[5] Singers turned professional in 1892 and joined the Birmingham & District League in 1894, competing against strong reserve sides from established regional teams such as Aston Villa.

[15] The club became a limited company in July 1907 and the team was more successful the following season, reaching the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time before being eliminated by Crystal Palace.

[39] In 1937–38 they met with Midlands rivals Aston Villa the first time in league football, securing with a win and a draw in the two meetings as well as a higher-placed finish than the Birmingham club.

[41] Many supporters at the time blamed the war for robbing the team of a probable imminent promotion to the First Division, although several top players including Bourton had been sold by 1939, and attendances had begun to fall.

New manager Dick Bayliss assembled a squad with a mixture of pre-war players and newcomers,[41] but his tenure was cut short when he died after being stranded in a snow storm in 1947.

[56] Coventry's record attendance was set in 1967, against fellow title-chasers Wolverhampton Wanderers; the official gate was 51,455 although the club estimated that the figure was higher.

[61] A relegation battle followed in 1976–77, which culminated in a controversial 2–2 draw with Bristol City that saw both sides survive at the expense of Sunderland, playing out the final minutes without any attempt to score further goals.

[65][66] He initiated several transformations at the club, including the conversion of Highfield Road to England's first all-seat stadium in 1981,[67][68] and the opening of a sports centre and training ground in Ryton-on-Dunsmore.

[70] In a match later described by Steven Pye of The Guardian' as a "classic final", Coventry beat Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 at Wembley which, as of 2024[update], is the club's only major trophy to date.

[78][79] With Ron Atkinson and then Gordon Strachan as manager, Coventry signed several high-profile players such as Dion Dublin, Moustapha Hadji, Peter Ndlovu and Robbie Keane, but did not finish higher than 11th place for the remainder of their Premier League tenure.

[80][81] In 1997, Richardson revealed the initial proposals for a new stadium in the north of Coventry, at the time envisaged as having 40,000 seats and included in England's unsuccessful bid for the 2006 World Cup.

[86] The new stadium opened in 2005, having been reduced in size and delayed several times;[87][88] the club had previously sold its 50% share to the Alan Higgs charity to repay debts.

[90][91] Led by chairman Ray Ranson, Coventry signed several promising youngsters in the early Sisu years, but they failed to achieve on-field success.

[102][101] They were exiled from the Ricoh Arena again from 2019 to 2021, playing their home games at St Andrew's in Birmingham, amid ongoing legal action by Sisu over the 2014 purchase of the stadium by rugby club Wasps, which concluded only in 2022 when the European Commission declined to hear an appeal.

[105] Coventry finished fifth in the Championship and then progressed to the play-off final at Wembley, missing out on promotion to the Premier League in a penalty shoot-out defeat against Luton Town.

Unlike Dowells Field, Stoke Ground was fully enclosed by hedges and trees and featured a small stand and entrances close to the White Lion and Binley Oak pubs.

[7] Singers' biggest rivals during the Stoke Road years were the Rudge Cycle Company team, with games between the two clubs attracted crowds as high as 4,000 by the end of the 1880s.

[126] The first game at the ground was a 1–0 win against Stoke City with an attendance of 3,000, but the club went on to finish bottom of the Birmingham & District League in the opening season.

The stadium hosted its last league game in a 6–2 Coventry win over Derby County in 2005 and was subsequently demolished to make way for a new housing development.

[137] Backed by a 50% stake from Coventry City Council, the stadium gained planning permission in 1998,[84] and in 2000 was included in England's bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

[140] After several delays, decontamination work on the site, and reductions in the scope of the project, the stadium hosted its first game in 2005 when Coventry defeated Queen's Park Rangers 3–0.

[146][147] In 2012, the club defaulted on its rent amid a dispute with the stadium's owners, Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) - a company owned jointly by the city council and the Higgs charity.

[148][149] The move was met with strong opposition and protests by Coventry fans, many of whom boycotted games at the stadium, gathering instead on an area close to Sixfields which they dubbed "Jimmy's Hill".

Around 50 former stars of the club attended the launch including Coventry City legends George Hudson, Cyrille Regis, Charlie Timmins and Bill Glazier.

The 2009 event, held at the home game against Doncaster Rovers was attended by 43 former players including the first visit to Coventry for many years of Roy Barry and Dave Clements.

[159] It quickly became popular with supporters during the epic FA Cup run in 1963 when the then Third Division team reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup before losing to eventual winners Manchester United:[160] Original Words: Let's all sing together Play up, Sky Blues While we sing together We will never lose Proud, Posh or Cobblers Oysters or anyone They shan't defeat us We'll fight till the game is won!

[163] The actor Graeme Hawley who is best known for playing the role of John Stape in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street is a season ticket holder at the club.

Malcolm In The Middle actor Frankie Muniz is reportedly a Coventry City fan, apparently owing to a producer he made friends with on the set of the film Agent Cody Banks 2.

A local rivalry also exists with Birmingham City, however the ground share agreement at St Andrew's between 2019 and 2021 – which effectively spared Coventry from being expelled from the EFL – has led to friendlier relations between the two clubs’ supporters.

Some Sunderland fans have held a grudge, believing that then-Coventry chairman Jimmy Hill used his influence to delay the game and give his side an advantage, and there has been some rivalry more recently as the two clubs competed for promotion from League One together in 2018–19 and 2019–20.