New documentary charts Coventry City's rollercoaster return to the Premier League
The 25-year journey of Coventry City, from their relegation from the Premier League in 2001 to the return after winning the Championship title last season, is the subject of a new documentary series.
The six episodes have been produced by BBC CWR’s Chloee French and reporter – and life-long Sky Blues fan – Richard Williams, who spent more than three months speaking to fans, former players and ex-club executives.
“It’s been a labour of love,” Williams said. “It’s brought back events that I’d forgotten.”
Back Where We Belong: 25 years of Sky Blue Heartache and Hope is available to listen on BBC Sounds.
The documentary is broken up into six separate episodes, each covering a chapter in the club’s history including:
- Dropping out of the top flight
- Playing in the old First Division, then League Two
- Playing home games at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium
- The return to the then-Ricoh Arena
- Relocating to Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s
- Administration, the sacking of manager Mark Robins
- The return to the Premier League under Robins’ replacement, former Chelsea, Derby and Everton boss Frank Lampard
Episode one: The Fall
The first part of the documentary covers the club’s relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2000-01 season under manager Gordon Strachan.
Jo Chamberlain was one of the Sky Blues fans at Villa Park on the final game of the season and watched the 3-2 defeat that confirmed relegation.
“It was the day before my 20th birthday,” she said. “We didn’t win enough games that season and I remember it was a few seasons on the bounce where we had relegation battles.
“It felt like the end of the world.”
The episode covers the club’s first season out of the top flight and the confidence fans had of making an instant return to the Premier League.
But the club would go on to end the 2001-02 season in 11th place.
Episode two: Goodbye Highfield Road, Hello Ricoh Dream
The second part of the documentary covers the years when Coventry City, now out of the top flight, moved from their traditional Highfield Road ground, to a purpose-built, 32,500-seat stadium that would become the Ricoh Arena, now named the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The Sky Blues signed off their last game at Highfield Road with a 6-2 win over Derby County.
The Arena was opened in 2005, with Coventry beating Queens Park Rangers.
“Leaving Highfield Road, perfect way. Coming to our new ground, perfect way of doing it,” said life-long fan Jugjit “Juggy” Chima.
“If we’d gone there and lost, the stadium might have been a little bit of a curse. But it didn’t feel like that at the time.”
Episode three: SISU, the decline and division
Part three of Back Where We Belong covers one of the most controversial periods in the history of Coventry City, with London-based hedge fund SISU Capital buying the club, when the Sky Blues were on the verge of going into administration.
However, the club, under its new ownership and managed by first Chris Coleman and then Andy Thorn, failed to climb the table and were eventually relegated to League One, after a 2-0 home loss to Doncaster in April 2012.
Fan James Penny recalled: “I remember talking to my dad and saying, when we went down, ‘this was a different turning point’.
“It’s not going to be an optimistic, we’ll bounce straight back up, because a lot of the core players we had would have left.”
However, for fans who thought the club they love had fallen as far as it could, worse was to come.
Episode four: Exile, Northampton, Wasps and a day trip to Wembley
Episode four starts with the sacking of Thorn, just three games into the League One season in 2012 and the appointment of Mark Robins to his first spell in the Sky Blue hot seat.
Then, almost the unthinkable.
The club signed a three-year deal to play at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium after a dispute over unpaid rent at the Ricoh Arena.
It was eventually resolved and the first game back at the ground saw 27,000 fans welcome the club back to the city, a month after it was revealed the Ricoh would be sold to rugby club Wasps.
Despite the off-field problems, Coventry managed to win the Checkatrade Trophy final under Robins, after he rejoined the club in 2017.
Episode five: Wembley joy, promotion, St Andrews and belief reborn
The relegation from League One to the bottom tier of English football starts episode five, with teams Coventry had not played in decades on the fixture list.
On the pitch, they beat Exeter City 3-1 in the League Two play-off final at Wembley, gaining promotion back to League One.
A further dispute with Wasps led to Coventry moving to Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s ground for the 2019-20 season.
The Sky Blues were top of the League One table when the Covid-19 pandemic began, meaning the season was decided on a points-per-game calculation. They were awarded the title and promoted to the Championship.
The 2020-21 season also saw the Sky Blues return to the Ricoh on a 10-year deal.
But the drama was not over.
Episode six: The rebirth; Doug King, Lampard and the Premier League return
The final episode starts with problems with the pitch at the now-renamed Coventry Building Society Arena (CBS Arena) after the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens in 2022 – and stadium owners Wasps going into administration and eventually liquidation.
Fans also started to get whispers that owners SISU were thinking about selling the club and, in November that year, they did, to Warwickshire-based businessman Doug King, who bought SISU’s remaining stake in January 2023.
The season ended with Coventry losing a penalty shootout in the Championship play-off final at Wembley to Luton Town.
The episode goes on to cover the FA Cup semi-final loss at Wembley to Manchester United and then the sacking of Robins as manager, early in the 2024-25 season after seven years in charge.
He was replaced with former England and Chelsea midfielder Lampard.
In August 2025, the club confirmed it had bought the CBS Arena from Frasers Group.
The documentary ends with Coventry drawing with Blackburn Rovers on the evening of Friday, 17 April 2026 at Ewood Park, to guarantee promotion to the Premier League after a 25-year absence.
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More on this story
- How Lampard’s own revival ended Coventry’s 25-year wait
- In Pictures: Relive Coventry City’s promotion party
- ‘My football banner got so famous, it has its own agent’
