Blast Fom The Past: On This Day 1961 – See The ‘Sky Blue’ Era Erupt As JH Arrives!

JH & Derrick Robins

On this day (29th November) in 1961 probably the club’s greatest Manager of all time and creator/icon of the ‘Sky Blue Revolution‘, Jimmy Hill was unveiled as the new CCFC supremo just days after the club suffered the ignominy of being knocked out of the F.A.Cup at home to non-league Kings Lynn (search for the earlier post for 25th November on this site for details)!

The former (for the previous four years) Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) brought Coventry, no less than the football game in general, a host of new modernising ideas and an enthusiasm that rubbed off on a footballing city thirsting for success after some drab post WW2 years. CCFC Chairman Derrick Robins was also instrumental in fully backing JH‘s ability to stimulate and act as a catalyst of change.

Billy Frith- Manager 1959

The departing gaffer, Billy Frith (City’s tenth to leave since the war) headed the clear out of the old regime. Billy, a former CCFC player of distinction, was in his second stint in the Highfield Road hot seat and said at the time,

“I hadn’t a clue about what was going on until I arrived at the ground this morning after returning from a reserve game at Brighton”! Robins said he had been negotiating with JH three weeks before the Kings Lynn disaster.

Jimmy, who later became a CCFPA member, had a profound effect on the feel-good factor  for both club and city in the 1960s as CCFC achieved promotion to the top division (for the first time in its history) by 1967. 

JH leads the Sky Blue Song

Jimmy Hill on song

Bequeathing us an ambitious, top notch club, he left at the pinnacle of his achievement with CCFC to build an equally illustrious media career, later returning as club chairman still full of pioneering football innovations. Both his statue and memorial stone located at the Ricoh/CBS Arena goes only part of the way to mark the regard of all those in Sky Blue land for their iconic ‘Mr Sky Blue’!

We remember too his periodic returns to CCFC for reunions and the like as well as the poignant Commemorations and Tributes at Cathedral and club following his death age 87 in December 2015.

Click below on the link or picture to view a Midland TV report of the time featuring Jimmy and Derrick just before JH’s ‘Sky Blue Revolution’ all kicked-off:-

http://www.macearchive.org/films/midlands-news-29111961-coventry-city-football-club

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images & video.