FA Cup ties evoke joyful memories for former Wolves youngster
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.
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.
Rodger was actually born in Glasgow, but his family moved down south when he was just a baby, settling in Kenilworth, near Coventry, where he went through all his schooling and played junior football, as well as the learning experience of coming up against seniors at non-league level.
At that time, 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.
