Steve Phelps - Sky Blue Heroes: The Inside Story of Coventry Citys 1987 FA Cup Win

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2015

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Steve Phelps, 2015

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.

A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 9781785310201

eBook ISBN: 9781785310911

--

Ebook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com

In life, if youre lucky enough to get into a situation where you are doing something, doing it well and loving what you are doing, you get a reward at the end of it which is the icing on the cake. We as professional footballers were plying our trade at Coventry City and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was something that a lot of people strive for and not a lot of people get. For me, personally, we were very, very lucky, to be in that time and place. Playing for Coventry at Wembley in 1987 and throughout the cup run it was a great bunch of lads together and a great time for us all.

Brian Kilcline January 2015

I WOULD like to thank all of the following for their goodwill, co-operation and willingness to contribute to this book. Thank you for taking my calls and replying to emails, these interviews were carried out between July 2014 and March 2015:

Steve Ogrizovic, Brian Borrows, Greg Downs, Lloyd McGrath, Brian Kilcline, Trevor Peake, Dave Bennett, Michael Gynn, David Phillips, Cyrille Regis, Keith Houchen, Nick Pickering, Steve Sedgley, Graham Rodger, Dean Emerson, Paul Culpin, Steve Cockrill, John Sillett, George Dalton, John Poynton, Graham Hover, Jenny Poole, Terry Gibson, Micky Adams and Chris Hughton.

John Motson, Neville Foulger, Stuart Linnell, Mike Liggins, Ian Woods, Rob Gurney, Steve Evans, Ian Bolton, Ian Winter, Bob Hall, Steve Lee, Gary Newbon, Alan Biggs, Andy Scaysbrook, Neil White and Steve and Heather Taylor.

Jim Brown, Andy Turner, Geoff Foster, Kev Monks, Mike Young, Dean Nelson, Matt Partridge, Matt Kerr, Blake Waugh, Danny Finlay, Moz Baker, Rob Summerfield, Calvin Urquhart, Lee Corden, Gavin Clifton, Frank Pritchard, Bob Eales and Neil Jones.

Lee Dixon and Jimmy Greaves for their contributions via Twitter get well soon Jimmy.

Further thanks:

To the ever-patient Dave Bennett for ensuring I was able to speak with every player that brought FA Cup glory to the city of Coventry. Along with Cyrille, Dean Nelson and Steve Carpenter he also read through the first draft.

To Jim Brown and Mike Young at the Coventry City Former Players Association, your assistance over the last year has been much appreciated.

Text acknowledgements: to the Coventry (formerly Evening) Telegraph for Neville Foulgers FA Cup Final match report and selection of articles written between January and May 1987 and to Jim Brown for his Coventry City: The Elite Era A Complete Record. Thanks also to Robert Witts at the Herbert Art Gallery for use of their archives for my research.

Audio acknowledgements: John Motson for his BBC 1 FA Cup Final commentary and Stuart Linnell for Mercia Sounds semi-final coverage.

Photographic acknowledgements: Carl Newell publications editor at CCFC. Thanks also to Graham Hover, Lee Corden, Rob Summerfield, Calvin Urquhart and Dean Nelson for their own personal photos.

Paul, Jane, Derek, Duncan, Dean and Gareth at Pitch Publishing.

To my wife Emma and our ten-year-old twin girls, Aimee and Jolie.

Finally, I never, ever thought I would write this line but a huge thank you to John Motson for his interview and foreword.

Steve Phelps

T HERE are two things that stand out for me with the 1987 FA Cup Final. The quality of football was very high because Ive commentated on a lot of cup finals where the game itself has been disappointing with quite a few 1-0 victories. It was very refreshing on the day as the two teams came out and played what I would call an open brand of football. There was no surprise in Tottenham doing that because David Pleat was the manager and they had been playing like that all season but Coventry were on a high by the very nature of the run theyd had and the fact they had got to Wembley in the first place. The way it ebbed and flowed it swayed from one team to the other and made it one of the best finals.

Clive Allen had scored well over 40 goals for Tottenham that season but when he scored there was a long way to go and Coventry got back into the game fairly quickly. The game moved on from there and I dont recall there being a break in the excitement, there was a great flow to the game. Wembley could be a bit of a furnace and it was a hot day. It was a bit unfortunate that the game was settled by an own goal but, nevertheless, I think at that stage Coventry were very much on top and becoming stronger as extra time progressed.

The feelgood factor that went around Wembley that day was hugely noticeable as, although Tottenham were on the losing side, they made a big contribution to the final as well as Coventry. The George CurtisJohn Sillett partnership was the unique thing about the Coventry cup run, I cant recall the FA Cup being won by joint managers before, or after.

A big memory for me was my co-commentator Jimmy Hills reaction at the final whistle because he made up his mind straight away that he would get the whole Coventry team up on to the BBC gantry at Wembley from where the two of us were commentating. Now, thats quite a long way away from the pitch and it involves lots of stairs and lifts but, I tell you what, he got them all up there and those interviews were conducted in the studio high above the pitch within half an hour of the game ending. No one else could have done that but Jimmy Hill.

Steves collection of over 60 exclusive interviews, mine included, take you through season 1986/87 as the Cast of 87 are reunited for their first-hand recollections of Coventry Citys greatest ever achievement in their long and proud history. This is a unique memory of a wonderful era and on that fabulous day at Wembley, The Sky Blues were sky high!

A N email from Pitch Publishing chief Paul Camillin landed in my inbox at the start of 2014, What about an 87 reflection book for 2015Interviews with management, players, staff, fans and journalists?

Having written Coventry City On This Day and Coventry City Miscellany with them, I knew Pitch realised that football extended beyond the Premier League. A 25th anniversary weekend was held in 2012 and Coventry Observer journalist Steve Carpenter teamed up with the Former Players Association to speak with the players and publish a series of excellent articles in the paper. What had yet to happen was for the memories of many of those from 1986/87, not just the players, to be captured under one book cover.