Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues due to the traditional colour of their strip (which itself is sky blue in honour of the sky blue cloth traditionally made in the city), are a football team based in Coventry, England. They currently play in the Football League Championship. They are currently managed by Micky Adams, who was appointed on January 21 2005 following the departure of Peter Reid.
History
When originally founded in 1883 by the employees of a bicycle company, the club was known by the name of that company, Singers. Ten years later, the club turned professional after a very successful season in which three separate cups were won. In 1898, the club was renamed to Coventry City just prior to a move to new playing fields on the site of their present day stadium on Highfield Road.
Coventry City were elected into the Second Division of the Football League in 1919. They were never a notable team until a golden period in the club's history beginning in the early 1960s, symbolically beginning when a new sky blue coloured strip was introduced.
In 1959 they were promoted to Division Three. In 1964 they were Division Three Champions. Coventry were the Division Two Champions in 1967. The omens were not good however, as they narrowly avoided relegation in 1968, starting a trend that would continue for thirty years.
In 1987 they won the F.A. Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in the final, after extra time (2-2 at full time). But they were denied their chance to play in the European Cup Winners Cup (they did play in the Fairs Cup (later UEFA Cup), notably beating Bayern Munich at home, but losing on aggregate) because of the ban on English teams following the 1985 Heysel Disaster.
Key players in Coventry City's F.A Cup winning team included goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic, defender and captain Brian Kilcline, midfielders David Bennett and Lloyd McGrath, and strikers Cyrille Regis and Keith Houchen.
Their manager at the time was John Sillett (born 1937). In 1988-89, he guided Coventry to the club's best ever league finish of seventh place in the First Division - ahead of bigger clubs like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur who had spent vast sums of money on new players. There were high hopes that Coventry could qualify for European competition once the ban on English clubs was lifted.
By 1990-91, however, Coventry's problems with league form returned and in November 1990 Sillett was sacked after five years in charge. He was replaced by Terry Butcher, the former England defender who was released from his contract with Glasgow Rangers in a £350,000 deal. Butcher, aged 32, became player manager and at the time was the youngest manager employed in English league football. However, he was sacked in January 1992 after just over one year in charge. Don Howe took over as interim manager until the end of the season. His replacement was West Bromwich Albion's Bobby Gould, who back in 1988 had led Wimbledon to a famous F.A Cup final triumph over Liverpool.
Coventry narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the 1991-92 season in order to take their place in the inaugural Premier League. They finished 16th in the first season of the new competition and made a fine start to the 1993-94 campaign. There was even talk of the club pushing for a UEFA Cup place, but Gould handed in his resignation in December 1993 with the club sliding down the table. His successor was Phil Neal, the former Liverpool and England defender who had proven himself as a manager with Bolton Wanderers. Neal secured Coventry an 11th place finish at the end of the 1993-94 Premiership campaign but resigned the following February with Coventry battling relegation once again. The only player now remaining from the 1987 F.A Cup winning side was 37-year-old goalkeeper Steve Ogrizivic, who would remain on the club's payroll for another five seasons. A few months before Neal's resignation he had paid a club record £2million for Manchester United's 25-year-old centre forward Dion Dublin and the new signing was gaining a reputation for being a top class striker.
Ron Atkinson, who had achieved managerial success with West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa, was appointed as the new Coventry City manager in February 1995. He brought in Leeds United midfielder Gordon Strachan as his replacement, as well as drafting in Aston Villa midfielder Kevin Richardson as club captain. Atkinson steered Coventry to Premiership survival in 1995 and 1996 before he became Director of Football in November 1996. His assistant Gordon Strachan was promoted to the position of manager and helped preserve the club's Premiership status until 2000-01, when Coventry were finally relegated after 34 years in the top division.
The side made a poor start to the 2001-02 season, culminating in director Mike McGinnity calling a vote of no confidence in chairman Bryan Richardson. While Richardson was the largest shareholder, he didn't have a majority of the shares and so lost the vote. He was removed from the chairman's position and the club's board, with McGinnity replacing him. Strachan was sacked soon afterwards and his successor Ronald Nilsson lasted until the end of the season when Coventry's failure to achieve a playoff place in Division One cost Nilsson his job.
Nilsson was succeeded by 37-year-old Liverpool midfielder Gary McAllister, who had been a Coventry player for four seasons in the 1990's. Halfway through the 2002-03 season, Coventry looked a good bet for a playoff place, but then a sharp decline set in. They won only one of their final 20 Division One games and finished 20th, having only secured their survival in the penultimate game of the season. They finished level on points with Stoke City, who had been in danger of relegation right up to the final whistle.
Gary McAllister resigned in January 2004, with Coventry City mid table in Division One, as he wanted to spend time with his wife after a major illness. Assistant manager Eric Black remained in charge until the end of the season when he was replaced by former Manchester City, Leeds United and Sunderland manager Peter Reid.
Reid was hopeful of getting Coventry back into the Premiership, but he quit the club in January 2005 and was replaced by Micky Adams - whose previous managerial exploits included promotion with Fulham, Brighton and Leicester City. Although it is probably too late to mount a promotion challenge during this, the 2004-05 Coca Cola League Championship campaign, there is no reason to suggest that Adams will not be able to turn Coventry into promotion contenders for the 2005-06 season.
Stadium
Coventry City began playing at the site of their current stadium, Highfield Road, in 1899, although they didn't buy the freehold to the site until 1937. Their football ground has an interesting history. In 1940 it was bombed. In 1968, the main stand burnt down. In 1983, Highfield Road was converted into England's first ever all seater stadium with a capacity of just under 25,000. It has been gradually upgraded since then, with the final phase of work being completed in the mid 1990's.
In 1998, Coventry City decided to relocate to a new stadium in the Foleshill area of the city. The original plan was for a 40,000-seat stadium to be ready for the 2001-02 season. But work is now underway on the new stadium, with an initial capacity of 32,500 all seated, which is set to be ready for the 2005-06 season. The project will be funded largely by Coventry city council, and will include shopping facilities, a casino, exhibition halls and a concert venue.
Coventry City are searching for a new chief sponsor for the stadium after Jaguar Cars pulled out of the project on December 16 2004.
Famous Players
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