[Lord Snooty]

Coventry City v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday April 30th - 15:00 ko
at the Coventry Building Society Arena

Huddersfield Town travel to Coventry to the Coventry Building Society Arena on Saturday afternoon for another massive game in our unrelenting march towards the Premier League. After Tuesday night's matches, Town are three points behind Bournemouth and level on points with Nottingham Forest. Both of them have a better goal difference than us and they both play each other next Tuesday.

While we are at Coventry, the Cherries are away at Blackburn, while the Trees are at home to Swansea. So if we win and Bournemoth lose, a draw in the Bournemouth v Forest game would then leave us with something to play for next Saturday. If Bournemouth win any game, then that's our automatic hopes done, as they have a much superior goal difference.

But I guess you all knew all that anyway. 

As for team news, well Danny Ward and Levi Colwill were both back training this week with the group. Will our Head Coach Carlos Corberán make a boat load of changes to get the fringe players some minutes on the field, like David Wagner did five years ago? Or will it be as little disruption as possible?

Coventry is a team we don't seem to play very often and this will be our first visit to the city since the 6th of November 1971. It's even further back since we won there. That was on the 11th of December 1965 and we beat them 3-0.

Tickets:

Adults - £30
Seniors (60+) - £25
Young Adult (18-21) - £25
NUS/Armed Forces - £25
Under-18s - £20

If there are any tickets remaining to sell on match day at Coventry, there will be no price increase. And having sold out our initial allocation of 2,000, we now have another 1,000 on sale.

Travel is available, costing £19 per person, departing at 10.30am from the St. Andrew's Road car park on match day.

A brief history of Coventry City: formed in 1883 by employees of the Singers Cycle Company, a factory that built bicycles. They were called Singers FC and eventually became Coventry City in 1898. They played at Stoke Road in those days, but that was taken for building land as the city expanded and they built a new stadium at Highfield Road and moved into it in 1899. The cost of the new build though was crippling and the players went on strike when they weren't getting paid in 1900.

Fortunes improved though and after playing in local leagues from their foundation, they were accepted into the Southern League in 1908. They still struggled though and almost went out of existence during the war, but when they made a speculative bid to join the Football League in 1919, they were surprised when they came top of the ballot and suddenly they were in.

However, despite signing on some of the guest players they had had during the war and the extension to the capacity at Highfield Road, they were totally under prepared for the FL, losing their opening ten games, including two defeats against Town. They had turned their fortunes around though by the end of the season and a win in their final game of the season against Bury meant they avoided finishing bottom. Instead it was Lincoln City who applied and failed for re-election. But that wasn't the end of it. It turned out that Coventry and Bury had made an "arrangement" to let City win and so both were heavily fined and many members of staff were banned from the game.

They were relegated to Division Three (North) in 1925 and following the relegation of two northern clubs in the next season, they were moved into Division Three (South). Things didn't improve with their geographical switch and the team struggled for the rest of the decade. The thirties were better, starting in 1931 with the signing of Harry Storer as manager and striker Clarrie Bourton. He went on to score 50 goals in his first season with them, still a club record and he went on to be their all time leading goal scorer with 182.

Clarrie was involved in another club record when they got their biggest win by beating Bristol City 9-0 in April 1934, in which he scored four goals. They were getting closer now to promotion. Only the champions of each of the regional 3rd divisions got promoted and Coventry did this by winning the 3rd division south in 1936. And it was Clarrie again who sealed the deal, scoring three minutes from time to beat Torquay Utd, and with Luton drawing their final match at the same time, City overtook them to take the title and a place in Division Two.

Their good form continued and missed promotion by just one point in 1938, but that old chestnut "financial difficulties" reared it's ugly head once more and amongst others having to be sold was Clarrie, who was sold to Plymouth Argyle. Then along came the war. They played some wartime games, but that came to an abrupt end in November 1940 when Coventry was blitzed by the Luftwaffe. Over 1,200 people were killed in the raids and the Highfield Road stadium was badly damaged.

Storer left to manage Birmingham City after the war and was replaced by his assistant Dick Bayliss. He got them to a comfortable mid table position but then died tragically in 1947, after becoming seriously ill when he was stranded in a snow storm whilst out on a scouting mission. He was replaced by Billy Frith, who couldn't improve on mid table mediocrity and when that turned into relegation form, Storer was persuaded to leave St Andrews and return to Coventry.

Harry Storer

He stopped them from going down, but that was just a temporary reprieve as they did go and get relegated in 1952 and were back in Div 3S. He stayed on for a couple of years but left again in 1954 as City ambled along in the 3rd tier, with crowds getting smaller. They were one of the teams who had proposed that the two 3rd divisions be nationalised and in 1958 this came about. Unfortunately for them, they finished 57/58 in 19th and so were placed in Division 4.

Frith had returned as manager and he got them back up to the 3rd division after just one season in the 4th, finishing as runners up to Port Vale. They almost made it back to back promotions, but didn't and Frith left the club in 1961. This was a huge turning point for the club as he was replaced by the man who was the chairman of the PFA, Jimmy Hill, who had been the chief campaigner for getting the maximum wage scrapped. He sparked off what became known as the Sky Blue revolution. He changed the kit and the club nickname and the form of the team.

He got them promoted in 1964, back in the 2nd tier after 12 years out. They finished mid table, then missed promotion by a single point, but then in 66/67, they finally made it to Division One. They went up as champions, with Wolves as runners up and they were the opponents in the penultimate match of the season that saw Highfield Road's highest ever attendance. A crowd of 51,455 turned up to see Hill's Sky Blues win 3-1, which backed up by a win in the final game, gave them the 2nd Division title.

This promotion to Division One meant that they became the only club to have played in all "five" of the top English leagues. Division One, Division Two, Division Three (North), Division Three (South) and Division Four.

An eager anticipation was growing in the city for the start of their first top flight campaign, but then Hill announced he was leaving, two days before the first match. He was going to work for London Weekend Television, from where he would go on to be the regular host of Match Of The Day for 16 years. He stayed on for the first few games until the club appointed Noel Cantwell as his replacement.

They struggled in the first few seasons, flirting with relegation, until in 1969/70 they had their highest ever finish when they ended the season in 6th place in the First Division. This earned them their first crack at Europe in the Fairs Cup, which ended at the 2nd round against Bayern Munich. Later on in that season, they scored this goal against Everton, which won Goal of the Season on MOTD. A classic piece of skill from Willie Carr to set up Ernie Hunt to beat future Town keeper Andy Rankin in the Everton goal, which the boring bastards that run the game subsequently outlawed. That's a shame, because I'd been practicing doing the donkey kick all on my own. I could kick the ball up, swivel and shoot and score every time in my own back garden (or just my own mind). I was brilliant at ten years old.  

Cantwell left in 1972 and the Coventry directors tried to lure Brian Clough away from Derby. He declined their offer, so Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne took up the role as joint managers. Results weren't up to much, the team were constantly battling against relegation and so Mercer was moved upstairs, Milne took over solely and then to everybody's surprise, the pointy chinned presenter of Saturday night's flagship footy programme came back as Managing Director.

Despite being in the top flight now, they still had financial difficulties and in 1976, fans' favourite Dennis Mortimer was sold to Aston Villa, who he would lead to European glory in 1982. They struggled on the field as well and in 76/77 narrowly avoided relegation on the final day when they and Bristol City did what us and Barnsley did in 2013 by not bothering each other in the final five minutes, to send Sunderland down. Sunderland complained, but nowt came of it.

In 1981, Milne was made General Manager and Dave Sexton came in to manage the team. Chairman Hill made Highfield Road all seater, following the rise of football hooliganism, stating that it wasn't possible to be a hooligan sat down. Oh dear! Leeds were the second visitors to the newly refurbished stadium and thanked Jimmy for providing them with some nice easy to break wooden seats to use as missiles to throw at the local constabulary. Nice one, Jim. By the end of 82/83, Sexton and Hill were gone. And so were the seats as the terracing on the Kop was reintroduced.

Former player and Coventry born Bobby Gould became manager. The team still struggled but he was by now assembling a side that would soon achieve glory. However, it was still an annual battle with relegation and Gould was sacked and replaced by Don Mackay, who in turn didn't last long and at the end of 85/86 was replaced by joint managers in George Curtis and John Sillett.

They were to lead the Sky Blues to their only major trophy, the 1987 FA Cup. They beat Bolton, Man Utd and Stoke on the way to the quarter finals. They then had two matches at Hillsborough, firstly beating Chef Wendy 1-0 and then returning there for the semi final, an epic clash with the Champions of Europe. Leeds scored first and led at half time. Micky Gynn equalised and then Keith Houchen put them 2-1 up. But the BellEnders came back and equalised to take the match into extra time. It was Coventry's day though and Dave Bennett won the match for the Sky Blues in the 9th min of ET.

The final at Wembley was another 3-2 win and considered by many to be a classic. Tottenham Hotspur were the opponents and they opened the scoring early doors with Clive Allen scoring his 49th goal of the season. But then Bennett equalised and it was 1-1 with only 8 minutes played. Spurs were to score again before half time when Gary Mabbutt deflected a cross past stranded Cov keeper Steve Ogrizovic. But then came the goal of the match and one of old Wembley's iconic moments, when Bennett crossed for Houchen's diving header powered past Ray Clemence in the Spurs goal. And so just like the semi, it went to extra time and the Sky Blues won it. It wasn't a classy goal to rival Houchen, though Coventry fans wouldn't be bothered. What it was was a copy of the second Spurs goal with Mabbutt deflecting another cross into the net, only this time into the wrong net. Shame for him, he was a classy player, but that's football for you.

Brian Kilcline lifted the famous Cup and others who took winning medals home with them included Baggies legend Cyrille Regis and future Town player David Phillips. Kilcline would skipper the side again at Wembley in the Charity Shield, which they lost 0-1 to Everton. Unfortunately he wouldn't be able to lead the team into Europe as the whole of England had been Brexitted from European competitions following the Heysel tragedy.

Terry Butcher took the manager's job when Sillett left in 1990 and he led them into the fledgling Premier League season. They dodged relegation again, giving their supporters another heart fluttering last day escape, so the board decided to ditch Butch and bring back Gould. He lasted a couple of seasons this time and was replaced by Phil Neal, who in turn made way for the flamboyant Ron Atkinson in 1995.

The club that had a history of financial problems, was now about to spaff money away. It's what Ron does. He spaffed a load of it at Leeds Urinals for the gobby gobshite Noel Whelan but it was still a last day nerve shattering escape from relegation. They also had estate agent Dion Dublin in the side at this time as well as Peter Ndlovu, who would later make a name for himself in a loan period at Town.

Ron went back to the Beeston Skip and waved a three million pound cheque at them to buy Gary McAllister, and Gordon Strachan (Ron's assistant) even came out of retirement to play a few games as they once more left it to the final day to avoid relegation. That was an incredible tenth time they had done that in the First Division/Premier League. It would be their last though. Strachan took over from Atkinson and at the end of 2000/01, after a 34 year unbroken stint in the top flight, Coventry City finally got relegated. They have never returned since.

Ronald Nilsson took over from Strachan, but not for long. McAllister returned from his stint as a Liverpool player to become player/manager in 2003, but nothing came of it. They had Peter Reid in charge for a while as well before they left Highfield Road in 2005 to move into the newly built Ricoh Arena.

From then onwards, they have been dogged by difficulties which made the difficulties of their early years look insignificant. I couldn't even start to comment on what, where or why it all went wrong, you'd have to ask a Coventry fan. They almost went into administration in 2007, but were saved by a consortium led by former player Ray Ranson. Then had another last day escape, this time though from the Championship.

Relegation did come though in 2012 and for the first time in 48 years, they were back in the 3rd tier. Worse was to come. They made Mark Robins manager. No not that, I mean worse was to come by going into administration and leaving the Ricoh to play their home matches at Northampton's Sixfields Stadium. They were away for a couple of seasons before returning, not triumphantly, because they still struggled on the field. And what's worse, Robins had left to go manage Huddersfield Town.

Steven Pressley, Tony Mowbray, Mark Venus and Russell Slade all had a go, but then in 2017, there was a triumphal return. The man himself. Mark Robins was back! He immediately got the team winning and what's more, winning a trophy. They won the EFL Trophy, beating Oxford Utd at Wembley 2-1 with goals from Gaël Bigirimana and George Thomas. But as the Sky Blues were already 13 points adrift of safety when Robins returned, they still went down. They were in the 4th tier for the first time since 1959.

Just like in 1959 though, it was just a one season stint in the basement as Robins got them back up, through the Play Offs. They beat Exeter City 3-1 at Wembley. Jordan Willis, Jordan Shipley and Jack Grimmer scored the goals and they were back in League One. What's more, Mark Robins was the first Coventry manager to achieve a promotion since Jimmy Hill in 1967.

But unfortunately the back stage wrangling had gone ridiculous again. I can't say why, even though I've been trying to read up and understand it, but anyway, they started the 2019/20 season playing their home games away from home again. This time, sharing Birmingham City's St Andrews, 22 miles away from the Ricoh. Surely they'll be back down again?

No. Robins is a miracle worker. Why on earth Dean Hoyle let him walk out on us, I'll never know. On the 1st of March 2020, Coventry City beat Sunderland to go top of League One and were still there when play was halted by Covid 19. And when the EFL decided to abandon the rest of the season, they were crowned champions, proudly holding aloft the trophy in front of tens of thousands of fans a member of the club's staff taking photos on his mobile at the training ground.

At the beginning of this season,they returned to play at the Ricoh, now calling itself the Coventry Building Society Arena and so Huddersfield Town will now make their first ever visit to this stadium.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 8 wins to Coventry's 5, with 5 draws.

As you can see from those figures, we have been avoiding each other like the plague. Or like some kind of corona virus. Proper socially distant from each other. This is only the eighth season we've been in the same league, which when you consider that we have both been in the Football League for over a hundred years, that's strange.

Prior to last season, we hadn't been in the same league since 1971/72 and the three games since they came up from League One have all ended in draws. The first one was goal less down at theirs, or rather, down at Birmingham City's ground. I must've watched it on the i-player, but can't remember a thing about it. Same with the home game. That ended 1-1, Jordan Shipley scored for them and Danny Ward equalised. Can't remember it.

I remember this season's game though. Played in December, it was one of those that we threw away by being too defensive. We were leading for most of the game when Wardy scored against them again. But the second half was all Coventry as we just sat back further and further. This was one of the occasions that Carlos got it wrong, bringing on Ollie Turton for Josh Koroma and then Josh Ruffels for Ward. The inevitable happened, thankfully too late for them to go for the winner, when Matt Godden scored in the 3rd minute of added on time and we had to settle for a point.

That point moved us up to tenth in the table though. Who'd o' thunk we would just keep on going up that table?

The last time we met before all this was way back in 1977/78 in the League Cup. We were miles apart back then. They were an established First Division side and would end the season in 7th. We had slumped all the way down to the Fourth Division and were destined to fail again, finishing in 11th. John Haselden was our manager, before he was demoted to coach and replaced in the hot seat by Tom Johnstone for his second spell in charge. This was a 2nd round match and we had disposed of Carlisle Utd in the first round, eventually. That took a replay to sort out after the two legs had finished 3-3 on aggregate. I don't remember much about the game, but I'm sure we did alright against our higher placed opponents but lost 0-2. And I'm fairly sure Steve Baines got sent off and I'm also fairly sure it was Peter Willis who sent him off.

The first time we played each other was back in 1919/20 (we had already met in the 1918/19 Wartime League). They had just been elected into the league and we were in the midst of a financial crisis and the subject of a hostile take over bid from those Beeston bums. Despite our precarious position we did the double over our Warwickshire opponents in a November back to back double header. We first went to Highfield Road and beat them 2-0 with goals from a Frank Mann penalty and one from Sammy Taylor. A week later, they came up to Leeds Road and left empty handed as we gave them a damn jolly good thrashing. Taylor got two this time, Jack Swann got a couple and Dick Roberts scored an own goal as we beat them 5-0.

We went up that season as runners up to Spurs. Coventry finished 3rd from bottom. So we were now in different leagues and wouldn't meet up again for another 36 years. That was in the 1954/55 FA Cup 3rd round. We were in Division One, they were in Division Three (South). A crowd of 31,576 turned up at Leeds Road to see what should've been a routine win for the home team. It was nowt of the sort. Coventry earned themselves a replay with a 3-3 draw. I can't find a record of their scorers but ours were Jimmy Glazzard (2) and Jimmy Watson. It was the start of a famous cup run for us though. We went down to Coventry on the following Thursday and won 2-1. Glazzard and Watson again with one each. That was followed by a win at Torquay, a win at Anfield and then 54,960 turned out at Leeds Road as we almost beat Newcastle in the quarter finals, with future Town star Len White equalising in the last minute for the Magpies, who won the replay and went on to lift the Cup.

Jimmy Glazzard

We got relegated in the next season and then when the Sky Blues got promoted in 1964, we had our first league meeting for 45 years. It was another Town double. We went there and won 3-2 in October, shortly after Eddie Boot had gotten the boot, but before Tom Johnstone had taken over the manager's job for his first spell in charge. A John Coddington pen, Kevin Lewis and Chris Balderstone scoring for us. And it was Les Massie and Kevin McHale on target back at Leeds Road as we won 2-1 in February.

In the next season, we went down to Highfield Road as league leaders in December and came back with the points in a 3-0 win. Jimmy Nicholson, Alan Gilliver and McHale scoring. Coventry came up to ours for the final game of the season and we were still in a promotion place. Man City were already up, but we were in 2nd. Coventry were just behind. A Town win would see us up. A Coventry win would see them go above us, awaiting the result from Southampton who could stop either of us going up. So much was the excitement that Kenneth Wolstenholme and the Match Of The Day cameras turned up for the first time to Leeds Road. And of course, we cocked up. Coventry got their first ever win over us, 2-0 with Ray Pointer and their future manager Bobby Gould getting the goals. It wasn't to be though for them as Southampton won and went up instead.

Next season, 1966/67, we finished 6th and Coventry went up as champions. The game at Leeds Road saw us win again. It was in November and we won it 3-1 with goals from Colin Dobson, Tony Leighton and Mick Meagan. But then we lost 0-1 down there and wouldn't meet again until we went up in 1970. The first meeting of the two clubs in the top tier of English football was nothing to write home about. A goal less draw at Highfield Road. We won the match at Leeds Road though with Roy Ellam getting the goal as we won 1-0.

And that match, on the 27th of March 1971, was the last time we beat Coventry City. The following season we got relegated and they did the double over us. Dave Smith scored our last goal against them in a 1-2 reversal down there. They beat us 1-0 at Leeds Road in our last top flight league meeting on the 11th of April 1972.

So what's going on down at the Ricoh? Managed nowadays by Mark Robins, the ex Town boss who's style of play bored us all shitless!

Bloke's a prick! That's all. Do feel free to add your own thoughts on his time with Town.

Last week's line up away at West Brom:

13 Ben Wilson
4 Michael Rose (the boat ashore, hallelujah!)
5 Kyle McFadzean
15 Dominic Hyam
20 Todd Kane
8 Jamie Allen
14 Ben Sheaf
38 Gustavo Hamer
18 Ian Maatsen
10 Callum O'Hare
17 Viktor Gyökeres

Subs:
1 Simon Moore
3 Jake Clarke-Salter
6 Liam Kelly
9 Martyn Waghorn
26 Jordan Shipley
27 Jake Bidwell
28 Josh Eccles





Coventry in popular culture: It is of course, most famous as a place where you send unpopular people to, a place where some lass rode on horseback with no clarts on and famous for getting the shit kicked out of by the Luftwaffe. We'll start there.

During the 2nd world war, Coventry was bombed several times, the fourth most bombed city behind London, Hull and Plymouth. But it was on the night of November 14th and the following morning that the most damage was done and consequently named the Coventry Blitz. Like most of the West Midlands, Coventry had factories making cars, bikes, engines and also munitions factories. Coventry Ordnance Works was one of the biggest and it's said that they turned out 25% of all British aircraft during the war. So it's fair to say they were a legitimate target.

However, the 14th of November raid is thought to be Hitler's revenge for the RAF's raid on Munich a week earlier, as the targets were not just industrial, but also civilian and the historic city centre, where the cathedral took a particular pounding. There were 515 German bombers from Luftwaffengruppenkommando 3 involved in what they were calling Operation Moonlight Sonata. The raid lasted for ten hours and in that time, only one of the buggers was shot down.

The cathedral was set alight by a wave of incendiary bombs at around 8pm and despite being put out by the volunteer firefighters, a second wave blazed out of control after the water mains had been burst by high explosive bombs. By the time the all clear was sounded at around 6 in the morning, it was destroyed, along with over 4,000 homes, around a third of the city's factories and another third badly damaged. Around 600 people died that night, but it wasn't the last raid on Coventry and by the end of the last one in 1942, over 1,200 people had lost their lives.

It was much later revealed that the boffins in Bletchley Park had intercepted messages warning of the 14/11/40 blitz, but Winston Churchill had denied Coventry sufficient air cover defences as he didn't want the Jerries to know that we had cracked their codes. A moral dilemma for the big man. Obviously keeping that a secret helped the Allies win the war, but at a high price for this particular city.

Lady Godiva, before becoming rhyming slang for a five pound note, was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman. She was married to the Earl of Mercia and he was the bloke responsible for imposing taxes on the local populace. The Lady was unimpressed by what hubby was charging the plebs and begged him to be more lenient with his tolls. The dirty old sod said he would do something about it only if she would get her kit off and ride through the streets of Coventry on horseback in the nuddy. Now the Lady was no shrinking violet and took him at his word and off she went, with only her own long hair to cover her embarrassments.

Anyway, the Earl commanded that the people stay at home on the day, using the slogan "Stay home - Curtains closed - No Peeping". A sort of 11th century lockdown. But like today, you can't always make people do what they don't want to do and so one young boy did actually peep. His name was Tom and this is where the name Peeping Tom originates from. The little tosspot immediately regretted it though. He was struck blind!

The origin of sending someone to Coventry as a form of ostracization could possibly come from the punishment given to young pervy Tom, though that doesn't seem likely. The old wives tale that something else young boys might do whilst gawping at naked chicks makes you go blind, probably originates from this nonsense though. No, sending someone to Coventry most probably came from the times of the Civil War when Coventry was a Parliamentary stronghold and the Royalist prisoners were sent there. Nobody knows for certain though.

Coventry City was mentioned in a Monty Python sketch. It was the Communist Quiz (World Forum) skit when an important looking current affairs programme with notable famous Communist leaders, turned out to be a General Knowledge quiz. The presenter (Eric Idle) tricked Che Guevara by asking the question; "Coventry City last won the FA Cup in what year?" It was of course a trick question as Coventry City have never won the FA Cup. This sketch later became outdated when Coventry City did win the FA Cup in 1987.

They also get a mention in the 2008 Christmas episode of Gavin and Stacey when Gav asks Stace why are they buying goalkeeper gloves for Nessa's Christmas present. She replies that she's thinking of taking it back up again and that she used to be goalkeeping coach at Coventry City and she is still good mates with Steve Ogrizovic.

Funny man Guz Khan is from Coventry and taught at Grace Academy before quitting to become a stand up. Actors Billie Whitelaw and Clive Owen, athletes Marlon Devonish and David Moorcroft and the England Test cricketer Ian Bell are Coventrians and the Welsh snooker player Dominic Dale was born there.

Singer Hazel O'Connor was born there, but the most famous birth in Coventry was the birth of the 2 Tone movement of the early 80s with bands such as The Specials and The Selecter at the forefront of the movement. Get your shades and your pork pie hat on and bop around your lap top to these two top Two Tone toons.

'ow to get theere an' wheere to sup: The post code for sat nav is CV6 6AQ and if you are going by car, there's a massive car park there, with several thousand spaces. Even better, it's just half a mile from junction 3 of the M6. You can book a space via www.glideparking.com/cbsarena.

If you're going on the train, that's pretty easy too. There's a station right next to the ground, named Coventry Arena.





Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 2-1 Barnsley
Boro 0-2 Town
Town 2-2 QPR
Town 2-0 Luton
Hull 0-1 Town
Town 0-3 Bournemouth

WBA 0-0 Coventry
Coventry 0-3 Bournemouth
Birmingham 2-4 Coventry
Fulham 1-3 Coventry
Forest 2-0 Coventry
Coventry 2-2 Blackburn

Town are 4th in the Championship table with 76 points. Coventry are 11th with 63.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Danny Ward (13)
Danel Sinani (6)
Duane Holmes (6)

Sky Blues:
Viktor Gyökeres (16)
Matt Godden (12)
Callum O'Hare (5)


April the 30th down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1910: Worsop Town (h) Midland League, WON 4-0 (Henry Hamilton 3, Joe Jee)
1921: Tottenham Hotspur (a) Div 1, lost 0-1
1924: Aston Villa (a) Div 1, lost 1-3 (Billy Smith)
1927: Bolton Wanderers (a) Div 1, lost 0-4
1928: Sheffield United (h) Div 1, lost 0-1
1932: Blackpool (a) Div 1, lost 0-2
1938: Preston North End (n) FA Cup Final, lost 0-1 (aet)
1949: Portsmouth (a) Div 1, lost 0-2
1955: Leicester City (h) Div 1, WON 3-1 (Jimmy Glazzard, Jimmy Watson 2)
1959: Rotherham United (a) Div 2, WON 1-0 (Les Massie)
1960: Sheffield United (a) Div 2, lost 0-2
1966: Carlisle United (a) Div 2, lost 0-2
1969: Blackburn Rovers (h) Div 2, WON 2-1 (Jimmy Nicholson, Colin Dobson)
1977: Rochdale (a) Div 4, drew 2-2 (Steve Baines, Bobby Campbell)
1979: Torquay United (h) Div 4, drew 1-1 (Peter Hart)
1983: Bristol Rovers (a) Div 3, lost 0-1
1985: Wimbledon (a) Div 2, WON 1-0 (Simon Webster)
1988: AFC Bournemouth (h) Div 2, lost 1-2 (David Cork)
1994: Blackpool (h) Division Two (3rd tier), WON 2-1 (Simon Baldry, Phil Starbuck)
2005: Swindon Town (h) League One (3rd tier), WON 4-0 (Pawel Abbott 2, Andy Booth, Rob Edwards)
2011: Brighton & Hove Albion (a) League One, WON 3-2 (Benik Afobe 2, Danny Ward)
2016: Bristol City (a) Championship, lost 0-4



Played 22, WON 8, drew 2, lost 12.

Lots to cover here, which I will bang on about for a few pages on the Daily Thread. We've got the 1938 FA Cup Final, the Final Whistle at Leeds Road in 1994, and the Final Whistle for Brighton at the Withdean in 1994.

Henry Hamilton, who scored in 1910, scored our first ever Football League goal in the following season. This was our last game in the Midland League and was only Henry's second game. In those two games, he scored five goals. He scored ten more in the next season and was sold to Southampton.

A strange quirk of whatever in the 1920s. We were the top team in the country throughout that decade. However we played four times on this date in that decade, but lost them all.

Coventry Anagrams: Some football related, some not.

1. Ron Bismark 
   
2. Chelsea Spit 
   
3. Every Gook Skirt 
   
4. Good Bubbly 
   
5. Jayne Lordship 
   
6. Choir 
   
7. Corgies Vote Viz 
   
8. Pop Meeting 
   
9. Hung Zak 
   
10. Bunni Dildo 
    

[ritchiebaby]

Neil Martin, who played for Coventry in the late 60s, was one of my earliest Hibs' heroes. A big, brawny centre forward who scored freely and became an obvious target for English clubs.

And Bobby Gould is Anagram No4.

[WakeyTerrier]

Ground Number 146 for me, the 129th I've seen Town play at and number 78 of the current 92.

Given that we are still in with a shout of 2nd spot we should play our best available team, come 5pm we can worry about what team we play the week after against Brizzle City

[jjamez]

1 mark robins

7 Steve ogrizovic

9 guz khan

---

3 Viktor gyokeres

[theo_luddite]

So they really are Singers when they are winning? 

There's me thinking Singers were sewing machines - or Tom Jones as an example

[ritchiebaby]

10 is Dion Dublin (view the property, read the legal pack)

[jjamez]

8 peeping Tom

[Lord Snooty]

Carlos:- "Before I start, I would like to send all our condolences to Daryl Hopson's family and friends. It's incredibly sad news for everyone involved with the Club."

"Sorba Thomas has a problem in the bone close to the knee, but the specialist has given us hope that even if he cannot play in the last two league games we still have a possibility to see about the Play-Offs.
It all depends how Sorba progresses in the next few weeks.
He can't play against Coventry City or Bristol City.
It's always important not to lose players, so to have the possibility of adding him to the squad again is something we want to try and do."

"If training goes well Danny Ward and Levi Colwill will be involved tomorrow. Josh Koroma couldn't train yet, and I have more doubts that he will be available for tomorrow."

"Matty Pearson's recovery has been positive. We need to go little by little with him, and we'll know probably a couple of days before the first Play-Off game if he can play a part."

"Danel Sinani is still injured and won't be able to play tomorrow, but we hope to have him back for the Bristol City game."

So reading between the lines, it sounds like we've seen the last of Sorba this season. And Pearson. Sinani possibly back for the semis. Koroma maybe for the final, if we get there.

[Lord Snooty]

Coventry now saying there will no pay on the day tomorrow.

[Lord Snooty]