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Post by colebridgebull on Feb 2, 2020 20:50:35 GMT
Good use of the “chinny reckon” at the start of that clip.
Also as one who has occasionally embraced the idea of “going meat free” I have had to explain to the GLW why I just burst out laughing at your motorway based bottom shenanigan story.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2020 21:04:39 GMT
I was hoping for player ratings. Other than that, an acceptable piece.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 2, 2020 21:05:59 GMT
Good use of the “chinny reckon” at the start of that clip. Also as one who has occasionally embraced the idea of “going meat free” I have had to explain to the GLW why I just burst out laughing at your motorway based bottom shenanigan story. You be careful. Going meat free is one thing, going proper vegan in the long term can cause issues. Brother is (after 30 years of commendable effort and now not far off his 60th birthday) deficient in B12. He's still Veggie these days, but thankfully back on the cheese.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2020 21:11:54 GMT
Good use of the “chinny reckon” at the start of that clip. Also as one who has occasionally embraced the idea of “going meat free” I have had to explain to the GLW why I just burst out laughing at your motorway based bottom shenanigan story. You be careful. Going meat free is one thing, going proper vegan in the long term can cause issues. Brother is (after 30 years of commendable effort and now not far off his 60th birthday) deficient in B12. He's still Veggie these days, but thankfully back on the cheese. He sounds trouble. We will have to get cbb or someone else from the management to put your efforts altogether in a oner. Once you can be arsed to finish it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2020 10:39:19 GMT
Enjoyable thread Monkey. Well done to all concerned.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 9, 2020 17:59:22 GMT
1987 and all that – FA Cup Round 5
Did you get “Central News” down here in 1987? I’m assuming you did. Some of you may therefore remember that Jimmy Greaves was a regular pundit contributing to Midlands football matters in those days, and was asked to predict the fortunes of Midlands teams every Friday evening for games due to take place the following day. Starting with the 4th round, Greavsie predicted (wrongly as it turned out, yet completely understandably) that City would lose at Old Trafford, and thus be knocked out of the 1986/87 FA Cup. Anyway. Along with Manchester United, there were a few other big First Division teams absent from the 5th round draw in 1987, notably Liverpool and Nottingham Forest who had lost to Luton Town and Crystal Palace respectively in the 3rd Round. Of the better teams of the day, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday and (please God, no..) West Ham remained in “The Hat”. In the event, Coventry’s reward for the despatch of Manchester United was to be another away tie, but this time First Division opposition was at least avoided and we were off to The Potteries to play Second Division Stoke City. This was viewed as a winnable game by Cov supporters, though a cursory glance at the league table showed that Stoke were clearly no mugs, doing rather well at the time, and certainly in with a shout of promotion back to the top division. And they would be at home; Greavsie predicted a Stoke victory. The 5th Round game was scheduled for Saturday 21st February, but before we reached that date there were three league fixtures to fulfil and on the Tuesday following the cup victory at Old Trafford we trundled down the A34 to Southampton. This was a game re-arranged from the previous December – a game postponed a couple of hours before kick-off due to the (not uncommon) water-logging of The Dell. Brother and I had made for that December game and had arranged to meet up with a friend of mine, then in his final year at Southampton University, in a pub called The Cowherds located on Southampton Common, just off The Avenue. We arrived first and marched up to the bar, resplendent in our Sky Blue hats, rosettes and scarves, and twirling our rattles; “Here for the match, lads?” said the friendly barman. “Yes, yes, Friendly Barman. We are! We’re a couple of those away supporter types, don’t you know.” we happily replied in unison. “Tough sh!t. Game’s been called off”. We borrowed a newspaper from that smug southern w@nker behind the bar with a view to finding another game to go to within realistic travelling distance, but all the other clubs in the area (Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Aldershot) were playing away that day, so we just drove home. The only time I’ve ever been “Kettering’d”. But I digress. The aforementioned re-arranged game at The Dell resulted in a disappointing 0-2 defeat, another depressing re-trundle up the A34, and the following Saturday Everton (on their way to another League Championship) defeated City 3-1 at Goodison. A return to form was achieved by way of a 3-0 home win against Chelsea the week before the next cup match; that Chelsea game just wasn’t right, mind – Lloyd McGrath scored, and so did Fecking Nick Pickering. So to The Victoria Ground on 21st February ‘87. Anyone on here who ever had the pleasure of visiting that ground will surely agree that Stoke’s old ground was “proper”. Long lamented and not just by Potters’ fans, there was something about it which evoked the essence of live, Saturday afternoon football. There was never an ounce of pretence at Stoke, it positively oozed cold, fog, damp and footy. Unsurprisingly, there was no glut of Banbury-based Stoke City supporters queuing up to offer us a lift to Cov’s 5th Round game, so we made our own way there by car with brother driving so that he could stop as often as he deemed necessary, if you know what I mean. The match was predictably an all-ticket affair, and we’d collected ours prior to the Chelsea home game. The Stoke side that day included a couple of well-known names, and a couple of not-so well-known names who nonetheless would go on to become well-known names once they became well-known. Former Ipswich Town and Arsenal FA Cup winner Brian Talbot played in midfield, and the defence included Welsh international George Berry (he of the impressive hair) alongside Steve Bould and a young Lee Dixon. The Cov side lined up as follows; Oggy, Bugsy, Greggy, Gynny, Killer, Peakey, Benno, Dave Phillips, Big Cyrille, Houch and Fecking Nick Pickering, with Sedge and Graham Rodger on the bench. The travelling Coventry support was again impressive but this time it came as no great surprise, and the overall match attendance totalled over 31,000 with quite a few in the away enclosure. It was an edgy game. There seemed little between the teams in endeavour and ability for the whole ninety minutes, and it’s my guess that Stoke fans would have felt bitterly disappointed to leave their wonderful ground at full-time defeated and out of the cup. A single Micky Gynn goal in the second-half divided the teams and sent our lot home happy and looking forward to the quarter-final draw. Apologies for the poor quality of the clip below, but it’s the only one I can find. I also suggest you mute your speakers. Finally, another thing of note (and I think worth mentioning) happened that day. At the final whistle, I heard and joined in with, for the first time the “Are You Watching Jimmy Greaves” chant.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2020 18:55:24 GMT
Excellent stuff as always. Surely Stoke and Coventry had the two best grounds out of anyone that moved in to new grounds. Both easily good enough to be modernised.
P.S. Stand up for the Sky Blues. Sing your hearts out. We will never lose.
C C F C C O V E N T R Y
Did you produce the music?
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Post by Hawkeye on Feb 9, 2020 18:59:29 GMT
You are both absolutely on the money about the Victoria Ground.
When living in Crewe, I often took my lad there if "the Alex" were away. Proper, proper ground. Proper manager in Tony Waddington, too.
Good days, on reflection.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 9, 2020 19:18:27 GMT
Excellent stuff as always. Surely Stoke and Coventry had the two best grounds out of anyone that moved in to new grounds. Both easily good enough to be modernised. I dunno. I'm naturally biased and stuck firmly in the old days clearly, but I reckon all the old grounds were better than their modern replacements. Filbert Street, for example; wasn't the club shop or the ticket office or something a terraced house - how fantastic was that? And The Dell, all those funny angles and lopsided terraces. The Manor Ground was just bizarre - it looked as though bits of stand and terracing had just been dropped on Headington from height and left where they'd landed. I've not been to many new grounds I admit and I'm sure they are all more family-friendly and 21st Century and all that. The new White Hart Lane does look mighty impressive for example, most new grounds do, but the few I've been to lack character to me. If and when Everton ever move from Goodison, I hope they take the church with them.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 13, 2020 20:55:20 GMT
1987 and all that – FA Cup Quarter-Final
And then there were eight. For the 6th Round of the 1986/87 FA Cup the names of Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Wimbledon, Watford, Wigan Athletic and Coventry City went into that famous old hat. In all honesty, I don’t think I really cared who City would be paired with by this stage, such was the feeling not just among supporters but also within the club as a whole, that things were unusually good. One could’ve argued that Spurs and Arsenal were best left alone, but even to be drawn against either of those teams wouldn’t have particularly phased anyone affiliated to Highfield Road at the time. Conversely however, all remaining potential opponents (particularly Watford) were acknowledged as teams with the ability to swiftly snuff out City’s cup run, and prevent Cov from progressing to their first (and to date only) FA Cup Semi-Final. It was a case of being far from over-confident, whilst at the same time beginning to get this strange, strange feeling that maybe, just maybe… In the event, City avoided the two Nawflaandan biggies and were drawn away to Sheffield Wednesday. I think we were all quietly pleased about this draw – it had a good feel to it from a Sky Blue point of view as earlier in the season we’d travelled to Sheffield in our dozens and witnessed a 2-2 draw against The Owls. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, but the Cov goal-scorers that day were Big Cyrille and, erm, Steve Ogrizovic, direct from his own penalty area. Now. Goalkeepers scoring goals has always amused me for some reason. Not when they score a pen you understand, or even when they appear for a corner in the opposition’s penalty area in the final minute of a crucial game and score a goal for someone like Carlisle United (though that was pretty good, to be fair). I mean the goals scored by keepers direct from a drop-kick, when the ball bounces, evades everyone and makes the opposing ‘keeper look like a right gimp. I feel privileged to have witnessed this phenomenon twice - once at Hillsborough in October ’86, and again at Edgar Street when Barnet were the visitors in August ’95. I may be wrong, but I think Terry Gibson played for Barnet in that game and if so, further apologies, Gibbo. Has anyone else who reads this board (apart from OME) seen it happen two or more times? Or do I get a small, albeit virtual, prize? Two league games needed playing before the quarter-final scheduled for 14th March 1987, and both were at home. Charlton Athletic visited Highfield Road on 28th Feb and went home pointless, and then Sheffield Wednesday turned up for the return league game and were beaten 1-0 in the snow (early 1987 really was quite exceptionally barbaric weather-wise), with Lloydy grabbing the winner. Cov were up to 8th in the First Division table and a UEFA Cup place for next season looked possible, except of course it didn’t. So the following Saturday, off to Hillsborough we went – 15,000 of us crammed into the Leppings Lane End, and I mean crammed. In all probability we just weren’t used to it, but it really was very, very uncomfortable behind that goal and you only moved where the rest of the crowd took you. I can only assume that brother had taken the precaution of feasting only on under-ripe bananas and quick-setting cement that day, so underpant accidents on his part were thankfully avoided. The City side for this game was Ogrizovic, Borrows, Downs, McGrath, Kilcline, Peake, Bennett, Phillips, Regis, Houchen and of course Fecking Nick Pickering. On the bench were Gynn and Sedgley, but it could be argued that a certain Mr Allan Gunn of Sussex was the “Sky Blue Man Of The Match”. After 17 minutes of the first half and with Cov kicking toward the The Kop, Lloydy was scythed down in midfield just after he released the ball to Benno. Momentarily, Lloydy went down in a crumpled heap, a foul without question and worthy of at least a yellow in today’s namby-pamby footballing culture, but Mr Gunn to his everlasting credit and seeing City’s potential advantage waved play-on. Benno noticed the frantically pointing Big Cyrille powering forward to his right and released the ball straight into his path. One touch from Big Cyrille then “Thwack!” – classic Cyrille . Martin Hodge bereft. City one-nil up. The remainder of the first half was played out at a frenetic pace with both teams creating chances. There were times when we wondered who Greggy was actually playing for it has to be said – maybe he was just confused by The Owls’ stripy blue and white shirts and the fact that he featured looking like a Wednesday player on the cover of the match-day programme. The second half continued in the same mode. End to end stuff and Wednesday eventually equalised through Gary Megson on 57 minutes. City were then on the back foot for a while until, once again, enter Keith Houchen - the bloke signed from Scunny. He was a gangly bugger, that Houch. He always looked a bit awkward on the ball, but was clearly effective as opposing defenders never seemed to quite know what to do with him. The Wednesday players certainly didn’t as the quarter-final progressed and Houch assumed his “Roy Of The Rovers” role. Two goals from giraffe-legs within 5 minutes half-way through the second half (ok, the one was a clear deflection, and the other an initially bumbly sort of affair) saw Cov emerge 3-1 winners and were therefore through to the Semi-Finals. We were home and in our local boozer by 9pm. Blokes we didn’t know were coming up to us and offering their congratulations. The landlord of the pub (also a Cov supporter, though not a Highfield Road regular) refused to accept any money for our first couple of drinks and even a Vile creature expressed its felicitations. (That didn’t really happen, but I’ll bet it would’ve had it been able to string a coherent sentence together instead of all that dribbling, drooling and those incessant “we’re a fookin’ big club” mumblings). Blimey that day was good. And Jimmy Greaves was still around somewhere in TV Land; presumably watching..
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sisyphus
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Taking no chances.....
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Post by sisyphus on Feb 16, 2020 17:38:13 GMT
I enjoyed that, I know it was post 1980 but it was still better than today...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 17:59:45 GMT
I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be along the lines of.... "I couldn't get tickets for the semi final or the final. Cheers Lads"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 18:11:28 GMT
I miss the times when all teams and their supporters wanted to win the FA Cup.
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Post by gefod on Feb 16, 2020 18:21:08 GMT
I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be along the lines of.... "I couldn't get tickets for the semi final or the final. Cheers Lads" I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 18:31:11 GMT
I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be along the lines of.... "I couldn't get tickets for the semi final or the final. Cheers Lads" I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side. I am only joking. It is brilliant stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 18:34:56 GMT
I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be along the lines of.... "I couldn't get tickets for the semi final or the final. Cheers Lads" I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side. I think I have just got that. But not sure. Do you mean you aren't looking forward to the next one?
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Post by gefod on Feb 16, 2020 18:48:18 GMT
I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side. I think I have just got that. But not sure. Do you mean you aren't looking forward to the next one? Yes. Not looking forward to it from a result standpoint. But keen to hear it from a Cov point of view to be fair.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 16, 2020 18:50:28 GMT
I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be along the lines of.... "I couldn't get tickets for the semi final or the final. Cheers Lads" I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side. It's nearly finished, and I hope you'll find I'm being very fair. Either way, your memories of that semi-final day would great to hear.
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Post by gefod on Feb 16, 2020 19:04:52 GMT
I’m not. Happy to give an alternative view from the other side. It's nearly finished, and I hope you'll find I'm being very fair. Either way, your memories of that semi-final day would great to hear. Really looking forward to it.
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Post by Monkey Tennis on Feb 16, 2020 20:13:32 GMT
1987 and all that – FA Cup Semi-FinalFirst division Spurs or Watford, or second division Leeds United. Now come on, who would you have preferred to play in the 1987 FA Cup semi-final? It was a no-brainer for Cov of course, so when City avoided top-division opposition and were paired with Billy’s lower division boys from West Yorkshire, those famous twin towers heaved into view, mid-May holidays were summarily cancelled, and we all used our smart-phones to login to that split-ticket website thingy for the best advanced train deals to London. Coventry City were definitely going to Wembley. The overall sentiment alluded to above is bullsh!t, naturally. We were acutely aware that we were in uncharted territory and that Leeds, from a great height, were perfectly capable of pissing on our picnic, soaking our little sky-blue blanket and making it stink forevermore in the process. There’s a clip somewhere of the City players huddled around a radio at the Ryton Training Ground listening intently to the semi-final draw on the Monday following the quarter-final win against Wednesday. As the draw is made and Leeds are confirmed as Cov’s next opponents, the City players cheer, interpreted by some at the time as disrespectful to United. I don’t think that interpretation was fair to be honest – they were hardly likely to have been shown booing and all upset and tearful had they been drawn against Watford or Spurs – they’d have cheered that scenario too. As supporters we were under no illusion in any event; it didn’t matter who we played in the semi-final – it was the semi-final of the FA Cup, “The Final Goal”. Leeds were a very good side, they were desperate to get to the Wembley too, and to beat them was going to be b@st@rd difficult. Throughout late March and into early April the weather improved, but City’s league form faltered a little, possibly due to the team’s mind being on other things. A convincing home win against Oxford United (in front of a distorted semi-final-ticket-voucher-game attendance of over 23,000 – almost twice Cov’s average home attendance in those days and pretty much the capacity of the 1987 Highfield Road) was followed by consecutive defeats at Wimbledon and The Vile (the latter was inevitable, even in a season which saw our favourite fellow Midlanders relegated. Sorry, had to get that in) and a nondescript 0-0 draw at Forest. Not the best preparation for the biggest game in the club’s history on refection, but I don’t recall anyone being unduly perturbed. Maybe this was because we were by now at least safe from the annual final day of the season horror-show. Or maybe it was because our minds, as supporters, were also on other things. The chosen venues for the semi-finals caused some controversy in 1987. Spurs, drawn against Watford, were to play their game at Vile Park. It seemed a bit odd to drag supporters from the South-East to Birmingham when there were two neutral club-grounds in London big enough to accommodate such a match. The Coventry/Leeds game was to take place at Hillsborough; Sheffield was 30-odd miles from Leeds, but over 90 miles from Cov and strangely enough and despite the efforts of global warming and the proposed HS2, it still is. I can sort of understand the annoyance of those supporting Spurs and Watford, but I can’t really see where else our semi-final could’ve taken place, apart from possibly Dunkirk. What was a bit strange and leaves me confused to this day was that at Hillsborough, Cov supporters were allocated the Kop, Leeds supporters the Leppings Lane. Leeds were and of course remain a far bigger and better supported club than Cov. Read the article linked below if you can stomach it. ‘Nuff said. ShamefulWhilst the Spurs/Watford game was to take place on Saturday 11th April ’87, the Cov/Leeds game was to be shown live on the gigglebox and was thus scheduled for a lunchtime kick-off on Sunday 12th. Greavsie predictably predicted a Leeds win. It was a nice day, that 12th April. It meant an early start for brother and I in order to get to Sheffield for the scheduled 12.15pm kick-off, and 30-odd years on, two things stick in my memory from that morning. Firstly, the M1 between Leicester and Sheffield was ridiculously busy for a Sunday morning heading north, whilst very quiet heading south. It seemed that every vehicle we overtook, and every vehicle which overtook us, was festooned with sky blue scarves and flags and banners and every driver of every vehicle seemed to be testing his (or her) horn. Our car was no exception – a real feel-good journey with lots of smiling and waving. Secondly, when we arrived in Sheffield, parked up and made our way to the ground, we had to follow the signs for “Home Supporters Only”. Now, that was very weird. As the game kicked off, we couldn’t quite believe we were watching what we were watching and the occasion really was the stuff of dreams. The City side that day lined up as follows; Oggy, Bugsy, Greggy, Lloydy, Killer, Peakey, Benno, Dave Phillips, Big Cyrille, Houch and Fecking Nick Pickering., with Gynny and Sedge as subs. Leeds started strongly and but for Oggy saving at close range from John Pearson would’ve been ahead within the first two minutes. Leeds continued to press and on 14 minutes ex-Sky Blue Micky Adams took a corner and David Rennie met the cross with a powerful header which flew past the big City keeper and put Leeds one-nil up. Bugger. We were wishing we had drawn Watford or Tottenham now, or even Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Dukla Prague in their away kit – anyone but bloody Leeds. As the first half progressed, City gradually began to get into the game. Cyrille went close a few times and us Cov fans at last found our voices, but half-time came with Leeds still 1-0 up, and deservedly so on balance. Without Oggy in the City goal that day, the game may already have been beyond us. Early in the second-half Cov were forced into a substitution when Fecking Nick Pick pickeringed up and injury and was replaced by Micky Gynn and City, playing toward their own supporters, immediately began to get on top. They were rewarded on 68 mins when Dave Phillips played the ball forward from midfield, Benno somehow managed to claw the ball away Brendan Ormsby on the Leeds by-line and then delivered a cross which was met by Lloydy, who swung and missed completely, and then Gynny, who swung and miss-hit the ball into the back of the Leeds net. 1 -1. If it hadn’t have been before, this game was now really on fire and 10 minutes later that bloke signed from Scunny made it 2-1 to Cov following an attack which saw 3 Leeds players attempt and fail to boot the ball (and Micky Gynn who happened to be in the way) into Row Z. Cov were only twelve minutes from Wembley, but we were well aware that City were still City – a club who could happily snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory without even having to properly try, and after a couple of inspired substitutions, Leeds obligingly equalised minutes later. “A match that was always memorable, has now become wonderful” as the man said, and we were facing extra-time. That 30 minutes was, quite honestly, agony. In the first period City regained the lead following a free-kick on the Cov right which Big Cyrille nodded down to Houch, and his stabbed effort was pushed by Mervyn Day into the path of Benno for a tap-in, so 3 – 2 to City. Leeds pressed for another equaliser but somehow the Cov defence held firm and Oggy….. well…. I don’t remember leaving that ground, or anything about the journey home. I recall playing a pre-arranged five-a-side game down our local sports centre that evening, but I’m certain there was no big boozy celebration involving brother and I. Shock can do funny things whether it be positive or negative. What a game, though (the semi-final that is; not the five-a-side game down Spiceball, that was amateurish sh!t). Finally, ( and I wrote this bit last week, not this evening) it is said that no-one remembers a beaten semi-finalist. Absolute rubbish. Billy’s Boys did Leeds United proud that sunny Sunday, and of the Cov fans still standing from that April day in 1987, few are likely to forget their contribution to a fantastic and memorable game of football. The only real difference that day was that we had a top goal-scorer in our team; stand up, Steve Ogrizovic.
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