1st version cover v Crystal Palace
In the next in our current series presenting images of Coventry City programmes and memorabilia through the years we reach City’s 1924-25 season.
Former CCFPA chairman Jim Brown and committee member Mike Young have been building up a collection of full programme images from CCFC issues pre 1945 (now over seven hundred complete programmes). All images are taken from the collection and copyright CCFPA (and must not be reproduced without permission).
The first team continues to play in Division Two of the Football League and the Reserves are competing both in the Southern League Eastern Division and, bizarrely, the East Midlands League (together with Nuneaton Town)! This is the season the Bantams are relegated into the Division Three North for the only time in their existence!
This programme is from early in the New Year as City face the rigours of the second half of the season having had a fairly torrid first half in 1924. Coventry City had played Manchester United since the northern club had got relegated to Division Two in 1922 so this was the third set of meetings (and would be the last for a long while as United got promoted at the end of the season). CCFC had been walloped 5-1 at Old Trafford back in September and would dearly have loved to get a bit of revenge. Though the match report (at the bottom of the page) tagged the contest as ‘league leaders versus league laggers‘, in the event, it was the City that came out with a narrow but hard fought 1-0 victory with a shot scored by Fred Morris after only ten minutes which only just trickled over the line.
January 17th 1925 Coventry City 1-0 Manchester United (attendance 12,000)
There seem to be a reasonable number of programmes extant from this sixth post-WW1 season but there are still quite a few gaps in our collection of images. This season’s programme remains very similar in content to previous seasons again being of ‘normal’ size. Interestingly the first issue versus Crystal Palace on September 1st reverted to the front of two season’s ago (top right). However, for whatever reason, the front used in 1923-24 – again in civic colours – is restored (as above) for the remainder of the season! The ‘official organ‘ remains priced at two-pence (old money) for sixteen pages plus cover.
An unusual 1924-25 team photo in ‘civvies’
Wallace Clarke
Former CCFC player James Kerr was now in the gaffer’s chair and the club President was Alderman Fred Lee. Another Alderman Frank Snape shared the Vice Presidents’ role with Harry Smith of local car manufacturer Rover. The seven man Board of Directors was again chaired by Thomas Proles.
The programme editor’s front page now entitled ‘Entre Nous’ gives a roundup of players appearances and enumerates the goalscorerers in all three league competitions entered (D2, SL and EML) The ‘In the Limelight’ series of photos of players continues this season featuring this time the Bantams’ young outside left Wallace Clark. More seasoned professional Frank Herbert also gets a photo later in the programme. There are also ‘Jottings‘ later in the programme that review the various City teams recent performances. The traditional double page centre-spread of players and officials (below) is bounded once more by ads, ‘Peeping Tom’s Corner‘ and the Silver Band’s Gig List pre-match and half-time !
Page 5 provides half a page of space for ‘Supporters Club Notes‘ by its Hon.Secretary J.H.Lissaman reviewing City’s exit from the F.A.Cup the previous week and focussing on the following week’s train excursion to Leicester City. He also invites fans to a ‘great rally of supporters’ at the Corn Exchange the following Tuesday night as there continued to be much dissension about the club’s parlous state.
There is the usual report of the fixtures and results of the first team and reserves (see above) and the inside back page continues to offer space for codes and fixtures for reporting half-times at the ground. One innovation this season is a, presumably syndicated, ‘History Of Football‘ full page feature which is serialised building up over each home programme. There is plenty of advertising throughout other pages including a full pager for the Coventry & District Co-operative Society and the Alexandra Theatre, and a half pager for both the Swanswell Printing Company and Edward Tucker, a Coventry Drapers chain.
As for the game itself a contemporary match report is also reproduced below.
Season 1924-25 P.42 W.11 D.9 L.22 F.45-84A. Pts.31 Pos.22nd/22
See next time’s article about the different teams played by City in their only season in the Northern section of the Third Division!
If anyone knows the whereabouts of any other CCFC home programme from this season we would be eager to hear from you!
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Some of these featured programmes can be seen in more detail by clicking our ‘Progs’ tab (at top). There are still lots of gaps which you may be able to help fill so if you have any prewar programme – home or away – of City games, the earlier the better, we would be grateful if you could let Mike Young know what you have got so he can check whether it fills a hole in our database (for his contact email see contacts page). If it is, then he will make arrangements with you to get it scanned or photocopied as appropriate.
Though we have asked before we still hope that some of our FPA members, associate members (and general readers) will be able to protect a bit more of the club’s important heritage for posterity and in doing so help make the Club’s (and your) history come alive again!
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for researching the article and sourcing the images.
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