I'll Always Remember Sillett's Brilliant Team Talk - Pickering

Last updated : 29 March 2012 By Covsupport News Service

Coventry City 1987 Cup Final hero Nick Pickering has said that he will always remember the team talk given by John Sillett as the team went into extra time of the 1987 FA Cup Final. 

Speaking to the Coventry Observer’s Steve Carpenter as part of an excellent series of interviews with those involved on May 16th 1987, Pickering said: "I'll always remember Sillett's brilliant team talk at the end of the 90 minutes when we were drawing 2-2 and we were starting to feel a bit tired. 

"It felt as if it was 80 degrees inside the stadium on a boiling hot day and we were all sitting around together as a team. 

"But Sillett looked around at us and said 'get on your feet, look how tired they are. This is your chance'. 

"We all looked over at the Spurs players and they looked shattered. It had been a long season for them finishing third in the league and doing well in the League Cup too. 

"Sillett went on, 'this could be your last chance, you could get injured next season or move on elsewhere'. 

"Those words inspired all of us to go on and we battered them in extra time. I was only 23 at the time and you don't actually realise what you've achieved until you look back 25 years on. 

"You just get a great sense of achievement because winning the FA Cup back then meant so much to the players, the fans and of course the club. 

"The national papers all backed Spurs to win so it was a tremendous achievement for the club and I doubt it will happen again to Coventry."

 

More on this: http://www.coventryobserver.co.uk/2012/03/29/sport-John-Sillett-team-talk-led-us-to-FA-Cup-glory-34154.html#.