We are delighted to announce that a candidate for Coventry City's oldest player is coming to Legends Day 2016 to be held on Saturday 13th February 2016.
It has just been confirmed that 93 year old Ray Paul who has been tracked down by Coventry City Former Players Association chairman Jim Brown will be joining around 40 CCFC former players from across the years at our annual major reunion coinciding with the Sky Blues home game against Bury.
Ray extends the playing eras of our attending stars of the past to over seven decades since he turned out for the ‘Bantams’ (as CCFC were known) in 1944-45 towards the end of the Second World War. He made his debut in a 4-1 defeat for the City in September 1944 at the Hawthorns v WBA.
CCFPA member Colin Collindridge at 96 is our oldest surviving former player but wasn’t signed for the City until 1954. Another member Jack Lovering who is also 93 was a WW2 junior for CCFC but didn’t make his first team debut for the Bantams until 1946.
A centre forward Ray, who was the son of a trainer of near neighbours Nuneaton Town, joined his dad and became a striking sensation with the ‘Borough’ scoring 42 goals in the 1941-42 season. Ray turned out for our Highfield Road Club as a guest player in the wartime Football League North and scored 8 goals in his ten appearances. He also guested in four appearances for Watford in 1944-45 and a further six for Nottingham Forest up to 1945-46.
We will be interested to hear from him about his subsequent career history when he comes to the Ricoh in nine days time and hope to sign him up as the oldest Association member present at the game. Look out for more news on this site of who else is joining us at Legends Day 2016 the next few days.