Was the sky blue in the early days?.... (1 Viewer)

oscillatewildly · Dec 17, 2013

I'm aiming this one specifically at older supporters, for reasons which hopefully will become obvious as I get going. What with the recent furore over "re-branding" of football clubs - Cardiff City (unforgivable in my opinion with colour change) Hull City - only mildly intrusive. (After all, by re-adjusting the club name with their nickname they're hardly gonna consider changing their home colours, are they?) My question is, what was the response to JH changing not only colour of home strip, but also nickname? I know we're not talking blue to red here and it could be argued that mid blue to sky blue was a slight one, but with that came the change of nickname. What was the response of the good folk of Coventry, if any? Or were we so bogged down in lower league apathy no one cared? I know history points to a few clubs having changed their strip, usually in "honour" of a "great" or "giant" of the time (Spurs-PNE, Leeds-Real Madrid) I'd just be interested to hear from any of our senior supporters who recall this happening in the early 1960's, and any reaction it caused.

lordsummerisle · Dec 17, 2013

Good question, one for our even older readers.

Is there a time limit on outrage?

Sky Blue Kid · Dec 17, 2013

As stated, it was a shade change and not colour. I personally don't remember any "Furore" about it. Thing is though, we weren't being taken away from our "Home" or having to have a totally different colour. The kit has changed dramatically over the years. Rarely staying All Sky Blue(The Cup winning strip) was more like the original dark blue and white stripes of the "Bantams". JH wanted to take us somewhere that everyone wanted to go...."The First Division" and by God he did it in style

RPHunt · Dec 17, 2013

Jimmy had already written a new song for the club, "Play Up Bantams". When it was explained to him that it didn't scan or rhyme with "never lose" he went away to think about it and came up with the obvious solution.

lordsummerisle · Dec 17, 2013

RPHunt said:
Jimmy had already written a new song for the club, "Play Up Bantams". When it was explained to him that it didn't scan or rhyme with "never lose" he went away to think about it and came up with the obvious solution.

Lucky it wasn't "always wins", we could have ended up being the Foreskins.

Pete in Portugal · Dec 17, 2013

My recollection is that the change in colour was generally welcomed by fans at the time. You have to remember that this was not done in isolation of other changes. It was part of an exciting innovative approach to entertaining fans and very effective positive PR from the Club, which was introduced by JH. This was soon accompanied by sustained success on the pitch, brought about by his shrewd investment in the team, (which was part funded by Chair Derrick Robbins), and JH's motivational and tactical skills.

Maybe my recollections are coloured by looking back through 'Sky Blue glasses', so it would be good to hear other people's views.

RPHunt · Dec 17, 2013

lordsummerisle said:
Lucky it wasn't "always wins", we could have ended up being the Foreskins.

If we were standing on a terrace singing "We will always wins", I think we might have been called something a bit harsher than foreskins.

bigfatronssba · Dec 17, 2013

I asked my Dad about this once. He said for a couple of seasons the club were the "Sky Blue Bantams", and they just progressively lost the Bantams name as time went on.

As for the colour, like has been said above, it was a change in shade rather than actual colour.

The change to red & green in the 20's couldn't have been popular though as that only lasted a few years.

oscillatewildly · Dec 17, 2013

A few years? Crikey, I thought it was for just one season. Huge shift in colours, granted. But at least they were playing in the City's civic colours. Hmmmmm.

blueflint · Dec 17, 2013

there was a gentle change over the years we played in stripes, blocks,hoops.all blue and white then the change to sky blue and all the other shirts that followed there was no furore all wanted a winning team at home

skyblueexile · Dec 17, 2013

From my memory it was all part of a wave of change quickly followed by success

Small crowds were replaced by optimism and bigger crowds - why complain - as always jimmy's ideas were worshipped without question

oh how times have changed all be it 50 + years ago

SkyBlueSid · Dec 17, 2013

Blueflint is right. Prior to adopting the classic sky blue kit City played in all white, with just a bit of blue trim on collar & cuffs. The team was in the doldrums and the new era under Jimmy Hill with its wholesale changes was welcomed. I don't recall there being any disapproval of the innovative new kit,

AS for the change of nickname, I'm sure that wasn't down to JH or even CCFC. It was a nickname coined by Derek Henderson, (Nemo of the CET) and it just stuck.

Voice_of_Reason · Dec 17, 2013

oscillatewildly said:
I'm aiming this one specifically at older supporters, for reasons which hopefully will become obvious as I get going. What with the recent furore over "re-branding" of football clubs - Cardiff City (unforgivable in my opinion with colour change) Hull City - only mildly intrusive. (After all, by re-adjusting the club name with their nickname they're hardly gonna consider changing their home colours, are they?) My question is, what was the response to JH changing not only colour of home strip, but also nickname? I know we're not talking blue to red here and it could be argued that mid blue to sky blue was a slight one, but with that came the change of nickname. What was the response of the good folk of Coventry, if any? Or were we so bogged down in lower league apathy no one cared? I know history points to a few clubs having changed their strip, usually in "honour" of a "great" or "giant" of the time (Spurs-PNE, Leeds-Real Madrid) I'd just be interested to hear from any of our senior supporters who recall this happening in the early 1960's, and any reaction it caused.

When I first started in 1952, it was two broad dark blue stripes and a central white broad stripe -- only changed when JH took over

Gary.j · Dec 17, 2013

There have been some quite different kits overs the years;

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Coventry_City/Coventry_City.htm

bigfatronssba · Dec 17, 2013

Gary.j said:
There have been some quite different kits overs the years;

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Coventry_City/Coventry_City.htm

This one from 1910 is good. I like the Sky Blue with white shorts. Looks good having the two colours.

Spionkop · Dec 17, 2013

Believe it or not I had a City kit in those days. I mean the white v neck with blue edgings. There was no notion of replica kits in those days. So how I got it heavens knows. It was a proper kids too, I was 10 in 1961.
As a few posters on here have said, if there was any disapproval I wasn't aware of it. But then Jimmy Hill was a kind of hero to Coventry fans. He really was. And signing a new forward line in the summer of 1962, well it was well received. Laverick, Barr, Bly, Whitehouse and the fabulous Willie Humphries, alongside the recently signed John Sillett, really got the fans excited. The opening crowd of the 1962/63 season was 22,000+ against Notts County. I can still see Reg Ryan calling down from his 'Bantams' Fighting Fund office up the stairs that ran down the side of the Swan Lane end of the main stand. Something like 'It's just like the good old days.' To a fan coming in.
Hill was a shrewd businessman and if you read the Pinks and Telegraphs of the period you can see he had his eye on the finances.
The sky blue kit was taken to readily by the fans.

Gary.j · Dec 17, 2013

bigfatronssba said:
This one from 1910 is good. I like the Sky Blue with white shorts. Looks good having the two colours.

November 1889 not appealing to you? Seems it only lasted a month, I wonder what the story behind that was.

There are some great kits there, 75-81 is my favourite

torchomatic · Dec 17, 2013

Yeah, the tramline kit has always been my favourite.

Gary.j said:
There are some great kits there, 75-81 is my favourite

TurkeyTrot · Dec 17, 2013

Can't remember when replica kits became the norm. I remember you could buy basic plain colour shirts in the late sixties early seventies. I recall the most popular top was the Peter Bonetti top, green with black v neck and collar.

bringbackrattles · Dec 17, 2013

When Jimmy Hill came he could have done anything he liked all we wanted was a winning team.
He delivered on and off the pitch and we loved his Sky Blue dream. the kit was good and so were his teams !

skybluealan · Dec 17, 2013

I remember my Dad buying me ice blue jeans, skyblue polo neck top, knitted blue and white hat and scarf. When we arrived at Highfield Road late, we were passed over peoples heads to the front. I was only young then. They were great days. How I wish the younger generation could have days like them now. Leave Coventry now SISU.

bigfatronssba · Dec 17, 2013

Gary.j said:
November 1889 not appealing to you? Seems it only lasted a month, I wonder what the story behind that was.

There are some great kits there, 75-81 is my favourite

Pink & Blue?

I can only imagine that they were meant to be white and blue, but the washing lady stuck her red knickers in the wash with them.

wingy · Dec 17, 2013

skybluealan said:
I remember my Dad buying me ice blue jeans, skyblue polo neck top, knitted blue and white hat and scarf. When we arrived at Highfield Road late, we were passed over peoples heads to the front. I was only young then. They were great days. How I wish the younger generation could have days like them now. Leave Coventry now SISU.

Ha the original Crowd surfer.

SkyBlueSid · Dec 18, 2013

TurkeyTrot said:
Can't remember when replica kits became the norm. I remember you could buy basic plain colour shirts in the late sixties early seventies. I recall the most popular top was the Peter Bonetti top, green with black v neck and collar.

You could certainly get the full sky blue strip during the 63/4 season because I had one, as did many of the kids I knew. It was a long sleeve shirt with the hooped collar and cuffs, matching shorts, and the socks with vertical stripes on the tops. They were on sale at Aubrey Hill in the Arcade in all sizes, I was 10 at he time. They weren't sold in the club shop, which was a tiny place in the main stand, but I wonder if the club got any royalties from the strips sold elsewhere. Kids didn't wear their kits to the match though, they were only used when you were playing football with your mates.

brinner · Dec 18, 2013

oscillatewildly said:
I'm aiming this one specifically at older supporters, for reasons which hopefully will become obvious as I get going. What with the recent furore over "re-branding" of football clubs - Cardiff City (unforgivable in my opinion with colour change) Hull City - only mildly intrusive. (After all, by re-adjusting the club name with their nickname they're hardly gonna consider changing their home colours, are they?) My question is, what was the response to JH changing not only colour of home strip, but also nickname? I know we're not talking blue to red here and it could be argued that mid blue to sky blue was a slight one, but with that came the change of nickname. What was the response of the good folk of Coventry, if any? Or were we so bogged down in lower league apathy no one cared? I know history points to a few clubs having changed their strip, usually in "honour" of a "great" or "giant" of the time (Spurs-PNE, Leeds-Real Madrid) I'd just be interested to hear from any of our senior supporters who recall this happening in the early 1960's, and any reaction it caused.

i thought "sky blues" nickname originate from the telegraph headline after a game saying something like "super sky blues soar" and the nickname caught on from there? may be completely wrong! heard that a few times mind.

SussexSkyBlue · Dec 18, 2013

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Coventry_City/Coventry_City.htm

Hobo · Dec 18, 2013

The telegraph using the term Sky Blues and it catching on rings a bell with me too. I was still in my infancy. But I think Jimmy Hill sold a package and vision from the beginning.....and delivered so was met with little resistance. Remember the whole city was booming at that point.

hill83 · Dec 18, 2013

I think the fact there was no internet probably stopped some of the 'protests' if there was any. You also hardly saw anyone kicking off during the Richardson era.
I love the knowledge the Internet gives us, but life was a hell of a lot simpler before it.

Was the sky blue in the early days?.... (1 Viewer)

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