Coventry City Retro Football Shirts

The club were founded in 1883 by a Cycle manufacturer who worked for a cycle manufacturer called Singers which is what the club became known as. Following several years of amateur football, the team turned professional in 1891/92 before the team were renamed Coventry City in 1898 just as they moved to Highfield Road which became their home ground for the next 106 years.

After the First World War, Coventry were elected to play in the second tier of the Football League and narrowly avoided relegation in their first season. However, their survival was a controversial matter as it became clear that match fixing had occurred allowing Coventry to win their final game of the season. This resulted in chairman David Cooke receiving a lifetime ban from football. Nevertheless, for around the next 40 years, Coventry occupied the lower leagues with minimal success.

The introduction of an all sky blue kit in 1962 started a small revolution for the club which saw them win promotion to the second division in 1967 under the management of Jimmy Hill. The following season saw Coventry go 25 games unbeaten as they were promoted to the top division for the first time. However, Jimmy Hill resigned on the eve of the club’s debut in division one to move into a television career. With the team expected to struggle without Hill, Coventry defied the odds and managed to remain in the top division for an outstanding 34 years.

In 1970/71, manager Noel Cantwell led the sky blues into their only European campaign to date playing in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup. They memorably defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in the second round home leg but eventually lost the tie 7-3 on aggregate. 1987 saw Coventry record their finest achievement to date with a 3-2 FA Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspurs after extra time in what is widely considered one of the greatest finals of all time. Unfortunately the club, under manager John Sillet, were denied the chance to compete in Europe due to the European ban for English clubs following the Heysel disaster. Sillet led the club to their best ever finish of 7th place in the top division in 1988/89. However, he was sacked in 1990 after the team suffered poor league form.

From 1992, the team spent the majority of their years in the Premier League battling relegation quite often managing to escape against the odds towards the end of the season. However, under Gordan Strachen, the club’s 34 year top flight stay was ended and they were relegated to division one with a 3-2 defeat to arch rivals Aston Villa. Since their relegation, Coventry have not looked likely to return to the top flight and quite often have been in relegation danger with League 1 hovering beneath them.