15th August 1992 - a dip into the matchday programme of the Sky Blues v Boro'

Following a 2-0 defeat for City at Villa Park in the final game of 1991/92, Notts County's 2-1 victory over Luton condemned the 'Hatters' to relegation. The Sky Blues survived to become one of the inaugural members of the newly formed 'FA Premier League'. For the opening day visit of Lennie Lawrence's Middlesbrough the match day programme displayed new City manager Bobby Gould stood on the Highfield Road pitch with the Spion Kop over his shoulder.

At a cost of £1.20 the programme listed the referee as Howard King from Merthyr Tydfil with Uriah Rennie one of his linesmen. Inside the front cover 'Club Officials' were listed, 'Vice-Chairman' was Bryan Richardson while Graham Hover was 'Club Secretary'. Former players who worked for the club included George Curtis, Brian Roberts, Trevor Gould, Barry Powell and Ray Gooding.

 

On this landmark day for football Oggy wore the number one shirt as his back four comprised Terry Fleming, Kenny Sansom, Andy Pearce and Peter Atherton. Last season's 'Player of the Year' Stewart Robson anchored midfield with Lee Hurst while Michael Gynn and David Smith provided ammunition for Robert Rosario and new signing from Swansea City, John Williams. On the bench were new signing from Bradford City, Phil Babb, and the combative Sean Flynn.
 

The prize for winning the previous season's 'Lucky Programme Competition' was a Peugeot 106 while £1,000 was the weekly prize in the Sky Blue Executive Club. Managing Director George Curtis was pictured as he presented club historian Jim Brown with a cheque for the above amount. 'Bits 'n' Pieces' advertised Coventry City Clubcall at just 36p a minute while mascot for the day was nine year-old Luke McCormick from Wyken - Oggy was his favourite player.

Bobby Gould was pictured with Willie Boland and his family as he welcomed the 17 year-old from Limerick who signed professional forms while the spotlight feature was 24 year-old John Williams, the Rumbelows Sprint Challenge winner whose speed earned him the title of the 'Flying Postman' prior to his move from South Wales.

 

The previous summer had seen farewell to Dean Emerson, Kevin Drinkell, Don Howe, Paul Furlong and Clive Baker while Phil Neal became Gould's number two. Brian Roberts returned to the club as reserve team coach, goalkeeper Jonathan Gould signed from West Brom while also new to Highfield Road were Babb and Stuart Bowen.
 

Kit manufacturer Ribero advertised their range and used City stars as fashion models. Lloyd McGrath wore leisurewear while Andy Pearce and his Simon Cowell-esque jeans rivalled the shell suit of Peter Atherton.

Replica shirts cost £28.50 while the shell suit retailed at £65.00.

So what happened next?

City won their first match in the FA Premier League 2-1 with goals from John Williams and David Smith - Williams' strike after nine minutes second only to Brian Deane's opener for Sheffield United against Manchester United at Bramall Lane.

The Sky Blues won their first three matches and became the first outright leaders while Michael Gynn's missed penalty at Tottenham three days later was the Premier League's first failure from the spot.

Bobby Gould can now be heard regularly on 'Talksport' and writes his regular column in the Coventry Telegraph. Three months into the campaign he signed Mick Quinn for City and the rest is folklore.

Phil Neal went on to succeed Bobby Gould as City manager and signed Dion Dublin. He was replaced by Ron Atkinson early in 1995 and went on to manage Cardiff City before working in television and radio.

Uriah Rennie went on to become one of the most well known referees in the Premier League until he retired in 2009.

Bryan Richardson moved up to Chairman and spent the club's money as if it was his own - he was removed from his post as was Graham Hover in late 2001 and left City £60m in debt.

None of the 'Club Officials' listed are still with the club.

Coventry City Clubcall is no more while mascot Luke McCormick is currently Plymouth Argyle's goalkeeper.

Willie Boland went on to appear 72 times for the Sky Blues between 1993 and 1999. He also played for Cardiff City and Hartlepool with distinction, as he had done at Highfield Road.

John Williams appeared 86 times and scored 11 goals for City before he moved to Wycombe Wanderers soon after Big Ron arrived. In his second game for City he scored both goals at White Hart Lane in a 2-0 win.

Kit manufacturer Ribero provided kits for Norwich City and Brighton in the same era.

City remained (as we all know) in the elite division until May 2001, only Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and  Tottenham Hotspur have competed in every season from the original 22 teams.

Play up Sky Blues



 

"They shan't defeat us, we'll fight 'till the game is won..."

I've always stated we, as football supporters, have no control over anything the players and management do. We can't make a game changing substitution, we can't tell Steven Pressley who to pick, we can't affect change in any way for 90 plus minutes. What happens on the pitch is in the hands of our heroes and the gaffer, we're there to be entertained, to see the Sky Blues win and to witness an occasional glimpse of class.

These glimpses of class were regularly on show at Highfield Road, from Mark Hateley to Steve Hunt, Terry Gibson to Michael Gynn, Dave Bennett to Big Cyrille through to messrs Whelan, Huckerby and Dublin. Along with visiting stars like Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, David Rocastle, Ian Rush, Ian Wright and Bryan Robson there was quality on show each time you went to our former home of football. You knew the names of all the players who were numbered one to eleven, unlike the modern era. The players talked to the fans, even the manager signed an autograph, unlike now. A programme cost no more than £1 and you could park for free, unlike now.
 

Then it all went a bit wrong and after 34 years of top flight football we welcomed Grimsby Town and Burnley to CV6...and they went home with the points. Eric Black gave us four months of free flowing football as Bjarni Gudjonsson and Gary McSheffrey linked with the finally fit Julian Joachim to bring hope and optimism to City's faithful following. To quote modern day City journalist Kieran Crowley it was 'liquid football' - what a great phrase.
 

Then, Mike McGinnity's ambition got the better of him as he brought Peter Reid into the hot seat...only to call on the services of former favourite Micky Adams just six months later. Micky's City side began life at the Ricoh Arena and, with the introduction of Don Hutchison and Dennis Wise, oversaw an eighth place finish in May 2006.
 

Then, Gary McSheffrey was sold up the A45, not replaced and seasonal struggle became the norm....

SISU Capital and Ray Ranson rode into town and signed a wealth of talent as Keiren Westwood, Scott Dann and Danny Fox lit up the arena with fantastic shot stopping, the ability to defend and a repertoire of free kicks not seen since the days of Oggy, 'Killer' and Stuart Pearce.
 

Then, they were sold and a recurring theme again reared it's ugly head...
 

2012 saw relegation to the third tier as the best players continued to be sold, the inability to hang onto Marlon King a key factor in the demise of Andy Thorn's men as the battle with SISU began...
 

Then, we stopped talking about the football and the eleven men who took to the pitch every Saturday afternoon at 3pm. The ground share has torn Coventry City supporters apart from the club and each other. Last Saturday I witnessed one of the best City goals I've ever seen when Franck Moussa fired in his tremendous strike at Vale Park. For a few moments it provided over 3,000 supporters directly in line with him that glimpse of magic so rare nowadays. Looking back through the memories I can recall Don Hutchison's volley at Elland Road, Danny Fox at Norwich, Ritchie Partridge's Boxing Day strike versus Reading and Gary Mac's dipping volley against Derby. They remain in the memory as these glimpses are so few and far between, we've pined for a cult hero since Big Mo, we thought we had one with David McGoldrick but, he too, was allowed to go elsewhere. At Highfield Road genius was the norm, especially when Robbie Keane and his entertainers took to the stage.
 

The best memories for me down the years have come from night matches, especially those at Highfield Road. You always knew if City were attacking the West End in the second half any deficit could be overturned. There was something special about a ground we needlessly departed in search of individual greed and benefit. In its final season the wonderful theatre was filled just once but left a memory that we will never forget on that April day in glorious sunshine as Jimmy Hill led his rendition of the Sky Blue song.
 

Then, people got greedier and the beautiful game evolved into a business. Supporters, once valued and appreciated, are now the last thought as the money men focus on their investment, this in an era when the cost of following your team has never been higher and continues to soar.
 

Three years ago I wrote 'Coventry City On This Day', a calendar history of our wonderful football club, there is simply no finer club in the country but that's just my opinion. I began watching in 1979, many others go way back, what we all have in common is the desire for our club to return to its rightful place in the City of Coventry. Once the wrongs have been righted our club can get back to where it belongs and there will be no set of supporters more deserving than the Sky Blue Army.

Keep the faith