At today’s autumn Diamond Club lunch in the Legends Lounge at the Ricoh Arena, the guest of honour was former Coventry City defender Chris Cattlin.
Chris entertained the 150 or so members with recollections of his days at Coventry City as well as at Brighton where he was a player and later their manager. He recalled being contacted in 1968 by the then City manager Noel Cantwell, who tried to persuade him to join the club from Huddersfield. Chelsea were also interested in signing the defender, but as soon as he met with Cantwell, he was convinced on the spot to sign for the Sky Blues, partly by becoming the top paid player at the club, on a staggering £65 a week and partly because he was promised a place in the team to face Manchester United the next day. Cattlin was given the task of marking George Best and he duly kept the Northern Irish magician quiet all game and City went on to win 2-0.
On being taken to the hotel where he was staying prior to the game, he realised he hadn’t any boot, so he phoned his dad, who lived in Oldham, Lancashire, who said he would bring them down to the hotel. The journey involved three bus journeys and hours on the road, but he arrived in time to deliver the boots to his son. The team left for Highfield Road, but Mr Cattlin senior hadn’t a clue how to get to the ground, but Chris was oblivious to this fact and went on to play his part in keeping the Charlton, Law, Best partnership quiet in the 2-0 win.
Chris and his dad met up after the game where Mr Cattlin said it was the best day of his life, but not because his son’s new side had beaten Manchester United, or the part played by Chris in the game but because Manchester United were also staying at the same hotel as Chris and Sit Matt Busby spotted Mr Cattlin in the hotel lobby and introduced himself and offer him a lift to Highfield Road in his own car.
Chris made the Diamond Club member laugh when he recounted the journey home from the game in the back of a friend’s van. The friend was a plumber and Chris had to sit on a toilet seat in the back of the van.
Chris said he had the highest regard for the current Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray, whom he compared to the late Brian Clough as a manager with the ability to build a team of players on a lesser budget and to be able to motivate them into better players. He believes that the good times will return to Coventry and that they are more than capable of getting into the Championship and then to push for promotion to the Premier League. He had some very forthright views on how the club has been run and was singularly unimpressed. At the end of his talk, Chris was presented a ‘This is Your Life’ type book of his football career by Dean Nelson.
Another guest on the day was the former Coventry marathon runner and two time Olympic Games competitor Dave Long. Dave spoke about his passion for the club and his part in the setting up of the Jimmy Hill statue fund. He also spoke about the need for the City to promote all of the positive aspects of its culture, sport and heritage to promote the city’s bid to become the City of Culture.
The former wrestler Tony ‘Banger’ Walsh was also a guest at the lunch and spoke briefly about his passion as a supporter of Coventry City and about his unblemished record in the wrestling ring in his bout with Big Daddy, he never won a single bout in their contests.
The afternoon ended with the raffle and Bingo, which yours truly won the £20 for getting a line, but three winners had to share the £50 for a full house.