John Charles Sillett (20 July 1936 – 30 November 2021) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He played for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. He won the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

with Chelsea in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, playing alongside his brother

Peter Sillett Richard Peter Tudor Sillett (1 February 1933 – 13 March 1998) was an English Association football, footballer. He played for Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and Southampton F.C., Southampton as a right-back, and made three appearances for England natio ...

. He was manager of Coventry City from 1986 until 1990, winning the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 1987, and also had two spells as manager of

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

Early life

John Sillett was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Hampshire, on 20 July 1936. His father,

Charlie Sillett Charles Thomas Sillett (29 October 1906 – 27 February 1945) was an English professional footballer who played as a full back for Southampton in the 1930s. He was the father of John Sillett and Peter Sillett, both of whom became professional f ...

, was a footballer, playing for

between 1931 and 1938. His older brother,

, was also a footballer.

Playing career

John and Peter Sillett both followed their father in signing for Southampton, although John never played for the first team. The brothers moved on to

as teenagers, where Peter won the First Division title in 1954–55. John made his Chelsea debut in 1957 and played over 100 games for Chelsea, scoring once. Sillett left Chelsea after the arrival of

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

as manager, joining

in June 1962, who were at the time being managed by

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director ...

. Sillett helped Coventry to win the Third Division title in 1963–64, but his playing days were limited after suffering a back problem. In July 1966, he joined

, where he ended his playing career.

Managerial career

Hereford United

After retirement from playing, Sillett moved into coaching. He was appointed

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

youth coach in 1968 under manager

Alan Dicks Alan Dicks (born 29 August 1934) is an English retired footballer and football manager. He managed Bristol City for thirteen years and managed clubs in four countries on three continents. Born in London, he signed for Chelsea at the age of 17 ...

, a former Chelsea and Coventry colleague, and took the team to the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

semi-finals. From 1970 to 1974, Sillett was first team coach and played a significant part in the development of the team which went on to achieve promotion to the top flight in 1976. In June 1974, he was appointed manager of

. During Sillett's first season, Hereford finished in a mid-table position, an improvement on the previous season's 18th place. In 1975–76, the team won the Third Division title, with the prolific

Dixie McNeil Richard "Dixie" McNeil (born 16 January 1947) is an English former footballer and manager, who played as a striker. Playing career As a schoolboy, McNeil signed for Leicester City after playing for the local club Holwell Works, but he was re ...

scoring 35 goals. A year later they were relegated, having won only eight matches and finishing bottom of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Sillett initially stayed on as manager, but resigned in February 1978.

Coventry City

Jimmy Hill invited Sillett to join the Coventry coaching staff in 1979. He left the club in 1984 after a falling-out with manager

Bobby Gould Robert Hewitt Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould (née Morton). He spent h ...

, but returned in 1985 under Gould's successor,

Don Mackay Donald Scrimgeour Mackay (born 19 March 1940) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Managerial career After a spell coaching the Bristol City youth team between 1974 and 1978, where he was part of the backroom staff th ...

. When Mackay departed in 1986 with just three games of the season left, Sillett was appointed chief coach alongside George Curtis. They managed two wins and avoided relegation on the final day of the season. Sillett was appointed Coventry's first-team coach for the 1986–87 season, with Curtis receiving the title of managing director; That season, the club went on to reach the 1987 FA Cup Final against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, winning the game 3–2. TV commentator

John Motson John Walker Motson (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Mo ...

is quoted as saying it was "the most exciting FA Cup final on which I've had the pleasure of commentating". Sillett became Coventry's sole manager from the 1987–88 season onwards, while Curtis returned to working on matters not related to the day-to-day running of the team. Sillett bought

David Speedie David Robert Speedie (born 20 February 1960) is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 f ...

from Chelsea for £780,000, a club-record at the time, announcing that the club would "no longer be shopping at Woolworths, from now on we're shopping at

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

". The club were unable to participate in the European Cup Winners' Cup as English clubs were still banned from European competition following the 1985

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by ...

. The 1987–88 season began with another trip to Wembley, as Coventry played league-champions Everton in the FA Charity Shield. 40,000 Coventry supporters attended the game, which Sillett's team lost 1–0. The first league game was a repeat of the FA Cup final, as Coventry played Tottenham, Speedie scoring in a 2–1 win. The season was a disappointment, however, with their defence of the FA Cup ending in a fourth-round home defeat to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and another tenth-place league finish. The following season City suffered one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history, as they lost 2–1 to non-league

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

in the third round. They fared better in the league and were third in the table following a win over league-leaders Arsenal in late February. They eventually finished seventh, which was their highest finish since 1978. Coventry replaced a number of players during the 1989 close-season, buying defender Peter Billing and acquiring Liverpool's Kevin MacDonald on a free transfer, with David Phillips and Steve Sedgley leaving the club. Despite a strong start, which saw the side top of the table after four games, City struggled to score goals and finished twelfth in the table. They suffered another embarrassing FA Cup defeat, this time to Third Division

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, but fared better in the League Cup, reaching the semi-final with a 5–0 win over Sunderland before losing to eventual winners

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the semi-final. With club record signing Kevin Gallacher (£900,000) starting to settle in to the frenetic style of the English top flight game, Sillett believed the club could challenge for the league title in 1990–91. The season started slowly, however, and Sillett was sacked by Chairman John Poynton, and replaced by

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. He works as an academy coach for Ipswich Town. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps ...

, who arrived from Rangers as player-manager, for a £400,000 fee. In his four full seasons in charge, Coventry's league placings were tenth, tenth, seventh and twelfth.

Later career

In 1991, Sillett returned to Hereford as manager, but left at the end of his first full season. This was his last major involvement with football, although he did some scouting work for the England national team under

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

. He also worked with Central TV as a pundit for their football coverage.

Death

Sillett died in the morning of 30 November 2021, at the age of 85.

Honours

Player

Chelsea *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1954–55 Coventry City *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

: 1963–64

Manager

Coventry City *

: 1986–87 Hereford United * Div 3 Champions: 1975–76

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
Management statistics on Soccerbase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillett, John 1936 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Southampton English footballers English Football League players Southampton F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English football managers English Football League managers Hereford United F.C. managers Coventry City F.C. managers Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers Bristol City F.C. non-playing staff Association football fullbacks Association football coaches Association football scouts