2000–01 Coventry City F.C. season

Coventry City

2000–01 season
Chairman	Bryan Richardson
Manager	Gordon Strachan
Stadium	Highfield Road
Premiership	19th (relegated)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Bellamy/Hartson/Hadji (6) All: Bellamy (8)
Highest home attendance	23,063 vs Liverpool (28 Apr 2001, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	7,425 vs Preston North End (27 Sep 2000, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	20,535
Home colours Away colours
← 1999–2000 2001–02 →

During the 2000–01 English football season, Coventry City F.C. competed in the FA Premier League. It was their 34th consecutive season in the top division, but this season saw the club relegated and they have not been in the top flight since.

Season summary

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.

Final league table

Results summary

Results by round

Results

Coventry City's score comes first^[3]

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

Players

First-team squad

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[notes 1] 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 Stephen McPhee 28 FW  ENG Jay Bothroyd 32 MF  IRL Lee Carsley[notes 2] 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  SWE Andreas Dahl — MF  SCO Martin Grant — MF  NIR Mark Magennis

Statistics

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee	Notes
12 July 2000	FW	Jay Bothroyd	Arsenal	£1,000,000	[6]
2 August 2000	MF	David Thompson	Liverpool	£2,500,000	[7]
16 August 2000	FW	Craig Bellamy	Norwich City	£6,500,000	[8]
6 September 2000	FW	Jairo Martínez	Motagua	Signed	[9]
19 October 2000	MF	Iván Guerrero	Motagua	Signed
1 December 2000	MF	Lee Carsley	Blackburn Rovers	£2,500,000	[10]
22 December 2000	MF	Andreas Dahl	IFK Hässleholm	£300,000
8 February 2001	FW	John Hartson	Wimbledon	Signed	[11]

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee	Notes
9 June 2000	FW	Chukki Eribenne	Bournemouth	Free transfer
28 June 2000	DF	David Burrows	Birmingham City	Free transfer
1 July 2000	MF	Gary McAllister	Liverpool	Free transfer	[12]
5 July 2000	DF	Ian Brightwell	Walsall	Free transfer
6 July 2000	DF	Mark Burrows	Exeter City	Free transfer
30 July 2000	FW	Robbie Keane	Inter Milan	£13,000,000	[13]
31 July 2000	FW	Noel Whelan	Middlesbrough	£2,000,000	[14]
12 January 2001	MF	Daire Doyle	Kidderminster Harriers	Free transfer
13 February 2001	DF	Colin Hendry	Bolton Wanderers	£250,000	[15]
15 February 2001	FW	Cédric Roussel	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£1,500,000	[16]

Transfers in: £12,800,000

Transfers out: £16,750,000

Total spending: £3,950,000

Loan in

• Alan Miller - Blackburn Rovers, 20 October, 37 days

Loan out

• Colin Hendry - Bolton Wanderers
• Robert Betts - Plymouth Argyle, 16 February, 19 days

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	SWE	Magnus Hedman	18	0	15	0	1	0	2	0
13	GK	ENG	Chris Kirkland	27	0	23	0	1	0	2+1	0
34	GK	ENG	Alan Miller	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	ENG	Marc Edworthy	28	1	18+6	1	2	0	2	0
4	DF	ENG	Paul Williams	36	0	27+3	0	2	0	4	0
6	DF	ENG	Richard Shaw	28	0	23+1	0	1	0	3	0
12	DF	SCO	Paul Telfer	35	0	27+4	0	1+1	0	2	0
17	DF	IRL	Gary Breen	37	1	29+2	1	2	0	2+2	0
19	DF	HON	Iván Guerrero	4	1	3	1	0	0	1	0
22	DF	IRL	Barry Quinn	29	0	25	0	2	0	2	0
24	DF	ENG	Marcus Hall	24	1	21	0	1	0	2	1
26	DF	BIH	Muhamed Konjić	9	0	8	0	0	0	1	0
41	DF	ENG	Calum Davenport	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF	ENG	David Thompson	28	3	22+3	3	1	0	1+1	0
8	MF	MAR	Youssef Chippo	37	0	18+14	0	1	0	4	0
10	MF	MAR	Mustapha Hadji	34	7	28+1	6	1	1	3+1	0
14	MF	ENG	Carlton Palmer	16	0	12+3	0	0	0	1	0
15	MF	ENG	John Eustace	37	4	22+10	2	1	0	4	2
21	MF	SCO	Gavin Strachan	3	1	1	0	0	0	0+2	1
32	MF	IRL	Lee Carsley	23	2	21	2	2	0	0	0
37	MF	SCO	Craig Strachan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
42	MF	ENG	Robert Betts	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
5	FW	WAL	John Hartson	12	6	12	6	0	0	0	0
11	FW	PER	Ysrael Zúñiga	17	2	7+8	1	0	0	2	1
16	FW	AUS	John Aloisi	21	6	8+10	3	0	0	2+1	3
18	FW	WAL	Craig Bellamy	39	8	33+1	6	2	1	3	1
28	FW	ENG	Jay Bothroyd	10	0	3+5	0	1	0	0+1	0
Players transferred or loaned out during the season
5	DF	SCO	Colin Hendry	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW	BEL	Cédric Roussel	17	2	10+6	2	0	0	1	0

References

Notes