FAC 25th Anniversary: Herbert Exhibition Kicks Off with Excellent turnout of the ’87 squad

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum kicked off its new exhibition, ‘From Highfield Road to Wembley Way’ on Thursday evening with a VIP launch at 6pm followed by a first look for timed ticket holders at 7pm.  The exhibition on the upper floor gallery at the Museum which remains open till the end of June was very well received by the first day audience. The VIP launch attracted an excellent turnout of the ‘Boys of  1987’ as well as a good sprinkling of other Association Full Members, CCFPA committee members and Associate Members. 

Just before 6pm the following members of the victorious 1986-87 squad gathered expectantly in the Herbert Museum:-Dave Bennett, Paul Culpin, Micky Gynn, Steve Ogrizovic, Trevor Peake, David Phillips, Cyrille Regis and John Sillett (and their guests) as well as other Sky Blue stalwarts from earlier eras like Ron Farmer, Ian Goodwin and Lol Harvey. Ian and Lol are pictured below with CCFPA Patron and CCFC Chairman John Clarke).  They were met by CCFPA committee members Bob Bromage, Bob Eales and Mike Young  (Jim Brown and Frank Pritchard were also present later in the proceedings as were Associate members who had helped out with the exhibition preparations lending memorabila etc including Suki Singh, Lionel Bird, Dean Nelson and Kev Monks).

Appropriate audio-visual stimulation is provided from several TV screens dotted throughout the exhibition. Various items redolent of CCFC’s chequered past were also in place (e.g. Highfield Rd. turnstiles and a replica dressing room for kids (of all ages) to play in together with interactive features like table footballs and a memory wall for fans to add their memories of that wonderful week for Coventry in May 1987 when CCFC won the cup and brought it back to an ecstatic City bathed in Sky Blue.    The Herbert had also commissioned a special video of the F.A.Cup win (available on DVD from the shop) featuring interviews with many of the squad and others who shared their memories of the time. This could be watched from a mini grandstand within the exhibition.

During the evening we managed to round up most of the squad present (albeit with some difficulty given that they had to be dragged away from the many fans in the room surrounding each one) for a ‘team picture’  which was taken in front of the back -wall festooned with a giant mural of the victorious squad at the Final. They are pictured at the head of the article in happy mood. (The photo shoot was preceded by Cyrille Regis (pictured left) taking on a junior fan at table-football with Paul Culpin, Dave Phillips and Trevor Peake dying to join in!)

The ’87 squad evidently took great pleasure in viewing the exhibits and chatting with the other guests present who reluctantly started to leave the exhibition about an hour later to make room for the first cohort of the general public who had massed in large numbers downstairs eager to see the exhibition from 7pm.   The crowd in the packed atrium of the Herbert were themselves welcomed (right)by Dave Bennett before being unleashed to see the delights upstairs. The exhibition is certain to be a success for the venue as it also gears up for the Olympic celebrations.   

 ‘From Highfield Road to Wembley Way’ remains open at the Museum in Jordan Well, Coventry (CV1 SQP – Tel. 024766294739 www.theherbert.org) until 1st July 2012. It is completely free to attend and CCFPA strongly recommends that you go and see it!

JH Foundation says Thanks

John (left) & CCFPA's Bob Bromage

The Association has received the following letter from Association member John Hartson‘s foundation which is self explanatory. John came to the Leeds United home game  last February as our special guest and we arranged a book* signing session and a collection in aid of his JH Foundation in the G-Casino at the Ricoh after the game. John has courageously fought back from the effects of testicular cancer and his Charity aims to promote awareness amongst men of the nature and symptoms of the condition and the dangers if left untreated.Les Laing, CEO of the foundation wrote to CCFPA thus:-

“On behalf of the John Hartson foundation I would like to thank you for donating the proceeds of your fund raising events. Your donation of £600 is greatly appreciated as is your commitment to helping raise awareness and funds for research into testicular cancer.  With your support we will undoubtedly be able to increase awareness of testicular cancer in the community. Over the next two years we aim to take our awareness campaign to as many urban and rural communities as possible to get our message across. Furthermore, stressing the importance of all male’s checking themselves out on a regular basis. furthemore, highlighting how easy it is to do so.

Thanks again for your generous support of the John Hartson Foundation.”

 CCFPA wasvery happy to support these important objectives and would urge all our male readers to pay attention to the Foundation’s message.  We hope to see John again at our upcoming Golf Day next June 24th 2012.

*John’s book ‘Please Don’t Go – Big John’s Journey Back to Life‘  is published by Mainstream at £14.99.

25th Anniversary: CCFPA’s F.A.Cup Commemoration Calendar

Several parties have been very busy putting together a programme of events to celebrate the Sky Blues famous F.A.Cup success against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in May 1987. Since almost all of the victorious 1986-87 squad (and management) are CCFPA members the Association has been centrally involved in most of the developments.

For the purposes of planning the arrangements the 1987 Squad have formed themselves into the ‘Sky Blue 1987 Association‘ presided over once more by the squad’s management team that year. (Both CCFPA  members) John Sillett is President and George Curtis is Vice president of the ‘1987 Association’. As an important bridge with CCFPA, committee member Kevin Heffernan is acting as Chairman of the ‘1987 Association’  and, of course, F.A.Cup hero Dave Bennett who also serves on our committee has been instrumental in liaising with and coordinating the 1987 Association members.

The following is a (developing) list of the events we are aware of which are likely involve appearances by some or all of the 1987 F.A.Cup winning team, kicking off tomorrow with the launch of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum’s free exhibition ‘From Highfield Road to Wembley Way’ (see earlier news item on this site).

Thu. 5th April 2012: Herbert Museum, Coventry Exhibition: ‘From Highfield Road to Wembley Way   VIP Launch 6pm then Ticket Holders 7pm. Full Public Access 6th April-01 July 2012: Admission free

Sun.15th April 2012: Leamington FC, New Windmill Ground: CCFC Old Boys Select v Pottertons OBs Select Charity game in aid of Acorns. Several members of the 1987 Squad booked to appear for our Former Players. k.o.2.15. Entry:£3

Fri.20th April 2012: Nailcote Hall Hotel, Berkswell: ‘1987 Association 25th Anniversary Golf Day & Gala Dinner’  Dinner 7pm. Tables may be available for this event. Contact Nailcote Hall Hotel for further details on 02476 466174

Sat.21st April 2012: Ricoh Arena, Coventry: CCFPA sponsored Reunion Dinner of  1987 F.A.Youth Cup Squad at the crucial CCFC v Doncaster match. CCFPA will also hope to entertain, as its guests, a number of members of the senior F.A. Cup winning squad to share this commemoration lunch and watch the game. Watch out for futher announcements on this from CCFC and CCFPA in due course.

Tue.8th – Sat 26th May 2012: Belgrade Theatre, Coventry: Play by Nick Walker ‘We Love You City‘  Dramatic recreation of the events of the Day in the streets and homes of Coventry whilst the players were winning the Cup to bring back to the City. Possible reception for the ’87 Squad.

Sat.12th May 2012: Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club: CCFC Vice Presidents 25th Anniversary Reunion Dinner 7pm (Contact the Golf Club for further details)

Wed.16th May 2012: Copsewood Sports and Social Club, Coventry: An Evening with Keith Houchen & Dave Phillips   Q & A with the F.A.Cup stars k.o.7.30pm. Hot Food. Contact 07720073366 for details & tickets (£25) 

Sun.3rd June 2012: Hawkes Mill Social Club, Coventry (run by CCFPA member and F.A.Cup hero Lloyd McGrath): Charity Event in aid of Rosie’s Fun Day/ Ronald McDonald House (Birmingham) from 10 a.m.:  CCFPA will field a team to take on a men’s team (and Coventry Ladies will take on a women’s side) as well as a local schools mini tournament.

Keep checking this website for further updates and additions

F.A.Cup Memories: Nick Pickering praises Sillett team talk

Houchen, Bennett & Pickering celebrate the first goal (Photo courtesy of PA Images)

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Coventry City’s famous FA Cup triumph over Tottenham Hotspur, the Association has teamed up with Coventry Observer to re-capture the memories of players, managers and fans from the club’s greatest day on May 16, 1987.

Last week the Oserver’s sports reporter Steve Carpenter caught up with winger Nick Pickering who described his short time with the Sky Blues as his best years of his career. Like many players in the Coventry side, Pickering was fully aware Spurs were favourites to lift the cup that year. But he pointed to an inspirational talk by manager (and CCFPA member) John Sillett before extra-time which helped the Sky Blues lift the cup what seemed against all the odds.

“I’ll always remember Sillett’s brilliant team talk at the end of the 90 minutes when we were drawing 2-2 and we were starting to feel a bit tired,” said Pickering, who lived in Allesley during his time with the Sky Blues.  It felt as if it was 80 degrees inside the stadium on a boiling hot day and we were all sitting around together as a team.  But Sillett looked around at us and said ‘get on your feet, look how tired they are. This is your chance’. We all looked over at the Spurs players and they looked shattered. It had been a long season for them finishing third in the league and doing well in the League Cup too”.

“Sillett went on, ‘this could be your last chance, you could get injured next season or move on elsewhere’. Those words inspired all of us to go on and we battered them in extra time. I was only 23 at the time and you don’t actually realise what you’ve achieved until you look back 25 years on. You just get a great sense of achievement because winning the FA Cup back then meant so much to the players, the fans and of course the club.  The national papers all backed Spurs to win so it was a tremendous achievement for the club and I doubt it will happen again to Coventry.”

Pickering signed for the Sky Blues from Sunderland at the beginning of the FA Cup winning season and although he admitted to having doubts about the move, he was adamant the gamble paid off in the end, “My contract was up at Sunderland at the end of the 1985/86 season and I got called into the manager’s office who told me I needed to leave. The club were in need of money so I got a call from Coventry, went down to take a look at the place and made the move.  My knowledge of Coventry was that they were a club who always seemed to be battling relegation and it’s nice to see not much has changed there!”

“Sillett and George Curtis had bought a few players in including the likes of Dave Phillips who was a full Wales international.  I knew it was a gamble signing for Coventry, but it was a gamble that paid off and I enjoyed the best football of my career at Highfield Road and of course winning the FA Cup was something special.  Sillett changed the way we played that season and everything just seemed to click for us.  We had an underrated team with the likes of Keith Houchen, Dave Bennett and Lloyd McGrath, who was an unsung hero for us.  I was only 22 when I signed and I just wanted to do well for my new club which is what happened that season. 

I roomed with Brian Burrows and he was cracking player who was close to getting an England call-up himself. He tragically missed the final after picking up a daft injury during a league match against Southampton at Highfield Road just a week before the final. When we left Coventry for Wembley we saw Burrows in hospital being interviewed on TV, wishing us all the best and we were all cut up. So winning the final for him was definitely at the back of our minds.”

Pickering also looks back on that famous cup run with fond memories, “We were playing well in the league and the cup run started with a fairly comfortable win at home to Bolton who were two leagues below us.  Then we went away to Bournemouth before the fourth round tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford and once we’d won there I started believing we could go on a good run.  We then brought around 10,000 fans to Stoke who were flying in Division Two and we got battered in the first half.  But I helped set up the winning goal for Micky Gynn to put us through and then we started thinking about who we might get next. We then took 15,000 to Hillsborough when we played Sheffield Wednesday and that was some atmosphere that afternoon.  We just seemed to pick up more and more momentum along the way and for a club like Coventry to win the FA Cup is a wonderful achievement.”

Nick Pickering celebrates a Coventry win at the final whistle. (S) Photo courtesy of PA Images

You can read Steve’s previous interviews with some of the other Sky Blues F.A.Cup Stars (all Association members), including Lloyd McGrath, Keith Houchen, Dave Bennett, Steve Ogrizovic and Greg Downs, in the Coventry Observer www.coventryobserver.co.uk (from where photos from the series can also be purchased)