MAGICAL CCFC Show History 26: Seasons 1934–35b: Reading the Betrayal of City’s Promotional Prospects!

This one is a little different from the others in the series where we showcase photos of Coventry City programs and memorabilia over the years.

Jim Brown, chairman of the CCFPA, and Mike Young, a committee member, have been amassing a collection of complete program photos from CCFC issues prior to 1945. At this point, we have more over 700 complete program photos—both at home and away! All photos are from the CCFPA collection and are protected by copyright; they cannot be duplicated without authorization.

The whole 1934–1935 schedule for the club We already examined a complete copy of the standard 16-page first team home program for the 1934–1935 CCFC season (on the left). For a few seasons thus far in the 1930s, the team has additionally manufactured a limited edition for a select few first team games. These games were typically “special” occasions like friendlies, minor cup or reserve matches, or Easter or Christmas games. These were sometimes single team sheets and other times four-page works.

Here is one of these from 1934–1935, which is the four-page program for Harry Storer’s boys Division Three South game versus Reading on April 23, 1935. There are only three more league games left.

It also served as the program for the Midland Daily Telegraph Cup Final, which was played at the stadium the day before and was won 1-0 by “the Borough” against Newton Town Reserves and Exhall Colliery. The front (shown above right) is a straightforward design that costs one penny and features a columnar embellishment on the left, the City’s motto and emblem, as well as the season date above the CCFC name. This season, City has only lost two home games while giving up just 14 goals at Highfield Road, and one of those games was a 2-1 loss! Indeed, four days prior, we had suffered a resounding defeat at Elm Park by two goals, as the Royals accomplished an Easter double against CCFC! Our “goal machine,” Clarrie Bourton, had given us the lead with a goal in the 51st minute, but Fielding’s brace in the 70th and 77th minutes (according to some accounts, Tait scored the equalizer) allowed our opponents to quickly respond with a “one-two.” The 13,790 spectators were greatly disappointed since third-placed City, who was eager to advance, lost ground after finishing second before the first Reading reverse. Storer’s sides were getting closer to posing a credible promotion challenge from Division Three South during his first stint with CCFC (1930–1931; fourteenth; 1931–32; twelfth; 1932–33; sixth; 1933–34 second). They would ultimately narrowly miss out on finishing third once more this season!

The starting lineup (seen above right on an inside page) was exactly as planned, with the exception of Jimmy Baker, who was substituted at No. 4 for City, and Bob Birtley, who was Reading’s No. 2 Boyle.

Thus, the Bantams’ squad was:

Vic Brown and Reg. Brook; Charlie Wilson, George Mason (c) and Billy Frith; Frank White; Ernie Curtis, Les Jones, Jimmy Liddle, and Clarrie Bourton

James Liddle was a winger on both teams, which confused the referee! On the outside left of the city was a James Frederick Geordie, also called “Jimmy” or “Fred.”The “Jimmy” in Reading was James Sigworth!

William “Billy” Wright of the Royals was actually William Bullock Wright—another uncommon middle name—rather than the well-known captain of the Wolves and England!

Other than a brief advertisement advertising the next reserve home game versus Southampton, the program’s back page (top right) was unremarkable.

As previously indicated, Storer’s team placed third in Division Three South, losing out on promotion to Division Two; they made up for this the next season. Even if we had won both of our games against second-place Reading, we would not have crossed the finish line 10 points ahead of City, but rather would have finished level with the Royals!

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