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Happy Birthday To....
By CovSid67
August 13 2008
....Coventry City Football Club - one-hundred-and-twenty-five-years young today! And for that, we have to thank Willie Stanley, the Lord Aylesford Inn in Hillfields, and the workers at the Singers factory. Let's hope the current crop of CCFC players make the day special in their fixture against Aldershot....

On August 13, 1883, Willie Stanley formed Singers F.C. - who changed their name to Coventry City F.C. in 1898 - at the Lord Aylesford Inn, Aylesford Street, Hillfields, after workers from the Singers factory met inside the pub and decided to get a team together. William Stanley also played for the original Singers F.C. as a striker, while his step-brother George Bowers played right-wing.

The Inn was destroyed in the Blitz in November 1940, and is now a Day Care centre (I presume it's been re-built since the bombings....), and there is a now a plaque on the wall to commemorate where Coventry City were originally formed. And to honour the man responsible for starting it all, the Memorial Garden at the Arena will now be known as the 'William Stanley Memorial Garden'. 

The Carling Cup fixture against Aldershot has been moved from Tuesday 12th to Wednesday 13th so as to coincide with the anniversary, and it would be nice if we could see a fair sized crowd to celebrate the day, and hopefully a victory! At a mere £12 a ticket, it would be rude not to bother going along....

There have been far to many 'downs' in the first 125 years - though I guess that will make us Coventry City supporters appreciate the good times even more when they finally arrive! - so let's hope the next 125 years see far more 'highs'! Had we not been part of the ban from Europe following that awesome day in May 1987, we could have been as big as Real Madrid or Manchester United by now! Or maybe not.

Willie Stanley died in 1933, aged 72, and is buried in London Road cemetery.

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Happy Birthday To....
Posted by: Covcitytilidie (IP Logged)
Date: 12/08/2008 23:05

Happy Birthday To....

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