During the 2001–02 English football season,

Coventry City F.C. Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

competed in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

, following relegation from the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

the previous season.

Season summary

Despite the signing of prolific striker

Lee Hughes Lee Hughes (born 22 May 1976) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A strong Forward (association football), striker with excellent finishing abilities, Hughes represented the England national football C team, Engl ...

from local rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, 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 who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

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 Julian Kevin Joachim (born 20 September 1974) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is an advisor at Europa Point in the Gibraltar National League. During his professional career he initially played from 1992 ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

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

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, 8 August, £750,000 *

, 8 August, £5,000,001 *

Youssef Safri Youssef Safri (, born 3 January 1977) is a Moroccan football coach and former player who is the head coach of Qatar Stars League club Qatar SC. Club career Safri started his youth career at Rachad Bernoussi. The following year, he was promoted t ...

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football team, football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football. Founded on 20 M ...

, 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 ...

- unattached (last at

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

), 24 August *

Lee Mills Rowan Lee Mills (born 10 July 1970) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. In a 14-year career, he made 293 appearances in the Football League, scoring 86 goals. He played for numerous clubs and was transferred for some big ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, 1 January, £250,000 *

Paul Trollope Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a football coach and former professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association ...

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

, 22 March, free

Out

* Stephen McPhee - released (later joined

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

on 24 June) *

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is the current Football coach (association football), head ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, 25 June, £6,000,000 *

John Aloisi John Aloisi (; born 5 February 1976) is an Australian former soccer player and current head coach of A-League club Western United. In a professional career that spanned 20 seasons, with league totals of 459 games and 127 goals, he was the first ...

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

, 3 July, £1,200,000 *

Mustapha Hadji Mustapha Hadji (; born 16 November 1971) is a Moroccan football coach and former player. He was named the 50th greatest African player of all time by the African football expert Ed Dove. Early life Hadji was born in Ifrane Atlas-Saghir, Morocc ...

, 6 July, £2,000,000 plus

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 TNT Sports. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his ti ...

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 Foot ...

, 2 August, £6,000,000 *

Chris Kirkland Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English Association football, football coach (association football), coach and former professional Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who is the head goalkeeping coach at Colne F.C., ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, 31 August, £6,000,000 *

Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to: Authors * Paul Williams (Crawdaddy) (1948–2013), American music and science fiction journalist; founder of ''Crawdaddy'' and the Philip K. Dick Society * Paul Williams (Irish journalist) (born 1964), Irish journalis ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, 31 October, free * Paul Telfer -

, 31 October, free *

Carlton Palmer Carlton Lloyd Palmer (born 5 December 1965) is an English football manager, former footballer and football television pundit whose last management role was as manager of Grantham Town. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1984 to 2005, play ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, 6 November, free * Tomas Gustafsson -

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, 4 February, undisclosed *

Lee Carsley Lee Kevin Carsley (born 28 February 1974) is an Irish professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the England national under-21 football team. In a playing career lasting 17 years, Carsley played as a midfielder in t ...

- 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 Association football, footballer. His senior playing career lasted from 1991 until 2001, when he announced his retirement after failing to recover from injury. Career ...

- retired *

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Loan in

, December, one month *

Horacio Carbonari Horacio Angel Carbonari (born 2 May 1974) is an 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 e ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, 22 March, one month *

Colin Healy Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is an Irish Association football, football manager and former player. He was appointed manager of Cork City F.C., Cork City FC in late 2020, and held the post until May 2023. He has been the manager of League of ...

, 29 January, 84 days *

Tim Flowers Timothy David Flowers (born 3 February 1967) is an English football manager and former player who manages Alvechurch. He played as a goalkeeper from 1984 until 2003, notably in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers where he was part of the s ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Loan out

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, 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 an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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