Books - Sky Blue Archive

The books below are from the shelves of the Sky Blue Archive and are just a selection from the many books written about or around Coventry City over the years. Some may be familiar and some less so, they may also give some inspiration for birthday or Christmas present lists!

Play Up Sky Blues – Champions 1967

Jim Brown

Play Up Sky Blues tells the story of Coventry City’s finest season when they reached the First Division for the first time in the club’s history. Under their charismatic manager Jimmy Hill, the Sky Blues had narrowly missed out on promotion in 1966 and, strengthened by the arrival of record signing Ian Gibson, were the favourites to go up the following season. The story tells how, after a mixed start, the team had a crisis in October with Hill and Gibson falling out and the Scot asking for a transfer – at which point the team was dumped out of the League Cup by Third Division opposition. For a time ‘JH’ was under pressure until he and ‘Gibbo’ settled their differences, and the fans’ hero was recalled. His return sparked a run of 25 unbeaten games and secured promotion. With success guaranteed, the ‘Midlands Match of the Century’ with Wolves would decide the title: over 51,000 watched as the Sky Blues triumphed and went on to clinch the Second Division championship.

Published in 2017 and available online from various sources.

Attached to Coventry City 1958-2020 – A Personal Memoir

James Adams

A highly personal, honest and unusual story of a Coventry City fan. It’s an account that delves into the crucial yet poorly understood psychological aspects of football fandom to uncover truths that every football fan can relate to. It includes the team’s three Wembley victories and four promotions – as well as its FA Cup debacles.

Published in 2021 and available online from various sources.

Coventry City On This Day

Steve Phelps

Coventry City On This Day chronicles, in diary form, the major events in the Sky Blues’ long and colourful history. It captures the club’s early years through to the golden era of the 1980s and that classic Wembley final in 1987. With individual entries for each day of the year and multiple listings for busier times, this book includes all the club s big matches, promotions, relegations, cup runs, and signings together with the development of the club over the decades.

Published in 2010 and available online from various sources.

Coventry City A Complete Record 1883-1991

Compiled by Rod Dean with David Brassington, Jim Brown and Don Chalk

A comprehensive history of Coventry City Football Club published by Breedon Books. It offers detailed statistics, match records, player profiles, and extensive photographs of the Sky Blues, making it a definitive record for the years covered.

Published in 1991 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City, The Elite Era – A Complete Record

Jim Brown

A deeper look into the statistics, players and matches from 1967 and the arrival of the Sky Blues in the First Division, up to publication in 1998.

Published in 1998 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry The Complete History of the Club

Neville Foulger

Neville covered the Sky Blues for the Evening Telegraph during the 1970s and 1980s, with his final game covering the club being the famous FA Cup Final victory over Tottenham Hotspur in 1987. This is his look back at the history of the club, written in the middle of his spell as football correspondent. He later moved to Leicester to run his own press agency and became known to many as ‘the voice of Leicester City’.

Published in 1979 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City Footballers 1908-1993 – The Complete Who’s Who

Martin and Paul O’Connor

This book provides comprehensive biographical details and career records for Coventry City players from 1908 to 1993, many of which appear in the player pen pics on this website.

Published in 1993 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City, The Elite Era – A Complete Record, New Edition

Jim Brown

An update of the above must have reference book taking in the years from City’s first Divsion One season up to publication in 2001 and the end of the Elite Era as City are relegated after 34 years.

Published in 2001 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City Miscellany

Steve Phelps

Coventry City Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Sky Blues, from irresistible anecdotes to the most mindblowing stats and facts. A brilliantly researched collection of trivia, essential for any Coventry City fan who holds the riches of the club’s history close to their heart.

Published in 2011 and available online from various sources.

The Vocalsists

Lionel Bird

History of the Singers Football Club 1883-1898. The Road to Coventry City F.C. The Vocalists is a study of Coventry Wanderers Football Club – the first football team established in Coventry in 1869 – and an investigation into the formation of the Singers FC, which went on to become Coventry City. The hardback features photos, match reports, a background of Willie Stanley, the founder of CCFC, and the club’s journey from their first makeshift pitch at Dowell’s Field in Stoke, to the stadium at Highfield Road.

Published in 2009 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Staying Up – A fan behind the scenes in the Premiership

Rick Gekoski

A spectator’s-eye view of the inside workings of an FA Premier League football club – unfashionable Coventry City – in the 1997/98 season, during which the author had access to the personnel involved, from players to club directors. Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton have been in the top flight of English club football longer than Coventry’s 30 years. On no fewer than 11 occasions the club has escaped relegation on the final day of the season, although they won the FA Cup in 1987 (their only major honour) and enjoyed uncharacteristically comfortable mid-table status during the season under review.

Published in 1998 and available in used condition online from various sources.

We’ll Be Back

John Mullaney

A remarkable tale of unintentional fame, hilarious escapades, death and tragedy. From Highfield Road to Celtic Park and the Nou Camp. John travels through France, Spain, the UK and Ireland as he explores his Irish roots, and supports his beloved Sky Blues and Celtic FC. He bumps into Martin Johnson, Derek (Wolftones) Warfield, Frank Skinner, Coventry City Chairman Mike McGinnity, Celtic legend Tommy Gemmell, manager Martin ONeill and players Lubo Moravcik and Didier Agathe along the way. He reflects on 70s bovver boys, the 2 Tone era, playing local football and rugby, and growing up as a Coventry Irish kid. From altar boy to factory labourer/shop steward to senior executive and ill health early-retirement.
A hugely entertaining focus on: working class life, friendship and camaraderie. Funny, touching, witty, and honest, written from the heart.

Published in 2003 and available in used condition online from various sources.

The Sky Blue Story – Miracle in Sky Blue

Marshall Stewart

A well regarded history of the club detailing the club’s resurgence from the fourth tier of English football to the top in Division One under our iconic manager Jimmy Hill. Written by Marshall Stewart a ‘Cov Kid’ who had a long and distinguished media career as journalist and later editor on radio and TV involving the likes of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, LBC from its inception and Central Television. He experienced the blitz when a youngster and got his first break as an apprentice on the Coventry Standard eventually covering live CCFC matches and writing a sports column.

Published in 1968 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Full-Time – Farewell to Highfield Road

Jo Lumani

This book commemorates the Highfield Road, which hosted the team for 106 years from 1899-2005.

Produced by the club.

Published in 2005.

Singers to Sky Blues

Dave Brassington, Rob Dean and Don Chalk

Fine history of Coventry City FC who started life as a works team called Singers Football Club, founded in 1883 by William Stanley.

Published in 1986 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City at Highfield Road 1899-2005 – Ghosts of a Vanished Stadium

Jim Brown

For 106 years it was the home of Coventry City Football Club, witnessing the club’s fortunes all the way from the Birmingham League to the Premiership. In all, the Sky Blues played some 2,000 matches at the famous old stadium, some good, some bad, some unforgettable. A stadium has a life and character of its own, distinct from the football club which plays there. Over the years Highfield Road has witnessed bombs, fires, weddings, funerals, pop concerts, boxing matches, American football and – perhaps most extraordinary of all – motor cycle football. One wonders what the old ground thought of motor bikes ripping through its hallowed lawn, and what vengeance it took. All that is left of Highfield Road are memories and ghosts. A vanished stadium, bulldozed into oblivion, has taken its secrets to the grave. If it could sing, Highfield Road might chirp to Jimmy Hill’s Sky Blue Song. If it could dance, it might sway to the rhythms of the Spion Kop. If it kept a diary, it could be no richer than Jim Brown’s meticulous record.

Published in 1986 and available in used condition online from various sources.

One Man’s Vision

Lionel Bird

History of the Coventry City Supporters Club 1920-2007

Published in 2007.

Ernie Hunt’s Sideburns

Compiled by George Rowland

A collection of short stories from the fans of Coventry City with a Foreword by Steve Ogrizovic.

Published in 2001 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City – The Seven-Year Itch 2001-08

Jim Brown

Here is a sequence of numbers: 11, 20, 12, 19, 8, 17, 21. They show Coventry City’s final league positions in the first seven seasons after they were relegated from the Premiership in 2001. Only once have City finished in the top ten; four times they have finished in the bottom eight. In those seven seasons they looked far more likely to suffer further relegation than to return to the Promised Land. This was never more true than in 2007-08, when the Sky Blues needed results elsewhere to keep their heads above water. This book contains a season-by-season written and full statistical history of the Sky Blues from 2001-2008 including brief match reports for every game played during this period.

Published in 2008 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Moving the Goalposts

Paul Wheeler

A Tale of 3 Cities, 1 Town, a Small Island and Coventry City Football Club

Published in 2001 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Sky Blue Revolution – Jimmy Hill at Coventry City 1961-1967

Jim Brown

It might be hard to imagine now, but in the mid-to-late 1960s Coventry City boasted the biggest crowds of any Midlands club – bigger than those at Villa, Wolves, Albion, and Birmingham. The reason for this explosion of support was simple – Jimmy Hill. The ‘bearded wonder’ steamed into Highfield Road like a hurricane, bringing change, innovation, revolutution. Two promotions hoisted the Sky Blues from the Third Divison to the First. The club were set to embark on their toughest challenge, against the elite, when Hill suddenly quit. The club’s loss was television’s gain, because Hill’s football punditry enlightened the nation for decades. This book celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Hill’s appointment in November 1961.

Published in 2021 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Sky Blue Heaven

Graham Smith & Neville Hadsley

A quirky, fun-filled, fact-packed encyclopedia of Coventry City FC.

Meticulously researched and brilliantly illustrated, it is full of stories, stats and I-never-knew-that-ness from Planet Sky Blue which will delight any Coventry City supporter.

Published in 2001 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Singers to Sky Blues

Dave Brassington, Rob Dean and Don Chalk

An updated version of the history of Coventry City FC who started life as a works team called Singers Football Club, founded in 1883 by William Stanley.

Published in 1989 and available in used condition online from various sources.

My Poetic Memories of Highfield Road

Alan Ludford

Produced by long standing City supporter and Coventry City Diamond Club Committee Member Alan Ludford. ‘My Poetic Memories Of Highfield Road’ gives his views in poetic form on matches past amongst other things at our former home.

Published in 2010.

Sky Blue Heaven II

Graham Smith & Neville Hadsley

A quirky, fun-filled, fact-packed encyclopedia of Coventry City FC.

The all-new sequel to Sky Blue Heaven – a second volume the quirky, fun-filled, fact-packed encyclopedia of Coventry City FC. Fastest goals, red cards, top scorers, plastic pitches, penalty shoot-outs, greatest away wins. Which City players scored four or more goals in a game? Or in five or more consecutive matches? Which City player played cricket for England? It’s all here!

Published in 2006 and available in used condition online from various sources.

January and the Season’s Over

Steve Phelps

Brilliant story of the pain and mostly even more pain of a fan over a single football league season, with a foreword by former Sky Blue Steven Froggatt.

Published in 2007.

Let’s All Sing Together

Mark Coyle and Paul McKay

Coventry City Football Club – 100 Greats

George Rowland

Over six thousand players have proudly worn the colours of Coventry City since the club was first formed as Singers FC back in 1883. Many have made only fleeting contributions, whilst others have become City heroes and carved their names forever in the annals of Coventry’s footballing history. This volume offers a retrospective look at 100 of the finest players to have represented the club, with a detailed examination of their time at Coventry and their careers in football.

Published in 2001 and available in used condition online from various sources.

It’ll be Different Next Year

Steve Phelps

More life in the Football League

Published in 2008 and available in used condition online from various sources.

Coventry City FC – A History in 50 matches

Jonathan Strange

Published in 2004 and available in used condition online from various sources.

The Sky Blues – The Story of Coventry City F.C

Derek Henderson

Derek Henderson spent 15 years as the Telegraph’s Coventry City reporter, covering one of the most dramatic periods in the club’s history. His first game was the third division clash with Exeter that all but sealed the club’s relegation to the newly-formed fourth division. He went on to report the club’s fortunes as they won promotion to the third division and appointed Jimmy Hill as manager and then made a rapid climb to to the old first division in 1967. In the early part of his career he wrote under the pen name Nemo. After leaving the Telegraph, Mr Henderson returned to his native Devon where he continued to work as a reporter until he finally put down his pen and pad, aged 76.

Published in 1968 and available in used condition online from various sources.

If the Titanic had been Sky Blue

George Rowland & Paul McKay

Coventry City FC – An A-Z

Dean Hayes

Published in 2000 and available in used condition online from various sources.

The Sky Blues Quiz Book

Jim Brown

Crooked Spires

George Rowland and Mark Ashmore

Investigative explorations of the separate trials of Chesterfield and Coventry City Football Clubs during the 1990s, looking at board-room and managerial intrigue.

Published in 2003.

Sky Blues Official Handbook 1988-89

Club produced review of the season.