Second row (l-r); Maskill, L Cooper (Director), Tom Storey, Harry Campling, Andy York, Harris, Fred McLachlan, Teddy Winship, WJ Harris (Director), GW Slade (Director)
Third row (l-r); H Lake (Trainer), GH Hayes (Director), Tom Wolfe, Foster, John Gittos, Norman Findlay, Joey Jones, Jerry Best, Fred Herbert, Joe Rowley, AJ Evans (Team Manager), A Bell (Trainer), G Ashfield (Groundsman)
Seated (l-r); Jimmy Thompson, George Allon, Jimmy Lawrence, TR Proles (Chairman), Danny Shea (captain), Hugh Richmond, Alan Wood, Alec Mercer, Jack Dennison
Front (l-r); Jimmy Dougall, Jackie Randle
By Jim Brown
The 1923-24 season followed a similar pattern to the previous four seasons in the Second Division for Coventry City. There was lots of optimism at the start of the season with new signings Fred McLachlan and the veteran forward Danny Shea. Shea, aged 35, had played for England before the Great War and his arrival from Fulham generated a lot of interest. His speed was gone but he had a wonderful football brain and thrilled the crowd with his deft touches and goal assists. An opening day home defeat in front of 20,000 against Barnsley was followed by a nine-game unbeaten run, which came to an end with a bump at Blackpool, City losing 0-5.
After the promising start wins were few and far between but the team were always able to turn on the form for the big occasion. They beat both promoted sides, Leeds and Bury, at home, the Leeds game attracting a paltry 6,000 on a Monday afternoon in March. They also hammered Sheffield Wednesday 5-1 and their two away wins came at high-flying Southampton and at Old Trafford. United, relegated from Division 1 two seasons previously, were having their worst season ever and less than 10,000 watched the game in the massive 70,000 capacity stadium.
The star of the season was defender Hugh Richmond. Nicknamed ‘Rubberneck’ because of his prodigious heading ability, Richmond was switched to play up front after the failure of new signings Gittos and Wolfe. He scored 11 goals in 15 games, including a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Nelson, one short of top scorer Frank Herbert.
The arrival in January of forward Albert Pynegar, enabled Richmond to revert to defence and Pynegar, signed from Leicester notched 9 goals in 15 games but had little support in goalscoring terms. The season ended at Bury where the Shakers got their revenge by hitting the Bantams for five to clinch their promotion to the top division.
There was another exit at the first hurdle from the FA Cup against a lower status team, this time Tranmere Rovers from the Third Division North who held City to a 2-2 draw at Highfield Road and won the replay 3-2 after extra time.
A new programme was introduced and attracted compliments. The Coventry Standard liked the new publication: ‘The City Football Club is to be complimented on its official weekly organ. A new cover has been designed; its principal feature is a depiction of the three tall spires, drawn with a great deal more accuracy than is often the case, for the flying buttresses of the Cathedral steeple and the octagonal shape of the Christ Church tower are shown. Above are the City Arms, and the whole is printed in the City colours – red and green. The contents are well suited to the purpose of the publication; all the writers put football on a high plane, some excellent advice to spectators and players is tendered, and most of the paragraphs are written in a style which is both pointed and breezy. People who do not care for football one bit may read the official organ and be interested in it.’
Attendances slipped again with an average home crowd of 13,064, a sign that City fans were frustrated at the lack of progress at the club. As the season ended there was trouble brewing again in the boardroom and manager Evans was also under pressure.
