Urgent Message for Association Full Members Requiring Tickets

New Members Darren and Andy -the icing on the cake!

The Association were able to sign up a brace of new members last Saturday in slightly unusual circumstances- but perhaps appropriate for the time of year!  Former Coventry City forward Darren Huckerby and ex-goalkeeper Andy Marshall were at the Ricoh at the invitation of CCFPA and the Club to watch the Sky Blues’ home game against Norwich City on 18th December 2010.

Both Andy and Darren had, of course, once starred for both sides that were competing on the icy Ricoh pitch last Saturday. However, they also faced a novel competition, this time inside the Arena, in front of a different Sky Blue audience. They took up an invitation challenge  to ice and decorate a cake for Christmas – an ice-on rather than an ice-off!  

Andy (left) & Darren (right) watched closely by a young fan

The pair are pictured above, as good professionals, concentrating hard on the matter in hand and hoping to impress the referee for the occasion – none other than Delia Smith, the nation’s cookery guru (as well as a Canaries Director).  Clearly (sorry for the puns) Darren’s artistry was never half-baked and made a nonsense of the icy conditions and Andy’s cake was well worth saving. Both contributions well and truly took the cake!! 

We welcome both former Sky Blues to the Association and hope to see them both back at the Ricoh in 2011. They make up the Association’s 178th and 179th current member. Who will be the 180th? Watch this space!

Greg Downs sees the Sky Blues go down to the Canaries

F.A.Cup hero and Association member Greg Downs was one of several former players who was a guest of the Association at the Norwich City home game on 18th December 2010.  Greg who the Sky Blues signed from Norwich in 1985 (and who still lives there) paid a rare visit with his family to watch the game between two of his old clubs.

Greg was able to meet up with several of his contemporaries in the George Curtis- John Sillett Sky Blues side which lifted the cup against Tottenham Hotspur in one of the most memorable finals ever seen in 1987.  Dave Bennett (newly appointed to the Association committee) was in attendance as was another key player of the time Micky Gynn who is pictured with Greg below:-

‘King for a Day’ John Tudor

Association member and sixties Sky Blues forward John Tudor paid a fairly rare visit to a snowy and bitterly cold Ricoh Arena last Saturday. John had flown in from Minnesota on a family visit for Christmas and the New Year and had taken the opportunity to renew links with friends and fans at the Club’s somewhat unfortunate defeat against Norwich City on 18th December last.

John was also signing copies of his autobiography ‘King for a Day’  for fans in the G-Casino and City’s Legends Lounge (where he is pictured) before the game and was full of  reminiscences about his part in Jimmy Hill’s Sky Blue Revolution. The book (published this year by Limelight Classic Productions Ltd at £15 hardback; £10 paperback) is a gritty and workmanlike account which traces John’s career from humble beginnings at Ilkeston Town as he followed his career with Coventry City,  Sheffield United, Newcastle Utd (where he became part of a feared striking duo with Malcolm Macdonald). Stoke City and KAA Gent in Belgium.  John has been working in the States for quite a number of years as a community based ‘soccer’ coach though however bad weather conditions were on Saturday he said he had routinely seen much worse back home!