Middle row (l-r);
Front row (l-r);
By Jim Brown
Having had their nerves stretched to breaking point in 1983-84, the last thing supporters wanted was another relegation battle. Not only was that what they got, the battle pitched Coventry even closer to the brink of relegation. The circumstances of their eventual escape would cement the club’s status as the ‘Great Houdinis’ of the First Division.
Gould had shuffled the pack vigorously in the summer. Six players came in, Steve Ogrizovic (from Shrewsbury for £72,500), Brian Kilcline (from Notts County for £60,000) and Kirk Stephens, who arrived from Luton in exchange for Ashley Grimes. Three other players came on free transfers, Bob Latchford from Dutch club Breda, Martin Jol from West Brom, and Kenny Hibbitt from Wolves.
Six players left, Grimes and five others for small fees – Jacobs, Daly, Allardyce, John Hendrie and Avramovic.
The boardroom was no more stable than the dressing room, with Jersey-based (but Coventry-born) John Poynton taking over the chairmanship from Ian Jamieson. Jamieson’s one year reign will be remembered for bringing the club back to the supporters but what was missing was the risk capital to invest in new players. Poynton was prepared to invest some of the fortune he had made in the club.
A month into the season Gould appointed the Scot, Don Mackay, as his assistant, and by October the benefits of Poynton’s involvement began to be felt. Gould swooped for Peter Barnes (£65,000 from Leeds), Cyrille Regis (from West Brom for £300,000), and – a month later – midfielder Dave Bowman (from Hearts for £160,000). Regis and Barnes were former internationals, keen to rebuild careers. To the ultra critical supporters, such buys showed that City meant business.
On the field, however, things were not going well. Successive home defeats by Manchester United and Arsenal were followed by a humbling Milk Cup exit to Third Division Walsall. A lack of goals and an embarrassing inability to hold onto a lead had become major problems, and in November alone the defence shipped fourteen goals in four games. Hard-fought wins over Watford and Sheffield Wednesday were but glimpses of light in an ocean of gloom. By and large, City’s new players were performing no better than the old.
Spineless Christmas defeats at Leicester and Luton sealed Gould’s fate. At Filbert Street the irate manager strode on to the pitch during play, risking serious retribution from the FA. The calendar year 1984 had been a wretched twelve months for the Sky Blues, who had won only nine out of 42 games, and the buck stopped at Bobby Gould.
Don Mackay, took charge, with Frank Upton as his deputy, and without radically altering the side, did the trick. The defence stopped leaking goals and Terry Gibson kept scoring them. Five wins in eight games, including a headline-making victory at Old Trafford, ensured Mackay enjoyed his honeymoon period, but Easter brought him back to earth with a bump. A flu virus swept through the club, causing the postponeÂment of three matches. By the time the players were fit to resume, the team’s inactivity had seen them slide into the bottom three.
A home defeat by rivals Sunderland made matters worse. It was now a case of all hands on deck. City staggered through a tough closing programme, and after a goal-less draw at Ipswich the magÂnitude of the task confronting them was clear for all to see. Sunderland and Stoke were already relegated, leaving one other club to join them. Norwich had finished their programme with 49 points, eight more than City, who still had three games to play. Put simply, Coventry had to win all three of their final games to avoid the drop.
In the first game at Stoke it should have been easy: it was anything but. City scraped home 1-0, thanks to a Stuart Pearce penalty, and only survived when Ian Painter hit the underside of the bar with a penalty in the dying minutes. In the second game Luton came to Highfield Road and fought as if their lives depended on it. The points were settled by a thunderous volley from Kilcline, which flew into the net with just six minutes remaining. All now rested on the visit of Everton, who happened to be champions of England.
Everton would doubtless have preferred to be on holiday and were already incapacitated by injuries to several regulars – and had nothing to play for but pride. Roared on by a packed Highfield Road City attacked from the start and were 2-0 up after seventeen minutes. Everton rallied and scored one but Mackay’s team scored two more after the break to save their skins and send Norwich City down.
