Coventry City FC (The Bantams, Sky Blues)

Tony Mowbray up next!

Cheap, available, but a loser. Club showing no drive employing a manager who is clearly out of his depth in club management. They should have taken a punt on Dennis Wise.

It's a bit premature to write him off so soon. He has had a bit of success at West Bromwich in the past. It doesn't show much good faith if he only has a 2 month contract. It means that if we are relegated he won't be offered another contract. And if we stay up, he will probably get a better job elsewhere. I suppose that, like most of the players he is on a sort of short term loan.

I agree with MisterD-Di although many, many people effectively support their club without ever seeing them play live. Having said that, there is nothing like actually being at a game to see what a team and also actually what football is all about. Even watching them on the TV loses much of the immediacy and interaction of actually being there. Yesterday we went to see Coventry City play Fleetwood Town at Highbury. What a match it was, totally engrossing with both teams showing high levels of skill and teamwork and playing exciting football. Nothing shambolic was going on, in fact Coventry to my mind definitely edged it as the best team on the pitch even though Fleetwood were nudging the playoff places, and Coventry around the relegation zone. Coventry deservedly scored twice in front of their own crowd, hundreds of fans who had made the long trip north on a misty Tuesday night, and took the win which lifted them out of the drop zone. Coventry City are where they currently are for a number of reasons, but what I saw last night was a team trying hard to win in front of their fans and carrying the Coventry City badge proudly. That made me proud.

Thanks David, nice to read your post and hear how the City faired. Good news for a change.

RIP Kalamazoo

Hi all It still rattles on At present, & without intervention, the football club, cannot afford the paint to paint lines.

Far be it from me to be optimistic about Coventry City, but things can change quickly in football, for the better as well as worse (though with or owners not likely!) At the turn of the century Manchester City were in the same league we're in now while their neighbours were European champions. Who'd have thought Bournemouth would be in with a chance of top flight football? Even if we don't improve, Villa have been on a downward spiral for a few years and aren't looking likely to pull themselves out of it. Even if they stay up I can foresee them continuing to struggle and underperforming (which TBH is nice as they finally get to experience what it was like for us!). Birmingham could end up in freefall as their owners are even dodgier than ours, WBA and Leicester aren't looking fantastic either, while Wolves are up and down more than a kangaroo on a pogo stick on a trampoline - you've no idea what they'll do.

I see the SISU mantra of "If in doubt take someone to court" still holds. Perhaps if they'd tried running the football club properly, instead of looking for people to do over and then blame when they stand up for themselves, maybe they could've had ownership of the Ricoh less than a year after taking over....? How come we get all this rhetoric about kicking bullies out of the classroom but not out of the boardroom? (And why is it I now can't hear or see the word rhetoric without immediately thinking of Leanne Wood?

Sad to read of the passing of Ernie Hannigan in Australia yesterday at the age of 72

My father was a lifelong supporter of the club born in 1905 told me that Herbert got the nickname 'Cute' because he scored many goals from an acute angle cutting in from the wing. He would also mention 'Plumb' Warner no doubt of a different era and explain that his nickname came from his accuracy with the ball. To quote from my next book, yet to be published: The team started life as works club, Singer F C and played on land close to Britannia Street at some point in their early history, Dad often reiterated to me that the building at the back of the Binley Oak pub, which in my early manhood was the home of Coventry Folk Club, had once been the football club's dressing room. I've not been able to confirm this, any ideas?

My information is that Leslie Warner, who was with CCFC from 1937 to 1954, was nicknamed 'Plum' after the England test cricketer Sir Pelham Warner who was known as 'Plum'. As for the location of the ground, Singers moved to Stoke Road in 1887 from Dowell's Field, off Binley Road. The new ground was between Britannia Street, Wren Street, Mowbray Street and Swan Lane. The Binley Oak was close by and was apparently the club's headquarters around that time. The move to nearby Highfield Road was in 1899. I'm sure club historians can give you further information if required.

I'm amazed at the information this forum finds. I was about to ask when the Bantams changed to Sky Blues, now this thread has come to light - for me you have given me the answer. I suppose it was the winter of 1934 that I first watched the Bantams from what we called the bottom end. We kids were always allowed to the front by the grown ups in those days. I clearly remember it was a solid wall about three foot high and about three feet from the back of the net, there was plenty of banter between the opposing goalkeeper and the crowd in joyful mood, never did I hear one bad remark, and never was anything thrown on to the pitch. And never saw any trouble before or after a game. I was always under the impression that the 'old five' came about because of Clarrie Bourton - he was my hero, along with everyone else in Coventry at the time. I can't remember when he joined the Bantams, I believe 38-9 season was the last time I saw the Bantams and probably Bourton and Alf Wood. Sometimes I wonder how the modern player would fare with the panelled and laced ball of the old days. PS. Was there a Billy Lake?

Plenty to go at there, Kaga. The origin of the 'Sky Blues' nickname to replace the 'Bantams' is well documented. City changed to a sky blue kit prior to the 1962-3 season, Jimmy Hill's first full season. The nickname was actually coined by the Coventry Evening Telegraph's reporter, Derek Henderson, then known as 'Nemo', and it stuck. City had actually worn sky blue kits in various forms at times in the early days before WW1. Clarrie Bourton had left before the 1938-9 season, joining Plymouth in October 1937. He had struggled in Div.2 after promotion in 1936. Alf Wood only played twice for City before WW2, once in 1937-8 and once in 1938-9. He played in wartime competitions but only became a League regular when it resumed in 1946, by which time he was 31. He played his last game in 1958. Billy Lake played for City from 1928 to 1939 and for a few seasons was a regular goalscorer, netting 123 times in 245 games. For much of that time he was overshadowed by the prolific Bourton but he is still City's second highest scorer in history behind Bourton.

Thank you, Mister D-Di, that really answered my questions. It seems strange to me that in the day it would take months to find out things, yet today you can find out things in a flash. Shanks I presume was the owner of the Wood yard in those days. I can still see myself getting off the tram with my dad or uncles at Red House and cutting across to Highfield Road to watch the Bantams. That brings to mind, wasn't there a metal bantam on one of the stands, left-hand corner, Gosford Green end?