Coventry City’s incredible run to a dramatic if ultimately agonisingly FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United included taking the scalp of Wolves in the previous round. It also evoked memories of their famous triumph back in 1987, in which a former Wolves’ apprentice played a decisive role in the winning moment. Paul Berry finds out more.
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Graham Rodger’s footballing alumni has served up a couple of very tasty clashes over the last 12 months.
Luton against Coventry in last year’s Championship play-off final, and then Wolves against Coventry – painfully for those of a gold and black persuasion – in this season’s FA Cup quarter finals.
Rodgers played for all three, before going on to spend over three decades in many different roles with Grimsby, but there is no doubt where his true affiliations lie.
“People were talking to me about last year’s play-off final and wondering which team I wanted to win – well I’m a Coventry boy,” he confirms.
“My family moved down from Glasgow to Kenilworth when I was a baby, and, as I grew up, I had a paper round and used to get complimentary tickets to Highfield Road.
“I’d head over there on the bus, and later got a season ticket in the Spion Kop.
“So, when people ask me who is my favourite player – Maradona? Cruyff? No, it’s Tommy Hutchison. That’s the best player in my eyes!”
Rodger has been a more than keen observer of Coventry’s incredible run to the last four of this season’s FA Cup, and would have loved nothing more than to have been heading to Wembley next month had their dramatic comeback against Manchester United not come to a devastating finale via a penalty shootout.
That’s because he completely lived the Sky Blues dream the last time they reached an FA Cup Final, coming off the bench and playing a part in the winning goal against Tottenham back in 1987.
He made the same number of appearances in an FA Cup Final as he did for Wolves – just the one – but he harbours nothing but good and positive memories from the time at Molineux where he served his apprenticeship.
And while he could have been forgiven for feeling pleased with the late, late show from Coventry which sealed their dramatic win at Wolves in the quarter finals, there is still a soft spot for the club which gave him the opportunity to launch his career.
“I have always looked out for Wolves’ results and am really pleased to see how they are doing now,” says Rodger.
“The way they now hold their own in the Premier League, the way the manager responded to being let go by Bournemouth and how he has got Wolves playing, to the extent that he is being linked with bigger jobs.
“But obviously no one wants him to go, and the talent in that first team when they are all fit is excellent, they are definitely a top ten Premier League team.”
Times were very different at Molineux when Rodger was making his breakthrough, even if his solitary first team appearance, against Ipswich 40 years ago last Sunday, also came in the top-flight.
At that stage the club was in freefall, standing on the brink of the precipice which would lead to tumbling down the divisions and nearly going out of business before a resurgence and finally returning to the big time nearly two decades later.
At the time of his arrival, clubs were only able to engage with young players from 14 years of age and, although there was interest from the Sky Blues, the lofty reputation of Wolves’ youth set-up saw Rodger opt to head to Molineux on schoolboy terms, later to become a full-time apprentice.
It helped that goalkeeper and fellow Kenilworth resident Tim Flowers was also just starting his ultimately fantastic career as a trainee at Wolves, both having been scouted by John Hannah, and both then benefitting from working under highly regarded youth coach, Frank Upton.
“Frank was absolutely magnificent for us young players at that time,” Rodger recalls.
“He was a real taskmaster, but at that stage that was exactly what I needed – probably what we all needed.
“At that age, there is a danger that you think you know everything, but you actually know nothing, and someone like Frank brought so much to the table for me not just as a player, but also as a person as well.
“I think we were very fortunate to have people like him around, and John Jarman, reserve team manager, as they would pull no punches and tell you exactly how it was.
“Graham Hawkins, the first team manager at the time, was also a really good bloke who taught me a lot about defending, and all the senior players were excellent as well.
“We’d clean their boots, maybe even wash their cars in return for a fiver, but they would always give some great guidance and many of them would stay behind after training to help us go through stuff.
“I remember doing a training session at Molineux where I was marking Andy Gray with Paul Bradshaw in goal and others such as Geoff Palmer involved.
“And reserve team football in those days was also a massive education as senior players would feature in there regularly.
“I remember going to play Liverpool – and it was at Anfield by the way – and their team sheet was just full of first-team players and several internationals.
“I remember gaining so much knowledge and experience from those sorts of games, it was very much sink or swim and, even if you got ripped apart by a really top player, it was always something you could learn from.”
Talking of sink or swim, it was an injury to John Pender which opened the door to Rodger for his senior Wolves debut, back in April 1984.
Circumstances could have been more favourable, as Hawkins had not long been sacked, Jim Barron had taken caretaker charge and Wolves were coming off the back of four consecutive defeats, and into a period where they scored just twice in ten games.
Ipswich were the visitors to Molineux, but sadly for Rodger, what could have been a dream debut is not one carrying much happiness in his memory books.
He was, at the time, just 17 years and 20 days old, one of the youngest first-teamers in the club’s illustrious history.
“I can’t remember much about it, but maybe I’ve tried to block it all out, because it was a really bad day at the office,” he says.
“Yes, I was only 17, and one of the club’s youngest ever players, but I really thought I’d be able to go out there and hold my own.
“As it was, it just showed that I wasn’t quite ready for that level and so what could have been a really massive day for me turned into a disappointment.
“While there was disappointment that it turned out to be my one and only Wolves senior appearance, I think I will always be more disappointed that I didn’t really perform to the standard I wanted to, both for myself and the fans, who always wanted to get right behind young players.”
Wolves lost 3-0 against Ipswich and the 2-0 defeat at Everton which followed confirmed the first of three successive relegations. For Rodger, his brief first team flirtation was at an end.
At one point he was offered a three-year professional contract, but that was seemingly withdrawn, and by February of 1985, less than a year after that senior debut, he had moved on.
“Initially there was a good feeling at the time, with Derek Dougan banging the drum and saying the club was going places, but for whatever reason that never came off and the club ended up in freefall,” he recalls.
But there was far more positivity in his next port of call. It was Coventry, his boyhood club, and linking up again with Upton who by now was coaching at Highfield Road and offered Rodger a three-month trial, later converted into a permanent deal.
He would play 44 first team games for Coventry, a time in which he also earned four caps for England Under-21s, in the same team as the likes of Flowers, Martin Keown, Des Walker and Paul Gascoigne.
One of those 44 Sky Blues appearances – of course – will always stand out from the rest.
The 1987 FA Cup Final at Wembley. Coventry City 3, Tottenham Hotspur 2. One of the very best ever finals to have graced the Twin Towers.
Rodger’s ultimate involvement wasn’t the only Wolves-related influence on show that day.
Future ‘Wolfs’ Cyrille Regis and Steve Sedgley were in the Coventry squad as number 9 and fellow substitute respectively, while future Wolves manager Glenn Hoddle and coach Steve Hodge were in the Spurs starting line-up.
Few expected the Sky Blues to triumph, but under the astute and inspirational leadership of managerial duo John Sillett and George Curtis, triumph is exactly what they did, eventually prevailing thanks to Gary Mabbutt’s extra-time own goal.
And Rodger, who had come on as an 89th minute substitute for the injured Brian Kilcline, played a key role in the winner.
Striding out of defence, he then played the ball out to Lloyd McGrath on the right flank, whose cross was deflected in by Mabbutt for the final’s decisive moment.
And the boot on the left foot of Rodger which made that pass? It actually belonged to Regis!
“What a day,” he recalls.
“So many memories spring to mind, I didn’t even know I was in the final squad until I walked into the dressing room and saw my boots under the number 14 shirt.
“That was excellent man management as I was still quite young, making sure I didn’t get flustered or worried too long in advance, and I practically floated onto the pitch after that!
“I’d got a split down the side of my left boot, so Cyrille told me to try one of his spares, which fitted perfectly.
“I had my own right boot on, and Cyrille’s left, and that was the one which made the pass to Lloydy to set up the goal.
“The fans were unbelievable that day, and the day after when we did the tour.
“On the way back, I can remember traffic being at a standstill on the M1 and I think we all got out and started dancing!
“It was a perfect alignment of everything that needed to happen that year for Coventry to win the cup.
“The management team, so many top experienced players who used to call us younger ones the ‘groovy gang’, the fact we had been through extra time in earlier rounds which helped us on that sapping Wembley pitch.
“I think we pretty much won the cup that year on team spirit!”
David Pleat was the beaten Spurs manager that May afternoon, and Rodger would go on to link up with him when he returned for a second spell as boss of Luton, Wolves’ opponents on Saturday.
Rodger enjoyed his time as a Hatter, with another good group of players and mix of experience and youth.
Eventually however, he probably talked his way out of his position when, with Pleat looking to go down a more ‘play it out from the back’ route, Rodger admitted he was more of a traditional centre back in the ‘head it and kick it’ mould.
But that did lead to a move to the club where he made the most of his career appearances, and went on to fulfil so many different roles – Grimsby Town.
As a player, Rodger was an ever-present for many seasons, was voted Player of the Year in 1997, and helped them to a League Two play-off and Football League Trophy double the following campaign.
After hanging up his boots, he has since delivered a huge range of duties for the Mariners, both as Sports & Community Officer – later heading up the department – and as coach, assistant manager, manager and chief scout.
Over 30 years of service ended a couple of years ago, since when Rodger has again worked within the community sector.
Currently awaiting his next opportunity – whether that be within football or elsewhere – he has plenty of reason to reflect on his time at Grimsby with great pride.
“I really enjoyed doing the different roles, from some success as a player to then the challenge of being manager,” he explains.
“There have been plenty of learning curves, particularly as a manager, and I would love everyone in football to have that experience of being in the dugout, and everything that it involves.”
Rodger has also recently returned to managing, temporarily with a local women’s team, and also coaches his daughter’s Under-15s team alongside former Grimsby team-mate Tommy Watson.
It seems he just can’t escape from football. And all the different emotions of football.
When you think back to the extremes of the disappointment of his only first team appearance for Wolves, against the exhilaration of his FA Cup impact with Coventry, he knows only too well what the current Sky Blues will be feeling in the wake of such a rollercoaster 120 minutes last Sunday.
It’s a funny old game, as someone once said.
