The Diamond Club Christmas lunch was held today at the Ricoh Arena and was once again well attended. Over 200 members made their way to the Legends Lounge to sit down to a turkey lunch.
Comedian Billy Bell took on the mantle of host in the absence of Joe Elliot and before the lunch he told a few of his own brand of jokes. He then spoke to Lloyd McGrath, who was making his first visit to the Diamond Club.
Inevitably, Lloyd spoke about the 1987 FA Cup run and final against Tottenham Hotspur and about his role in the memorable Wembley final. Lloyd said the player had fun in the FA Cup run, especially the 1-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United. After that it became a bit more serious, but not that much according to some of his anecdotes.
Apparantly the night before the Cup Final, with the players lodged in their hotel, the then manager of Coventry City John Sillett, told Lloyd a couple of other players to nip down the nearby off licence and buy some booze. The manager of said off licence was a bit surprised and suspicious to see some players who were about to play in an FA Cup final in his shop wanting to buy alcohol and he phoned the hotel to speak to John Sillett who confirmed it was OK. Lloyd then returned to the hotel where the players had a relaxing drink in their rooms before going to bed.
It was John Sillett's way of relaxing the players and removing some of the stresses and tensions that had been building during the day and it seemed to work as the next day, in arguably the finest FA Cup Final ever played Coventry City went on to win 3-2 in extra time, with Lloyd sending over the cross that the hapless Gary Mabbutt diverted with his knee into the one spot Ray Clemence in the Spurs goal could not reach to score what turned out to be the winning goal.
Lloyd said that Glen Hoddle was the finest player he ever played against and was tasked to keep him quiet during the game. He also said that one of the last things John Sillett said to the team before they left the dressing room was not to concede an early goal. Of course we all know that Clive Allen scored Spurs'' first goal withing two minutes of the start of the game. Sillett was not too impressed and had something to say about it in his half time talk.
After the lunch, we were entertained by the Belles of the Three Spires choir who sang a selection of seasonal songs.
The raffle was drawn and have to admit that our table of 12 won four of the raffle prizes, so we were a very happy bunch.
The next Diamond Club Lunch will be held on Thursday 23rd March and will include the AGM.
Pictures copyright of Pete Chambers BEM for CNS Sport