Jim (Ex CCFPA Chair) & Claudio’s Latest Sky Blue History Podcast (With ‘Athers’) Out Now!

Jim Brown, author of several books on CCFC and the club’s official historian, has for many years provided Sky Blue fans with a roughly weekly blog about all things Sky Blue, which is frequently featured in the Coventry Telegraph and advertised on this site. The most recent blog may always be found here.

Jim’s latest venture (this time online), in collaboration with long-time Sky Blue fan Claudio Cardellino, has kept up with newer media communication technologies, and the pair have been running a podcast since last year, which can usually be found on Spotify and/or Apple podcasts (sound only) and occasionally on YouTube (visual).

The most recent episode features a conversation with former Sky Blue defender and CCFPA member Peter Atherton. ‘Athers’ is a Series fairly long term CCFPA member but rarely attends Sky Blue games at the CBS Arena, so this is an excellent opportunity to catch up on what has been a long and intriguing football career.

However, Peter did attend his first Legends Day (LD25) at the CBS Arena a few months ago, so we expect to see him a lot more often.

The 55 year olds playing career spanned twentyyears and began as a YTS with Wigan Athletic in 1986, becoming a professional there in February 1988. ‘Athers’ made 177 first-team appearances (one goal) with the Latics before signing for the Sky Blues in the summer of 1991 for £329,000. He was capped once for England at U21 level while at City, and before departing for Sheffield Wednesday for £800,000 in June 1994, he made 114 league and six cup matches without scoring! During this time, he formed one of the best defensive partnerships in recent memory with Phil Babb.

 

Spells at Bradford City, Birmingham City and Halifax Town followed and his full career spanned 318 games, nine goals and included 43 yellow cards and one red before he hung up his boots in 2006 following a fourth knee operation. Peter went on to coach Wigan Athletic’s junior team before becoming assistant manager at Halifax Town, where he briefly came out of retirement due to the club’s injury problems and was named as a replacement for their home game against Greys Athletic on October 16, 2007.

In July 2018, ‘Athers’ became Assistant Manager to ‘Cov Kid’ Ian Evatt at A.F.C. Barrow, a National League club. On July 1, 2020, ‘Athers’ accompanied Evatt to the problematic Bolton Wanderers as assistant head coach. He later became Evatt’s Assistant Manager with the Trotters, a position he held until their departure in January 2025. Simply click on the link or image below to listen to Episode 37, as Jim and Claudio talk to Athers: Don’t forget Jim’s latest effort, ‘The Sky Blue Archive’, a fresh new website dedicated to CCFC’s history and statistics.

 

By the time you read this, there may be a YouTube version of the podcast available to watch. The talks between Jim and Claudio (and other contributions) are always well worth listening to for fans of all Sky Blue generations – there’s something for the entire Sky Blue family to enjoy!!

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