A
rsenal. Everton. Liverpool. Coventry.
In 2001, the four longest-serving
top-flight clubs in England had won
18 league titles during the 34 years
since Bobby Gould’s goals had won
Coventry promotion, with the Sky
Blues contributing none of those.
But in the top tier they remained,
never once finishing higher than sixth, nor
even in the top 10 after 1989, yet stubbornly
clinging to the cliff edge.
“There was a suspicion,” said the Telegraph,
“that it was written in the Premier League
rules that Coventry could never be relegated,
as they had survived so often. But this time,
there were no last-gasp heroics.” After 34
top-flight seasons, including nine final-day
escapes, their nine lives were up.
This campaign marks 20 years since City
left the Premier League – 20 years of despair,
fleeting hope, further despair and then a bit
more despair, followed at long last by some
real and genuine cause for optimism under
manager Mark Robins.
However, in 2001, while Robins was running
amok in Rotherham’s attack, Coventry were
set to embark on a bleak journey down the
divisions despite having a vision, back-to-back
FA Youth Cup finalists and plans to build the
England team’s new stadium. Coventry’s sun
couldn’t possibly have set. The future, surely,
was Sky Blue.
What the hell happened?2001
“They used to say, ‘If they’d built
the Titanic in Coventry, it would
never have sunk’ – until we got
relegated,” Dave Eyles tells FourFourTwo with
a heavy sigh.
As head of the Sky Blues Trust supporters’
group, with childhood memories of Coventry’s
1987 FA Cup glory, he’s seen it all. The same
could be said of Andy Turner, who’s been
covering the club for the Coventry Telegraph
since 1998. “My first game,” he recalls, “was
Liverpool away in the FA Cup. In the previous
game, Coventry beat Manchester United 3-2
at Highfield Road with a wonder goal from
Darren Huckerby. Then they went to Anfield
and won 3-1. It’s been downhill ever since,”
he adds, laughing.
These memorable wins were the exception
rather than the norm, though. Cov hadn’t so
much invited relegation as begged for it. “The
writing had been on the wall for some time,”
explains Turner. “They’d come close so many
times. Obituaries were written in 1996-97 but
they won at Spurs on the final day.
“In 2000, they lost Gary McAllister and also
Robbie Keane, who’d been simply sensational.
His debut remains the best I’ve ever seen in
a sky-blue shirt. You thought, ‘Flipping heck,
we’ve got some player here’. Of course, Inter
then bid £13 million for him and off he goes.
How do you replace that?”
But as they dropped down, Coventry were
looking up. Aiming to build a 90,000-capacity2017-18 BROUGHT THEIR LOWEST
EVER FInISH, AnD FIRST TOP-SIX
SPOT In AnY LEAGUE SInCE 1970
ground quickly and relatively cheaply, they
were keen to host the new national stadium,
even after England’s bid to stage the 2006
World Cup flopped. The decision to rebuild
Wembley instead – at an eventual cost of
£798m, against Coventry’s £250m proposal –
was almost as predictable as relegation had
been. Just as inevitably, 90,000 seats turned
into 45,000, then 32,500.
Still, most expected a speedy return to the
Premier League – especially after City paid
a second-tier record £5,000,001 for striker
Lee Hughes. That hope didn’t last. Apparently
reluctant to change the sign on the office
door, Coventry axed former player-manager
Gordon Strachan and hired Roland Nilsson
as player-manager, then replaced him with
a player-manager in the returning McAllister.
Nilsson had retired only eight days before his
dismissal; he needn’t have bothered: sat in
a play-off berth with five games remaining,
Cov lost all five.
The next season brought a similar collapse:
sixth on January 31, Coventry finished 20th.
McAllister exited and Eric Black did the best
caretaker job since Hong Kong Phooey, only
to be replaced by ‘big name’ Peter Reid. Irked
supporters wore all black, in gothic protest.Below Heady
days: Cov’s ’87
FA Cup heroesCOVEn TRY
CITY