Dick Bayliss was manager of Coventry City F.C.

Coventry City F.C.

Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...

 between June 1945 and his death in April 1947. Bayliss had previously served the club as chief scout under his predecessor Harry Storer.

Bayliss had an undistinguished career as a player making only a handful of appearances in the late 1920s for Luton, Mansfied and Southend. It was as a scout, however, that Bayliss made his name. He was considered an excellent judge of a player and focussed heavily on bringing young talent up through the youth and reserve teams.

His spell as manager came at a difficult time, following the end of the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and he struggled to manoeuvre in the transfer market. Bayliss was popular with the playing staff, a number of whom maintained a bedside vigil in the weeks leading up to his death in April 1947.

Although Bayliss had little time to develop his own team he laid down solid foundations for future managers by developing the youth squad.