The Coombs family’s chairmanship of Birmingham City lasted for 20 eventful years – from Clifford in 1965 to his son Keith until 1985. Another of Clifford’s sons Derek was a director.
Clifford took over from the Morris family. Keith took over on the death of his father before being succeeded by the former Walsall chairman Ken Wheldon.
Keith’s twin sons, now 72, Anthony and Graham Coombs have concentrated on the business S and U, set up by their grandfather, rather than carrying on the thankless family involvement with football.
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They have certainly taken the home and motor credit business on to an even higher platform with 60,000 customers. Anthony is chairman and Graham deputy chairman.
Clifford is an interesting story. Almost the classic rags to riches story which led to him saving the Blues with much needed investment when they needed it, but only on his terms over becoming the new chairman in 1965.
He remained chairman until his death ten years later aged 72 when Keith took over for another the years.
Clifford and Keith were both chairman during my time at ATV and were friendly and helpful whenever I covered the Blues.
Clifford was born in Ebbw Vale in Wales and at the age of 15 he worked down the mines. Two years later aged just 17 with just one pound in his pocket, he cycled from there to Birmingham. He found digs above a shop right near the Blues St Andrew’s ground. He then landed a job with Silversmiths.
In 1938 he started the family business S and U (which stood for Sport and Utilities) selling household goods like pots and pans, towels and blankets, giving credit with door to door collections on a weekly basis.
In 1961, the company was floated on the London Exchange and in those days expanded to 100 office his own terms of becoming the new chairman.
When he became the Birmingham City chairman, he soon appointed the former Wolves manager Stan Cullis and his style of football took the Blues to two Cup semi-finals but not the ultimate victory.
Coombs replaced Cullis with Freddie Goodwin who was in charge when I arrived in Birmingham. He had a fine team with the likes of Bob Latchford, Trevor Francis and Bob Hatton.
In 1972, they gained promotion back to the old top Football League First Division and also reached another FA Cup semi-final.
But two years later, the club had to raise money again and sold Latchford to Everton for a British club record fee of £350,000.
Clifford Coombs did a good job as Birmingham City chairman. His son Keith found it a lot harder. Without Latchford, the team struggled for goals. Keith Coombes sacked Goodwin.
Now with Jim Smith as manager, in 1979 relegation looked a certainty and the Blues sold their best player Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest for Francis to become Britain’s million pound footballer.
Within months, Francis scored the European Cup final winner on his European debut!
Trevor, who had made his first team debut Goodwin (but had signed when Cullis was manager as a 16-year-old), scored 133 goals for the Blues in 329 games over his nine years with the club.
Jim was now focused on getting Birmingham back to the First Division and it went down to the wire.
It needed to get a point in the last match at home to Notts County. The club decided to take the squad away to Lucerne in Switzerland to get away from all the pressure.
I joined them with a film crew. It was a lovely trip across the water by boat and then on the mountain railway to the summit, even though one Blues player thought it would be hilarious to throw a snowball at our camera which prevented filming for half an hour while it dried out! Boys will be boys.
We were delighted when the Blues got the point needed – 3-3 on May 3 – and were promoted. But a bad start to the next season in 1981 saw Jim sacked and replaced by Ron Saunders, who had earlier resigned from the League champions and soon to be European Cup winners.
The Blues still lacked goals and were relegated in 1984. Then the last home game of the following season – May 11, 1985 – was marred by rioting with Leeds as visitors and the death of 14-year-old Leeds supporter Ian Hambridge when a wall collapsed following crowd violence. It was the same day as the Bradford City fire.
It was all included in the Popplewell inquiry into safety at football grounds.
Keith Coombs, who died in April 2010 aged 82, left the club in the old First Division having been promoted back into it. Nine of his ten years were spent in the top division.
He then sold the Blues to Ken Wheldon, who had been the Walsall chairman. From then on, it was relegation... second division under Wheldon and then third under the Kumars. Oh to have had a Wiseman or Coombs again before David Sullivan and David Gold arrived.
Keith’s brother Derek Coombs, by the way, was a director of the Blues. He was a Conservative MP for Birmingham Yardley from 1970 to 1974.
He was co-chairman of S and U plc for quite a while with brother Keith transforming the company into a successful finance company. Derek died in December 2014 aged 83.
Anthony Coombs, by the way, was also a Conservative MP – for Wyre Forest from 1987 to 1997.
At times, the Coombs family had to put up with plenty of abuse from fickle supporters but like the Wiseman, their devotion and time (before owners made money at some clubs) was to be admired.
n Next week, in the Sunday Mercury, memories of interviewing the Premier League’s top scorer Alan Shearer. Before then, my weekly Tuesday column in association with Utilita Energy in both the Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph as well as online.
