A COVENTRY City supporters club is hoping to be able to complete a football match between the Sky Blues and St Mirren which was left unsettled 37 years ago.
The Observer has been contacted by the Sky Blue Army Scotland Supporters Club which is now proposing how and when.
Sky Blues Scotland logo, designed by @covcept. s
It all began in late 1987 when St Mirren and the Sky Blues, each surprise winners of their famous domestics cups that summer, came together for the ‘Anglo Scottish Challenge’, a rebrand of a competition run successfully in preceding years and even won before by St Mirren in 1980. By 1987, in the post-Heysel spell with English clubs banned from European competition, it provided something of a cross border alternative.
The first leg of the final, in December 1987, was drawn 1-1 at Highfield Road. David Phillips put the Sky Blues ahead before Kenny McDowall equalised for the visitors.
But despite the tie being finely poised, a second leg scheduled for St Mirren’s former Love Street home never took place, with congested fixture lists primarily blamed.
Over 37 years on the competition remains in limbo, a quirk of footballing history.
Now the SBA Scotland, a group of Coventry supporters living in Scotland, are pushing to get the second leg revived and played at St Mirren Park, Paisley, with a target date of summer 2027 to mark the 40th anniversary of the twin cup wins. The supporters club would sponsor the fixture and aim to raise cash for a fitting trophy for the finally crowned winner to lift.
A spokesperson for the group said: “As soon as we read about this uncompleted final we had try to get it ressurrected. Not least because it would be played on our doorstep as opposed to the 10 hour round trip to most Coventry City matches.
“While we have every expectation Coventry could well be in the Premier League by 2027, and St Mirren still competing in Europe, the opportunity to win a trophy should not be passed up by either.
“It’s time to settle this cup and declare a winner once and for all! It could be played in summer as a pre-season ‘friendly’. We’d like the tie to mirror 1987 rules as far as possible, most of all so that VAR plays absolutely no part.
“We’ve heard a few positive noises from officials at each club about getting the game settled at long last, so we are hopeful.”
The idea has already captured the imagination online, with one St Mirren fan insisting ‘away goals still count’.
St Mirren Independent Supporters Association, the majority owners of the club, said they would love to see the game revived.
David Phillips, Sky Blues FA Cup winner and scorer in the first leg of the Anglo challenge, wished us good luck and called it a ‘great idea’ as a potential pre-season friendly for the current squads, joking “I’m not so sure many of the players involved back in the day will be able to walk never mind run”.
We are now appealing to Doug King and everyone at Coventry City, and of course their counterparts at St Mirren, to get together and try to make this happen. The chance for a trophy – something neither club has exactly been awash with in their long and proud histories – remains just one game away.
