CCFPA hosts ‘Boys of 87’ at CCFC’s Last Championship Game

Overall it was a sad day at the Ricoh last Saturday (21st April 2012) when the Sky Blues suffered not only a 2-0 defeat in the last home game of the season to the team (Doncaster Rovers) just below them at the bottom of the Championship but learnt that the result condemned them to join their opponents in relegation to the third tier of English football, exactly 60 years after they previously suffered the same fate!

1987 Senior & Junior F.A.Cup Squad members Re-united

However, the Association did its best to relieve the gloom at the Arena by ensuring all Sky Blue supporters were reminded of the much happier times of 25 years ago when CCFC were double cup winners.  This was accomplished by hosting a significant proportion of both the victorious F.A. Cup and F.A. Youth Cup Squads of 1987 at the Ricoh.  As part of its role in helping the Club (and City) celebrate the City’s unique cup double a quarter of a century ago the CCFPA had worked hard on two fronts.

First to facilitate and encourage CCFPA committee members Kevin Heffernan and F.A.Cup hero Dave Bennett (as key members of the squad’s ‘Sky Blue ’87 Association) to bring together the senior squad and coordinate their planned events to mark the anniversary. The calendar of these events has been previously reported on this site and as they come-off  are being covered in specific news items.    Secondly, we brought to fruition our plan to achieve the first significant reunion of the junior F.A.Youth Cup squad at last Saturday’s home game against Doncaster.

A good turnout (seven members) of the F.A. Youth Cup squad attended the lunch on Saturday as Association and CCFC guests and were reunited with their colleagues from the senior squad (in many cases for the first time in decades). Unfortunately a few members of the youth squad, notably Tony Dobson and Steve Livingstone (both of whom later graduated to the senior side) had to withdraw from the get-together at the last minute due to circumstances beyond their control.  Nevertheless those that came had a memorable day.

Ten members of the senior 1986-87 squad also made it to the Ricoh on April 21st as guests of CCFPA and the club at lunch (including an excellent representative selection of the actual Cup Final team and management) . This was a brilliant turnout considering this was only the day after the Sky Blue 87 Association’s full scale reunion  with the full squad and management (with only Brian Kilcline and Graham Rodger of the Final team absent). The 25th anniversary celebration ‘Dinner and Dance’ took place at Nailcote Hall Berkswell the previous day and went on until the small hours of Saturday morning (This event will be reported separately on this site). 

The full roll of honour of  cup winners who attended our reunion last Saturday was as follows:-

F.A.Youth Cup Winners

Howard Clark, Mike Cook, Gary Marshall, Craig Middleton, Lee Middleton, Mark Pollard and Paul Shepstone 

F.A.Cup Winning Squad

Dave Bennett, Paul Culpin, Greg Downs, Dean Emerson; Micky Gynn, Trevor Peake, Nick Pickering, Cyrille Regis and John Sillett (and Steve Ogrizovic was, of course, performing his usual matchday duties in the home dug-out.

The Victorious 1987 Senior F.A.Cup Squad members

Apart from attending the celebration dinner in the prestigious ‘1883 restaurant’ before the game and renewing friendship and memories of the mid 1980s at Highfield Road our cup winning guests were applauded by the Ricoh crowd at half time and watched the Club’s ‘player of the season’ awards after the game in the E.ON Lounge at the Arena.  Before the game fans were able to meet and greet some of the players individually in Lady G’s showbar where the Association had laid on a special showing of highlights of the F.A.Cup run and Final (put together by CCFPA Associate member Dean Nelson. Dean also prepared a gift brochure and DVD especially for the F.A.Youth Squad).

After the game (despite the distressing outcome to the game), members of both squads were also present on the stage in a packed and enthusiastic Lady G’s where CCFPA’s Billy Bell put them through their paces in a light-hearted Q&A and led a hearty rendition of the Sky Blue Song and other anthems!  CCFPA also laid on opportunities throughout the day for fans to get themselves photographed with a replica of the F.A.Cup. Although the Day proved to be an inauspicious one for the Club the CCFPA’s contribution to the 25th Anniversary 1987 celebrations undoubtedly provided some essential sparks of light in the gathering gloom for CCFC.  Thanks are due from CCFPA to all those who helped make the reunion such a success.