First ever CCFC memories ? (2 Viewers)

Pete in Portugal · Apr 13, 2020

Evening match on Tuesday 17th September 1963 v Crewe. We won 5-1.

Ken Hale
George Hudson
George Hudson
Ernie Machin
own goal

Bob Wesson
Brian Hill
Mick Kearns
George Curtis
John Sillett
Ernie Machin
Ron Farmer
Willy Humphries
George Hudson
Ronnie Rees
Ken Hale

Magwitch · Apr 13, 2020

Pete in Portugal said:
Evening match on Tuesday 17th September 1963 v Crewe. We won 5-1.

Ken Hale
George Hudson
George Hudson
Ernie Machin
own goal

Bob Wesson
Brian Hill
Mick Kearns
George Curtis
John Sillett
Ernie Machin
Ron Farmer
Willy Humphries
George Hudson
Ronnie Rees
Ken Hale

Amazingly six of those players went on to play top flight football for us

DazzleTommyDazzle · Apr 13, 2020

Leamington Pete said:
December ‘77. People think that amazing game was on Boxing Day, but it was actually on the 27th. We’d drawn 1-1 at Villa the day before!

The game Graham Oakey was injured in.

DazzleTommyDazzle · Apr 13, 2020

Was born and brought up in Shropshire, but Dad came from Coventry and supported them (taken to his first game when he was 18 months old) so there was only ever one team for me.
The first game I can remember (though he said I'd been taken to others before) was home to Leeds in '69 (I think). We lost 2-1 to a very strong Leeds team. One of my first heroes, Ernie Hunt, got our goal.

Legia Sky Blue · Apr 13, 2020

My first game was as an evening game against Arsenal in August 1972. I remember entering the stadium where the image of the floodlights, the green grass and noise of the crowd immediately won me over. I don't remember the actual game particularly other than it finished 1-1. The 11v11.com site is a treasure trove of information for things like this, which shows the teams were Cov - Glazier, Coop, Blockley, Barry, Cattlin, Mortimer, Machin, Carr, Smith, Graham, Hunt. Arsenal's team was Barnett, Rice, McLintock, Simpson, McNab, Armstrong, Ball, Storey, Graham, Radford, Kennedy. Arsenal had won all 3 games at the start of the season before this, so it was a creditable result. Bobby Graham scored for us and Pat Rice scored Arsenal's goal. Not long after, Blockley was sold to Arsenal and we signed Hutchison and Stein.

I then went to quite a few games after, that season. Every team seemed to have a big name. Malcolm MacDonald scored a hat trick against us for Newcastle, and John Richards score the winner for Wolves, but I remember the player I was most excited to see was Gordon Banks for Stoke. The 1966 World Cup still loomed large over English football at that time so seeing one of those players live (as I had Alan Ball in my first match) was huge to me. Of course not long after Banks had a car accident and had to retire, so this turned out to be the only time i could have seen him play, in a competitive match anyway(he also played in Bill Glazier's testimonial match).

COVKIDSNEVERQUIT · Apr 13, 2020

Can't remember who we played, only 7 years old, all I can remember is, it was away from home, we won and we played in Sky Blue must have been just after Jimmy Hill became the manager.

Johhny Blue · Apr 14, 2020

bob87wright said:
My longest friend Julian and I first went to Highfield Road circa 63/64 and our Dad’s made us wooden steps about eight inches high which were painted Sky Blue. They were well made and pretty heavy. Yet we carried them all the way from Cheylesmore to Highfield Road cutting across by the London Road cemetry. Can you imagine these days being allowed to take such heavy potential weapons into a ground?! This all stopped a couple of years later when we were taller and taking such things was certainly not cool!

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My Uncle made me a stool that folded up like a briefcase (Sky Blue of course). Probably weighed about 10 lbs. I do remember a few goals where I was swept off it and had to go back a few steps to find it again.

1940oldfive · Apr 15, 2020

cc84cov said:
What’s everyone’s first ever match ?

Never forget my first game my dad took me to highfield road in the M&B family stand might have been McDonalds stand was one of them but I remember walking up the stairs thinking look how big that pitch is,we had the stripe kit with the bright yellow sponsor.

Never forget we had a player at the back who held his arms out holding the line with a full curly head of hair,that man was called Brian Kilckline.

great times

looks like you are all chickens, or am I just getting bloody old? can't remember first game sometime in early 50's prior to concker signing. Lol Harvey was a full back Roy Kirk centre half and I believe Alf Wood had come out of retirement to help after regular keeper was injured

1940oldfive · Apr 15, 2020

capel & collindridge said:
There was Steve "Kalamazoo" Mokone. He played four games for City between 1955 and 1957 according to Wikipedia, scoring once. He was very skillful but the pitch and heavy leather ball probably didn't help him much in wet conditions. Our family thought he should have been played more often. I remember he scored a goal. I think he also sticks in my mind because our family moved to Cardiff in 1959 when I was 12 and shortly afterward Steve Mokone signed for Cardiff City. After two successful seasons in Holland his second spell in the UK was also a bit of a let down. Just as when he had been at City, there were those in the crowd who thought he wasn't physical enough and gave him the bird. But many fans enjoyed his skills. I think I saw him play three times for Coventry and once for Cardiff.

He was a history maker:
"Stephen Madi MokoneOIG (23 March 1932 – 19 March 2015) was a South African footballer who was the first black South African player to play in a professional European league." (from Wikipedia)

Interesting that Coventry were sometimes trailblazers even before Jimmy Hill arrived.

As for my first game, I think it was 1952 or 1953. Not sure who it was against. Leyton Orient, Millwall or Bristol City perhaps. My favourite player in those early days was Ray Sambrook, our left winger. I was over the moon when he played a blinder in a pre-season friendly in 1957. I couldn't remember the year, but just looked it up. He had been brilliant the previous season in the old Third Division (South) and I was looking forward to watching him in the 57-58 season. it turned out to be one of my early Coventry City disappointments. Many were still to come. But after my delight as he took First Division Manchester City to pieces in the pre-season friendly which we won 3-1 with two goals from Sambrook, I was shattered to find out that he had played too well. He was signed by Man City shortly afterwards, played 62 games for them in the next 5 years and scored 13 goals. And I didn't get to see him play again. Once we got Willie Humphries and Ronnie Rees I stopped minding.

We didn't have a car, so we may have caught a No 2 bus from Cheylesmore and walked from the city centre. But,more likely, the whole family may just have walked along London Road and down past Gulson Road Hospital, just the same as we always did once we got our first car - a 1938 Hillman Minx - when I was seven (so after June 1953). Always loved the whole Saturday routine from coming back from a match, listening to the football results and then going down to the shops on Daventry Road to wait for a pink 'un. If we were lucky we got some Fish and Chips at the same time. Happy days!

Magwitch · Apr 15, 2020

Any of our older supporters remember or even witness this bizzare own goal, it was before my time but my dad told me of this own goal he witnessed must have been late 50s I know it was after Reg Matthews was transferred to Chelsea we had a goalie called Charlie Ashcroft apparently not very good, we were away at Northampton a game we lost 4-0, one of the goals being a Roy Kirk own goal when Ashcroft attempting a drop kick the ball struck Kirk on the back of the head and it rebounded into his own goal poor old Kirk was knocked out and carried off, can you imagine that happening today I suspect there would be a lot of views on Twitter.

Brylowes · Apr 15, 2020

thekidfromstrettoncamp said:
My take on that week in 1963 when we played Sunderland on the Tuesday and Man Utd on the Saturday the night of the Sunderland game went straight from work in Rugby arrived about 6 at Gosford Green when we got to the ground got straight in only time in my life we ever stood at the front of the main stand stood about 3 or 4 steps from the wall we ended up right next to the wall after a surge not long before the kick off.The 1 thing that sticks in the memory was from when Sunderland took the lead up until 8 or 9 minutes from the end all you could here raining down from the stand above was "The Blaydon Races" but Dietmar Bruck stopped all that with a shot from well outside the box and George Curtis's header becoming the icing on the cake we flouted home that night.Next day as i have said before on here queued 6 deep round the ground . Ticket sales should have started at 5 o'clock because of the queue started at about 3.The Saturday to me was an anticlimax ( sides from the 3 division don't get to the final)stood on the Spion Kop although we played well for me our Cup final was that Tuesday night what a night.

Always heard story’s told about the Sunderland 5th rnd cup game in 63 and the huge crowd
It attracted ‘thought by many to be bigger than the legendary game against Wolves.
One thing that’s always puzzled me is the fact we played Man Utd the following Saturday in
The 6th rnd and would have thought this would have attracted an even bigger crowd, obviously
This wasn’t the case ‘just puzzled as to why.

Irish Sky Blue · Apr 15, 2020

Brylowes said:
Always heard story’s told about the Sunderland 5th rnd cup game in 63 and the huge crowd
It attracted ‘thought by many to be bigger than the legendary game against Wolves.
One thing that’s always puzzled me is the fact we played Man Utd the following Saturday in
The 6th rnd and would have thought this would have attracted an even bigger crowd, obviously
This wasn’t the case ‘just puzzled as to why.

All ticket I think.

oscillatewildly · Apr 15, 2020

Magwitch said:
Any of our older supporters remember or even witness this bizzare own goal, it was before my time but my dad told me of this own goal he witnessed must have been late 50s I know it was after Reg Matthews was transferred to Chelsea we had a goalie called Charlie Ashcroft apparently not very good, we were away at Northampton a game we lost 4-0, one of the goals being a Roy Kirk own goal when Ashcroft attempting a drop kick the ball struck Kirk on the back of the head and it rebounded into his own goal poor old Kirk was knocked out and carried off, can you imagine that happening today I suspect there would be a lot of views on Twitter.

Strangest own goal I ever saw involving us was Andy pearce's at Loftus Rd, early '90's. He was facing 180 degrees away from his own goal when his attempted clearance ended up in the net.

Legia Sky Blue · Apr 15, 2020

Lee Dixon's own goal at Highbury was a bit special

LastGarrison · Apr 15, 2020

First experience was Liverpool at home in the mid-eighties so would have been 5/6ish. My brother was a Liverpool fan and I was a Cov fan so the Old Man took us up and we sat upstairs in the West End. Think we lost 1-0 from memory but that was it for me!

Think my next game was the infamous Banik Ostrava game. Asked if we could go up with our mate Jamie Clelland, who I think was on Cov Boys books as a goalie at the time, and agreed to meet him in the Kop. My Old Man said he'd take us up but we were going in the Main Stand. No mobiles then so couldn't let Jamie know and remember looking over to the Kop and he literally was THE only one in there.

And then Tony Dobson popped up from the half way line and the rest is history!

oscillatewildly · Apr 15, 2020

What 'infamy' surrounded that Banik pre-season game?

LastGarrison · Apr 15, 2020

oscillatewildly said:
What 'infamy' surrounded that Banik pre-season game?

Probably used in the wrong context. Legendary probably would have been more apt!

Malaka · Apr 15, 2020

Sitting on the asbestos roof where the disabled fans used to sit pitchside so I could see over the blue invalid cars

Sky_Blue_Dreamer · Apr 15, 2020

oscillatewildly said:
What 'infamy' surrounded that Banik pre-season game?

Did Kenneth Williams run onto the pitch chased by a load of blokes and get stabbed?

Cov kid 55 · Apr 15, 2020

Brylowes said:
Always heard story’s told about the Sunderland 5th rnd cup game in 63 and the huge crowd
It attracted ‘thought by many to be bigger than the legendary game against Wolves.
One thing that’s always puzzled me is the fact we played Man Utd the following Saturday in
The 6th rnd and would have thought this would have attracted an even bigger crowd, obviously
This wasn’t the case ‘just puzzled as to why.

Well the crowd for Cov v Sunderland was just over 40,000, the crowd for the Man U game was 44,000. The Man U game was definately all ticket, my Grandad, who was retired, queued for hours at Highfield Road for tickets. Nobody knows how many people actually watched the Sunderland game, contemporary reports from fans just stated that a set of gates were broken down, and ‘thousands’ poured in without paying.

Magwitch · Apr 16, 2020

There were atleast as many for the Sunderland match as the
was for the Wolves match

thekidfromstrettoncamp · Apr 16, 2020

Magwitch said:
There were atleast as many for the Sunderland match as the
was for the Wolves match

Definitely. There were more.

skybluesam66 · Apr 16, 2020

a reserve team game v Derby
I think we won 4-1 (dont remember the game, just looking at the scoreboard at the end)
they were decent crowds in those day
must have been around 71/72

anybody any details of the match?

clarriebourton · Apr 17, 2020

skybluesam66 said:
a reserve team game v Derby
I think we won 4-1 (dont remember the game, just looking at the scoreboard at the end)
they were decent crowds in those day
must have been around 71/72

anybody any details of the match?

August 1971 City Reserves 4 Derby 0. Stevenson, Dugdale, Clements & Joicey. Got a match report if you want it.

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Maupet · Apr 17, 2020

My earliest memory is of John sillet as a player (he joined us in 1962 from chelsea). He was at right full back , up against a tricky right winger, and he deliberately tripped him as he went passed sillet. The guy went sprawling and got up, squaring up to John sillet but he didn't even reach chest height, and John sillet just stood there laughing. It was so funny. Cant remember who the guy or the team was, I was only 11

AlansEyes · Apr 18, 2020

First memory is of my first match, a depressing 2-0 defeat to Wimbeldon in maybe 1993. Next memory was maybe that same season or the following season leaving Highfield Road leading a truly awful Swindon side 1-0. We left with maybe 3 mins to go ('to beat the traffic') and as we were walking to the car my dad stopped and muttered to himself 'Are they singing you're not singing anymore?' Minute later we were back in the car to discover it was now 1-1. That Swindon side finished rock bottom and yet took 4 points off us!

Williescar · Apr 19, 2020

First CCFC match 24 August 1968 v West Ham a 2-1 defeat
First away match 30 October 1971 v Wolves a 1-1 draw there was a riot on the pitch before the game.

Brighton Sky Blue · Apr 19, 2020

AlansEyes said:
First memory is of my first match, a depressing 2-0 defeat to Wimbeldon in maybe 1993. Next memory was maybe that same season or the following season leaving Highfield Road leading a truly awful Swindon side 1-0. We left with maybe 3 mins to go ('to beat the traffic') and as we were walking to the car my dad stopped and muttered to himself 'Are they singing you're not singing anymore?' Minute later we were back in the car to discover it was now 1-1. That Swindon side finished rock bottom and yet took 4 points off us!

While we took 4 points off an awful Stockport side in 01/02 the home 0-0 draw was about the most painfully boring thing I saw till the 0-0 with Morecambe

Ranjit Bhurpa · Apr 19, 2020

Magwitch said:
Any of our older supporters remember or even witness this bizzare own goal, it was before my time but my dad told me of this own goal he witnessed must have been late 50s I know it was after Reg Matthews was transferred to Chelsea we had a goalie called Charlie Ashcroft apparently not very good, we were away at Northampton a game we lost 4-0, one of the goals being a Roy Kirk own goal when Ashcroft attempting a drop kick the ball struck Kirk on the back of the head and it rebounded into his own goal poor old Kirk was knocked out and carried off, can you imagine that happening today I suspect there would be a lot of views on Twitter.

Didn't witness it as it was before my time, but I met Charlie Ashcroft in 1987 at the Leyland Motors social club in Lancashire shortly before the Cup Final. The club was affiliated to the FA and as such, were due 6 tickets for the Final and I was there one Saturday night trying to blag a ticket from the club steward. He mentioned that a former player, Charlie Ashcroft, was sat in the lounge, suited and booted with a group of friends for a club cabaret night.
Had a quick chat with him, remember him saying he played only a handful of games for the City in the Fourth Division, but he certainly didn't mention the own goal.
Never did get the Cup Final ticket though.

DannyThomas_1981 · Apr 19, 2020

skybluesam66 said:
a reserve team game v Derby
I think we won 4-1 (dont remember the game, just looking at the scoreboard at the end)
they were decent crowds in those day
must have been around 71/72

anybody any details of the match?

I wish I could help with that Sam; but way before my time.

You make an interesting point on reserve games. In the early 80s as a season ticket holder, you could go and watch the reserves for free. I'd play junior football on Saturday mornings, and then dependent on the week-end go and watch either the first team or the reserves in the afternoon. Loved it. Main Stand only for the reserves. I'm sure we played in a 'Reserves League'.

Not really certain to be honest why Reserve team football died out and in what year?

I was always hopeful as a youngster that some of the reserves would break through to the first team and go onto be big stars - so I could obviously show off at school that I was there. Never happened - even back in the early 80s it seemed very difficult to get out of the reserves and into the first team.

First ever CCFC memories ? (2 Viewers)

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