'THE SKY BLUE SONG'
- Words by Jimmy Hill

"Let's all sing together,
Play up Sky Blues,
While we sing together,
We will never lose.
Tottenham or Chelsea,
United or anyone,
They shan't defeat us,
We'll fight till the game is won."

Highfield Road Stadium, Coventry

I have been a keen Coventry City fan for many years and attended my first game v Queens Park Rangers with my Dad on November 19th 1977, which Coventry won 4-1. Since then I have been to many games, the highlight of which was going to Wembley Stadium to watch Coventry win the F.A.Cup Final in 1987 against Tottenham Hotspur, the final score being 3-2. This season I have a season ticket for the first time. If you are ever at a Coventry home match and are in the vicinity of Block 9 Seat 26 in the M&B Stand (Thackall St.), come and say hello.

I make no apology for the completely biased points of view expressed on this web page.

• FIXTURE LIST
• MY FAVOURITE PLAYERS
• MY DAY AT THE MATCH
• 1997 F.A. CUP FINAL
• LAST HOME MATCH
• MY VIEWS

FIXTURES 1998/99 SEASON

DATE	OPPONENTS		SCORE
Sat 15/08	Chelsea	H	2-1	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Boateng	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	Soldvedt	Dublin	Huckerby	Whelan
Sat 22/08	Notts F.	A	1-0	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	Soldvedt	Dublin	Huckerby	Whelan
Sat 29/08	West Ham	H	0-0	D	Hedman	Shaw	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Wallemme	Telfer	Soldvedt	Dublin	Huckerby	Whelan
Wed 09/09	Liverpool	A	0-2	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Wallemme	Telfer	Soldvedt	Dublin	Huckerby	P.Hall
Sat 12/09	Manchester U.	A	0-1	L	Hedman	Shaw	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Wallemme	Edworthy	Quinn	Dublin	Huckerby	Telfer
Wed 16/09	Southend U. (W.C.)	H	1-0	W	Hedman	Shaw	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Wallemme	Telfer	Clement	Dublin	P.Hall	Breen
Sat 19/09	Newcastle U.	H	1-5	L	Hedman	Edworthy	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Wallemme	Whelan	Quinn	Dublin	Haworth	P.Hall
Wed 23/09	Southend U. (W.C.2)	A	0-4	W	Hedman	Shaw	Burrows	Boateng	Williams	Wallemme	Boland	Quinn	Dublin	Whelan	Shilton
Sat 26/09	Charlton	A	1-1	D	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	Quinn	Dublin	Whelan	Shilton
Sat 03/10	Aston V.	H	1-2	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	Quinn	Dublin	Whelan	Froggatt
Sun 18/10	Sheffield W	H	1-0	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Dublin	Whelan	Froggatt
Sat 24/10	Southampton	A	2-1	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Whelan	McAllister	Dublin	Huckerby	Froggatt
Wed 28/10	Luton Town (W.C.3)	A	2-0	L	Hedman	Brightwell	M.Hall	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	P.Hall
Sat 31/10	Arsenal	H	0-1	L	Hedman	Nilsson	M.Hall	Boateng	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 07/11	Blackburn R.	A	1-2	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Clement	Breen	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Wed 11/11	(W.C.4)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 15/11	Everton	H	3-0	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Clement	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 21/11	Middlesborough	A	0-2	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Clement	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 28/11	Leicester	H	1-1	D	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Clement	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Soldvedt	Huckerby	Froggatt
Wed 02/12	(W.C.5)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 05/12	Wimbledon	A	2-1	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Boateng	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Mon 14/12	Leeds U.	A	0-2	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Clement	Williams	Shaw	Boateng	McAllister	Whelan	Soldvedt	Froggatt
Sat 19/11	Derby C.	H	1-1	D	Hedman	Nilsson	Edworthy	Soldvedt	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 26/12	Tottenham H.	H	1-1	D	Ogrizovic	Nilsson	Edworthy	Soldvedt	Williams	Shaw	Boateng	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Mon 28/12	West Ham U.	A	0-2	W	Ogrizovic	Nilsson	Edworthy	Soldvedt	Breen	Shaw	Boateng	McAllister	Whelan	Aloisi	Froggatt
Wed 02/01	Macclesfield Town(F.A.C.3)	H	7-0	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Soltvedt	Williams	Shaw	Boateng	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 09/01	Notts F.	H	4-0	W	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Soltvedt	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Aloisi	Huckerby	Whelan
Sat 16/01	Chelsea	A	2-1	L	Hedman	Nilsson	Burrows	Soltvedt	Williams	Shaw	Telfer	McAllister	Boateng	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 23/01	Leicester City(F.A.C.4)	A	0-3	W	Hedman	Edworthy	Burrows	Soltvedt	Williams	Shaw	Boateng	McAllister	Whelan	Huckerby	Froggatt
Sat 30/01	Liverpool	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mon 06/02	Tottenham H.	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mon 13/02	Everton(F.A.C.5)	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 20/02	Manchester U.	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 27/02	Aston V.	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 06/03	Charlton A. (F.A.C.6)	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 13/03	Blackburn R.	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 20/03	Arsenal	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 03/04	Sheffield W.	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 05/04	Southampton	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sun 11/04	Everton (F.A.C. S/F)	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 17/04	Middlesborough	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 24/04	Leicester C.	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 01/05	Wimbledon	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 08/05	Derby C.	A	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sat 16/05	Leeds U.	H	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

MY FAVOURITE PLAYERS

DARREN HUCKERBY Darren is a striker and is very exciting player to watch. He dribbles the ball well although he does tend to go for goal when he should have passed to another player in a better shooting position. Darren lives in Loughborough - although I haven't seen him in the town, my Mum has spotted him outside a bank in the town centre... and she DIDN'T get me his autograph!

GEORGE BOATENG George plays in midfield. He is excellent at making runs into the opponents half, is a very fast dribbler and is also a good passer of the ball. George is an under-21 Dutch International.

STEVE FROGGATT Steve plays on the left wing. He is a very fast dribbler and delivers excellent crosses. This is his first season with the Sky Blues having joined us from Wolves and in my opinion he has scored our best goal of the season, against Everton.

MY DAY AT THE MATCH

When City are playing at home on a Saturday I quite often spend the day in Coventry and drive there at about 10:00am from my home in Loughborough. I studied at Coventry University (or Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic as it was then) and I can sometimes arrange to meet up with my mate Rog for lunch. I park at Pool Meadow Car Park as it is between the City Centre and Highfield Road.

My first stop is ALWAYS Sky Blue Leisure in the Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre. This shop is a shrine to Coventry City F.C. and I can't go in there without buying SOMETHING!!!

My favourite shop 'Sky Blue Leisure', Cathedral Lanes

I then wander around the City Centre until lunchtime. Apart from Sky Blue Leisure my favourite shops are 'Final Frontier' Sci-Fi Shop, HMV and ..

the WONDERFUL GOLDSMITHS - RETAILERS OF FINE QUALITY JEWELLERY AT COMPETITIVE PRICES!!!

(Was that alright Mr.Piasecki???)

(In case you haven't visited the rest of my Web Site yet, I work in the I.T. Department at the Head Office of Goldsmiths.)

Goldsmiths, West Orchards Shopping Centre

At lunchtime I usually make my way to Brown's near the Cathedral where I often meet my mate Rog or I eat at the West Orchards Shopping Centre.

My favourite match day lunch venue, "Browns"

At 2.00pm I start to make why way to the match. I go back to the car to drop off my shopping and pick up my CCFC scarf and Binoculars and head up Raglan Street up to the ground which is quite a steep hill. My route takes me past King Richard Street (which is the main entrance to the ground) and onto Swan Lane. This is where some of the away fans coaches are parked and is closed to traffic on matchdays.

King Richard St.

I turn left onto Thackhall St. which is where the entrance I go in is. I buy a programme from one of the sellers in Thackhall St. before making my way into the Stadium. My seat is Block 9, Seat 26 and I like to get there in plenty of time to read about the day's opposition in the programme and to soak up the atmosphere. The teams are on the pitch warming up before the game and I take a look at who's on the pitch through my binoculars and look for any of the big names in the opposition's team. During the warm-up 'The Crew', Coventry's Cheerleaders, perform around the pitch and Sky Blue Sam walks around waving to the spectators (Which is pretty embarrassing if he picks you out! Take my advice WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE ELEPHANT!!!)

Sky Blue Sam (Oh shit!, I made eye contact!)

The players leave the pitch about 30 mins before kick off and during this time the stadium really fills up and I'm glad I made the effort to arrive early.

At about 2:50pm (10 minutes to kick off) the teams come back onto the pitch to raptuous applause from the crowd. The atmosphere at this point is quite exhilarating and the Sky Blue Army begin their usual chants and songs - "The Sky Blue Song", "In our Coventry Homes" and "S**t on the Villa" being Sky Blue Army favourites that are regularly heard (The last being sung even when we're not playing Villa!!

The players have a kick around while the teams are announced and the two captains go to the centre circle with mascots for the day to shake hands with each other and the match officials and then toss a coin to decide which end the teams are going to start at (this sometimes requires them to swap ends).

Shortly before half time, a number of the crowd leave their seats to queue up for tea or coffee before the rush when the ref blows for Half-time. At Half-time the scores of the other matches are announced and the 'The Crew' perform their main dance for the dayin the centre of the field before performing around the edge of the pitch. My friend Nadine, who I met through the Internet Sky Blues, dances with 'The Crew' and we wave to each other as she goes by. I always email her my opinion of the day's dance when I get home. She had trouble picking me out in the crowd at first (apparently my suggestion of 'I'm the one with the Coventry Scarf on' wasn't very helpful!) . When I told her what advertisement I was sitting in front of she picked me out without any trouble. It's easy to spot Nade when 'The Crew' are performing, she's the one with the nicest legs.

'The Crew' perform at Half-Time

The second half begins at 3:45pm with the players having swapped ends. The feeling when Coventry score is indescribable. Your heart is in your mouth when the shot is taken hoping it'll go in and the whole stand seems to erupt with joy as the ball hits the back of the net. It's always interesting to see how different players celebrate. Dion used to raise his arm with a big grin on his face, Huckerby often runs up to the front of the stand and clenches his fist and Froggatt ran back down to the the halfway line chased by the rest of the team when he scored his first goal for City v Everton.
The match ends at 4:45pm. It takes me about 15 minutes to get back to the car at Pool Meadow and about an hour to get back home to Loughborough (depending on whether the opposing team's fans are also travelling North on the M1.)

1997 F.A. CUP FINAL

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

LAST HOME MATCH

30TH JANUARY 1999
COVENTRY CITY 2 LIVERPOOL 1

City gave a brilliant team performance to earn a well deserved win in a match attended by England Manager Glenn Hoddle. Coventry had most of the play and never looked like losing in front of a packed Highfield Road.

The first half ended 0-0, although City had the ball in the net with Noel Whelan judged to be offside by the linesman.

During the interval Roland Nilsson was replaced by Gary Breen and shortly after the start of the second half Coventry opened the scoring with a George Boateng header. Coventry went 2-0 up shortly afterwards with a goal from Noel Whelan. The City defence did a great job of stopping Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler from scoring although Owen did manage to get one shot in which hit the bar. Hedman had a great game in goal, although he again did several wild goal kicks.

Liverpool scored towards the end of the match through a goal by substitute Steve Macmanaman set up by Michael Owen, but City were able to hold out till the end to take the 3 points.

MARTIN'S CITY MAN OF THE MATCH : Every City player played excellently but a special mention should go to Gary Breen and Paul Williams for keeping Owen and Fowler at bay.

MY VIEWS

City gave a fabulous team performance against Liverpool. They looked very organised and were passing the ball around well and creating chances. Towards the end of the game, Huckerby recieved some very harsh tackles which I felt should have be dealt with more strictly by the referee.

Glenn Hoddle attended the game ahead of the forthcoming England match against World Cup holders France and on this performance Whelan and Huckerby must surely be in with a chance of getting in the squad.

I would like to see John Aloisi given a full 90 minutes to show what he can do, with Noel Whelan dropping back to a attacking midfield role.

I heard a rumour recently that Chris Sutton of Blackburn has bought a house in Leamington Spa, just outside Coventry. The rumour says that he will be signing for the Sky Blues once he has recovered from his current injury and Gary Breen will be going to Blackburn in part exchange...we'll see!