Coventry City finished their thirtieth season in the top flight in 17th position with 41 points, three more than last season. Goals were hard to come by, especially at home where 19 of the total of 38 were scored. This was only one more than the worst ever home season, 1991-92 when only 35 goals were scored in total under Terry Butcher and Don Howe. Last seasons final flourish of 11 points from the last six games was thankfully emulated and was last bettered in the promotion season of 1967. The high point of the season was the four wins in a row in December, the best run of wins since 1987. The low point was the ten games without a win between beating Leeds in September and beating Newcastle in December. Six successive League draws in October/November was a new club record. Four home League wins was the lowest City total ever beating the five in 1927-28 and equalled the lowest Premier League total ever set by Swindon in 1993-94. On the bright side eight away wins (five League, three Cup) was the best since 1987-88.
Top scorer was Dion Dublin with 13 goals, all in the League, with Noel Whelan the second highest with 8 (6 League, 2 Cup). It was the third season running that Dion has topped the list and he has now scored 40 League and 5 Cup goals for City which places him sixth in the list of City’s goalscorers since they won promotion in 1967. City finally won a League game without Dion when they won at Forest at the fifteenth attempt over three seasons. Seven other City players scored goals with four opponents netting (Neil Cox, Steve Staunton, Marc Reiper and Steve Foster of Woking in the Cup). Two City players scored in their own net – Gary Breen and Eoin Jess in the same game at Old Trafford, the first time that has happened since Craven & Dugdale did it at Newcastle in 1974.
No City player scored a hatrick and Kevin Campbell was the only opponent to score a hatrick in Forest’s 3-0 win at Highfield Road in August. Ravanelli, Junihno, Chris Sutton and John Hartson all scored two goals in a game v City. The fastest goals of the season were Dion Dublin’s at home to Arsenal, timed at two minutes and Tim Sherwood’s for Blackburn in the FA Cup in 49 seconds. In addition Andy Couzens scored for Leeds after 57 seconds in the home game in September. Alan Shearer managed only one goal against City, his eleventh in total, but it took him closer to Ian Rush and Tony Cottee’s record 14 goals against City.
City were awarded three penalties and Gary McAllister scored all three, at Leeds, at home to Middlesbrough and at home to Derby. They conceded seven, of which five were scored, (Stuart (Everton), Asanovic(Derby), Agnew(Sunderland), Beardsley(Newcastle) and Wright(Arsenal)), and two were saved by Oggy, (Kelly(Leeds) and Sutton (Blackburn).
City set a new club record for sending off’s- six players were sent off, five in the Premier League (sharing top spot with Arsenal) plus Daish in the Coca Cola Cup. The other guilty men were, Daish (Chelsea, away), Dublin twice (Sunderland, home and Blackburn, away), Borrows (Newcastle, away) and Whelan (Leeds, away). Ironically no opponents were sent off against City and they finished with only 45 bookings, the third lowest in the Premier League. Brian Borrows was the first City substitute ever sent off.
In total City used 25 players, one less than last season, and seven more Shilton, Prenderville, Willis, Goodwin, Costello, McMenamin and Eustace sat on the bench but were never used. For the first time in almost ten years City had two ever presents, Oggy and McAllister playing in all 46 competitive games. The club’s last ever present was Borrows in 1989-90. Oggy made his 544th first team appearance against Middlesbrough at Christmas overtaking George Curtis’ club record. By the end of the season he had amassed 478 League appearances, nine short of Curtis’ record. Brian Borrows made his 400th League appearance for the club when he came on as a substitute against Sunderland on New Years Day and by the seasons end he had reached 409 League and 68 Cup, only 11 appearances behind third placed Mick Coop in the all time Coventry appearance list.
Oggy was the first City keeper to be replaced by a substitute keeper in a League game when he was stretchered off at Highbury in November and replaced for six minutes by John Filan. The last time Oggy was unable to finish a League game was at Millwall in 1989 when David Speedie played in goal for 45 minutes.
John Salako became the first ever City substitute to be substituted when he was withdrawn after 24 minutes of the second half in the home game with Leicester. Peter Ndlovu made 10 substitute League appearances during the season taking his total of sub appearances to 36 and breaking Michael Gynn’s record of 35.
City’s crowds were up again with a total of 372,875 watching City’s 19 League games, an average of 19,625, up 6% on last season and the highest average since 1978-79 when 22,693 was the average. The biggest crowd of the season was 23,325 for the Busst testimonial against Man United. United attracted the biggest League crowd, 23,080, followed closely by the games v Liverpool (22,949), Derby (22,839) and West Ham (22,290). The Liverpool game set new record receipts of £303,000. Away from home the largest crowd was predictably at Old Trafford and the newly enlarged ground allowed an attendance of 55,230, the largest League crowd to watch City since 1977. The smallest crowds both home and away were against Wimbledon, 15,266 watched the home game and 10,307 the game at Selhurst Park, although a crowd of 6,000 watched the FA Cup replay at Woking, the lowest FA Cup attendance to watch City since 1932.
City’s biggest win was 3-0 against Middlesbrough on December 28 and their biggest defeat was 0-4, the result suffered at Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Newcastle. The 0-3 reverse at home to Forest was the biggest home defeat on the opening day since 1919 when Spurs won 5-0. Benfica had set the tone for the season the week before by winning 7-2 in a friendly, the most goals conceded by City at home since 1964 when Leicester knocked them out of the League Cup 8-1. City achieved the double against Leeds but three teams( Aston Villa, Derby and Man United) did the double against them.
City finally got the knack of coming from behind. In September they came from 0-1 behind to beat Leeds 2-1, the first time they had achieved the feat at home since August 1993. They then repeated the feat at Blackburn in the FA Cup, at Anfield in injury time and at home to Chelsea when they ran out 3-1 winners.
The recent dismal Cup record was improved on slightly with a trip to the fifth round for the first time since Cup Final year and the win at Ewood was the first over a top flight team since the Final that year. Sadly our hopes were dashed at Derby where City lost a 2-0 lead for the first time since 1983 and crashed out. The same happened in the Coca Cola Cup where a 2-0 lead at Gillingham was pulled back by the Nationwide Division Two side who then proceeded to deliver the knockout blow at Highfield Road in Strachan’s first match in charge.
City featured on Sky TV four times and each game was a 1-1 draw. Home games with Southampton, Wimbledon and Arsenal, and one away game at Everton. City have not won a live Sky match since they beat Ipswich in 1994-95.
On the international scene City had three full internationals, Gary McAllister played six times for Scotland, the last game being his 50th cap, Gary Breen won one cap for the Republic of Ireland and Michael O’Neill won two caps for Northern Ireland. O’Neil was the first City player to play for Northern Ireland since Dave Clements in 1971. Huckerby and Hall both appeared for England Under 21 while Willie Boland played for the Republic’s Under 21 side and Barry Quinn and John Andrews appeared for the Republic’s Under 18 team.
In the Leicester home game a new club record was created when seven internationals appeared for City during the match. McAllister was joined by his Scottish teammate Jess, England’s Kevin Richardson and John Salako, Ireland’s Breen, Ukraine’s Evtushok and Zimbabwe’s Ndlovu.
Oggy swept the board with the player of the year awards and walked away with most Coventry Evening Telegraph Man Of the Match awards. He won the vote nine times, Paul Williams was second with six, Huckerby and McAllister won five each and Dublin and Richardson four each.
Finally sad farewells to many former City players and officials who passed away in the last twelve months. Among them are Billy Frith, Bob Dennison, Frank Kletzenbauer, Mick O’Brien, Bill Owen, Brian Alderson, John Craven, Ken Wilmot, Les Cook, Alf Bentley, Jimmy Rogers, Don Dorman, Paddy Ryan and Tommy Dougall.
By Jim Brown
Having survived yet another close shave, the Sky Blues management were adamant that there would be no repeat. During the summer they pulled off the biggest signing in the club’s history, not only for the size of the fee – £3 million – but for the profile of the man. Gary McAllister, captain of Leeds and Scotland, would not have joined were it not for the persuasive skills of Ron Atkinson and Gordon Strachan, and the fans greeted his arrival rapturously. Sadly, McAllister did not live up to the hype.
Other signings were Belgian international full-back Regis Genaux from Standard Liege for £1 million, and Northern Ireland international winger Michael O’Neill from Hibernian for £500,000. Genaux was injured early on and stayed only a few months before moving to Udinese. O’Neill was subbed after 45 minutes of his debut and never appeared again this season.
The signs were ominous from the start as Forest won 3-0 at HighÂfield Road, a rare victory in a miserable season for Frank Clark’s team.
Ron Atkinson had boldly declared the previous season that if only City could stay up they would go places in 1996-97. But when November arrived with the Sky Blues having only one win under their belts, the only place they were going was ‘down’. Before crisis turned to tragedy, and following a draw at Everton, Atkinson stepped ‘upstairs’ to take up a new role as Director of Football, handing over to Strachan. Big Ron’s overall record at City, having spent close on £17 million on new players, showed just fourteen wins from 64 games, and readers can draw their own conclusions.
Strachan’s first match ended in defeat to GillingÂham in the Coca-Cola Cup and his response was typically forthright: ‘if players listen and play to the standards I require then they should be all right. If not there will have to be changes. It’s up to the players!’ The players responded with a fighting comeback to draw at Wimbledon, only to lose their next three games. At this point Strachan appointed fellow Scot Alex Miller as his assistant. Darren Huckerby, a refugee from Newcastle’s reserve team, was signed for a £1 million fee, and the circumÂstance of facing his former club was tailor-made for him. City started the game in bottom place, but Huckerby netted and Strachan got his first win. With Dion Dublin playing in defence City won their next three games, earning Strachan the manager of the month award.
Now up to twelfth, City’s visit to Blackburn should have held no fears. Strachan restored Dublin to his attacking slot after his sending off against Sunderland, but Dion suffered the ignominy of another red card for a dreadful challenge on Henning Berg. It meant Dublin would miss seven matches.
City prospered in the FA Cup without him, though they needed a replay to overcome plucky Woking, but won only one of the four league games that Dublin missed. With Daish injured Strachan splashed out £2.5 million for Birmingham’s Gary Breen and £800,000 for Ukrainian Alex Evtushok as cover.
An impressive win at Ewood Park set up an FA Cup Fifth Round tie at Derby. Two early goals seemed to have secured a quarter-final place, only for the Rams to hit back and snatch a late winner. In the league City hit rock bottom in February and March. As April began, bottom-of-the-table City faced a trip to Liverpool, who were hoping to go top.
In a painfully one-sided game. City were overÂwhelmed but somehow won, courtesy of keeper David James’ phobia of crosses. Whelan netted from McAllister’s corner-kick, and Dublin repeated the medicine in injury-time.
For the third season running Strachan donned his boots, helping City to a stirring three points against FA Cup semi-finalists Chelsea and a win over Derby in the final home game would secure City’s safety. But they blew it, and with all their relegation rivals winning it left them below the safety line, needing not only to win their last match at Tottenham but praying that both Middlesbrough and Sunderland tripped up. City were closer to the precipice than ever before, carrying their fate to the last match for the tenth time in thirty years in the top flight.
The tension of the occasion was magnified by echoes of the past. Kick-off for the last day of the Premiership was 4 pm on Sunday, but traffic problems on the M1, which appeared to be clogged with Coventry supporters, necessitated a delay at White Hart Lane of fifteen minutes.
It was clear from the opening exchanges that City were ‘up for it’ and goals by Dublin and Paul Williams gave City a 2-0 lead after 39 minutes. Spurs pulled one back just before half-time and the second half was unbearably tense for 4,500 fraught City fans. With a quarter of an hour to play, the other results staggered in. Middlesbrough had only drawn at Leeds; they were down. After a seemingly intermiÂnable wait, it was announced that Sunderland had lost at WimbleÂdon. Now all City had to do was to hold on to their 2-1 advantage.
Inevitably, City funneled back to protect their lead. Fenn’s header for Spurs looked goal-bound, but Ogrizovic was equal to it. Was there ever a longer fifteen minutes in the history of Coventry City? When the final whistle blew on the Sky Blues’ ‘Great Escape’, there were tears amid the explosion of relief.
