sportbilly
New Member
Hi all,
First post in the forum, hello everyone.
Have been a CCFC fan for around 35 years and in today's turbulent times it's sometimes hard to remember that we were once one of the most innovative clubs around as this article about Highfield Road in last Sunday's Express explains.
"IT can seem the fate of the old football ground to become a modern housing development.
Coventry’s Highfield Road has been transformed into townhouses... but then it always was a trendsetter.
A statue of Jimmy Hill, Coventry’s pioneering former manager and chairman, stands outside the Ricoh Arena but Highfield Road was the stadium where the former inside right’s ideas were put into practice. Some were brilliant, some not, but most were ahead of their time.
Long before most clubs had thought of executive facilities, Highfield Road boasted a restaurant in the 1960s. It was an early adopter of the electronic scoreboard, the colour programme and the plastic seat, trying to consign its wooden counterpart to the past.
Then in 1981, after Hill’s successful spell as manager had ended and he had returned to the board, it became the first all-seater ground in English football. In this, as in much else, Hill was ahead of his time.
Although the playing surface was hit three times during the Blitz, Coventry stayed there until 2005.
Two years later, as gates dropped during a recession that hit Coventry harder than most and as hooligans ripped up seats to use them as missiles, standing had to be reintroduced.
Originally a cricket pitch, Highfield Road could often resemble one by the end of the football season, so brown was the turf in the centre circle. The football club moved in in 1899, originally named after a cycle firm, Singer.
Although the playing surface was hit three times during the Blitz, Coventry stayed there until 2005.
A record crowd of 51,455 was attracted for the 1967 match with Wolves as Coventry were promoted to the old Division One for the first time.
It was a top-flight ground for 34 years, until City’s relegation from the Premier League in 2001.
By then, only Highbury, Goodison Park and Anfield had staged top-level football for more successive seasons.
But Coventry were planning for a future elsewhere. Highfield Road bowed out in spectacular fashion, Coventry thrashing Derby 6-2 on an afternoon that included the ever-eccentric Hill appearing on the pitch and leading the fans in a final rendition of the Sky Blue Song.
But by then, Coventry’s age-old home, around a mile from the city centre, was no longer progressive.
It offered little parking, with no potential to expand or increase the club’s corporate revenue.
Unlike its predecessor, the Ricoh Arena may be convenient for the M6 but not for Coventry itself... another modern trend."
First post in the forum, hello everyone.
Have been a CCFC fan for around 35 years and in today's turbulent times it's sometimes hard to remember that we were once one of the most innovative clubs around as this article about Highfield Road in last Sunday's Express explains.
"IT can seem the fate of the old football ground to become a modern housing development.
Coventry’s Highfield Road has been transformed into townhouses... but then it always was a trendsetter.
A statue of Jimmy Hill, Coventry’s pioneering former manager and chairman, stands outside the Ricoh Arena but Highfield Road was the stadium where the former inside right’s ideas were put into practice. Some were brilliant, some not, but most were ahead of their time.
Long before most clubs had thought of executive facilities, Highfield Road boasted a restaurant in the 1960s. It was an early adopter of the electronic scoreboard, the colour programme and the plastic seat, trying to consign its wooden counterpart to the past.
Then in 1981, after Hill’s successful spell as manager had ended and he had returned to the board, it became the first all-seater ground in English football. In this, as in much else, Hill was ahead of his time.
Although the playing surface was hit three times during the Blitz, Coventry stayed there until 2005.
Two years later, as gates dropped during a recession that hit Coventry harder than most and as hooligans ripped up seats to use them as missiles, standing had to be reintroduced.
Originally a cricket pitch, Highfield Road could often resemble one by the end of the football season, so brown was the turf in the centre circle. The football club moved in in 1899, originally named after a cycle firm, Singer.
Although the playing surface was hit three times during the Blitz, Coventry stayed there until 2005.
A record crowd of 51,455 was attracted for the 1967 match with Wolves as Coventry were promoted to the old Division One for the first time.
It was a top-flight ground for 34 years, until City’s relegation from the Premier League in 2001.
By then, only Highbury, Goodison Park and Anfield had staged top-level football for more successive seasons.
But Coventry were planning for a future elsewhere. Highfield Road bowed out in spectacular fashion, Coventry thrashing Derby 6-2 on an afternoon that included the ever-eccentric Hill appearing on the pitch and leading the fans in a final rendition of the Sky Blue Song.
But by then, Coventry’s age-old home, around a mile from the city centre, was no longer progressive.
It offered little parking, with no potential to expand or increase the club’s corporate revenue.
Unlike its predecessor, the Ricoh Arena may be convenient for the M6 but not for Coventry itself... another modern trend."
