Coventry City FC (The Bantams, Sky Blues)

There have been a number of memorable days in the history of CCFC Those I recall include the FA Cup games in 1963 against Sunderland and Manchester United, the victory over Colchester United (George Hudson scoring at the Swan Lane end) to clinch promotion to the 2nd Division in 1964, the 51,000 crowd for the Wolves match in 1967 and the FA Cup Final in 1987 Not sure which game you are referring to

I am interested to read today about the last time a GB football team appeared in the Olympic Games - it was 1960, and reading down the list of players, one or two of whom I faintly remembered, there is one HUGH BARR - the same Hubert Barr signed by Jimmy Hill for the Sky Blues His wiki entry is here

There's a thread for the Sky Blues but not for the Bantams for us forumites old enough to remember the "good old days" before JH arrived And there's sad news today - not the best way to start the thread, I know - with a report on the passing of Eddy Brown : link He's one of the first players I remember at Highfield Road when my dad and grandad took me to watch football in Division III (South) There's an article here about him RIP Eddy

50 goals in 85 games for the Bantams.The man is a legend. RIP Eddy.

This is a programme cover from the days of Eddy Brown

Another former City player for you, Fred 'Cute Herbert'. Apparently they called him 'Cute' because of the way he played and was a prolific scorer of poached goals that were in the net before the opposing defence could stop him. He was born in 1898 in Bedworth and for all his early life lived in Coventry Road in the town. For twelve years from just before the First World War, Fred Herbert starred on the football field and scored many goals. After playing in the local works leagues he was signed by Birmingham City but was quickly transferred to the City where he played for much of the 1920s. After he finished playing he kept the Beehive pub in High Street, Bedworth until his death in 1945. This is a cartoon of 'Cute' drawn by Walter G. Cunningham, the cartoonist for The Coventry Standard.

Heritage, love the cartoon. He made 199 appearances and scored 86 goals for the Bantams, which remained a record until Clarrie Bourton came along. Interesting to note he also played for Exhall Colliery. My grandad had a blacksmiths business at Black Bank opposite the Colliery. Long before I was born mind you. Lol.

I've failed to add another, I will try one by itself. 'Cute' started his working life at the Daimler Company but left and got a job at Exhall Colliery. He was playing for Foxford United as a left winger and it was his turn of speed and accurate shooting that mainly led to the United winning the championship of the Coventry and North Warwickshlre League (Junior Division) in the 1913-1914 season without losing a game. "Cute' scored 54 of the 107 goals in the Foxford tally that season, with only three goals being scored against them. After two seasons with Foxford, scoring 81 goals, he transferred to Bedworth United, then in the old Affiliated League, which also turned out to be a star team. But it was when Exhall Colliery started a team that "Cute" became a marked man. In the 1921-22 season they carried everything before them, they won the Bedworth Nursing Cup, the Leamington Hospital Senior Cup and the Birmingham Junior Cup. It happened that Mr Slade, a Birmingham City director watched Exhall play Rowley Associates in the semi-final of the Birmingham Junior Cup at The Butts in Coventry. He had gone to watch Woodfield, the Exhall centre forward who had been getting a lot of goals, but it was 'Cute' who took the eye, scoring both goals in Exhall's 2-1 win. Afterwards 'Cute" was asked to sign for the 'Blues', which he did. A week or so later, not knowing that Cute had signed for Birmingham, Mr Evans the Coventry City manager turned up at Exhall Colliery, as 'Cute' came off shift, to sign him only to learn he was too late. However 'Cute' only played two trial games for Birmingham and although he scored three in each game, they agreed to transfer him to Highfield Road and the rest as they say is history. Another Bedworth lad in that City side was Jackie Randle who was born in Bedworth in August 1902. He joined Coventry City in 1922 after being spotted playing for Exhall Colliery. He made his debut on 27th August 1923 against Bradford City at Valley Parade in League Division 2. The Coventry City team on that day was Best, Winship, Randle, Alloy, McLachlan, Rowley, Dougall, Shea, Gittos, Wolfe, Wood. The match result was Bradford 0 Coventry 0

Sad to report the passing of Sky Blue favourite Ernie Machin Telegraph report As I recall, he wasn't everyone's cup of tea when he first came into the team, but Jimmy Hill stuck with him, and he made excellent progress until he suffered a bad injury, which meant that he never went on to reach the heights in the game he might have RIP Ernie

If I recall, Hugh Barr's nickname was Yogi

I'll second that. Happy memories of the team that Jimmy built. Sleep easy Ernie. Dream of THAT goal...

Gulp..... 5,400 at the Burton game the other night Lowest gate ever at the Ricoh.

My son and I went to the Crewe away game last Saturday and the gate was also 5,000+. Coventry fans outnumbered the home fans by some margin. Both sides were poor but I thought City were unlucky not to at least get a point given our second half share of the play. Realistically, it is Third Division football. We will not be able to turn things round till we own our ground and the rest of Coventry football fans support their own side instead of armchair supporting glamour clubs (or franchises, as their owners call them).

Not sure Mark Robins' appointment will make any difference? We need cash - even Ferguson would struggle!

A special "Legends Day" was held at the Ricoh Arena yesterday in tribute to Ernie Machin, and here's a photograph taken of the balloon tribute On the left of the photo is the special guest Dave Clements, who flew over from USA specially for the occasion A Memorial Service/Celebration for Ernie Machin will be held in Coventry Cathedral on Wednesday 3rd October 2012 commencing at 3pm, and all Sky Blue fans are invited to attend