'What a proud moment for this Midlands club. The Sky Blues are sky high.' John Motson,Wembley Stadium, May 16th 1987

Signed for £60,000 from Notts County in the summer of 1984, City’s FA Cup-winning captain, who turned 50 this week, made his debut with ‘Oggy’at Villa Park in a 1-0 defeat. After 213 appearances and 35 goals (18 penalties), Brian ‘Killer’ Kilcline was moved aside by the wise judgement of Terry Butcher, who made similar astute calls on Cyrille and Trevor Peake, as season 1991/92 commenced. Before he transferred to Oldham for £400,000 his parting gift to the West Terrace saw a trademark penalty and long range free-kick smashed past Palace’s Nigel Martyn in a 3-1 win. Richard Shaw, Andy Thorn and John Salako witnessed Kilcline’s last contribution at Highfield Road, a ground to which he would never return as a player.

His legendary penalty taking went largely under the radar having taken over duties from Stuart Pearce. In 1988/89 Neville Southall, Hans Segers, John Lukic and Norwich stand-in ‘keeper Mark Bowen cottoned on to the big man’s style and thwarted him, all at Highfield Road. Such is the character of the man he still scored four spot-kicks, even taking a second against Lukic to seal a win over Arsenal with minutes remaining. Kilcline’s misses only cost City one point yet compare this to Clingan, Juskiewicz and McSheffrey’s clangers as seven valuable points were thrown away. Throughout last season to give us any hope of survival chances had to be taken and these misses cost us dearly.

It wasn’t all glory for John Sillett’s men. In May 1985 City needed to win their last three games to survive. A Pearce penalty sank Stoke prior to Luton’s visit, as the clock reached 84 minutes City had to score, remain goal-less and they were down. As the ball broke to ‘Killer’ ten yards from goal the crowd held its collective breath before erupting as the ball flew into the corner of Les Sealey’s net. Adidas Gazelle’s, bleached jeans and wedged haircuts went ballistic behind the goal and would do so again three days later as City beat Everton 4-1 to survive.

City 0 Luton 0 with six minutes to go (forward to 1:30 mins)

Following his move to Oldham, 'Killer' headed north to lead Kevin Keegan's revolution at Newcastle before joining the battle for Premier League survival at Swindon Town during their one top flight season. He moved on to Mansfield, Halifax and Altrincham before retiring from the game in 1999. The memory of his time at City can be captured in one fabulous moment, what a player, what a leader, Brian Kilcline take a bow.

When 'Killer' went up to lift the FA Cup

League One countdown -  102 days to go - no sooner has the dust settled and Sammy Clingan has decided he can earn more elsewhere. Currently injured, prospective suitors will be eyeing his inability to complete a full season and his tendency to jump ship, just the three times, following relegation. Conor Thomas has the ability to pick a pass and is well capable of anchoring our midfield in his place. There is such a gulf between the two Sky Blues' captains featured in today's piece. One would have stayed to return the club to the second tier, the other should have stayed but has chosen to walk away.

Season 1988/89 - Part 1 of 3

Defeat to Manchester United in the final game of 2004/05 sent Harry Redknapp’s ‘Saints’ spiralling into the Championship. Seven seasons later their return is imminent having experienced administration, numerous managerial changes and a ten point deduction. Dovetail this with their subsequent relegation to the third tier, the death of their owner and life hasn’t always been as glorious as it must seem now for Matt Le Tissier’s only club. Life hasn’t always been about league titles for Sir Alex’s multi-millionaires either. Season 1988/89 saw John Sillett’s City side complete the league double over Manchester United and finish in seventh place. The men from Old Trafford finished in 11^th, four points behind City with no hint of the success to follow. Life hasn’t always been a struggle for our beloved Sky Blues, we’ve more than held our own against the best in the land and witnessed some great days and nights at Highfield Road.

December 1988 brought the ‘Red Devils’ to sixth placed Coventry four games prior to the Sutton United debacle. In the match day programme Trevor Peake revealed how after a treatment room visit Michael Gynn took Brian Kilcline’s trousers to the laundry ladies, unbeknown to ‘Killer’ who was still sat on the physio couch. Gynn then went home and left the cup winning captain sat there fuming waiting for the wash to finish. Five years prior, Terry Gibson’s hat-trick sank Liverpool 4-0 in front of 20,586 fans while ‘Coventry City Clubcall’ advertised its services with no call charges listed. It certainly wasn’t free as those of us who dialled it will testify. Granada Bingo ‘Hummel’ shirts were on sale for £12.99 in the club shop and you could purchase video recordings of City matches for the same price in either VHS or Betamax format.

United’s side comprised Mark Hughes, Brian McClair, Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce while seven of the FA Cup winning line-up took to the field for City. A closely fought contest was decided by a piece of magic from then record signing David Speedie whose clever turn deceived Mal Donaghy and his cross was powered past Jim Leighton by Big Cyrille (see clip and forward to 8:55 minutes).

Big Cyrille powers home a trademark winner

Unable to get to Villa Park in 2001 this was my first, and hopefully last, ‘live’ relegation. There was a disbelieving silence amongst the crowd, stood there quite simply unable to digest what had just become final and how lame the performance was against Doncaster. Eventually the playing squad resurfaced for the ‘lap of appreciation’ to more applause than they deserved. Compare this with the half-time response to George and John’s 1987 FA Cup winners and Mick Coop’s Youth Cup winners. When Forest were relegated in Brian Clough’s final season of 1993 he was asked why they had gone down by Martin Tyler. His response ‘because we’re not good enough’ can certainly be applied to our demise, not just this season but over the past 11 years. What Mr Clough did not have was a Bryan Richardson figure creating huge debt in search of glory and a SISU Capital taking on the losses, changing their game plan two years into their tenure and then stripping our magnificent club of its assets and dignity. I wonder if Mr Richardson was watching Sky Sports News on Saturday evening and saw the ‘R’ appear next to our name in the league table. I doubt whether SISU did either.