2000–01 Coventry City F.C. season

Coventry City's season started promisingly. Despite an opening-day 3–1 home defeat to Middlesbrough, this was followed by back-to-back away victories at Southampton and Manchester City, which was the first time they had won an away league game since April 1999 and the first time they had won back-to-back away league games since February 1998. However, this burst of form instantly evaporated and by December 2000, Coventry had dropped into the relegation zone after obtaining only one more win (a 2–1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur) and 6 points from 13 matches. With the exception of three rounds, all of which were before January 2001, Coventry would ultimately stay there for the rest of the season. After 34 years in the top flight and 10 close shaves with relegation, their luck finally ran out and they were relegated to the First Division after a 3–2 away defeat at Aston Villa on 5 May 2001. It was the first time they had suffered relegation since 1958, when they were relegated to Division Four - then the fourth tier of English football.[1] Much optimism followed Coventry's relegation with everyone at the club working hard to attain promotion at the first attempt. These hopes were boosted with the signing of prolific striker Lee Hughes from local rivals West Bromwich Albion.[2]

In the FA Cup, Coventry won 2–0 away at Swindon Town in the third round, but were eliminated by Manchester City after a 1–0 defeat at Maine Road. Their League Cup campaign began with the club convincingly beating Preston North End 7–2 on aggregate in the second round (in which they won both legs), before defeating Southampton away for the second time in the season. However, this cup run came to an end after a 2–1 defeat by Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

Results summary

Results by round

Coventry City's score comes first[3]

Squad at end of season[4][5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SWE Magnus Hedman 2 DF  ENG Marc Edworthy 3 MF  ENG Steve Froggatt 4 DF  ENG Paul Williams 5 FW  WAL John Hartson 6 DF  ENG Richard Shaw 7 MF  ENG David Thompson 8 MF  MAR Youssef Chippo 10 MF  MAR Mustapha Hadji (captain) 11 FW  PER Ysrael Zúñiga 12 DF  SCO Paul Telfer 13 GK  ENG Chris Kirkland 14 MF  ENG Carlton Palmer 15 MF  ENG John Eustace 16 FW  AUS John Aloisi

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  IRL Gary Breen[6] 18 FW  WAL Craig Bellamy 19 MF  HON Iván Guerrero 21 MF  SCO Gavin Strachan 22 DF  IRL Barry Quinn 24 DF  ENG Marcus Hall 25 MF  IRL Barry Ferguson 26 DF  BIH Muhamed Konjić 27 FW  SCO Steven McPhee 28 FW  ENG Jay Bothroyd 32 MF  IRL Lee Carsley[7] 34 GK  ENG Alan Miller (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) 41 DF  ENG Calum Davenport 42 MF  ENG Robert Betts

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 5 DF  SCO Colin Hendry (to Bolton Wanderers) 9 FW  BEL Cédric Roussel (to Wolverhampton Wanderers)

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 MF  IRL Daire Doyle (to Kidderminster Harriers) 42 MF  ENG Robert Betts (on loan to Plymouth Argyle)

Reserve squad

The following players were contracted to Coventry, but did not appear for the first team this season.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  SWE Tomas Gustafsson 23 GK  DEN Morten Hyldgaard 29 FW  NOR Runar Normann 30 MF  BEL Laurent Delorge 31 FW  HON Jairo Martínez 33 FW  ENG Gary McSheffrey 35 MF  ENG Craig Pead 36 MF  WAL Lee Fowler 37 MF  SCO Craig Strachan 38 DF  ENG Thomas Cudworth

No. Pos. Nation Player 39 DF  SWE Richard Spong 40 MF  SCO Gary McPhee 50 GK  SWE Per Fahlman — GK  ENG Gary Montgomery — DF  WAL David Pipe — MF  ENG Chris Barnett — MF  IRL Daire Doyle — MF  SWE Andreas Dahl — MF  SCO Martin Grant — MF  NIR Mark Magennis