skyblueinBaku
Well-Known Member
The Checkatrade Final win. MR said it was that game that started the Sky Blues' revival.
Coventry's most important/memorable games (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter MPC
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Calista
Well-Known Member
Got to include the Wolves game in 67.
You can make a case for any of the crazy relegation escapes, the Checkatrade and the playoffs etc. But even though it didn't completely decide anything (so wasn't "important" in that sense) 51,000 people inside Highfield Road was the absolute climax of the Jimmy Hill years, and beyond anything else I've seen apart from the 87 Cup Final.
Midlands Match of the Century
You can make a case for any of the crazy relegation escapes, the Checkatrade and the playoffs etc. But even though it didn't completely decide anything (so wasn't "important" in that sense) 51,000 people inside Highfield Road was the absolute climax of the Jimmy Hill years, and beyond anything else I've seen apart from the 87 Cup Final.
Midlands Match of the Century
Most important/defining...
87 Cup Final
77 vs Bristol City
97 Spurs
Sutton
either 1st win at Villa Park, or Notts County playoff semi
Most memorable, i imagine that is personal for all of us, but for me....
97 Spurs
1st win at Villa
Old Trafford Mifsud
Blackburn away 4-1
97 Man Utd 3-2
87 Cup Final
77 vs Bristol City
97 Spurs
Sutton
either 1st win at Villa Park, or Notts County playoff semi
Most memorable, i imagine that is personal for all of us, but for me....
97 Spurs
1st win at Villa
Old Trafford Mifsud
Blackburn away 4-1
97 Man Utd 3-2
Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
I genuinely have no recollection of Anton Robinson ?!
Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
Got a like for the use of midden (had to google for the definition, so thanks for exercising my brain!)
blunted
Well-Known Member
Losing to Kings Lynn. Meant we got Jimmy Hill.
Winning against Hitler. My dad said we were going up before the war intervened. Hitlers fault not ours.
Wolves at home 3-1 as I was on the pitch for the second time as a young whippersnapper (first was Sunderland in cup same season) Invading not playing.
Checkatrade trophy win as MR said that was the turning point.
Notts County away...on our way to Wemberley.
Winning against Hitler. My dad said we were going up before the war intervened. Hitlers fault not ours.
Wolves at home 3-1 as I was on the pitch for the second time as a young whippersnapper (first was Sunderland in cup same season) Invading not playing.
Checkatrade trophy win as MR said that was the turning point.
Notts County away...on our way to Wemberley.
mds
Well-Known Member
Important, any of the last day deciders, FA Cup win.
Memorable, really hard, there are so many for many different reasons.
Beating Liverpool, the then League Champions at home 1-0
Norwich 5-4
Notts County away in the play off semi
Liverpool again gibbos hatrick
3-2 Man Utd Huckerbys goal
Given, the only irishman who dosnt know where Dublin is.
League cup Semi v West Ham, Highfield road was fkin electric that night, huge crowd huge noise and a great comeback.
Memorable, really hard, there are so many for many different reasons.
Beating Liverpool, the then League Champions at home 1-0
Norwich 5-4
Notts County away in the play off semi
Liverpool again gibbos hatrick
3-2 Man Utd Huckerbys goal
Given, the only irishman who dosnt know where Dublin is.
League cup Semi v West Ham, Highfield road was fkin electric that night, huge crowd huge noise and a great comeback.
I had to look this up as i have absolutely no recollection of Notts C being in the top flight at that time, weird cause i normally have a pretty decent memory of these things. Saying that after looking it up Luton would of gone down on goal difference -33 to our -9
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
I don't get why the argument is Checkatrade or Notts County when it should be Checkatrade or Exeter.
Notts County away was brilliant but lose the final and we're still in L2.
Notts County away was brilliant but lose the final and we're still in L2.
You'll Never Beat McPake
Well-Known Member
Coventry 3 v Man Utd 2. That Huckerby goal
Calista
Well-Known Member
Most important games in history?
Ah, the Bury Affair. I still lose sleep over that one.
Flying Fokker
Well-Known Member
Permission to add 2-2 against Bristol Thursday Evening? 1976/77?
Flying Fokker
Well-Known Member
The Norwich game was full of penalties, disallowed goals, and atmosphere on a Boxing Day. The League Cup game against West Ham was special as well.
play_in_skyblue_stripes
Well-Known Member
Very difficult after a couple of beers. Purely on most important these are my initial thoughts
Whatever was the key game/moments that got us promoted to Division 1 (not necessarily at the Wolves game). The even older groupies can answer that one
Key games staying up in the first 2 years of division 1(I do remember the second season)
Not beating WBA in 77/78 season away and only drawing 3-3 which cost us UEFA place
Luton game back in 1985
Winning the FA cup
Losing to Sheffield United in FA cup in 98
Not sacking Strachan after loss at Bradford in late 2000
Winning last game at Highfield road
By all accounts that Mansfield draw in level 4
Notts County away in play off's
All the early wins back home this season have set us with a promising future
One thing for sure, Checkatrade is not one of these!. I've excluded lots of other really vital games, but please not the meaningless Checkatrade competition. The poor effort in 2nd leg at West Ham in league cup was bad news indeed at the time but would our wonderful win in 87 ever happened at all or in same fashion, maybe not.
Late inclusion, totally forgot to mention about Bristol City game in 76/77, we would never have had the brilliant 77/78 season without staying up that night.
Whatever was the key game/moments that got us promoted to Division 1 (not necessarily at the Wolves game). The even older groupies can answer that one
Key games staying up in the first 2 years of division 1(I do remember the second season)
Not beating WBA in 77/78 season away and only drawing 3-3 which cost us UEFA place
Luton game back in 1985
Winning the FA cup
Losing to Sheffield United in FA cup in 98
Not sacking Strachan after loss at Bradford in late 2000
Winning last game at Highfield road
By all accounts that Mansfield draw in level 4
Notts County away in play off's
All the early wins back home this season have set us with a promising future
One thing for sure, Checkatrade is not one of these!. I've excluded lots of other really vital games, but please not the meaningless Checkatrade competition. The poor effort in 2nd leg at West Ham in league cup was bad news indeed at the time but would our wonderful win in 87 ever happened at all or in same fashion, maybe not.
Late inclusion, totally forgot to mention about Bristol City game in 76/77, we would never have had the brilliant 77/78 season without staying up that night.
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Kilclines curly mullet
Well-Known Member
Mansfield away in league 2. Down to 10 men, JCH dives to win us a penalty to take a point back. Squeaky Robins.
That kickstarted the run to the playoffs that year
That kickstarted the run to the playoffs that year
grahamparsons68
Well-Known Member
I remember that evening. I was an 11 year old and got one of the Talbot balls they used to kick into the crowd before each game.
Great night and first away day visit!
Great night and first away day visit!
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Completely understand that but arguably the Notts C game was the greater catalyst for me.
MusicDating
Euro 2016 Prediction League Champion!!
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Deleted member 5849
Guest
Definitely important though. Potentially no league club without it, but also meant the main benefactor to the club was nobbled going forward.
Happy_Martian
Well-Known Member
Did you really have to do that ? After all this time, you still go and stir up so many confused memories ??
Yes, I was in the away end for that game. Yes, I had my radio tuned into Radio 5. And yes, I was one of several hundred who were telling supporters around me if we were safe or not. And it did not help that the bleepers in the Holte End kept cheering so we kept panicking that Luton had scored.
Never forgive them for putting us through that, the bleeping bleepers
Happy_Martian
Well-Known Member
Missed this comment and I have a funny and not oft-known factoid.
Coventry did indeed have Notts County to thank for saving our collective asses that day. Something that was not forgotten by the club the following season. While Cov couldn't openly thank Notts County, they did show their appreciation by given the ball boys new track suits. In black and white with yellow piping. At the time, Cov didn't have a black strip so this could only have been recognition of the save we were given.
MusicDating
Euro 2016 Prediction League Champion!!
Heh well after I went to the trouble of uploading the vid years ago figured I might as well get two extra viewsDid you really have to do that ? After all this time, you still go and stir up so many confused memories ??
Yes, I was in the away end for that game. Yes, I had my radio tuned into Radio 5. And yes, I was one of several hundred who were telling supporters around me if we were safe or not. And it did not help that the bleepers in the Holte End kept cheering so we kept panicking that Luton had scored.
Never forgive them for putting us through that, the bleeping bleepers
That whole day was horrible and was really flat afterwards as even though we'd stayed up, we'd played so poorly we barely deserved it (similar to the last day 0-0 v Leeds a few years later, though I was more preoccupied with not getting a slap on the pitch after that one).
And yes, if they'd actually been a Luton goal for each of the Villa end cheers, they'd have scored about 10!
COV
Well-Known Member
Heh well after I went to the trouble of uploading the vid years ago figured I might as well get two extra views
That whole day was horrible and was really flat afterwards as even though we'd stayed up, we'd played so poorly we barely deserved it (similar to the last day 0-0 v Leeds a few years later, though I was more preoccupied with not getting a slap on the pitch after that one).
And yes, if they'd actually been a Luton goal for each of the Villa end cheers, they'd have scored about 10!
You’re right, there was nothing to celebrate at all, it was an embarrassing way to stay up. Remember Don Howe not even making it to the dugout before we were one down, then after talking like he’d saved us from relegation. We had fans everywhere that day, some ended up running across the pitch out of the Holte after being sussed out- the entire day felt horrible.
There was a testimonial the following day, I think it may have been for Sillett? Beforehand Jim Twyneham announced us as ‘founder members of the Premier League’ and even that didn’t get much recognition- we didn’t deserve it and everyone knew it, plus capitulating at Villa was humiliating as well. It was a terrible end to the worst top flight season I remember (aside from when we went down obviously)
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Deleted member 9744
Guest
However was a terrible and really negative manager. As you say it was embarrassing to stay up playing like that, but I was so glad we did. I remember the atmosphere was really vitriolic as well, and until Notts County it seemed like a large group of Cov fans were intending to invade the pitch to hold up the game. One of the ugliest atmospheres I can remember at a Cov match.
Finham
Well-Known Member
Great call! We'd never won at Villa Park at that point, and Villa were 7th, so we weren't expected to get anything. Notts County were already relegated and had nothing to play for-seemingly easy pickings for Luton, who were every bit as good as us at last-day Houdini acts having pulled them off for the last 3 seasons and a few others. All the omens and vibes were that this was a bridge too far for our last-day survival specials.
We started, under that inspiring man-motivator Don Howe, really was spectacular, immediately literally stumbling to 1-0 down in the first 30 seconds from our spectacularly crap kick-off, to none other than Big Cyrille-whom Terry Butcher had given a free transfer to the previous summer. Regis bagged 11 league goals for Villa that season, which was more than he had scored for us in a season since 86/7 & just 3 less than he'd scored in his last 3 seasons here combined! Big Ron knew how to get the best out of him-better than Butcher, anyway.
He didn't exactly hold back celebrating that goal either, which hurt. Maybe it was aimed at Butcher.
Then when Luton took the lead and Dwight Yorke scored a second for Villa, to put things pretty much out of our hands...
It was torture as a kid listening to it on Mercia: after 18mins, I was in pieces, with us losing and Luton winning, we were going down-and it got even bleaker when Villa went 2-0 up. We were doomed.
Then out of nowhere, Rob Matthews scored for County and halfway through the second half, he got a second-so Luton went down instead of us!
Very much one of the most horrible days of football as a City fan-worse than our other last day escapes due to it being in no way thanks to our efforts. A bit like the Charlton game under Coleman.
I kept an eye on Rob Matthews' career after that and it's fair to say that game was the peak-he was lower-league rubbish, but he kept us up that day! It made me laugh when Luton later signed him in '95 and he failed to score a single goal for them. I always had a bit of a soft spot for County too after that.
Thanks for the link MusicDating!
There's a Trevor Peake interview on this one, which is more from the Luton viewpoint:
Plenty of connections that day as well as Regis: Peake (another '87 hero got rid of by Butcher, maybe a season too early) was Luton captain and David Pleat, his old Nuneaton Boro boss and of course Spurs '87 manager, was in his 2nd (poorer) spell at Luton. And future City goals-per-minute record-holder Mick Harford was in the Luton side.
Notts only had that 1 season in the top flight in the 90's having had back-to-back promotions. Derby then spunked record-breaking fees
on their best players (Tommy Johnson, Craig Short-record English fee for a defender at the time I think?), but still failed to get out of the 2nd tier with them.
As "sliding-doors" moments go, it's pretty much up there: we'd have missed out on the start of the Premier League and probably not had the
cash to get out of the second tier, where cash was already being flung by rich owners like Lionel Pickering and John Hall that we just did not have-we definitely wouldn't have had the 5-1 wins over Liverpool and 3-0 over Villa the following season, and I don't think Keegan would have let us have Quinn if we'd been second-tier promotion rivals to Newcastle.
As for Luton, it was their last top-flight game to date and they were in the bottom division less than a decade after and out of the league entirely by 2009-they've only really slightly recovered from that day in the past few years, and still not completely. Notts County haven't really recovered, either!
no_loyalty
Well-Known Member
Nah, it was always in the bag once we got through, we just don’t lose competitive games at Wembley
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
I see it as being the game that gave us the confidence/belief that we could do it, especially after the first leg and then having to go and do it away…and losing there the month or two before then.
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Deleted member 9744
Guest
So many turning points in that game too, and it could so easily have gone against us.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Which is true for the second half, but we were all over them in the first and should have had the game out of sight before they scored.
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Deleted member 9744
Guest
We were lucky to be honest. Some of those decisions could have gone against us
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
I think over the whole 2 legs it was just about deserved. No doubt about the final in any case.
Citysince47
Well-Known Member
probably the most important game in our history was the defeat in the FA Cup by Kings Lynn. If we had won, would Billy Frith have been sacked. No king Jim. Yep. definitely a vet important and memorable game in our history
Cov kid 55
Well-Known Member
For me, two standout games in my time following City : FA Cup Final 87; and the Midlands match of the century v Wolves ‘67. Some posters have mentioned the ‘61 Kings Lynn defeat as critical in ushering in the Jimmy Hill era. That’s a good call, the start of the ‘Sky Blue Revolution‘. That game was just before my time, but 20 years later, I played alongside a centre half called Mick Wright who, as a 19 year old scored the winner that day against City, as he played his 1,000th game for Lynn, against Runcorn in the NPL. He played well into his 40’s, and ended up playing 1,152 times for Kings Lynn. I was a littleawe struck, playing alongside the man who knocked my beloved Cov out of the FA Cup. They don’t make them like Mick Wright (RIP) anymore.
oscillatewildly
Well-Known Member
Never has a 0-0 felt like a victory.
Agreed on Highbury too - There were a couple of teenagers in our party that day (kids of a couple in our group) They were scoffing at the ground and one even suggested it was shit. i launched to it's defence and reprimanded them on their views, pointing out the art deco stands.
I clearly had a traditionalists old head on my shoulders even back then.