Extreme Football Tourism: ENGLAND: Coventry City FC (2005-2013, 2014-2019, 2021-)

Coventry Arena / City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry (Coventry City FC)

England, county: West Midlands

16 II 2026 / Coventry City FC - Middlesbrough FC 3-1 / Championship (= ENG level 2)

Timeline

1869 / Foundation of the earliest-known organised football club in Coventry, Stoke FC, named after the eponymous suburb. The team did not play regularly and games were played under a variety of football rules, with some being closer to rugby union than football. In the following years, interest in football petered out in Coventry, with rugby being the more popular sport in the town.
1883 / Foundation of a football club in Coventry, Singers FC, as the team of cycle firm Singer. An employee of the factory, Willie Stanley, is credited as having been the club’s founding father. The arrival of the bicycle industry in Coventry in the preceding years led to an influx of workers from Birmingham and the Black Country, where football was more popular than in Coventry – leading to a desire among workers to form a football club. The Singers Cycle Company founder, George Singer, became the first president of the club. Singers FC joined the Birmingham County Football Association Stanley and his fellow players began playing matches on a pitch in the Stoke area called Dowells Field. It was located in the Stoke area south of Binley Road close to a landmark called Robinsons Pit, in an area of fields which belonged at the time to a landowner named Samuel Dowell.
1887 / Singers FC relocates from their original pitch at Dowells Field to an enclosed ground called Stoke Road, located between Paynes Lane and Swan Lane, immediately to the south of the future Highfield Road stadium. Unlike Dowells Field, Stoke Ground was fully enclosed by hedges and trees and featured a small stand. The club played an organized fixture list for the first time in the 1887-88 season and also entered the Birmingham Junior Cup, reaching the semi-final. Capitalising on the renewed interest in football within the city, Rudge FC, attached to the rival Rudge Cycle Company, began to achieve their own success. Singers and Rudge developed a fierce rivalry, fuelled by competition between the two bicycle companies. Games between the two clubs attracted crowds as high as 4,000 by the end of the 1880s.
1891 / Beginning the 1890–91 season with a new centre-forward, Frank Mobley, regarded as one of the club's best players of the nineteenth century, Singers FC wins their first trophy at the end of the season, defeating Willenhall Pickwick FC 1-0 in the final of the Birmingham Junior Cup.
1892 / Singers FC manages a cup treble, with the team lifting the Wednesbury and Walsall Cups as well as successfully defending the Birmingham Junior Cup, yet again having the better of Willenhall Pickwick FC. However, financial problems at the cycle factory forced a number of top players to depart in the summer of 1892. Mobley, the previous season's hero, was among the departees, leaving for Small Heath FC, where he went on to enjoy a successful First Division career. Singers FC became professional in 1892, entering the FA Cup for the first time in the new season, but the status was largely symbolic, as many players remained amateur and the ‘professionals’ only received expenses and match fees.
1894 / Singers FC joins Birmingham & District League, with games against the strong reserve sides of established Midlands clubs including Aston Villa FC and West Bromwich Albion FC.
1898 / Singers FC changes its name to become Coventry City FC. Given the growing support from Coventry residents not connected with the cycle factory, chairman George Singer, who was also mayor of Coventry in the early 1890s, favoured calling the club after the city – and the proposal finally gained the necessary support within the club in 1898. Despite a last-minute objection from Coventry Rugby Club, who felt that the name Coventry City was too similar to their own, the name change was approved by the Football Association in August 1898. The opening game as Coventry City FC ends in a heavy defeat (5-0) against Wellington Town FC.
1899 / With Coventry City’s ground at Stoke Road falling victim to housing development, the club leaves for a newly laid-out ground at Highfield Road, on a site formerly used by a local cricket club, situated in the Hillfields district, close to the city-centre. On opening, the ground featured a single stand on the southern touchline. The opening game of the ground is a 1-0 win over Stoke City FC (att. 3,000), but Coventry City FC went on to finish bottom of the Birmingham & District League in the 1899-1900 season, with the cost of building the new stadium having put the club into a hazardous financial situation.
1900 / Former Singers star player Frank Mobley, who had left the club eight years previously, returns to Coventry after spells at Small Heath FC, Bury FC, and Gravesend United FC. After two more years with Coventry City FC, Mobley hung up his boots in 1902. The centre-forward would pass away in 1956 at the age of 87.
1901 / In the early 1900s, the fortunes of Coventry City FC are at a low ebb, with bottom of the league finishes and a 14-0 defeat against Aston Villa FC Reserves in 1901 representing the biggest defeat in the club's history.
1908 / In its best season so far, Coventry City FC finishes in fourth place in the Birmingham & District League. Moreover, the club reaches R1 of the FA Cup for the first time, in which Crystal Palace FC of the Southern League proves a little too strong – with the Londoners winning 4-2 in front of a 10,000 crowd at Highfield Road. After the 1907-08 season, Coventry applied to join the Southern League. Crystal Palace, impressed by City’s performance and supporters in the FA Cup game, were vocal in support for the application, which was duly accepted.
1910 / Coventry City FC reaches FA Cup quarter final, beating top-flight teams Preston North End FC and Nottingham Forest FC before losing to Everton FC (0-2). The tie against the Merseyside team draws a then-record 18,995 crowd to Highfield Road. The club spends the revenue generated by the cup run on the construction of a new stand on the northern side.
1911 / Following a win over Southampton FC in R1 of the FA Cup (2-0), Coventry City FC is knocked out in R2 by Manchester United FC (1-5) in the Mancunians’ first-ever visit to Highfield Road.
1914 / Finishing bottom of the Southern League Division 1 table, Coventry City FC descends into Division 2 of the said league system.
1915 / Coventry City FC makes an unsuccessful application at joining Division 2 of the Football League. In fact, in the summer of 1915, the club comes close to extinction, being saved in part by the decision to abandon the upcoming FA Cup and Southern League seasons because of World War I.
1918 / Coventry City FC negotiates a place for itself in the 1918-19 Football League Midland Section, a temporary wartime division operating while the main league was suspended. With the rules allowing guest players, Coventry made use of two internationals based in Coventry during the war – England’s Jesse Pennington and Scotland’s George Chaplin – going on to win games against top-flight Nottingham Forest FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC, and Huddersfield Town AFC.
1919 / Making a second application to join the professional leagues, Coventry City FC now tops the ballot, thus gaining entry to Division 2 of the Football League as full-time football restarted in 1919-20. Highfield Road was upgraded, with the ground reaching a new capacity of 40,000. Beginning with a 5-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur FC, Coventry lost their first ten games in 1919-20 – in fact failing to record a win until Christmas Day.
1920 / In order to avoid last place and having to face re-election into the league, Coventry City FC finds itself in a heavy battle with Lincoln City FC. In the final game of the club’s first professional league season, Coventry comes back from behind to beat Bury FC (2-1) in front of a then-record 22,000 crowd. The win ensured the club’s safety and meant Lincoln rather than Coventry lost their league place. The match became infamous, as it transpired some years later that Coventry and Bury had colluded to rig the game. Following an FA enquiry, both clubs received a heavy fine, along with life bans from football for several officials.
1922 / The inauguration takes place of a new terrace at the east end of the Highfield Road ground, known subsequently as the Spion Kop.
1925 / Under the aegis of caretaker manager Harry Harbourne, Coventry City FC finishes bottom of the table in Division 2, thus descending into Division 3 along with the club in second-last place, Crystal Palace FC.
1926 / Having played seven seasons for Coventry City FC, in which he played 227 matches for the club, Scottish winger Jimmy Dougall, who had joined Coventry from Motherwell FC just after the war, leaves to sign a contract for Reading FC.
1927 / At Highfield Road, a roof is added over part of the western terrace, taken from Twickenham Stadium.
1929 / Having spent his entire seven-year professional league career at Coventry City FC, scoring 82 goals in 187 league matches, striker Fred Herbert withdraws into non-league at Brierley Hill Alliance FC.
1931 / Former English international Harry Storer Jnr., who had spells with Grimsby Town FC, Derby County FC, and Burnley FC as a player, joins Coventry City FC as a manager. Storer would go on to be one of the most important coaches in club history, taking on the manager’s role for no fewer than nineteen seasons, subdivided in two different spells (1931-45 & 1948-53).
1935 / Coventry City FC finishes as runner-up in Division 3 South, ahead of Reading FC and Queens Park Rangers FC on goal difference – 7 points behind champions Norwich City FC, the only club which wins promotion.
1936 / Champions in Division 3 South, 1 point ahead of closest rivals Luton Town FC, Coventry City FC manages a return to Division 2 after an absence of eleven years. The decisive points are clinched in a 2-1 win against Torquay United FC, with Clarrie Bourton scoring the decisive goal three minutes before the end of the match. The successful manager is Harry Storer Jnr. Also in 1936, a new main stand is erected at Highfield Road.
1937 / All-time Coventry top scorer Clarrie Bourton – 182 goals, of which 173 in league matches, in six seasons – leaves the club to sign a deal with Plymouth Argyle FC.
1938 / Coventry City FC finishes in fourth place in Division 2, just 1 point behind runner-up Manchester United FC, which joins champions Aston Villa FC in gaining promotion to the top flight.
1941 / The stadium at Highfield Road is bombed in the Coventry Blitz in 1941, damaging the pitch and the main stand.
1942 / As parts of Highfield Road are rebuilt, Coventry City FC joins the Midland Regional League – with regular league football being suspended for the duration of World War II.
1952 / Under the aegis of manager Harry Storer Jnr., Coventry City FC finishes in second-last place in Division 2, thus dropping back into Division 3 along with bottom club Queens Park Rangers FC. That summer, captain and centre-half George Mason withdraws into non-league at Nuneaton Borough FC after 21 years as a Coventry player, in the course of which he played 330 matches.
1953 / The first floodlights are installed at Highfield Road.
1958 / In a league reorganisation, which sees Division 3 North & South being brought back to a single-tier Division 3, with a new Division 4 below it, Coventry City FC is placed in Division 4, given that the club had finished in the second half of the table in Division 3 South. Also in 1958, goalkeeper coach Alf Wood, who had already worn the Coventry shirt in 221 league games between 1935 and 1951, becomes the oldest-ever player for the club, when he has to step in due to injuries of others at the age of 43. Wood would stay on as goalkeeping coach until 1961.
1959 / Runner-up in Division 4, 4 points behind champions Port Vale FC, Coventry City FC wins promotion to Division 3 along with the aforementioned club as well as the clubs in third and fourth places, York City FC and Shrewsbury Town FC. The successful Coventry manager is Billy Frith.
1961 / Coventry City FC signs former Brentford FC and Fulham FC player, 33-year-old Jimmy Hill, as their new manager.
1964 / Champions in Division 3, with an equal number of points as Crystal Palace FC, but with a better goal average, Coventry City FC wins promotion to Division 2 alongside the South London club. The successful manager is Jimmy Hill. The ‘Sky Blue Revolution’, overseen by Hill and chairman Derrick Robins, also involved a large-scale development at Highfield Road, including the construction of a new north stand.
1966 / Coventry City FC narrowly misses out on a promotion to the top flight of English football, finishing in third place in Division 2, just 1 point behind Southampton FC, which joins champions Manchester City FC in Division 1. Following the 1965-66 season, striker George Hudson, who had joined Coventry from Peterborough United FC in 1963, leaves the club, having scored 62 goals in 113 seasons, to sign a contract with Northampton Town FC.
1967 / Champions in Division 2, 1 point ahead of runners-up Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Coventry City FC wins promotion to Division 1 for the first time in club history, alongside the aforementioned club. In the 1966-67 season, Coventry enjoyed a 25-match streak without defeat, while also attracting the largest crowd in Highfield Road’s history with an official gate of 51,455 – with probably many thousands more who were not counted – for a match against Wolves in the latter stages of the season, marketed by Jimmy Hill as the ‘Midlands Match of the Century’. Following the 1966-67 season, striker Ron Farmer, originally born in Guernsey, leaves the club after 285 matches (48 goals) in nine seasons, signing a deal with Notts County FC. Subsequently, in a shock to everyone at Coventry, Jimmy Hill also announced his withdrawal from the club just two days before the first game of the new season, to embark on a career in broadcasting, signing a deal with London Weekend Television – and going on to host BBC’s Match of the Day for many years subsequently. Hill stayed on until October, when the club had managed to find a successor in the person of Noel Cantwell, a former Irish international full-back who had had spells as a player at Cork City FC, West Ham United FC, and Manchester United FC.
1968 / Striker Bobby Gould, who had made his professional league debut at Coventry City five years previously at the age of 17, leaves the club to sign a deal with Arsenal FC. Gould would return to the club in later years as a manager in 1983-84 and 1992-93. Also leaving the club in 1968 is Welsh international winger Ronnie Rees, who had embarked on his professional league career at Coventry as well, in 1962; Rees signs a deal with Nottingham Forest FC, going on to have a subsequent spell at Swansea City AFC.
1969 / Two players who had spent their entire professional league career up to that point at Coventry City FC leave the club, with defender George Curtis (487 league games in 14 seasons) signing a deal with regional rivals Aston Villa FC; and with fullback Mick Kearns hanging up his boots after thirteen seasons (344 matches). Both players had the unusual career feature of having played with Coventry at all four league levels.
1970 / After two seasons of battling against the drop in Division 1, Coventry City FC now finishes in a respectable sixth place in the top flight of English football – the club’s best league achievement ever. Qualifying for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – the club’s only-ever European campaign – Coventry knocks out AFC Trakia Plovdiv in R1 (6-1 aggr.), only to be eliminated in R2 by West German giants FC Bayern München (7-3 aggr.).
1972 / Midfielder Ernie Machin, who had joined Coventry City FC from non-league club Nelson FC in 1963, leaves the club after nine years (257 matches) to sign a deal with Plymouth Argyle FC. Another player to leave the club is Scottish midfielder Willie Carr, who had enjoyed his professional league breakthrough at Coventry at the age of seventeen in 1967, wearing the sky blue shirt in 252 league matches in total; Carr, who had won the first of his 6 Scotland caps in 1970, leaves for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, going on to have a subsequent spell at Millwall FC before withdrawing into non-league at Worcester City FC in the summer of 1983.
1975 / Goalkeeper Bill Glazier, who had joined Coventry City FC from Crystal Palace FC in 1964, leaves the club after eleven years (346 league games), returning to London to play for Brentford FC. Also in 1975, former manager Jimmy Hill returns to Coventry to become the club’s managing director – taking on this role alongside his broadcasting work at the BBC.
1980 / After five years as managing director, Jimmy Hill now takes on the role of chairman at Coventry City FC – by now a club fully established at the top level of the English football pyramid.
1981 / Coventry City FC reaches the semifinal of the League Cup, being denied the ticket to Wembley Stadium by West Ham United FC (4-3 aggr.). Following the 1980-81 season, two familiar faces in the Coventry City leave the club, with fullback Mick Coop (425 league games in fifteen years) signing for Derby County FC; and with Scottish international midfielder Tommy Hutchison (314 league games in nine years) moving to Manchester City FC. In the summer of 1981, at the behest of chairman Jimmy Hill, Highfield Road is converted into an all-seater stadium, the second in the United Kingdom after Aberdeen’s Pittodrie Stadium. Explaining the development, Hill cited the rise of hooliganism, claiming, “You can't be a hooligan sitting down.” Following the works at the ground, its capacity was reduced to just 20,500. In the second game after the development, visiting Leeds supporters ripped up seats to use as weapons against the police. The innovation turned out to be deeply unpopular with Coventry fans.
1983 / Two talented players leave Coventry City FC, with Scottish defender Gary Gillespie, who had joined the club from Falkirk FC in 1977, joining Liverpool FC; and with striker Mark Hateley, who had made his professional league debut in 1978, making his breakthrough from the club’s youth academy, signing for Portsmouth FC. Hateley would go on to have a colourful career with spells at Milan AC, AS Monaco, Rangers FC, Queens Park Rangers FC, Leeds United FC, Hull City AFC, and Ross County FC; moreover, he also won 32 caps for England between 1984 and 1992, being part of his country’s squads for the 1986 World Cup and the 1988 European Championships. Also in 1983, chairman Jimmy Hill leaves the club, having served Coventry City in three capacities (manager, director, and chairman) for a total of fifteen years.
1985 / Talented 23-year-old defender Stuart Pearce, who had joined Coventry City FC from Wealdstone FC two years previously, leaves the club to sign for Nottingham Forest FC, going on to have subsequent spells at Newcastle United FC, West Ham United FC, and Manchester City FC – as well as winning 78 caps for England, being part of his country’s squads in the 1990 World Cup as well as the 1992 and 1996 European Championships. Also in 1985, a report concluded that turning Highfield Road into an all-seater stadium had not achieved its desired effect of combating hooliganism; giving in to supporters’ pleas, the board of the club decides to reconfigure the Spion Kop into a terrace later that same year.
1987 / Coventry City FC reaches the final of the FA Cup, defeating Bolton Wanderers FC, Manchester United FC, Stoke City FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC, and Leeds United FC on the way, going on to have the better of Tottenham Hotspur FC in the final at Wembley Stadium (3-2 A.E.T., goals by Dave Bennett & Keith Houchen as well as a Spurs own goal by Gary Mabbutt). The managing duo overseeing the success, easily the zenith in the history of Coventry City, consists of George Curtis and former club player John Sillett.
1989 / Coventry City FC manages a seventh place in Division 1, the best result in the 1980s and 1990s – with the club mainly finding itself in the second half of the table for most of the two decades.
1990 / Coventry City FC reaches the semifinal of the League Cup for the second time in nine years, bowing out against Nottingham Forest FC (2-1 aggr.). In November 1990, manager John Sillett was sacked and replaced by former Ipswich Town FC, Rangers FC, and England captain Terry Butcher, who takes on the role of player-manager – ultimately leaving the club in 1992 for Sunderland AFC.
1991 / Three Coventry City heroes leave the club; Brian Kilcline (173 league appearances in seven seasons) moves on to Oldham Athletic FC, with his defender colleague Trevor Peake (277 league matches in eight seasons) signing for Luton Town FC. Lastly, England international striker Cyrille Regis, who had joined Coventry from West Bromwich Albion FC in 1984, leaves for Aston Villa FC after 238 league appearances for the Sky Blues; Cyrille Regis would pass away in 2018 at the untimely age of 59.
1992 / Still a regular feature at the top level of English football, Coventry City FC becomes one of the founding members of the FA Premiership – later renamed Premier League. In the summer of 1992, the club has a representative at the European Championships in Sweden, with striker Kevin Gallacher, who had joined Coventry from Dundee United FC in 1990, being part of the Scotland squad in the tournament.
1993 / Striker Kevin Gallacher leaves the club to sign for Blackburn Rovers FC. Gallacher, who would go on to have subsequent spells at Newcastle United FC, Preston North End FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC, and Huddersfield Town AFC, also represented Scotland in two more international tournaments, the 1996 European Championships and the 1998 World Cup.
1994 / Following the Taylor Report in 1990, which recommended that all top-flight teams should switch to all-seater grounds for security reasons, the decision is taken by Coventry’s board to construct a new East Stand – the final major development at Highfield Road – which is inaugurated in 1994; maximum stadium capacity is now 23,489. Also in 1994, Coventry defender Phil Babb, who earns a spot in Ireland’s 1994 World Cup squad on the back of a good season at the Sky Blues, leaves the club to sign a deal with Liverpool FC. The gap left by Babb is filled up by Scottish international Gary Gillespie, who returns to Coventry after eleven years following a spell at Celtic FC. Gillespie would hang up his boots after three more years at Highfield Road.
1995 / Seasoned former Manchester United FC boss Ron Atkinson joins Coventry City FC as the club’s new manager, taking with him former Scottish international midfielder Gordon Strachan of Leeds United FC as a playing assistant.
1996 / Finishing in joint sixteenth place with Southampton FC and Manchester City FC, Coventry City FC escapes relegation by goal difference, with Man City descending into Division 1 alongside Queens Park Rangers FC and bottom club Bolton Wanderers FC. With Ron Atkinson withdrawing into the role of director of football, Gordon Strachan takes over as (player-)manager. One of Strachan’s first signings is Scottish international midfielder Gary McAllister of Leeds United FC.
1997 / The board of Coventry City FC publishes plans for a 40,000-seat stadium on the site of a former gasworks in the Foleshill area of Coventry, with the projected ground being given the prospective name Arena 2000, originally due to be inaugurated in 2001 – a date which would not be met.
1998 / Striker Dion Dublin, who had won his first England cap as a Coventry player in the early stages of 1998, leaves the club after four seasons (145 league matches, 61 goals) to join Aston Villa FC. That same year, backed by a fifty percent stake from Coventry City Council, the Arena 2000 stadium project gains planning permission.
1999 / Coventry City FC signs two Moroccan international midfielders, Mustapha Hadji of RC Deportiva La Coruña; and Youssef Chippo of FC Porto; Hadji would stay with the club for two seasons, ultimately leaving for Aston Villa FC, while Chippo’s spell at Highfield Road lasted four years, upon which he left to join Al-Sadd SC in Qatar.
2000 / Coventry City goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic, who had joined the club in 1984 from Shrewsbury Town FC following earlier spells at Chesterfield FC and Liverpool FC, hangs up his boots at the age of 42, having defended the Coventry colours in 507 league matches (601 in all competitions), an all-time club record. Apart from Ogrizovic, Scottish midfielder Gary McAllister also left the club, joining Liverpool FC, while young Irish striker Robbie Keane, who had joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC the previous year, signs a contract with FC Internazionale in Italy; Keane would go on to become Ireland’s all-time top scorer with 68 goals from 146 matches, taking part in the 2002 World Cup as well as the 2012 and 2016 European Championships with his country. Meanwhile, back in 2000, the projected Arena 2000 in Coventry was included in England’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2006 World Cup; the failure of this bid was one of the reasons why Coventry City was forced to sell its share of the stadium to the Alan Higgs Charity in an attempt to repay its debts.
2001 / Under the aegis of manager Gordon Strachan, Coventry City FC finishes in second-last place in the Premier League, thus descending into the antechamber of English Football, Football League 1 (renamed Football League Championship in 2004), after 34 years, along with Manchester City FC and bottom club Bradford City AFC. Strachan was sacked in the fall of 2001, being replaced by Swedish international defender Roger Nilsson, who had returned to Coventry from Helsingborgs IF following an earlier two-year spell at the club in 1997-99. The former World Cup star took on the role of player-manager.
2002 / After five years at Coventry City FC, Irish international defender Gary Breen (63 caps, 1996-2006) leaves the club to join Manchester United FC. Also in 2002, after less than one season in charge of Coventry, player-manager Roland Nilsson left the club to join GAIS in his native Sweden. Nilsson was replaced as manager at Highfield Road by former Coventry player Gary McAllister, who joined from Liverpool FC.
2004 / Gary McAllister is replaced as Coventry manager by former English international midfielder Peter Reid. Reid’s spell at Highfield Road would be terminated by the manager’s dismissal in January 2005 after a tenure of just eight months.
2005 / Coventry City FC played its last-ever league game at Highfield Road at the end of the 2004-05 season, a comprehensive 6-2 win over Derby County FC. After the match, the supporters stormed the pitch to give former manager and chairman Jimmy Hill a hero’s welcome, with Hill leading the capacity crowd in a chorus of the club anthem. The new stadium – not named Arena 2000, but the Ricoh Arena following a sponsorship deal with the eponymous electronics manufacturer – saw its first match action in August 2005 in front of a reduced capacity crowd of 23,012 (maximum capacity 32,609), with Coventry taking on Queens Park Rangers FC, resulting in a 3-0 home win. Coventry’s Faroese midfielder Claus Bech Jørgensen became the first goalscorer at the new ground. The inaugural match followed after several delays, decontamination work on the site, and reductions in the scope of the project. In addition to the all-seater stadium, the venue features an exhibition hall, a hotel, a casino, and several bars.
2006 / Demolition on the old Highfield Road ground get underway in February 2006, being completed by the end of the following month. The ground has to make way for a new housing development project. Later that year, following the 2005-06 season, Coventry defender Richard Shaw leaves the club after eleven years (317 league matches) to join Millwall FC.
2007 / The official inauguration of the Ricoh Arena follows over a year-and-a-half after the ground had been taken in use by Coventry City FC, with Dame Kelly Holmes and sports minister Richard Caborn taking part in the opening ceremony in February 2007. Meanwhile, with a return to the Premier League having eluded the club, Coventry were in grave financial problems, with Ray Ranson and the SISU Group taking over the club in December 2007 with half an hour to spare before going into administration. They required 90 percent of shares, which was acquired in January of the following year, with the SISU Group thus taking full control of the club.
2008 / The new club board, appointed by the SISU Group, sacks manager (and former Northern Ireland international striker) Iain Dowie after only half a year in charge in February 2008, replacing him by former Welsh international defender Chris Coleman.
2009 / After a season and a half at Coventry City FC, Maltese international striker Michael Mifsud, who had joined from Norway’s Lillestrøm SK following a previous spell at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, leaves the club to join Barnsley FC.
2011 / On July 28th, 2011, a bronze statue of Jimmy Hill is unveiled at the entrance to the Ricoh Arena after £100,000 was raised by Coventry fans.
2012 / Finishing in second-last place in the Football League Championship with manager Andy Thorn, Coventry City FC descends into Football League 1, the third level of the English football pyramid, alongside Portsmouth FC and bottom club Doncaster Rovers FC. It is 48 years ago that Coventry found themselves at that lowly level. Also in 2012, the Ricoh Arena hosted twelve matches in that year’s Summer Olympics, held in London; due to sponsorships on venue names not being allowed by the Olympic Committee, the stadium was temporarily renamed to City of Coventry Stadium. Meanwhile, at board level, the situation of Coventry City FC worsened ever further, with the SISU Group refusing to sell the club to a supporters’ consortium, perhaps because they had hoped to acquire the ownership of the stadium in the future. In April, SISU defaulted on the rent owed to the stadium’s owners, Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), a company owned jointly by the city-council and the Higgs Charity, with the club’s board claiming that the annual rent of £1.2million would not be sustainable. Due to the rent row, the club’s holding company went into administration, resulting in 10 points being deducted by the Football League, which effectively sounded the death-knell to the 2012-13 campaign, with relegation being the inevitable result.
2013 / As SISU and the ACL could not agree on a revised rent deal for the Ricoh Arena, Coventry City FC moved its home games for the 2013-14 season to the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, while also announcing plans to build a new stadium elsewhere in Coventry. The move was met with strong opposition and protests by Coventry fans, many of whom boycotted games at the stadium, gathering instead on an area close to Sixfields which they dubbed Jimmy’s Hill. The club began the new season still in administration after failing to come to an agreement with ACL. This triggered another 10-point deduction, but the Football League allowed the club to continue playing by agreeing to transfer its golden share to the administrator’s preferred bidder, Otium Entertainment Group, a company owned by SISU. In August 2013, SISU applied for a judicial review into Coventry City Council's loan of £14 million to ACL; this eventually concluded in June of the following year with a decision that the deal did not amount to unlawful state aid.
2014 / Having groundshared at Northampton Town FC for the 2013-14 season and the early stages of the 2014-15 season, Coventry City FC announced in mid-August of 2014 that an agreement had been reached with ACL to return to the Ricoh Arena for the next two seasons. More than 27,000 supporters attended their first game back, a 1-0 victory over Gillingham FC. Later in 2014, the Ricoh Arena was purchased from ACL by rugby union club Wasps RFC, which relocated to Coventry from Adams Park in High Wycombe.
2015 / Legendary former Coventry City FC manager, director, and chairman Jimmy Hill passes away at the age of 87.
2016 / A railway station, which is given the name Coventry Arena, is opened next to the site of the Ricoh Arena.
2017 / Finishing in second-last place in Football League 1 with manager Russell Slade, Coventry City FC is retrograded to Football League 2 along with Port Vale FC, Swindon Town FC, and bottom club Chesterfield FC. The relegation marks the return of Coventry to the fourth level of the English football pyramid after an absence of 58 years. On the bright side, Coventry managed to win the Football League Trophy by defeating Oxford United FC in the final at Wembley Stadium (2-1).
2018 / Finishing in sixth place in Football League 2, Coventry City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out Notts County FC in the semifinal (5-2 aggr.), going on to have the better of Exeter City FC in the final, played at Wembley Stadium (3-1). As such, the club manages a return to Football League 1 after one year only, accompanying direct promotion winners Accrington Stanley FC, Luton Town FC, and Wycombe Wanderers FC. The successful manager is Mark Robins. Throughout this period, the SISU Group continued their legal battles regarding the council’s involvement in the Ricoh Arena. They applied for permission to appeal against the 2014 judicial-review decision, a process which eventually concluded at the supreme court in late 2016 with a ruling prohibiting allowing a full appeal. They then applied for a fresh judicial review, this time into the council's role in the sale of the stadium to Wasps by ACL. SISU alleged that the deal undervalued the stadium by £30 million. This application was refused by the High Court in July 2017 – with an appeal eventually being turned down in June 2018.
2019 / Having exhausted all domestic avenues for seeking a judicial review into the sale of the Ricoh Arena to Wasps, SISU in May 2019 decided to launch a complaint about the issue to the European Commission (EC). This filing alleged that the deal broke the European Union state aid laws, on the grounds that Coventry City Council had undervalued the stadium when they sold their share. At the same time, the club's 2015 agreement with Wasps to play home games at the stadium was coming to an end, and it was seeking to make a fresh deal with the rugby club. Wasps had previously said that they would not agree to a deal while legal action involving them and the SISU Group was outstanding. In early June, with talks unresolved and faced with the threat of expulsion from the league over its lack of a confirmed home for 2018-19, the club announced that it would once again leave Coventry to commence a groundshare, this time with Birmingham City FC at their St Andrew’s stadium. The board of Coventry City FC later announced a partnership with the University of Warwick with the goal of acquiring land for a new stadium.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short by the first COVID lockdown in March 2020, Coventry City FC finds itself top of the Football League 1 table, 5 points ahead of runner-up Rotherham United FC and with a game in hand. On that basis, the club wins promotion to the Football League Championship along with the aforementioned club and play-off winners Wycombe Wanderers FC. The successful Coventry manager is Mark Robins.
2021 / The Ricoh Arena is renamed the Coventry Building Society Arena – often abbreviated as the CBS Arena or just the Coventry Arena – following a deal with the CBS firm. In the summer of 2021, following two seasons in exile at St Andrew’s in Birmingham, Coventry City FC returns to the stadium following an agreement with Wasps RFC, while still maintaining the longer-term goal of constructing a new stadium of their own.
2022 / Following the 2022 Commonwealth Games, for which the CBS Arena – renamed Coventry Stadium for the occasion – had hosted several rugby matches, the pitch of the stadium is deemed unplayable by the start of the new football season. As a result, the club’s first three league games have to be postponed, whilst a League Cup tie with Bristol City FC has to be moved to the Pirelli Stadium in Burton-on-Trent to avoid the club’s expulsion from the competition. In the fall of 2022, the club’s landlords at the CBS Arena, Wasps RFC, as well as the ACL (owned by Wasps) fell into administration. With the arena being taken over by the Frasers Group of billionaire Mike Ashley, Coventry City FC eventually managed to agree on a deal to keep the club at the stadium until at least 2028. In November 2022, the news was announced that businessman Doug King was to acquire a majority stake in the club, ending fifteen years of SISU Group control.
2023 / Finishing in fifth place in the Football League Championship, Coventry City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out Middlesbrough FC in the semis (1-0 aggr.), only to suffer defeat in the final at Wembley Stadium against Luton Town FC (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out). Following the 2022-23 season, Coventry’s Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres, who had joined from Brighton & Hove Albion FC two years previously, leaves the club to sign a deal with Sporting Portugal.
2024 / Coventry City FC signs former West Ham United FC, Swansea City AFC, Chelsea FC, Manchester City FC, New York City FC and England midfielder Frank Lampard as its new manager.
2025 / Finishing in fifth place in the Football League Championship, Coventry City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in the semis by Sunderland AFC (3-2 aggr.). In August 2025, the club announced that it had purchased the stadium from Frasers Group, thus acquiring full ownership of the stadium.

Note 1 – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-7 = non-matchday visit, February 17th, 2026 / pictures 8-27 = match visit, February 16th, 2026.

Note 2 – Highlights of the match attended by me at the Coventry Arena can be found in a YouTube video below the photo series.