During the 2001–02 English football season,

Coventry City F.C. Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

competed in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, following relegation from the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

the previous season.

Season summary

Despite the signing of prolific striker Lee Hughes from local rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, Coventry City were unable to make a genuine push for an immediate return to the Premier League and finished well away from promotion in 11th place. Manager

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

had been sacked after five games with only one win and Coventry 19th; this heralded the beginning of an eleven-match unbeaten run which saw Coventry top the table with a third of the season gone, but from then three straight losses took them down to ninth. Coventry never regained the form from that unbeaten run, but with seven games left to play they stood fourth and appeared almost certain to gain a playoff place. Unfortunately, Coventry only gained one point from those last seven games and fell down to 11th place.

Final league table

Results

''Coventry City's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

* Julian Joachim -

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, 6 July, part-exchange * Keith O'Neill -

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, 8 August, £750,000 * Lee Hughes -

, 8 August, £5,000,001 *

Youssef Safri Youssef Joshua Safri ( ar, يوسف سفري, born 3 January 1977) is a Moroccan retired footballer who currently is coach for Qatar SC. Club career Safri started his youth career at Rachad Bernoussi. The following year, he was promoted to the s ...

- Raja Casablanca, 11 August, £700,000 *

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Ra ...

- unattached (last at Hamilton Academical), 24 August *

Lee Mills Rowan Lee Mills (born 10 July 1970) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. In a career spanning fourteen years he made 293 appearances in the Football League, scoring 86 goals. He played for numerous clubs and was transferr ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, 1 January, £250,000 *

Paul Trollope Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a football coach and former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is currently joint-assistant manager of Luton Town Born in England, he represents Wales internationally. As a playe ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, 22 March, free

Out

Stephen McPhee Stephen McPhee (born 5 June 1981) is a Scottish former footballer. In a ten-year career he played for clubs in the Netherlands, Scotland, England and Portugal. He was capped for his country at under-21 level. A forward, he scored 56 goals in 2 ...

- released (later joined

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

on 24 June) * Craig Bellamy -

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, 25 June, £6,000,000 * John Aloisi -

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

, 3 July, £1,200,000 * Mustapha Hadji -

, 6 July, £2,000,000 plus Julian Joachim *

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, 2 August, £6,000,000 * Chris Kirkland - Liverpool, 31 August, £6,000,000 *

Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to: Authors * Paul O. Williams (1935–2009), American science-fiction author and poet * Paul L. Williams (author) (born 1944), FBI consultant, journalist * Paul Williams (journalist) (1948–2013), American founder of mu ...

- Southampton, 31 October, free * Paul Telfer - Southampton, 31 October, free * Carlton Palmer - Stockport County, 6 November, free * Tomas Gustafsson - Copenhagen, 4 February, undisclosed *

Lee Carsley Lee Kevin Carsley (born 28 February 1974) is a former professional footballer who is head coach of England U21. In a playing career lasting 17 years, he is best remembered for his spells as a midfielder in the Premier League and Football Leagu ...

- Everton, 8 February, £1,900,000 *

Roland Nilsson Nils Lennart Roland Nilsson (born 27 November 1963) is a Swedish professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. As a player, Nilsson played 116 games for Sweden, making ...

- retired, 8 April *

Steve Froggatt Stephen Junior Froggatt (born 9 March 1973) is an English former professional footballer. His senior playing career lasted from 1991 until 2001, when he announced his retirement after failing to recover from injury. Career Aston Villa Froggatt ...

- retired *

- Oldham Athletic

Loan in

, December, one month *

Horacio Carbonari Horacio Angel Carbonari (born 2 May 1974) is a Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was nicknamed "Bazooka" due to his powerful free-kicks. Career Rosario Central Born in Santa Teresa, a town in the southern en ...

- Derby County, 22 March, one month *

Colin Healy Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is a former midfield footballer from Ireland. He has been manager of Cork City F.C. since late 2020. He started his senior career at Celtic, spending five years with the Scottish club before joining English sid ...

, 29 January, 84 days * Tim Flowers - Leicester City

Loan out

* Carlton Palmer - Sheffield Wednesday, 4 September, 46 daysPalmer originally signed on loan for three months, but the loan was terminated early.

Statistics

Appearances and goals

, - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Goalkeepers , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Defenders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Midfielders , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Forwards , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Players transferred or loaned out during the season , -

References

Coventry City F.C. seasons

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001-02 Coventry City F.C. season