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.

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, the first time they won an away league game in 16 months. However, after 34 years and 10 close shaves with relegation, their luck finally ran out and they were relegated from the top flight (the first time the club had suffered relegation for 43 years since they were relegated to the Old Division Four in 1958).^[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]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	24	8	6	79	31	+48	80	2001–02 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Arsenal	38	20	10	8	63	38	+25	70
3	Liverpool	38	20	9	9	71	39	+32	69	2001–02 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round ^1
4	Leeds United	38	20	8	10	64	43	+21	68	2001–02 UEFA Cup First round ^1
5	Ipswich Town	38	20	6	12	57	42	+15	66
6	Chelsea	38	17	10	11	68	45	+23	61
7	Sunderland	38	15	12	11	46	41	+5	57
8	Aston Villa	38	13	15	10	46	43	+3	54	2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round
9	Charlton Athletic	38	14	10	14	50	57	−7	52
10	Southampton	38	14	10	14	40	48	−8	52
11	Newcastle United	38	14	9	15	44	50	−6	51	2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round
12	Tottenham Hotspur	38	13	10	15	47	54	−7	49
13	Leicester City	38	14	6	18	39	51	−12	48
14	Middlesbrough	38	9	15	14	44	44	0	42
15	West Ham United	38	10	12	16	45	50	−5	42
16	Everton	38	11	9	18	45	59	−14	42
17	Derby County	38	10	12	16	37	59	−22	42
18	Manchester City (R)	38	8	10	20	41	65	−24	34	Relegation to 2001–02 Football League First Division
19	Coventry City (R)	38	8	10	20	36	63	−27	34
20	Bradford City (R)	38	5	11	22	30	70	−40	26

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Since Liverpool qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners went to Ipswich Town, and as Liverpool also won the League Cup that place went to Chelsea.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	8	10	20	36	63	−27	34	4	7	8	14	23	−9	4	3	12	22	40	−18

Source: 2000-01 FA Premier League table

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	W	L	D	L	L	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	W	L	D	W	D	D	L	L	L	L	D	D	D	L	W	W	L	W	L	L	L	D
Position	17	11	4	9	9	12	17	16	13	15	16	17	17	17	17	18	17	18	18	18	17	17	18	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	18	19	18	18	19	19	19

Source: 11v11.com: 2000-01 Coventry City results
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Results

Coventry City's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 2000	Middlesbrough	H	1-3	20,624	Eustace
23 August 2000	Southampton	A	2-1	14,801	Bellamy (pen), Roussel
26 August 2000	Manchester City	A	2-1	34,140	Edghill (own goal), Bellamy
6 September 2000	Newcastle United	H	0-2	22,109
9 September 2000	Leeds United	H	0-0	20,377
16 September 2000	Arsenal	A	1-2	37,794	Hadji
23 September 2000	West Ham United	H	0-3	21,020
30 September 2000	Charlton Athletic	A	2-2	20,043	Aloisi, Bellamy (pen)
14 October 2000	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2-1	21,435	Aloisi, Eustace
21 October 2000	Chelsea	A	1-6	34,646	Roussel
28 October 2000	Sunderland	A	0-1	44,526
4 November 2000	Manchester United	H	1-2	21,079	Zúñiga
12 November 2000	Liverpool	A	1-4	43,701	Thompson
20 November 2000	Ipswich Town	H	0-1	19,324
25 November 2000	Aston Villa	H	1-1	21,464	Hadji
2 December 2000	Bradford City	A	1-2	15,523	Aloisi
10 December 2000	Leicester City	H	1-0	17,283	Bellamy
16 December 2000	Derby County	A	0-1	27,869
22 December 2000	Southampton	H	1-1	18,090	Thompson
26 December 2000	Everton	A	2-1	35,704	Hadji, Breen
30 December 2000	Middlesbrough	A	1-1	30,499	Whelan (own goal)
1 January 2001	Manchester City	H	1-1	21,999	Edworthy
13 January 2001	Newcastle United	A	1-3	50,159	Thompson
20 January 2001	Everton	H	1-3	19,174	Carsley (pen)
31 January 2001	Leeds United	A	0-1	36,555
3 February 2001	Arsenal	H	0-1	22,035
12 February 2001	West Ham United	A	1-1	22,586	Dailly (own goal)
24 February 2001	Charlton Athletic	H	2-2	19,480	Bellamy, Hartson
3 March 2001	Chelsea	H	0-0	21,609
17 March 2001	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0-3	35,606
31 March 2001	Derby County	H	2-0	19,654	Hadji, Hartson
7 April 2001	Leicester City	A	3-1	19,545	Bellamy, Carsley, Hartson
14 April 2001	Manchester United	A	2-4	67,637	Hartson (2)
16 April 2001	Sunderland	H	1-0	20,946	Hartson
21 April 2001	Ipswich Town	A	0-2	24,612
28 April 2001	Liverpool	H	0-2	23,063
5 May 2001	Aston Villa	A	2-3	39,761	Hadji (2)
19 May 2001	Bradford City	H	0-0	20,299

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	6 January 2001	Swindon Town	A	2-0	14,445	Bellamy, Hadji
R4	27 January 2001	Manchester City	A	0-1	24,637

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	19 September 2000	Preston North End	A	3-1	10,770	Zúñiga, Hall, Strachan (pen)
R2 2nd Leg	27 September 2000	Preston North End	H	4-1 (won 7-2 on agg)	7,425	Aloisi (3, 1 pen), Eustace
R3	1 November 2000	Southampton	A	1-0	11,809	Eustace
R4	28 November 2000	Ipswich Town	A	1-2	19,563	Bellamy (pen)

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. Position Player 1 GK Magnus Hedman 2 DF Marc Edworthy 3 MF Steve Froggatt 4 DF Paul Williams 5 FW John Hartson 6 DF Richard Shaw 7 MF David Thompson 8 MF Youssef Chippo 10 MF Mustapha Hadji 11 FW Ysrael Zúñiga 12 DF Paul Telfer 13 GK Chris Kirkland 14 MF Carlton Palmer 15 MF John Eustace 16 FW John Aloisi

No. Position Player 17 DF Gary Breen[6] 18 FW Craig Bellamy 19 MF Iván Guerrero 21 MF Gavin Strachan 22 DF Barry Quinn 24 DF Marcus Hall 25 MF Barry Ferguson 26 DF Muhamed Konjić 27 FW Steven McPhee 28 FW Jay Bothroyd 32 MF Lee Carsley[7] 34 GK Alan Miller (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) 41 DF Calum Davenport 42 MF 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. Position Player 5 DF Colin Hendry (to Bolton Wanderers) 9 FW Cédric Roussel (to Wolverhampton Wanderers)

No. Position Player 32 MF Daire Doyle (to Kidderminster Harriers) 42 MF 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. Position Player 20 MF Tomas Gustafsson 23 GK Morten Hyldgaard 29 FW Runar Normann 30 MF Laurent Delorge 31 FW Jairo Martínez 33 FW Gary McSheffrey 35 MF Craig Pead 36 MF Lee Fowler

No. Position Player 37 MF Craig Strachan 38 DF Thomas Cudworth 39 DF Richard Spong 40 MF Gary McPhee 50 GK Per Fahlman GK Gary Montgomery DF David Pipe MF Chris Barnett MF Daire Doyle MF Andreas Dahl MF Martin Grant MF Mark Magennis

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee	Notes
12 July 2000	FW	Jay Bothroyd	Arsenal	£1,000,000	[8]
2 August 2000	MF	David Thompson	Liverpool	£2,500,000	[9]
16 August 2000	FW	Craig Bellamy	Norwich City	£6,500,000	[10]
6 September 2000	FW	Jairo Martínez	Motagua	Signed	[11]
19 October 2000	MF	Iván Guerrero	Motagua	Signed
1 December 2000	MF	Lee Carsley	Blackburn Rovers	£2,500,000	[12]
22 December 2000	MF	Andreas Dahl	IFK Hässleholm	£300,000
8 February 2001	FW	John Hartson	Wimbledon	Signed	[13]

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	[14]
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	[15]
31 July 2000	FW	Noel Whelan	Middlesbrough	£2,000,000	[16]
12 January 2001	MF	Daire Doyle	Kidderminster Harriers	Free transfer
13 February 2001	DF	Colin Hendry	Bolton Wanderers	£250,000	[17]
15 February 2001	FW	Cédric Roussel	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£1,500,000	[18]

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

References

1. "Coventry relegated at Villa". BBC Sport. 5 May 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
2. "Coventry seal Hughes deal". BBC Sport. 8 August 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
3. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/coventry-city/2000-2001/results
4. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2000-2001/faprem/coventry.htm
5. http://www.11v11.com/teams/coventry-city/tab/players/season/2001
6. Breen was born in Hendon, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for Ireland in June 1996.
7. Carsley was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his grandmother and made his international debut for Ireland in 1997.
8. "Bothroyd hits out at Arsenal". BBC Sport. 12 July 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
9. "Coventry sign £2.5m Thompson". BBC Sport. 2 August 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
10. "Coventry hail Bellamy coup". The Guardian. 17 August 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
11. "Sky Blues sign second Honduran". BBC Sport. 6 September 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
12. "Persistent Coventry land Carsley". BBC Sport. 1 December 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
13. "Coventry complete Hartson deal". BBC Sport. 8 February 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
14. "McAllister confirms Reds move". BBC News. 25 May 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
15. "Keane in £13m Inter switch". BBC Sport. 30 July 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
16. "Robson's Whelan deal". BBC Sport. 31 July 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
17. "Hendry completes Bolton move". BBC Sport. 13 February 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
18. "Roussel completes Wolves switch". BBC Sport. 15 February 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2015.