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Dai Ward and John Dick scored in a 2-2 draw in front of a crowd of 22,971 on 15th February 1964 at Highfield Road, then, on 6th April 2013 at the Ricoh Arena, 10,642 spectators watched a 1-1 draw in which Harry Forrester scored. Those encounters have been the only two Brentford visits that Coventry City has hosted in the past 50 years, with this weekend’s third fixture taking place at yet another venue – the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton – in front of no doubt an attendance of probably less than 10% of that for the 1963/64 match. The photo above shows the legendary Jim Towers scoring against Coventry in 1960/61.

With past encounters so scarce and giving little to reminisce about, perhaps it’s a good time to look instead at those players in the last forty years who have turned out in red and white stripes as well as in the sky blue shirts of the club originally formed, six years before Brentford, as Singers FC.

When John Docherty pulled off a ‘coup’ in persuading ex-England under-23 goalkeeper Bill Glazier to come to Griffin Park from Coventry for a £4,000 fee in the summer of 1975, the move was seen as a chance for the 32-year old to provide valuable experience in Doc’s young team but his short stay was a disaster, littered with costly blunders and none more so than his fumble at Old Trafford when he dropped the ball over the line after failing to hold a free-kick from Lou Macari in the 2-1 League Cup defeat to Manchester United. After just 12 games he announced his retirement, to the undoubted relief of many.

Glazier has been one of only two players to arrive directly from Coventry during the last 40 years – the other being Wayne Turner who also proved something of a disappointment after being signed by Frank McLintock for £35,000 in September 1986. Although he was appointed as captain, he never produced consistent form and endured an injury-ravaged stay before moving into a lengthy coaching career and is probably best remembered at Brentford for turning out in Bob Booker’s testimonial sporting a fulsome hairpiece to cover his balding pate!

There have, however, been a number of others who have included the Sky Blues in their list of former clubs;

Jimmy Holmes, a Republic of Ireland international with 30 caps to his name, was signed by Fred Callaghan in February 1983 to try and boost his ailing side but the left-back, who also included Tottenham and Leicester among his previous clubs, made little impression during a short stay, playing just four games before moving on to Peterborough and Torquay. His most notable achievement came in his ‘new’ career when, as a police constable with the West Midlands constabulary, he was awarded a commendation for bravery!

Few would probably remember Coventry as being one of the many stops for Dean Holdsworth as he would down his career with a host of short spells at various clubs – he made league 17 appearances for the Sky Blues without managing a goal, whilst goalkeeper Perry Suckling had started his career at Highfield Road before arriving at Brentford for a loan spell in 1991, via Manchester City, Crystal Palace and West Ham United. The once brilliant left-back Kenny Sansom had made 51 league appearances for Coventry on his downward spiral from the heights of the game before joining the Bees via Everton for a less than glorious stay at the end of the 1992/93 campaign whilst the list of those who included the name of Coventry on their footballing CV prior to arriving at Griffin Park also includes John Salako, Craig Pead, Robbie Simpson, Stephen Wright (who had endured a six-month spell without a club after leaving Coventry and before joining Brentford) and Clinton Morrison.

Hermann Hreidarsson went on to see out his final playing days at Coventry whilst the list of ex-Bees who later became Sky Blues also included the names of Martin Grainger, Jay Tabb, Detsi Kruszynski, Paul Watson and Blair Adams.

Finally, there’s the ex-Brentford player (albeit just one appearance) and manager who also played for and managed Coventry City – Micky Adams.

(I’m not old enough to remember Jimmy Hill!)

So, who have I forgotten?

Mark Croxford