The fall and fall of Coventry City FC

Coventry City: an unfashionable club that garners very little interest outside of the city itself. But it wasn’t always this way. For many years the club was a top division side, with a fortress of a home ground and a chairman/manager, Jimmy Hill, who revolutionised the game in the 1960’s. The 70’s and 80’s saw European football and an FA cup triumph. Even the 90’s, despite many relegation scrapes, had its upsides. The city’s multicultural reputation was epitomised by its football team, with Coventry the first Premier League team to field an African footballer and a Brazilian footballer (Peter Ndlovu and Marques Isaías respectively).

The city’s multicultural reputation was epitomised by its football team.

Now, the European excursions and cup wins of the 80’s and household players such as Robbie Keane are truly a thing of the past. Relegation at the turn of the century was a huge blow, bringing to an end 34 consecutive years in England’s top flight – only three other teams had been in the highest tier for longer at that time. The Ricoh Arena came shortly after. Its sterile atmosphere highlighted by low attendances proved a sad reminder that it was initially intended for the Premier League. Whereas Highfield Road had been a fortress, championship teams came to Coventry with something to prove, spurred on by the ostentatious new stadium. Inevitably, an immediate return to the top flight didn’t materialise and Coventry fell in to a worrying period of stagnation which saw City become the longest serving team in the Championship. Has there ever been another record more depressing? Perhaps this one: Coventry have not finished in the top six of any league in 47 years. No other team in the football league even comes close to this abhorrent record. If this is not the very definition of the word stagnation, I don’t know what is.

The Ricoh, which was seen as such a positive step for taking Coventry to the next level, has become an ominous albatross around the club’s neck.

Along with the football being dire, Coventry’s off-field situation hasn’t been much better. The Ricoh, which was seen as such a positive step for taking Coventry to the next level, has become an ominous albatross around the club’s neck. A series of financial bungles have meant that the club did not own the Ricoh and was paying rent to the council play there. This fraught relationship led to rent disputes and ultimately, Coventry City temporarily relocating to The Sixfields Stadium in Northampton. The council, no longer considering Coventry City a reliable tenant, sold their share in the Ricoh to the relocating Wasps Rugby Club, meaning the club is essentially a guest in its own home. Along with this, City’s owners SISU are caught up in a bitter court case with the council and seem to show no signs of giving the club any financial backing.

The club’s past stagnation appears to be setting in again.

The academy is the one shining light, producing quality players such as Callum Wilson, Cyrus Christy and James Maddison, all of whom have gone on to bigger things. But League One may be the club’s natural level. So far Coventry haven’t set the league alight and the club’s past stagnation appears to be setting in again. There is a real danger of becoming another Leeds, Sheffield Utd or Portsmouth – big clubs who’ve fallen to the same depths and are yet to recover.