[19 OCT 01]

John Sillett will always be remembered for his part in the 1987 FA Cup victory but the other testament to his ability as a manager is that under his charge Coventry City were never involved in a relegation battle.

JOHN SILLETT WITH THE 1987 FA CUP WINNING TEAM

The son of Charlie Sillett who played for Southampton before the war, John and his elder brother Peter grew up in the Hampshire village of Nomansland and both were on Southampton’s books before joining Chelsea as teenagers.

Peter won international honours and played in the Chelsea championship side of 1955 and John followed him into the first team partnering his brother at full back and making over 100 appearances. After the arrival of Tommy Docherty in 1961 John lost his place and in April 1962 he joined Jimmy Hill’s Sky Blue revolution.

Whilst never a spectacular player Sillett was a steadying influence on the Coventry defence and played a big part in the 1963 FA Cup run and the 1964 Third Division championship side.

His fitness suffered after a slipped disc problem and in 1966 he joined Plymouth. Then, after retiring from playing, he moved into coaching with Bristol City. In 1974 he became manager of Hereford United and two years later led them to promotion to the old Division Two.

Bobby Gould brought Sillett to Highfield Road as his coach in 1983 but he left a year later as the team struggled. Don Mackay invited him back in 1985 and when Mackay resigned in May 1986 ‘Snozz’, as he was nicknamed, became chief coach with George Curtis as manager.

The Curtis-Sillett partnership was immediately successful, bringing a breath of fresh air to the club after years of struggling, with their happy-go-lucky attitude and expressive style of football. Sillett got the best out of Dave Bennett and Cyrille Regis and with a side largely inherited from Mackay and Gould, but inspired by Curtis and Sillett, the Sky Blues roared to the FA Cup final.

On that momentous day in May 1987 they put the smiles back on the faces of not only Coventry City but also football in general in one of the most attractive and exciting finals since the war. Big John was deservedly rewarded with promotion to team manager.

Two months after the Wembley triumph he made his first significant purchase signing David Speedie from Chelsea for £780,000. His immortal quote at the time was “Coventry City have shopped at Woolworths for too long, from now on we’re shopping at Harrods”.

For the next three years Sillett achieved a miracle. His team was rarely out of the top half of the table and never had a relegation battle, they did however suffer embarrassing Cup defeats at Sutton and Northampton and many fans felt he should have gone after the latter.

His critics argued that he should have broken up the 1987 side sooner and that his transfer dealings were uninspiring. Despite this his cheery style always shone through and he was an excellent ambassador for the club. In retrospect he raised expectations to high levels in 1987 and subsequently failed to live up to them.

In October 1990 he was relieved of duties after indicating that he did not want to renew his contract at the end of the season. Sadly, chairman John Poynton dealt with his departure in an untidy fashion, negotiating with Terry Butcher whilst John was on his sick bed and unaware of developments.

John had a further spell as manager of Hereford and spent a lot of time at Highfield Road after the departure of Poynton in 1991. Many fans will remember him for his rallying call on the arrival of Ron Atkinson in 1995 when the reception he received was almost as great as that given Big Ron.

He still lives in the Coventry area and has been part of Sven Goran Eriksson’s scouting set up working with other former City managers Dave Sexton and Noel Cantwell.

FACTFILE