Defeating Wolves in the previous round was part of Coventry City’s amazing run to a dramatic, if ultimately agonizing, FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United. It brought back memories of their well-known victory from 1987, when a former Wolves trainee was crucial to the victory. Paul Berry discovers additional information.
Over the past 12 months, Graham Rodger’s footballing ancestors have prepared a couple of quite appetizing matchups.
The Championship play-off final between Luton and Coventry was played last year, while the FA Cup quarterfinal between Wolves and Coventry this season was agonizing for supporters of the gold and black.
Although Rodgers played for all three, it is clear where his real allegiances lie. He went on to spend more than thirty years with Grimsby in a variety of roles.
He affirms, “I’m a Coventry lad. People were chatting to me about last year’s play-off final and wondering which team I wanted to win. When I was a baby, my family relocated from Glasgow to Kenilworth.
As I grew older, I worked as a paper boy and was able to receive free tickets to Highfield Road. “I would take the bus over there and then purchase a season ticket in the Spion Kop.”
So when people ask me, Maradona is my favorite player. Cruyff? It’s Tommy Hutchison, not you. That, in my opinion, is the best player!
Rodger has followed Coventry’s incredible journey to the FA Cup final four this season with great interest. If Coventry’s thrilling comeback against Manchester United hadn’t ended in a heartbreaking penalty shootout, he would have been all over Wembley next month.
That’s because, in 1987, when the Sky Blues last made it to the FA Cup Final, he came off the bench and contributed to the winning goal against Tottenham, living the ultimate Sky Blues dream.
He only made one appearance in the FA Cup Final, the same number of appearances he made for Wolves, but he has only pleasant memories of his apprenticeship at Molineux.
And even if he could have been forgiven for being happy with Coventry’s late, late performance that completed their thrilling victory against Wolves in the quarterfinals, he still has affection for the team that provided him the chance to start his career.
“I have consistently monitored Wolves’ performance and am quite happy with their current state of play,” remarks Rodger. “The way they now compete in the Premier League, the manager’s response after Bournemouth fired him, and the way he has got Wolves playing, to the point where he is being linked to more important positions.” “But it’s clear that no one wants him to leave, and that first team has outstanding talent and is unquestionably among the top ten Premier League teams when everyone is fit.” Even though Rodger’s only first-team debut was in the top division 40 years ago this past Sunday against Ipswich, things were substantially different at Molineux during that time.
The club was in freefall at that point, perched on the edge of a cliff that would send it down through the divisions and almost out of business before making a comeback and making it back to the big time over two decades later.
Although Rodger was born in Glasgow, his family relocated to Kenilworth, close to Coventry, when he was a baby. There, he completed his education, played junior football, and gained experience facing seniors in non-league football.
Clubs could only sign youngsters as young as 14 at the time, and while the Sky Blues showed interest, Rodger chose to come to Molineux on a schoolboy contract before eventually joining Wolves as a full-time apprentice due to the esteemed reputation of the Wolves youth setup.
Tim Flowers, a goalkeeper and fellow Kenilworth local, was also beginning his eventually amazing career as a trainee at Wolves, which helped. Both had been scouted by John Hannah and benefited from training under Frank Upton, a highly respected young coach.
For us young players back then, Frank was just fantastic,” Rodger remembers. He was a strict disciplinarian, but at that point, I think we were all in need of that. Someone like Frank brought so much to the table for me as a player and as a person.
At that age, there’s a risk that you believe you know everything, but in reality, you don’t. He and John Jarman, the reserve team manager, were extremely lucky to have been in our lives because they would tell it how it was, no holds barred.
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