Blast From The Past 2005 : Highfield Road Goodies Go Under The Hammer

The late Tony ‘Banger’ Walsh with his Highfield Road dugout

Thanks to CCFC historian Steve Phelps for reminding us of what for most Sky Blues fans was a sad day in its history – the dismantling of the fabric of the club’s home since 1899! The memory above is excerpted from his book ‘Coventry City On This Day’ (Pitch Publishing 2010) which points up lots of interesting Sky Blue anniversaries*.

Highfield Rd 2000

On this day (3rd July) in 2005 much of the fixtures and fittings beloved of Sky Blue fans in their memories of the club’s much missed home were auctioned off prior to the destruction of the ground (to be turned into a housing estate) and CCFC’s removal to a brand new state of the art stadium, the Ricoh Arena (which, as we all know, has since been a ‘home’ in various degrees of comfort, security and sense of belonging with the exception of two periods of exile in Northampton and St Andrews Birmingham and now the club is firmly rooted at the CBS Arena 

Highfield Road (from S-E) 1939-45

Many members of the Sky Blue Army might consider this is where things started to go wrong for the club, precipitating a decline in CCFC’s financial stability and both playing quality and performance (certainly until the current resurgence under manager Mark Robins). We will never know for sure.

Highfield Road pitchside March 2010

At least some fans still have permanent and cherished mementos of the ground abandoned now not far off twenty years ago. At least the club seem to be on an upward trajectory at last and all Sky Blue fans are looking for another cracking season like the last one

Highfield Rd 1912

*Steve’s latest work on the Sky Blues about the 1980-81 squad ’29 Minutes From Wembley’ was published by Pitch Publishing in 2017 and all his CCFC books are available online and from all good bookshops.

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young & Dean Nelson for sourcing the photos