Formed by employees of Singers bicycle factory on August 13th 1883 by Willie Stanley, They played in the Brimingham League winning the Junior Cup in 1891 and 1982.
In order to tie the club to the City of Coventry, Singers changed their name to Coventry City FC in 1898 and were donated land by Lord Kenilworth on the Eastern edge of Coventry to build a ground. The club moved into Highfield Road in 1899 after spells at Dowells Field and Stoke Road.
City were elected to the Southern League in 1908 and progressed to the Football League in 1919. However, it was not a good time for the Sky Blues and relegation struggles were commonplace. in 1920, City were accused of rigging a match at Bury in order to preserve their football league status after the season had started with City not winning a game until Christmas Day.
By the 1930's, City were on the up and won promotion twice to get back to Division Two, thanks to the managerial talent of Harry Storer and the goals of Clarrie Bourton who banged in 49 goals in 1932.
They missed promotion by one point to Division One in the season before the Second World War. Due to Coventry's importance in the manufacturing world, the City was bombed heavily during November 1940 and not many matches were played until peace was declared in 1945.
The Bantams as they were known were relegated to the Division Three South in 1952 and dropped into Division Four in 1958. However, all they needed was one season in the basement division before marching back up the Football League.
Things were certainly swinging in the 1960's when City Chairman Derrick Robins brought Jimmy Hill to the club as manager. Both men revolutionised the club, changing the nickname to the Sky Blues and bringing in a number of iniatives for supporters.
Promotion to Division Two came in 1964 in a season that saw a FA Cup run to the Quarter-Finals only to lose to Manchester United.
In 1967, A record crowd of 51,445 turned out for against Wolves at Highfield Road (although 65,000 was probably near the mark) as City finished the season promoted to the top flight.
Jimmy Hill having achieved his ambition promptly left and City, with Noel Cantwell in charge, struggled in their first season in the top flight and were only saved by Manchester United beating Leicester City in the final game.
The next season was a vast improvement and the Sky Blues qualified for what is now the UEFA Cup. Bulgarians Trakia Plovdiv were eliminated in the first round to give City a plum tie against Bayern Munich.The game in Germany was a nightmare with City losing 6-1. Although,they beat Bayern 2-1 at Highfield Road, Coventry's European adventure was over and has not been repeated since.
Jimmy Hill returned to the club as Chairman but made the dreadful mistake of deciding that all seater stadia was the way forward and crowds plummeted.
With City always scraping enough points to ensure first division survival, the supporters also wanted some silverware and on May 16 1987 they got it. Having got past Bolton, Manchester United, Stoke, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday. City arrived at Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite being under-dogs, City managed by former Sky Blues George Curtis and John Sillett, stuck to their cause and emerged as winners after a 3-2 extra time victory with goals from Dave Bennett, a legendary header from Keith Houchen and an own goal from Gary Mabbutt.
250,000 people celebrated the win and 58,000 travelled to Wembley in August for the Charity Shield. This time,they were not so lucky and a Wayne Clark goal gave Everton a 1-0 win.
John Sillett did well to keep City in mid table for three seasons but following FA Cup defeats at Sutton United and Northampton Town, he was sacked and replaced by Terry Butcher.
The Ipswich legend did not last long and Don Howe and then Bobby Gould for his second spell took over as the club competed in the Premiership for the first time. Making them the only club to have played in all the Football League and Premiership divisions.
Coventry kid Gould lasted a season and two months before quitting following a 5-1 defeat at QPR. His assistant Phil Neal took over before Chairman Bryan Richardson brought in Ron Atkinson.
Large funds were made available to the flamboyant boss but no success was forthcoming and he was forced out of the club by local MP Geoffrey Robinson who went on to become the the club's major shareholder.
Gordon Strachan replaced Atkinson and pulled off a master stroke in 1997 when City won at Spurs to send Middlesbrough and Sunderland down in another great escape.
The Scot continued to take charge but in May 2001, his team were relegated at local rivals Aston Villa.
Strachan lasted until September and then with the club in debt of £60m and accusations of wrong doings flying around, Richardson was ousted.
Mike McGinnity who ran the highly influential PEL PLC seat manufacturing company took over and was forced to make many cuts in order to keep the club afloat.
City have remained a Championship side ever since and moved into the 32,000 Ricoh Arena on August 20th 2005 with the first league game against Queens Park Rangers.
Micky Adams with the help of the influential Dennis Wise got City to eighth place in the league but he was sacked in January 2007 with the team struggling again.
Iain Dowie and City supporter Tim Flowers took over and kept the team in the Championship for another season.
However, the club were in dire financial trouble. Chairman Geoffrey Robinson quit and Coventrian businessman and long standing City supporter Joe Elliott managed to save the club from twice going into administration or liquidation.
The second time, City were saved by former Manchester City,Birmingham and Newcastle defender Ray Ranson and the SISU Equity Fund, who rejigged some of City's debts and had others erased.
Iain Dowie was not the man for Mr Ranson and his departure in January 2008 saw former Fulham boss Chris Coleman come to the club.
City had started the season top but tumbled down the table and were only saved from relegation by a post and some superb keeping by Carlo Nash at Stoke which condemned local rivals Leicester City to League One.
A number of new players including Welsh international Freddie Eastwood and Clinton Morrison were brought in as the rebuidling process got underway.
Season 08/09 saw a run in the FA Cup which took the Sky Blues to a sixth round tie with Chelsea. That 2-0 defeat was watched by a record crowd at the Ricoh Arena of 31,407 whilst City topped the table early on before fading away and finishing in 17th place.