The period between Jimmy Hill and Gordon Milne.... (2 Viewers)

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

I started going to watch city the season before Milne put together what was and still is for me, the best Coventry City team I 've ever seen.
What Jimmy Hill achieved has been well documented and sadly for me I was just too young to experience any of it.
Although I 've read about the years following Jimmy Hill, its a period I don't know a great deal about. I recall standing in a half filled Highfield road in about 1975 watching Willie Carr score a winner against Wolves at Highfield Road, but at that time I wasn't really aware that only a few years before the ground was bulging at the seams. In fact I remember it all seemed a bit stale. Ashamed to say I didn't know much about Jimmy Hill at all.
Would anyone out there who clearly remembers both the JH era and the years after he left like to tell me what it was like to follow city for those few years after he departed ?

 

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[NortonSkyBlue]

67 was an anti climax with Hill leaving at the start of the season but such was his affection for the club he stayed on til October I believe when Cantwell took over.
We stayed with the side that got promoted and were competitive but lacked quality, it didn't help that Curtis broke his leg in the second game st Forest.
The crowds were huge with the big clubs making the trip to Highfield road in the first division. We took thousands to away games and each week or so we seemed to entertain the greats of that era.
George Best ,Jimmy Greaves(my favorite), Bobby Moore and the World Cup winners, Osgood, Eastham, Astle, Wyn and Ron Davies, Bell, Lee and Summerbee, Haynes, the list in endless and doesn't include players from Liverpool and Arsenal!
We changed the side about half way through the season and bought loads of Scots, so much so our front five was all Scottish and IRC it was Hannigan, Carr, Martin, Baker and Gibson.
We beat Man United in front of 47,000 just before their European cup final and stayed up by drawing with Southampton.
Cantwell reacted to a side that was out of its depth and by the skin of our teeth we had the first of what was to become our hallmark "great Escapes"
Aged 7 and 8 I went to 12 home games and 5 away games and loved it but sadly the gloss was quick to pale and the fickle Coventry public didn't like seeing their team get beat and gates dropped quickly.
What was perhsps unique at time is most Coventry supporters were not Coventrians but people who had come to the city to work and often you would find when the likes of Newcastle were in town that people who had a Sky Blue scarf on at the last match would have a black and white one when their hometown were playing us.
A bit like Milton Keynes now if you like.

 

[st john]

Riyad has a good memory. The Noel Cantwell era was my favourite, finishing 6th in 1970. Cantwell's motto was "attack, attack, attack" in his words.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

Noel Cantwell is probably underrated for what he did. To join a team in desperate relegation trouble and turn them around so that they managed to stay up was an amazing feat really, particularly as it was his first managerial job and that he was following in the footsteps of JH. He also managed to take the team that struggled desperately in those first two seasons to 6th place in the league and European qualification. I think what finally did for him was the awful, sterile football in his last two seasons and the fact that the club just could not get a decent run going in any cup competition going out to lower league Tranmere, Rochdale and Hull in the FA in those early top flight years.
Despite his success I don't think many people were too upset when he was sacked. Mercer and Milne came in and over the next few years we had teams built on flare and skill who on occasions played wonderful football. The fact that Milne was the man who brought in Tommy Hutchison is enough to make him a legend in most fans eyes I would think. I agree that the late seventies team was the best City team ever, more exciting than the cup winners if less successful.
The gate for the game against Man Utd mentioned above was remarkable because a few days before, there had been a fire in the main stand which gutted the central part of the structure. I would imagine approximately 50% of the seating was destroyed. A large part of the offices and rooms beneath the stand would have been destroyed. Amazingly the club were able to install emergency seating into the gap in the stand created by the fire and to house the largest top flight gate we ever had. As far as I am aware no season ticket holder lost their seat for this match. At a game against Forest a few weeks later I was asked by a couple of Forest Supporters (standing in the West End, no segregation in those days) which was the stand that had burnt down. This was an indication of how well they had patched up the stand. Amazing that 50 years ago this could be achieved when today we regularly have ticketing issues. Also an indication of how big our club was and could be again.

 

[joemercersaces]

I went to my first game in about March 1969, just short of my seventh birthday, having nagged my dad. Burnley at home and we won 4-1. In those days we used to get on a coach laid on from Brinklow to the match. Somehow doubt there's a call for that now. As far as I was concerned Coventry City was a huge club with a great stadium naturally competing with Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd etc. I didn't think for a moment we would end up where we now are, homeless and languishing in the bottom division, when we regularly had crowds of 30,000 plus. And what players! Tommy Hutchison, Dennis Mortimer, Willie Carr, Bill Glazier, Ernie Hunt, Colin Stein, Roy Barry. Paying about 20 p to stand on the Kop or 25p to go in the West End. How I loved that West End. Packed tightly in behind the goal the noise under that roof was deafening especially with the away yobs about a yard to our right, separated only by two barriers with coppers in between covered in phlegm as all the lads spat at each other. Unless we played QPR, Ipswich or Norwich there was fighting in the West End, on Gosford Green and in the streets around the ground and back to the station every match. Getting to and from the ground was like something out of The Warriors! Coming sixth in 1970 was fantastic. I thought we were on the brink of winning things. And at around that point Clougjie almost came to us. What might have been!

 

[matesx]

you boys ought to meet up for a pint and a good chin wag

 

[joemercersaces]

you boys ought to meet up for a pint and a good chin wag

Sadly my old man has passed on, his last game was the last at Highfield Rd against Derby and at that time he had terminal cancer so that was a tad emotional. Go with my own son and stepson now. My lad was born a few days after we beat Man City 4-3 and the day Portsmouth kicked off so apart from Wembley last year he's never known the good times. I just hope that one day he will.

 

[rupert_bear]

The period between Hill and Milne were in my opinoin wasted years, and the blue print to our years of continued struggle in the top flight the appointment of Noel Cantwell was totally the wrong decision for ccfc at the time that being a rookie untried manager. Cantwell had good points he got our youth system set up and up to speed, that was his job at Man United but running a first team is a totally different proposition, buying and selling players, man-management, attracting players etc sorry Noel struggled in all those departments. We have to take into account what City was at that time a club very much on the up, big support etc and what we needed was someone to carry on from Jimmy Hill, an experienced provern manager at top division level. We had a good team, most players in their prime it just needed tweaking here and there but Cantwell sold our better players Gould, Tudor, Rees, Clements and didn't replace them with better players. He had plenty of money to spend as well, in his time here he bought Neil Martin, Tony Hateley, John O'Rourke, Chris Chilton, Bobby Graham, Ernie Hunt, Gerry Baker, Ian St John all strikers and most for at the time large fees. Some will say he spearheaded out 6th spot finish in 1970 and he did but it was more or less a one off he just couldn't build on it.

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

I want to disagree with you but on reflection I think you are spot on.
Derby County won the league during his time and it could have been us. Derby came up the season after us and finished 4th in their first season in Division 1 and won it in 72 season. We were buying players at the same value as the rest so it could have been so.

 

[blueflint]

I moved away in 68 so missed a lot of that era only going when I could afford the travel
had a young family they came first but enjoyed the games I did see about twenty that year and the year after

 

[rupert_bear]

My old man god rest him was well in with high flyers at the time connected to ccfc and he insisted to me Malcolm Allison was to be announced as our manager and he was bringing Noel Cantwell an old West Ham teammate as his assistant, Allison would have been the ideal successor to Hill equally flamboyant and telly genic and more importantly able to attract star names, alas for some reason our chairman Derrick Robbins through his teddy out and Allison didn't happen and Cantwell got the gig, I'll always wonder where we might have gone had Allison came.

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

My old man god rest him was well in with high flyers at the time connected to ccfc and he insisted to me Malcolm Allison was to be announced as our manager and he was bringing Noel Cantwell an old West Ham teammate as his assistant, Allison would have been the ideal successor to Hill equally flamboyant and telly genic and more importantly able to attract star names, alas for some reason our chairman Derrick Robbins through his teddy out and Allison didn't happen and Cantwell got the gig, I'll always wonder where we might have gone had Allison came.

The reason it didn't happen was that Allison announced it to his club, players and the press and Robbins didn't do his business that way and backed away.
Brian Clough was primed to join us but he used Robbins to get a better deal at Derby.
Robbins wanted an up and coming manager rather than an established boss and wanted to build on the relationship he enjoyed with JH.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

My old man god rest him was well in with high flyers at the time connected to ccfc and he insisted to me Malcolm Allison was to be announced as our manager and he was bringing Noel Cantwell an old West Ham teammate as his assistant, Allison would have been the ideal successor to Hill equally flamboyant and telly genic and more importantly able to attract star names, alas for some reason our chairman Derrick Robbins through his teddy out and Allison didn't happen and Cantwell got the gig, I'll always wonder where we might have gone had Allison came.

Would have thought given Allison's managerial career when on his own, it could have gone very badly!

 

[Grendel]

My old man god rest him was well in with high flyers at the time connected to ccfc and he insisted to me Malcolm Allison was to be announced as our manager and he was bringing Noel Cantwell an old West Ham teammate as his assistant, Allison would have been the ideal successor to Hill equally flamboyant and telly genic and more importantly able to attract star names, alas for some reason our chairman Derrick Robbins through his teddy out and Allison didn't happen and Cantwell got the gig, I'll always wonder where we might have gone had Allison came.

Relegation I'd have thought. The old joke about Allison "how much do you want for that player?"

"£ 1 million"

Malcolm "I'll offer £2 million and that's my final offer"

 

[rupert_bear]

I'm not saying Malcolm Allison would have been a success but I think he would have been at that time a better bet than Noel Cantwell who apparently could have been Allison's assistant anyway. Allisons career as a first team manager wasn't brilliant admittedly. Who should we have got ? going back years but I'd have gone for Bill McGarry who I think was in the frame manager at Watford at the time but went on to manage Wolves for years.

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

I'm not saying Malcolm Allison would have been a success but I think he would have been at that time a better bet than Noel Cantwell who apparently would have been Allison's assistant. Allisons career as a first team manager wasn't brilliant admittedly. Who should we have got ? going back years but I'd have gone for Bill McGarry who I think was in the frame manager at Watford at the time but went on to manage Wolves for years.

Mcgarry was managing Ipswich, left to join Wolves which left the vacancy for Bobby Robson to fill.

 

[st john]

My old man god rest him was well in with high flyers at the time connected to ccfc and he insisted to me Malcolm Allison was to be announced as our manager and he was bringing Noel Cantwell an old West Ham teammate as his assistant, Allison would have been the ideal successor to Hill equally flamboyant and telly genic and more importantly able to attract star names, alas for some reason our chairman Derrick Robbins through his teddy out and Allison didn't happen and Cantwell got the gig, I'll always wonder where we might have gone had Allison came.

I can't understand the fascination with Allison, OK he did well at Man City under Mercer but was a disaster at Palace and not much better when he returned to Man City. Personally I think he would have been a disaster if he had managed us. Under Cantwell we had our most successful season ever, he signed some great players in Martin, Hateley, O'Rourke, and the best centre half we ever had IMO, Roy Barry. I also remember us playing some brilliant football under him. Perhaps my old age and failing memory is clouding things.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

Allison away from Joe Mercer had very little success. He got far more media attention than his record as a manager deserved because they saw him as a "character". Wasn't he also involved in instances of domestic violence? Not the nicest person I think.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

Cantwell inherited some good players including products from the youth team like Willie Carr and Dennis Mortimer. However, he did also bring in some good players. Neil Martin was a great centre forward good on the ground and in the air. Ernie Hunt too was great to watch. He was oddly shaped for a footballer and did not look athletic in the least but his control of passing, his touch and the way he could strike a ball were amazing. A great player to watch. Perhaps Noel's best signing was Maurice Setters who to my, at the time, really youthful eyes, looked like an old man. He also didn't look like a footballer and certainly not a centre half. He wasn't particularly tall, had a stringy build and had the bandiest legs I have ever seen on a human (or anything else). I think he cost 25k from Stoke and he was an inspiration. George Curtis had broken his leg in the second match of the season and the team really needed a leader. With Maurice we got that and more. He was a tough, tough player who would kick his opponent as frequently as the ball. He dragged that team to safety that season. I think he may have scored the second goal against Man. Utd in the epic win mentioned above.

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

I am of the opinion that the biggest mistake our club has made (pre getting rid of HR and the road traveled since) was the disintegration of the early eighties side.
I bring this up as Irish Sky Blue rightly mentions Carr and Mortimer in the post above and along with them you can include Blockley, Paddon, McGuire and Bobby Parker and others I may have failed to mention.
The next time we had a crop of youngsters who went on to play for first team was the early eighties side.
I would really love to know the thinking behind letting their contracts run down and selling real potential greats for knock down prices.
The likes of Thomas, Thompson, Hately, Sealy, Gillespie, English and Whitton were players to lead us to better times. Hunt and Daly were fine Midfielders and we let go of Tommy Hutchison way too soon.

 

[DazzleTommyDazzle]

I am of the opinion that the biggest mistake our club has made (pre getting rid of HR and the road traveled since) was the disintegration of the early eighties side.
I bring this up as Irish Sky Blue rightly mentions Carr and Mortimer in the post above and along with them you can include Blockley, Paddon, McGuire and Bobby Parker and others I may have failed to mention.
The next time we had a crop of youngsters who went on to play for first team was the early eighties side.
I would really love to know the thinking behind letting their contracts run down and selling real potential greats for knock down prices.
The likes of Thomas, Thompson, Hately, Sealy, Gillespie, English and Whitton were players to lead us to better times. Hunt and Daly were fine Midfielders and we let go of Tommy Hutchison way too soon.

You're right that the club allowed too many contracts to run down, but as I remember it the exodus was caused by the sacking of Dave Sexton and his replacement by Bobby Gould. The players wanted Sexton to stay, so when he went, so did many of them.

On the other side of the equation Gould had to replace them and amongst others brought in Micky Gynn, Trevor Peake and Dave Bennett who all played great roles in '87........

 

[st john]

Cantwell inherited some good players including products from the youth team like Willie Carr and Dennis Mortimer. However, he did also bring in some good players. Neil Martin was a great centre forward good on the ground and in the air. Ernie Hunt too was great to watch. He was oddly shaped for a footballer and did not look athletic in the least but his control of passing, his touch and the way he could strike a ball were amazing. A great player to watch. Perhaps Noel's best signing was Maurice Setters who to my, at the time, really youthful eyes, looked like an old man. He also didn't look like a footballer and certainly not a centre half. He wasn't particularly tall, had a stringy build and had the bandiest legs I have ever seen on a human (or anything else). I think he cost 25k from Stoke and he was an inspiration. George Curtis had broken his leg in the second match of the season and the team really needed a leader. With Maurice we got that and more. He was a tough, tough player who would kick his opponent as frequently as the ball. He dragged that team to safety that season. I think he may have scored the second goal against Man. Utd in the epic win mentioned above.

I remember Setters' first game, (I think it was his first game), when a back pass to our keeper stuck in a puddle and the opposition centre forward nipped in to score. We lost. I didn't realise we got him from Stoke, always thought he came from Man U.

 

[st john]

I am of the opinion that the biggest mistake our club has made (pre getting rid of HR and the road traveled since) was the disintegration of the early eighties side.
I bring this up as Irish Sky Blue rightly mentions Carr and Mortimer in the post above and along with them you can include Blockley, Paddon, McGuire and Bobby Parker and others I may have failed to mention.
The next time we had a crop of youngsters who went on to play for first team was the early eighties side.
I would really love to know the thinking behind letting their contracts run down and selling real potential greats for knock down prices.
The likes of Thomas, Thompson, Hately, Sealy, Gillespie, English and Whitton were players to lead us to better times. Hunt and Daly were fine Midfielders and we let go of Tommy Hutchison way too soon.

Yes, Mark Hateley was a better player than his dad I think.

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

Yes, Mark Hateley was a better player than his dad I think.

Another striker who did well elsewhere but failed with us. Great header of the ball, limited on the ground. Tony Hateley was alongside a similar player in Neil Martin and it just didn't work. Once Ernie Hunt and then John O'Rourke went up top with Martin we started to unlock defences.

 

[wingy]

I think Hately leaving for Pompey triggered the rest seeking to go.

 

[Ranjit Bhurpa]

Sandwiched between the big personalities of Hill and Mercer, I don't think Cantwell received sufficient credit for the job he did overall. Yes, some of the football was not easy on the eye but he managed our highest ever league place and our only taste of European football.

Just a pity IMO that Cloughie and Taylor (a former Cov goalie) never left the Baseball Ground for Highfield Road. What they achieved at 2 provincial clubs in Derby and Forest could have been replicated at the City but we will never know.

Malcolm Allison - definitely not!

 

[Calista]

The likes of Thomas, Thompson, Hately, Sealy, Gillespie, English and Whitton were players to lead us to better times. Hunt and Daly were fine Midfielders and we let go of Tommy Hutchison way too soon.

Ah, Steve Whitton isn’t a name that crops up much. Not an outstanding player, but surely nobody has ever hit the ball harder in the history of the game. It’s a wonder the ball didn’t burst!