Formers Players Association Fans Forum - A Roaring Sucess

In a thoroughly entertaining evening they thrilled the audience with anecdotes and insights into the football club back in their era. They talked highly of their managers Gordon Milne and later, Dave Sexton and were unanimous in their belief that football clubs like City needed to grow more of their own players because ultimately those players felt a greater affinity to their club.

It was a trip down memory lane as the lads revisited the highs they experienced when beating West Ham 3-2 in the first leg of the Semi Final, and then the lows of losing the second leg at Upton Park to Jimmy Neighbour's late goal. As usual Harry Roberts had the crowd in stitches when he said he was marking Neighbour that night and he still got a Christmas card from him.

All four spoke highly of their senior colleagues at the club when they were starting out on their careers, especially Tommy Hutchison and Terry Yorath, who gave sage advice and helped protect them on the pitch.

When describing the manner of their departures from the club it transpired that none of them really wanted to leave the club and those present were left rueing the fact that a golden generation of players were lost to the club by mismanagement of the club that has persisted on and off for the intervening 25 years.

MC Billy Bell, who put on a super show himself, finally prised the microphone from Harry's hands just before 10 pm but not before the former City player had reduced the audience to tears with his self-effacing repartee. Thus ended a successful evening for the Former Players Association which raised around £400 for the Sky Blue Trust/Coventry Times Appeal Fund.