also wanted to know if George Hudson played for Tranmere in the FA Cup games in 1967-68, after leaving City for Northampton in 1966. The Hud played for Tranmere in both FA Cup games v City in 1968. He scored one of the goals in Tranmere's 2-0 replay win, George Yardley scored the other.

Jim's column 13.10.2018

Coventry City's luck has not been in at times this season but it was definitely in at the Valley last Saturday. Trailing with ten minutes remaining the super sub Amadou Bakayoko struck twice to give the Sky Blues three points they had never looked like winning in the previous eighty minutes. Bakayoko joined an elite group of seven Coventry City players to score two goals from off the bench. The full list is:

1967-68 Bobby Gould (Nottingham Forest (away)) 3-3

2002-03 Jay Bothroyd (Rushden & Diamonds (LC) (home)) 8-0

2004-05 Patrick Suffo (Torquay (LC) (home)) 4-1

2013-14 Chris Maguire (MK Dons (away)) 3-1

2016-17 Ryan Haynes (Wycombe (FLT) (away)) 4-2

2017-18 Max Biamou (Yeovil (home)) 2-6

2018-19 Amadou Bakayoko (Charlton (away)) 2-1

The first, Bobby Gould's brace at Nottingham Forest after he came on for captain George Curtis who had broken his leg in only City's second game in the top flight, was the first time any City substitute had scored. The most dramatic brace was Chris Maguire's at MK in 2013. The scores were level at 1-1 with five minutes left when Maguire buried two sublime free-kicks in front of a large Sky Blue following. We have had some great moments at that stadium, it's a shame we won't be going there this season.

                                                  Gould nets at the City Ground (August 1967)  

In the 53 years that substitutes have been allowed only four opponent's substitutes have scored two goals, the most famous being West Ham's Tony Cottee in 1982-83, the last being in the Yeovil home game last season when Sam Sturridge came off the bench to score two against a red-faced City defence.

The Checkatrade Trophy (or EFL Trophy to give its proper name) continues to attract miniscule crowds throughout the country. There were less than 500 at the games at Cambridge and Gillingham on Tuesday night and City's pathetic 1,341 was in the top six highest gates of the night. From my vantage point the crowd looked to be under 1,000 which would have made it the lowest for a Coventry competitive home game since the club joined the league in 1919, held by the 1,111 for the Millwall Full Members Cup tie in 1985. However the final figure crept up to just beat the Crawley attendance (1,338) in the same competition two years ago. Despite the attraction of a Wembley final isn't it time for this competition to be put out of its misery. I fully envisage a Wembley final between two Premier League Under 21 sides that would attract a very low attendance.

The games at least give managers the opportunity to give promising youngsters a run out against stronger players than they're used to and on Tuesday we saw several City debutants. Jak Hickman and Morgan Williams got their first starts and then 17-year old Jack Burroughs and recent signing Dexter Walters came on as a substitutes. Burroughs became the first City player born after the millennium to appear for the first team. None of the youngsters looked out of place with Williams and Jordon Thompson especially impressive.

Dick Graham was the manager of Crystal Palace when they were promoted from Division Three alongside the Sky Blues in 1964. Dick passed away in 2013 but his son Mark is writing a book about his father's football career and I was able to help him with a few facts and figures. Graham and Jimmy Hill, City's manager at the time, had a few spats in their time. After a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in December 1963 JH was critical of Palace's tactics saying 'I have never been so pleased to have won a point. To me it proved that constructive football can triumph over the purely destructive. This is our third experience of Palace's rough play this year'.

In those three games four Palace names had been taken – in the days when you almost had to a maim an opponent to go into the referee's book, with full-back Bert Howe picking up two bookings for flying tackles on City's winger Willie Hunphries. Graham retorted by calling Hill's comments undignified and saying 'We play the game men should play it'.

Both teams were promoted and the two managers were in opposition for a further two seasons before Graham was sacked in early 1966.

Jim's column 6.10.2018

Coventry City's home game with Sunderland saw a bumper 16,407 crowd at the Ricoh Arena, boosted by an excellent 4,900 following from Wearside. Apart from last season's vastly inflated crowd for the Accrington game it was the biggest regular season league crowd at the stadium since Burton Albion's visit in January 2016 when the attendance was 17,140. Obviously the mass of Sunderland fans boosted it but the atmosphere generated by the larger than usual crowd was reminiscent of the days in the Championship. The number of away fans was the largest since 2011-12 when Birmingham City brought 5,755 for the game in March. City were in desperate trouble at the foot of the table and took the lead in the 70th minute through Gary McSheffrey only for their old boy Marlon King to equalise less than two minutes later.

Since the Ricoh opened in 2005 and accurate records began to be kept for the number of away fans there have been 15 instances of 5,000 or more visiting supporters, all of them in the Championship days. The biggest was in 2010-11 when Leeds brought 6,366 to see a thriller. Leeds led 2-0 at half-time before Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled one back. Then Max Gradel made it 3-1 with a penalty and Ben Turner made it 3-2 to set up a hectic finish with Leeds hanging on for a 3-2 victory. The total crowd that day was 28,184 – the biggest crowd to watch a City home league game since 1980.

SkyBlueLewy asked me a question on Twitter last week. He wanted to know about a friendly that the Sky Blues played at Hastings in the early 1990s that his boss had attended. The game took place on 26th July 1989 and was a testimonial for long-serving Hastings player Wayne Peacock and City's first pre-season friendly. Hastings were managed by John Sillett's brother, Peter, at the time and John took a strong City squad to the South Coast. City ran out 6-2 winners with goals from Brian Kilcline (pen), Dougie McGuire, David Speedie, Micky Gynn, Keith Thompson and Steve Livingstone. Peacock had his moment of glory when he equalised Kilcline's penalty with a penalty of his own spot-kick and Stuart Dunbar scored a second equaliser before City upped the tempo in the second half. Peter Sillett had an earlier spell as Hastings manager and in December 1980 City (for whom brother John was coach) opened the club's new floodlights in a friendly game, winning 2-1.

Last week it was the 30th anniversary of Middlesbrough's 4-3 win at Highfield Road, a game that saw hat-tricks from both David Speedie and Boro's Bernie Slaven. I was asked how many City players have scored hat-tricks and ended on the losing side. There have been two other occasions: in 1962 Terry Bly scored three in a 4-3 home defeat to Southend and in 1995 Dion Dublin scored three in a 4-3 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.

                                                              David Speedie

That prompted a further question: how many times have players from both sides scored hat-tricks in City games? In addition to Speedie/Slaven there are five others :–

1931-32 City 5 Fulham 5 (Billy Lake (Coventry) 3/ Frank Newton (Fulham) 3)

1933-34 Gillingham 3 City 7 (Arthur Bacon (Coventry) 5/ Arthur Mills (Gillingham) 3)

1937-38 Fulham 3 City 4 (Magnus McPhee (Coventry) 3/ Jim Hammond (Fulham) 3)

1962-63 City 3 Southend 4 (Terry Bly (Coventry) 3/ Mike Beesley (Southend) 3)

1990-91 City 5 Nottm. Forest 4 (Kevin Gallacher (Coventry) 3/ Nigel Clough (Forest) 3)

Finally a question from regular reader Ed Blackaby. Ed wanted to know the details of a game the Sky Blues played at Lockheed Leamington in February 1967. It was a charity game in aid of the Ken Shelton-Rayner Appeal Fund. The programme, dated 8th January when the game was originally planned for, explains that Ken, from Alderminster, needed a life-saving kidney machine which would cost £7,000. The proceeds of the match would go towards the appeal.

The Sky Blues, who had won 1-0 at Bury the previous day, put out a strong team but were overwhelmed by the Brakes who ran out 5-3 winners. City's goals were scored by Brian Lewis, Bobby Gould and Ronnie Rees and a crowd of around 2,500 watched the game.

Jim Brogan's obituary

Jim Brogan

Born 5 June 1944

Died 24 September 2018

It's sad to report the death this week of former Coventry City defender Jim Brogan at the age of 74. Jim spent only one season at Highfield Road (1975-76) but was fondly remembered by City fans from that era. He died in a Glasgow nursing home after a lengthy battle against dementia.

Jim is best remembered however for his 13 years at Celtic where Jim won just about every honour in the Scottish game including seven successive League championship medals, four full caps for his country and a runners up medal from the 1970 European Cup final .

Glaswegian James Andrew Brogan was one of those players, common in his time but rare today, who spent long years in an “apprenticeship” with Celtic, before eventually having his spell in the sun, winning medals and Scotland caps.

He was from a “Celtic-minded” family. Elder brother Frank was already a first-team player with the club when Jim arrived, like his elder brother, from the prolific Celtic nursery, St Rochs Juniors, in 1962. Frank left Celtic for Ipswich Town in 1964 but before he left the Brogan brothers did twice play together in the first team, after Jim made his debut, against Falkirk in September, 1963.

However, there was to be no quick breakthrough for Jim, who established himself as a regular in the reserves over the great early seasons of the Lisbon Lions. He understudied the great John Clark and got few chances to shine as success followed success for that great team. When Clark was injured in February, 1968 manager Jock Stein promoted Brogan, who never looked back, slotting in alongside Billy McNeill as effectively as Clark had done, and, with regular first-team games, the medals and honours arrived.

He won a league championship medal at the end of the 1967-68 season, and the following year, as Celtic won their second domestic treble, he was a mainstay of Stein's team. In 1969-70, he was a member of the team which reached Celtic's second European Cup Final, against Feyenoord, and the following season, by which time he had stepped back to left-back to replace Tommy Gemmell, such was his form. Recognised by many as one of Scottish football's hardmen, Celtic fans called him 'the Brogeyman'.

In 1969 he had made the first of what would be two appearances for the Scottish League XI, against the English League, then, in April, 1971, he won his first cap against Portugal, in a Hampden friendly. The start of a short run of four successive games in the national squad covering that match and the home internationals.

If his international career was short, his Celtic one, after his long wait for recognition, proved longer and more distinguished. He was one of Stein's most trusted players during the nine-in-a-row campaign, holding the fort as the Lions departed and helping to ease the path of such as Davie Hay, Danny McGrain, George Connelly and Kenny Dalglish from Quality Street Kids to Celtic icons.

Celtic released Brogan at the end of the 1974-75 season and in his final appearance, against Rangers in the Glasgow Cup Final, Jock Stein handed him the captaincy. in his 341st first team appearance, a farewell, in front of 70,000 fans. Alas, there was to be no fairy-tale ending as the game finished Celtic 2 Rangers 2, with the trophy shared. He left Celtic with an impressive haul of seven league championship medals, four Scottish Cup-winner's ones and three league cup winner's medals.

In July 1975 City manager Gordon Milne persuaded the tough-tackling but elegant defender to try his hand in the English game. Jim and his wife Joyce bought a house in Kenilworth and he was anxious to prove himself in the English top-flight. City were in a period of change with financial pressures forcing the sale of key players such as Colin Stein, Willie Carr and Brian Alderson. Jim was not expected to be a first-team regular but to be a squad player and put some pressure on the first-choice defenders. Regular left-back Chris Cattlin was suspended from the first three league games and Jim made his debut in a stunning opening day 4-1 victory at Everton. Hat-trick man David Cross was City's hero that day but Neville Foulger in the Coventry Telegraph was impressed by Brogan: 'with performances like this he will soon be a firm favourite at Highfield Road with his confidence, enthusiasm, bravery, ability to organise things at the back and unerring accuracy in his distribution of the ball'.

His former teammate Dennis Mortimer remembers Jim: 'He came down from Celtic and as you would imagine he had all the good attributes you would expect from someone who had grown up with Celtic. He had a first-class attitude and a great commitment and was just the sort of player the club needed to help the emerging youngsters.'

Jim already had successful businesses in Glasgow when he came to Coventry and was rumoured to be wealthy from off-field interests. Former teammate David Cross was a close friend of Jim and remembers his first day's training at Ryton: 'he arrived driving a Rolls Royce and this was in the days when footballers didn't get massive wages. That certainly caused a stir amongst the boys'.

Cross was stunned by the news of his death: 'Jim was a real gentleman and we got on well. When I lost my place in the team Jim used to give me heart to hearts and encourage me to work hard and win my place back. He always set a great example to the younger players, training hard and doing things professionally'.

That season City enjoyed their best start ever in Division 1 and were third in the table after four games with Brogan impressive. His good form continued and he was an ever present until early February with Cattlin confined to the reserves. A hamstring injury interrupted Jim's run of 33 games and Cattlin regained his place. Early the following season Milne signed a new left-back, Bobby McDonald from Aston Villa and Jim's days in a sky blue shirt were over.

He left Coventry in March 1977 and briefly played for Ayr United before retiring to concentrate on business interests in Scotland.

David Cross stayed in touch with Jim after they both left Coventry and met up in Glasgow with Cross's West Brom teammate the ex-Ranger Willie Johnston. David takes up the story: 'Jim and Willie knew each other from Old Firm clashes and got on well but we didn't know whether to go drinking in a Celtic pub or a Rangers pub'.

Jim's wife Joyce came from County Donegal in Ireland and they spent a lot of time there in his latter years. It was in Donegal that he stayed near Sky Blue fan Jim Douglas who has fond memories of time spent with Jim. One evening Brogan arrived at Jim's house with all his Celtic medals. Jim began to show signs of dementia several years ago, but he bravely battled his worsening condition, showing the same bravery that had seen him dubbed “Crazy Horse” by the Celtic faithful. He leaves behind Joyce, four children and three grandchildren.

Jim's column 1.9.2018

This week I thought I would answer some of the fascinating questions I received over the summer months. First of all, Dave Bramwell remembers seeing Coventry City play a friendly game at Bedworth in 1964 and wanted to know more details.

It was the week following the famous Colchester game in April 1964 that saw City clinch the Third Division championship on goal average on the final day of the season. City played five 'friendly' games in five days that week. Dublin on the Monday evening for a testimonial, Tottenham were entertained at Highfield Road on the Tuesday (City lost a thriller 5-6), a trip to Bedworth on the Wednesday night, another home game on Thursday against Brazilian side FC America following the open-top bus parade in the city centre and a trip to Eastbourne on the Friday night where they beat the local team to lift the Eastbourne Charity Cup. The following day the exhausted players (and wives) flew off to Spain for a well-earned rest in the resort of Gandia.

The game at Bedworth Town (as the Greenbacks were known then) was won 4-0 with goals from Graham Newton, Dietmar Bruck, Bill Tedds and Ronnie Rees. The line up with substitutes in brackets was:

Wesson(Meeson): Tedds, Kearns (Barr), B.Hill (Kearns), Curtis (Dicks), Farmer (Bruck), Humphries (Newton), Hudson (Hale), Kirby (B.Hill), Smith (Rees), Rees (Mitten).

A crowd estimated at 4,500 watched the game at The Oval.

                                                                   1963-64 team  

City fan Peter Shilton asked me a while ago to provide him with details of the Texaco Cup game between City and Motherwell in the 1972-73 season. The competition, sponsored by the oil company, was an Anglo-Scottish competition initially for top division teams from both sides of the border who hadn't qualified for European competitions. All ties were over two legs and in 1971-72 City eliminated Falkirk (3-1 on aggregate) in the first round before losing to Newcastle (2-6 on aggregate).

In 1972-73 City, under the new management team of Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne, were drawn against Motherwell. The first leg, at home, was a 3-3 draw with Billy Rafferty (2) and Dennis Mortimer on target and Martin and Lawson (2) for Motherwell in front of a crowd of 7,370. Two weeks later City travelled to Firhill and lost the second leg 0-1, McClymont scoring to eliminate the Sky Blues in front of 9,812.

City's line up for the first leg was: Glazier: Coop, Cattlin: Machin, Blockley, Barry: Mortimer, Young, Rafferty, Carr, Smith (sub Alderson).

For the second leg Dugdale replaced Cattlin, McGuire replaced Machin, Green replaced Young and Alderson replaced Smith. Within a month of the first game Machin, Blockley, Young and Rafferty had all left the club as the Mercer/Milne revolution took place.

The following season City were drawn against Motherwell again and lost 2-4 on aggregate. It was to be the last time City took up the invitation to play in the competition which lost its appeal somewhat with English top division sides shunning the tournament. 1974-75 was the last year that Texaco sponsored the cup and the competition became the Anglo-Scottish Cup and ran until 1981.

Jim's column 25.8.2018

Coventry City slipped up at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road in midweek, losing 2-0. It was no real surprise to me as the seaside stadium is one of City's bogey grounds. The two clubs have spent little time in the same division over the years – Blackpool were fixtures in the top flight for the post-war years up until their relegation in 1967, the same year that City reached Division One for the first time and the clubs passed like ships in the night. In the next 34 years it was City who were the unmoveable team in the top division whilst Blackpool slipped down the league after a brief season in the sun in 1970-71. Since 2001 the clubs have been in the same league for six seasons before this season.

City's record there is dreadful. In twelve league visits now they have won twice (1923 & 2016) and drawn one (2008) with the other nine all ending in defeat. There was one Cup visit there, a League Cup tie in 1997, and the Sky Blues lost 0-1 to a team two levels below them but at least had a home second leg to atone and see themselves through. The Tangerines record in Coventry is not impressive however; they haven't won in eight league and cup visits since the last win in 1937 but have drawn their last three games at the Ricoh.

During the summer I heard from the family of Bryan Allen who passed away aged 83 in July. They had always believed that he had played for City in the early 1950s but I had to tell them that no one of that name had appeared in the first team. Then they sent me a team photo from 1952-53 and sure enough Bryan is there alongside other young players including Lol Harvey and Frank Austin.

Margaret Richards provided me with Bryan's story.

'He was born to Leonard Arthur and Elizabeth Allen in Walsall on 3rd. June 1935.  His mother Elizabeth died when he was very young, from the dreaded 'TB'. Subsequently Bryan came to live with my Dad and his second wife Margaret (my Mum) at the age of about six I believe. He attended Wolverhampton Road School, Walsall with two of my older siblings, Arley and Rita. He was a talented football and recalled how two men came from Coventry City to sign him, one being a Mr Storey (ed.- Harry Storer, City's legendary manager).'

'After leaving Coventry City he married Ruth Harris, daughter of the Aldermans Green couple who boarded Bryan whilst he was at the club. They then lived at 'The Lodge', Parrots Grove, in Coventry for many years - he ran a successful Egg production business from there.  Bryans  life was varied and full, he was a skilled diamond (industrial) cutter for over 40 years, played and coached Badminton for the county and was active within the Bowls league - maintaining his fitness - almost right to the end. I understand that Bryan also spent some time in the Army, based in Dorchester and played for Yeovil Town FC at some point. He and his second wife Anne retired to Dorchester and within the past two years moved to be near Anne's parents in Kent.'

Bryan leaves his wife Anne, his only child Lorraine, four grandchildren, and many great and great/great grandchildren. His funeral took place on Friday 20th July at Medway Cremation East Chapel in Chatham, Kent.

Fellow City historian Mike Young was then able to provide a team picture from 1951-52 with Allen on and we believe he played for City's 'A' team in the United Counties League for these two seasons.

                                                     Coventry City 1952-53

In the team photo from 1952 Bryan is seated second from the left on the front row next to Lol Harvey.

Jim’s column 11.8.2018

A major milestone is looming in Coventry City's history as the appearance of the 1000th player to
wear the club's shirt approaches. The four debutants on Saturday against Scunthorpe took the total
of City players to have appeared in first-class competitive games since the club joined the Football
League in 1919 to 998. I'm guessing that new signings Junior Brown and Amadou Bakayoko will
get a game either today at AFC Wimbledon or in midweek at Oxford and that the milestone will be
met.
The 998 include any player who appeared for the club in league, FA Cup, League Cup, Football
League Trophy, Texaco (Anglo-Scottish) Cup, Simod Cup, Zenith Data Cup, Southern Floodlit Cup,
Division Three (South) Cup, Play-offs, Charity Shield or European Fairs Cup (I may have missed a
couple there). It does not include players who played in the war years (1939-1946) when there was
no first-class football. It includes players who only made substitute appearances (there are a few of
those) but not those who sat on the bench but were never used.
It's interesting to note the progress towards the 1000 mark
100th player: Harry Deeming (1925) – 6 years '
200th player: Frank Corbett (1931) – 6 years
300th player: Tommy Briggs (1950) – 12 years (excludes 7 war years)
400th player: John Mitten (1963) – 13 years
500th player: Steve Jacobs (1980) – 17 years
600th player: Roy Wegerle (1993) – 13 years
700th player: Steve Walsh (2002) – 9 years
800th player: Robbie Simpson (2007) – 5 years
900th player: Michael Petrasso (2014) – 7 years
1000th player: ? (2018) – 4 years
The timespan between each century illustrates the turnover of players at the club. The period of
lowest turnover was between 1963 and 1980 which included the Jimmy Hill era when so many of
his team were fixtures in the team and transfers were few and far between.
The last four years has seen the heaviest turnover and reflects the changing nature of the game when
new managers want to build their 'own' team and largely discard what they inherited. In addition the
growth of the loan market has seen an acceleration in the number of players used. For example 34
of the 100 since Petrasso in 2014 and 64 of the 200 since Robbie Simpson in 2007 have been
loanees.
Fellow historian Paul O'Connor analysed the timescales of the players and points out that there is a
clear correlation between performance on the pitch and number of players used. There was a high
turnover in the 1920s as the club struggled under several managers. The 1930s were relatively
stable as Harry Storer's team brought success to the city. Jimmy Hill repeated that success in the
1960s and with only two other managers (Cantwell and Mercer/Milne), the period of 1963-1980
had the greatest stability. Things began to change in the early 80s with the team involved in more
relegation battles, a greater turnover of managers and players and this accelerated in the late 90s as
loans became very common.