Coventry City FA Cup Final 1987

I'd hired a gorilla outfit the day before and had already climbed several telegraph poles on the Foleshill Road and hung sky blue bunting from them, the city had gone sky blue mad! As we approached the station concourse that morning, the sight and size of the queue was amazing. Somehow a work colleague spotted me (how I'm not sure being as I was dressed head to foot in this fancy dress costume) who invited me to join his party close to the start of the queue. There was a lot of chanting of a City favourite players name directed at me by the crowd, back then it was just about acceptable (????maybe acceptable isn't the right word, but I can't think of an more accurate alternative????) nowadays it is considered racist and would not be tolerated. Together with the rest of my family we declined the offer to 'push in', and joined the back of the queue half way along Michaelmas Road. Despite the size of the queue, it was moving quite quickly (do any of our railway experts know how many extra trains were put on that day and how and where they were stacked up?) and before too long we had boarded a train and was heading for the twin towers, not before some silly local radio presenter pushed a microphone in front of my face and asked me what I was going to do when I got to Wembley! I couldn't resist replying "to eat bananas" Our train came to a grinding halt just before Rugby, it appears someone had thrown something from a bridge and as a result the overhead power lines were being pulled down. Does anyone have a more accurate assessment of this incident, was it reported in the local press? The wait was agonising as kick off time became closer and closer, the realisation that we may not reach Wembley in time (if at all) dawned. Finally a replacement train came and we had to disembark from the section of our train that was fouled (didn't realise how far down from a railway carriage to trackside is) and walk along the track bed to re board and continue our journey. We missed out on the community singing, no Abide with Me, leading out of the teams,The National Anthem, presentation of the players, we got into Wembley just as the players broke away to their respective 'ends' for the kick in. It's 3-2 with just a few minutes to go, John Motson in his commentary asks "has the Sky Blue Express come far enough down the line?" Fantastic day, fantastic time for the city of Coventry.

Something here they returned home with

I remember that day so well, not least for the City actually winning the FA Cup. I have been an avid follower of CCFC from around the age of six (1960) and used to watch most home games with my older brother, travelling on the number 11 bus from Whoberley to Gosford Green. On one occasion we managed to lose the bus fare home and so had no option but to walk, following the bus route. We didn't know of any alternative. I well remember being more concerned about being late for my daily dose of California Syrup of Figs rather than what mum might say - or do - for us being back home so late. Strange how children's minds work. As I got older I got out of the habit of going to games due to starting shiftwork, before eventually moving away from Coventry to work and later still out of the country. Once in the blood, always in the blood and following the City's exploits is still the priority on match days. However, back to the thread. Living away from Coventry at the time, I came 'home' to watch it at my brother's on television. I so well remember being on my knees as Keith Houchen's superb header went in, I following his actions a split second later, both of us finishing up on the ground, Houchen at Wembley, me on the floor at my brother's in Keresley. I can't fully remember the number of special trains that ran that day to Wembley, but it might not be as many as you might think, with many thousands of City fans choosing to travel on the frequent service trains to Euston and returning home either that evening or indeed on the Sunday. All of the specials that did run for 'normals' were three set (total 12 coaches) electric multiple units that ran to Wembley Central; one train for 'Vips' ran from Coventry to Wembley Hill station on the Chiltern line, now known as Wembley Stadium. This train was worked by Class 47 47566 from the Charter Trains Unit depot at Bounds Green in London to Nuneaton, where the loco ran-round the stock before heading down the branch to Coventry. After picking up its passengers, it then headed to Wembley via Leamington. I photographed this train at Coundon Road and then again passing through Kenilworth Common. Unfortunately these were shot on slide and at the moment I have no scans to hand. And now for those that don't know. You are correct, the facts were never properly made known at the time, but the overhead wires were almost certainly damaged by the actions of a City fan actually on one of the trains!!!! As each train left Coventry, many fans clearly intended to enjoy the day and chose to stand at the open windows (and there were many of these on the EMU's - one to each doorway, and each coach had a minimum of 6 doors) waving mainly scarves but also flags. What is 100% certain is that it was a City scarf that was found wrapped around the overhead at the point that the overhead was damaged. Once damaged, the current automatically isolated, stranding trains as they were clearly unable to move. What is also 100% certain is that with trains now stranded between Coventry and Rugby, the very last special was just being loaded at Coventry. With no current closer to Rugby, it was unable to head in that direction. A Class 31 diesel loco was commandeered to drag the train via Bedworth to Nuneaton, from where the train was then able to head to Wembley under its own power. I only learned about this after the event - if only mobile phones were around at the time, especially seeing as Three Spires Junction was relatively close to my brother's. I wouldn't be surprised if the fan who 'lost' their scarf on Saturday 16th May 1987 has never admitted this to this day!

I was living Dulwich in London and watched the game on telly. Sprayed lager all over the screen when Allen scored after 90 seconds, but I kept the faith. I was only too happy to collect my winnings from all the Spurs fans who had bet with me at work. I had just had a strong feeling that it was destined to come back to Cov that year. Bawling my eyes out when the ref blew the final whistle. Feeling a bit teary thinking about it. I got to know John Sillett a few years later and what a nice bloke he is. We had 4 New Zealanders who worked at my hotel and they had adopted the Sky Blues as their team whilst in England after some persuasion from me and another Cov fan. They went to every cup game except the final, they couldn't get tickets. After they had gone home they wrote a letter to John Sillett asking him if they could set up a supporters club there. He replied to them with a hand written letter. So I mentioned this to him and he remembered all their names and asked me to give them his kindest regards. A really proper gentleman.

I was at work.

My son and I went to all the games in our cup run. Unfortunately the tickets sold out for the final fairly quickly (can't think why!) As it happened, someone I worked with knew someone who was connected with one of the non-league clubs who just happened to be willing to sell me their two-ticket allocation. So one Sunday morning saw me driving up the M6 to a Wolverhampton car park, to exchange my envelope containing £90 for theirs containing two cup-final tickets! Our two seats were a few rows from the pitch, more or less in line with the spot from where Keith Houchen scored his famous diving header. The journey back on the train was amazing, banners and scarves hung from all the railway bridges as we approached Coventry. What a great feeling that was. People that aren't football supporters (SISU) would never understand how team success makes you feel. For my birthday this year, my son bought me a 20" x 16" photo of that diving header, signed by the one and only Keith Houchen. Just got to find a suitable place for it on my wall now

Keith Houchen's header.

Ditto, but was within earshot of a television set so was at least able to listen to the game.

You must have been thrilled with that gift Tony, and what a thoughtful son.

I've just discovered a brand new search engine that's much better than Google. It's called f.hc.co.uk!! It's absolutely unbelievable what you guys can recall, know, show. Unbbbbbbbbbbbbelieeeeeeeeeeeeevable!

We lived in Milton Keynes and after the match, we walked to a M1 bridge with my eldest daughter and watched the coaches and cars coming back up the M1.

I watched the game on television at home as I had to work during the morning. At the end of the match half the people in the street ran out of their houses cheering and celebrating with an impromptu party. It was the first time I had spoken to some of them and led to many friendships. Later on I went round to a friend's house that overlooked the ring road and we watched for hours as cars jammed it and listened to the sound of the horns, but nobody minded the noise.

I was living in Birmingham at the time, but went over to Coventry for a trip out. It was the 'ghost town' of the song - the market traders packed up early, the precincts were empty and it felt eerie. But the fountains were all sky blue and even the Cathedral had sky blue scarves draped near the altar! My mum's friend had a season ticket so got tickets to Wembley - she had a fantastic time and talked about it for ages afterwards When I was small, in the 60's, my dad and brother went off to Highfield Road every home game, with their home made rattles which would be seen as weapons nowadays, no doubt!

1987 FA Cup footage.