Podgorica
Podgorica is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. Between 1946 and 1992 – in the period that Montenegro formed, as the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – the city was known as Titograd in honour of Josip Broz Tito. Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and at the meeting-point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement; the city is close to winter skiing centres in the north and to seaside resorts on the Adriatic Sea. Podgorica Municipality covers 10.4% of Montenegro's territory and is home to 29.9% of the country's population. It is the nation's administrative centre and its economic and educational focus; the name Podgorica means " below Gorica". Gorica, meaning "little hill", is the name of one of the cypress-covered hillocks that overlook the city centre; some three kilometres north-west of Podgorica lie the ruins of the Roman-era town of Doclea, from which the Roman Emperor Diocletian hailed.
In centuries, Romans "corrected" the name to Dioclea, guessing wrongly that an "i" had been lost in vulgar speech. "Duklja" is the version of that word. At its foundation, the town was called Birziminium. In the Middle Ages, it was known as Ribnica; the name Podgorica was used from 1326. From 1946 to 1992, the city was named Titograd in honour of Josip Broz Tito, the former President of Yugoslavia. Podgorica is at the crossroads of several important routes, near the rivers Zeta, Morača, Ribnica and Mareza in the valley of Lake Skadar and near the Adriatic Sea, in fertile lowlands with favourable climate; the earliest human settlements were in prehistory: the oldest physical remains are from the late Stone Age. In the Iron Age, the area between the Zeta and Bjelopavlići valleys was occupied by two Illyrian tribes, the Labeates and the Docleatae; the population of the town of Doclea was 8,000–10,000, in which all core urban issues were resolved. The high population density was made possible by the geographical position, favourable climate and economic conditions and by the defensive positions that were of great importance at that time.
From the 5th century AD, with the arrival of the first Slavic and Avar tribes and the beginning of the break-up of the Roman Empire, the area bore witness to many noteworthy events. With time, the fortifications ceased their function and new towns were built, it was first mentioned during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty, as part of the Serbian kingdom. The importance of Ribnica was its position as crossroads in communications with the west; the name Podgorica was first mentioned in 1326 in a court document of the Kotor archives. The city was economically strong: trade routes between the Republic of Ragusa and Serbia, well developed at that time, were maintained via the road that led to Podgorica through Trebinje and Nikšić; as a busy crossroad, Podgorica was a vibrant regional centre of trade and communication. This boosted its development, economic power, military strength and strategic importance; the Ottoman Empire captured Podgorica in 1474. Podgorica became a kaza of the Sanjak of Scutari in 1479.
The Ottomans built a large fortress in Podgorica, the existing settlement, with its developed merchant connections, became the main Ottoman defensive and attacking bastion in the region. At the beginning of 1474 the Ottoman sultan intended to rebuild Podgorica and Baleč and settle them with 5,000 Muslim families, in order to stop cooperation between the Principality of Zeta and Albania Veneta. Podgorica fell again, but this time to the Turks in 1484, the character of the town changed extensively; the Turks fortified the city, building towers and defensive ramparts that give Podgorica the appearance of an oriental military city. In 1864, Podgorica became a kaze of the Scutari Vilayet called Böğürtlen. On October 7, 1874, in a violent reaction over the murder of a local named Juso Mučin Krnić, Ottoman forces killed at least 15 people in Podgorica; the massacre was reported outside of Montenegro and contributed to the buildup to the Montenegrin-Ottoman War. The end of the Montenegrin-Ottoman War in 1878 resulted in the Congress of Berlin recognizing vast territories, including that of Podgorica, as part of the newly-recognized Kingdom of Montenegro.
At that time there were about 1,500 houses in Podgorica, with more than 8.000 people living there - of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Muslim faiths flourishing together. After the Berlin Congress in 1878, when Podgorica was annexed to the Principality of Montenegro, marking the end of four centuries of Ottoman rule, the beginning of a new era for Podgorica and Montenegro; the first forms of capital concentration were seen in 1902, when roads were built to all neighbouring towns, tobacco became Podgorica's first significant commercial product. In 1904, a savings bank named Zetska formed the first significant financial institution, it would soon grow into Podgorička Bank. World War I marked the end of dynamic development for Podgorica, which by was the largest city in the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Montenegro. Podgorica was occupied, as was the rest of the country, by Austria-Hungary from 1916 to 1918. After the liberation
Association football
Association football, more known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport; the game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal. Association football is one of a family of football codes, which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity; the modern game traces its origins to 1863 when the Laws of the Game were codified in England by The Football Association. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Other players use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use any other part of their body except the hands and the arms; the team that scores most goals by the end of the match wins.
If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, which organises World Cups for both men and women every four years; the rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time rugby football. The first written "reference to the inflated ball used in the game" was in the mid-14th century: "Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe"; the Online Etymology Dictionary states that the "rules of the game" were made in 1848, before the "split off in 1863". The term soccer comes from a slang or jocular abbreviation of the word "association", with the suffix "-er" appended to it; the word soccer was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca.
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now called "football" in the United Kingdom and "soccer" in Canada and the United States. People in countries where other codes of football are prevalent may use either term, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now use "football" for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is evidence. Cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net, it was remarkably similar to modern football. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established. Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup. Athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda and harpastum were played involving hands and violence.
They all appear to have resembled rugby football and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified "mob football", the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking. Other games included kemari in chuk-guk in Korea. Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world FIFA has recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe; the modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD; the Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Rugby and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football; some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School devised an influential set of rules; these ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse; the Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand.
Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under
Wigan Athletic F.C.
Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional football club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, which competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, the club have played at the DW Stadium since 1999, before which they played at Springfield Park, their colours are blue and white stripes, although all-blue shirts have been common throughout the club's history. Wigan were elected to the Football League in 1978, competed in the Premier League from 2005 to 2013, they won the 2012–13 FA Cup with a 1–0 victory against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, when Ben Watson scored the winning goal. Wigan have won League One and are two-times winners of the EFL Trophy, they made their European debut in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. Wigan Athletic was formed following the winding up of Wigan Borough the year before. Wigan Athletic was the fifth attempt to create a stable football club in the town following the demise of Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town and Wigan Borough.
Springfield Park, the former home of Wigan Borough, was purchased by the club for £2,850. Despite their initial application being turned down, Wigan Athletic were elected into the Cheshire County League following the resignation of Manchester Central; the club had made the first of many attempts to be admitted into the Football League, but failed to receive a single vote. On 27 August 1932, Wigan Athletic played their first league game against Port Vale Reserves; the team played in white shirts with black shorts. Wigan Athletic won their first honours in the 1933–34 season, finishing as champions of the Cheshire League. In the following season, the club won a second league championship and entered the FA Cup for the first time, defeating Carlisle United 6–1 in the first round – a cup record for the biggest victory by a non-league club over a league club. In the 1935–36 season, the club won their third consecutive Cheshire League title and the Lancashire Junior Cup. After the Second World War, Wigan Athletic adopted white strip.
The club struggled to assemble a competitive side, finished bottom of the league in 1946–47 season. Despite their pre-war success, the club failed to gain re-election and were replaced by Winsford United; the club joined the Lancashire Combination. In 1950, Wigan Athletic came close to election to The Football League, narrowly losing out to Scunthorpe United and Shrewsbury Town. In the 1953–54 season, Wigan played an FA Cup match against Hereford United in front of a crowd of 27,526 – a club record and a record attendance for a match between two non-league teams at a non-league ground. In the next round of the cup, Wigan Athletic were drawn against First Division side Newcastle United. Wigan Athletic held their top flight opponents to a 2–2 draw at St James' Park, but went on to lose the replay 3–2. In 1961, the club moved back to the Cheshire League. In the 1964–65 season, Wigan Athletic won their first Cheshire League title since returning to the league, with top goalscorer Harry Lyon scoring 66 times.
He remains the club's greatest goalscorer of all time. Wigan Athletic won four cup titles in the 1966–67 season and were Cheshire County League runners-up. In 1968, Wigan Athletic were founder members of the Northern Premier League. Winning the league title in 1970–71, leading goalscorer with 42 goals, including seven hat-tricks, was Geoff Davies who scored 28 goals in the following 1971–72 season. After 34 failed election attempts, including one controversial but headline-making application in 1972 to join the Scottish League Second Division, Wigan Athletic were elected to the Football League in 1978; as a non-league club, the team played at Wembley Stadium for the first time in the 1973 FA Trophy Final, where it lost 2–1 to Scarborough. Wigan Athletic finished in second place in the Northern Premier League in the 1977–78 season, behind winners Boston United, but as Boston's ground and facilities did not meet the Football League criteria for a League club, whereas Springfield Park did, Wigan Athletic were put forward for election to the league.
There was no automatic promotion to the Football League until 1987, at that time a club had to be'voted out' of the League to allow a non-league team to be promoted in their place. At the end of the 1977–78 season, Southport finished next to bottom of the old Fourth Division, faced near neighbours Wigan Athletic for their place in the league; the first round of voting was tied, with both clubs receiving 26 votes. After a tense re-vote which Wigan won 29–20, Southport lost their place in the Fourth Division and Wigan Athletic became an English League club on 2 June 1978. In the club's first season of league football, Wigan Athletic finished in sixth place, just six points off promotion and playing in front of an average crowd of 6,701. Two more top-half finishes came in the following seasons, though a weak 1980–81 season saw the dismissal of long-serving manager Ian McNeill shortly before the end of the season, they gained their first Football League promotion under the management of former Liverpool player Larry Lloyd in 1981–82, when a points tally of 91 saw them join the former Division Three for the first time, beginning a 10-year spell in English football's third tier.
The club struggled in their first season in Division Three, which led to Lloyd's sacking in early 1983, at which point Bobby Charlton, a director at the time, took over as temporary manager before being replaced by Harry McNally. Under McNally's management, the club stabilised in Division Three and secured a pair of mid-table finishes, but a dreadf
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Burnley, England. Founded on 18 May 1882, the team played only friendly matches until they entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1885–86; the club plays in the Premier League, the first tier of English football. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888; the club's emblem is based with a Latin motto Pretiumque et Causa Laboris. Burnley have been champions of England twice, in 1920–21 and 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1914, have won the Community Shield twice, in 1960 and 1973; the Clarets reached the 1961 quarter-finals of the European Cup. They are one of only five teams to have won all top four professional divisions of English football, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Portsmouth. In the 1920–21 campaign, Burnley were crowned champions of England for the first time when they won the First Division.
During that season the team embarked on a 30-match unbeaten run, which remained an English record until it was beaten by Nottingham Forest in the late 1970s. Burnley attained a second league championship in 1959–60 with a team consisting of youth academy graduates, winning the title with a last-day victory over Manchester City, after foundations were laid by pioneers Alan Brown, Bob Lord and Harry Potts. Just twenty years in 1979–80, Burnley were relegated to the Third Division — the first time in their history they had played in the third tier of English football. Five years the team competed in the Fourth Division for the first time following another relegation, on 9 May 1987 only a 2–1 home win against Orient saved Burnley from relegation to the Football Conference and a possible dissolution. Burnley won promotion in 1991–92 to the third tier and again in 1999–2000 to the second tier, before being promoted to the Premier League in 2008–09, 2013–14 and 2015–16. Burnley have played home games at Turf Moor since 17 February 1883, after the club had moved from their original premises at Calder Vale.
The club colours of claret and blue were adopted prior to the 1910–11 season in tribute to the dominant club of English football at the time, Aston Villa. Their current manager, Sean Dyche, was appointed on 30 October 2012. On 18 May 1882, Burnley Rovers Football Club decided to shift their allegiance from rugby union to football. Playing in various green or blue and white kits for their first few years, the club played their first competitive game in October 1882 against Astley Bridge in the Lancashire Challenge Cup, that game ending in an 8–0 defeat. In the early months of 1883 the club moved to Turf Moor and remain there, only their Lancashire rivals Preston North End having continuously occupied the same ground for longer. Burnley first appeared in the FA Cup in 1885–86, but were ignominiously beaten 11–0 when eligibility restrictions meant that their reserve side had to be fielded against Darwen Old Wanderers. A year on 13 October 1886, Turf Moor became the first ground to be visited by a member of the Royal Family.
When it was decided to found the Football League for the 1888–89 season, Burnley were among the twelve founders of that competition, one of the six clubs based in Lancashire. Burnley's William Tait became the first player to score a hat-trick in league football in only the second match of the inaugural season, when his three goals gave the Clarets an away win to Bolton Wanderers. Burnley, now known as'The Turfites','Moorites' or'Royalites' as a result of the name of their new ground and the royal connection finished 9th in the first season of the league, but only one place from bottom in 1889–90, following a 17-game winless streak at the start of the season; that season did, present Burnley with their first honours, winning the Lancashire Cup with a 2–0 final victory over local rivals Blackburn Rovers. Before Burnley won a trophy again, they were relegated to the Second Division for the first time in 1896–97, they responded to this by winning promotion the next season, losing only two of their 30 matches along the way before gaining promotion through a play-off series known as test matches.
Burnley and First Division club Stoke City both entered the last match, to be played between the two teams, needing a draw for promotion. A 0–0 draw ensued "The match without a shot at goal", the league withdrew the test match system in favour of automatic promotion and relegation; the league decided to expand the top division after the test match series of 1897–98 and the other two teams went into the top division for the following year, negating the effect of Burnley and Stoke City's reputed collusion. Burnley were relegated again in 1899–1900 and found themselves at the centre of a controversy when their goalkeeper, Jack Hillman attempted to bribe their opponents, Nottingham Forest, in the last match of the season, resulting in his suspension for the whole of the following season, it was the earliest recorded case of match fixing in football. During the first decade of the 20th century, Burnley continued to play in the Second Division finishing in bottom place in one season, although the indications of success just around the corner were evident.
Burnley changed their colours from green to the claret and sky blue of Aston Villa, the most successful club in England at the time, for the 1910–11 season, as manager John Haworth believed it might bring a change of fortune. The tides did indeed turn the following season, when only a loss in the last game of the season denied the club p
Premier League
The Premier League is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League; the Premier League is a corporation. Seasons run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches. Most games are played on Sunday afternoons; the Premier League has featured 47 English and two Welsh clubs since its inception, making it a cross-border league. The competition was formed as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League, founded in 1888, take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal; the deal was worth £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013–14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively. The league generates € 2.2 billion per year in international television rights. Clubs were apportioned revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17. The Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.
In the 2014–15 season, the average Premier League match attendance exceeded 36,000, second highest of any professional football league behind the Bundesliga's 43,500. Most stadium occupancies are near capacity; the Premier League ranks second in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, as of 2018. Forty-nine clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Six of them have won the title since then: Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City; the record of most points in a Premier League season is 100, set by Manchester City in 2017–18. Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985; the Football League First Division, the top level of English football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, several top English players had moved abroad.
By the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse: at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, England reached the semi-finals. In the 1980s, major English clubs had begun to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. Martin Edwards of Manchester United, Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur, David Dein of Arsenal were among the leaders in this transformation, it gave the top clubs more power. By threatening to break away, clubs in Division One managed to increase their voting power, they took a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income in 1986. Revenue from television became more important: the Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but by 1988, in a deal agreed with ITV, the price rose to £44 million over four years with the leading clubs taking 75% of the cash. According to Scholar, involved in the negotiations of television deals, each of the First Division clubs received only around £25,000 per year from television rights before 1986, this increased to around £50,000 in the 1986 negotiation to £600,000 in 1988.
The 1988 negotiations were conducted under the threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but they were persuaded to stay with the top clubs taking the lion share of the deal. As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the influx of money into the sport. In 1990, the managing director of London Weekend Television, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England over a dinner; the meeting was to pave the way for a break away from The Football League. Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money; the five clubs decided to press ahead with it. The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League's position.
At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League; the newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system, following promotion via the playoffs from League Two in the 2017–18 season. Coventry City formed as Singers F. C. in 1883 before adopting their current name in 1898. They joined the Football League in 1919, they won their only major trophy in 1987. They are one of only five clubs to have won both the FA Youth Cup in the same season, they have reached two Football League Cup semi-finals, in 1981 and 1990. They returned to Wembley in April 2017, defeating Oxford United 2–1 to win the Football League Trophy and again in May 2018, beating Exeter City 3–1 to gain promotion to EFL League One via the play-offs; the club, nicknamed The Sky Blues because of the colour of their strip, was an inaugural member of the Premier League in 1992 and had spent 34 consecutive seasons in the English top flight prior to its relegation in 2001.
Following eleven seasons in the second-tier Football League Championship, Coventry were relegated to League One in 2012, the first time they had been in the third tier since 1964. In 2017, there was a further relegation, with the club dropping to the fourth tier of the competition for the first time since 1959. Coventry has qualified for European competitions twice. In the 1970–71 season, the team competed in the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, reaching the second round. Despite beating Bayern Munich 2–1 in the home leg, they had lost 1–6 in the first leg in Germany, thus were eliminated; the team was unable to compete in the 1987–88 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, due to the ban on English clubs at that time, following the Heysel disaster. From 1899 to 2005, Coventry City played at Highfield Road, which in 1981 became the first all-seater stadium in English football. In the late 1990s, the club's directors decided that a larger stadium was necessary, so chose a site in the Rowley's Green area of the city.
The 32,609-capacity Ricoh Arena was opened in August 2005. The club has played home games there since, apart from the 2013–14 season when it played at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium, some 35 miles away, due to a rent dispute. 1883 – The club is founded by employees of Singer, the cycle firm, with William Stanley one of the leading lights. 1898 – The club's name is changed from Singers F. C. to Coventry City. 1899 – The club move to Highfield Road following stints at Dowells Field and Stoke Road. 1901 – The club suffer their worst defeat with an 11–2 loss against Worcester-based Berwick Rangers in the qualifying round of the FA Cup. 1919 – The club are voted into the Football League, where they have remained since. 1928 – In February, with Coventry struggling near the foot of Division Three South, the club's worst attendance is recorded. Only 2,059 turn up for the match against Crystal Palace. 1932 – Centre-forward Clarrie Bourton heads the Football League scoring lists with 49 goals. The following season he scored 40 goals.
1934 – City record their biggest victory a 9–0 league drubbing of Bristol City. 1936 – Coventry City win the Third Division South championship after a nail-biting final day 2–1 victory over Torquay United and return to Division Two after eleven years in the lower division. 1958 – Goalkeeper Alf Wood becomes the oldest player to start a game for the club, which this year was a founding member of Division Four. He played against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup aged 207 days. 1961 – Former Fulham player and PFA chairman Jimmy Hill is appointed manager following an embarrassing FA Cup defeat at home to non-league King's Lynn. 1964 – Jimmy Hill guides Coventry to promotion from Division Three as champions after a final day 1–0 victory over Colchester United. 1967 – Coventry City promoted as Second Division champions to the top flight for the first time in their history. This made BBC Sport presenter Jimmy Hill a legend at the club. Coventry's record attendance was set in this year – recorded as 51,455, against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the team that finished a close second to Coventry at the top of the table.
1970 – Under Noel Cantwell, Coventry finish 6th in the First Division, their highest League placing. Coventry qualify for the European Fairs Cup but lost 7–3 on aggregate in the second round to Bayern Munich, despite winning the second leg 2–1 at Highfield Road. 1977 – Coventry City escaped relegation after drawing with Bristol City who escaped relegation. The result of this game relegated Sunderland, which caused allegations of match fixing over the outcome of the match due to the result of the Sunderland game being relayed to Coventry City and Bristol City players on the stadium screen before their game had finished. 1978 – The strike partnership of Ian Wallace and Mick Ferguson helped the Sky Blues finish in seventh position in the First Division, their second-highest final league placing, but fractionally missing out on a UEFA Cup place. 1981 – The club reaches the League Cup semi-final but are denied their first Wembley appearance by West Ham United, despite being 3–2 ahead after the first leg.
Highfield Road becomes England's first all-seater stadium. 1987 – The Sky Blues won the FA Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur in the final. It is their only major trophy to date, they were runners-up to Everton in August in the Charity Shield. Coventry won the FA Youth Cup in this year. 1989 – Coventry were defeated by non-league Sutton United in the FA Cup Third Round, only 19 months after lifting the trophy. However, their impressive league for
.jpg)
