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Timeline 191652025
"Do you ever get the feeling that the truth is less revealing than a downright lie"
- 'Shangri-La', The Rutles
This is an historical of an alternate timeline. For some, the difference between this reality and our own is negligible, for others it is significant. Everything we do changes the course of history: A butterfly flaps it's wings in Sutton Coldfield, and there is an earthquake in Sudan. Some old crone farts in Laos, and a football team are relegated from the Premier League. But there are infinite possible realities, and this is just another one of them...
Our timeline departs from the one we ourselves have travelled at around - ooh, I don't know - around 4:15 PM on May 5th 2001. Coventry are leading 2-0 at Villa Park and need to win to have any chance of survival. Meanwhile relegation rivals Derby County are winning, against all odds at Manchester United. 15 minutes into the second half, Chris Kirkland makes a howling mistake in the goalmouth, and Darius Vassell pokes the ball home for Villa.
...But the whistle has gone for an earlier foul, and it remains 2-0 to the visitors. Villa do pull a goal back through the inevitable 81st minute strike from Juan Pablo Angel, but Cov tighten up, and hold out. Late in the game, Paul Merson hits a screamer from 25 yards - and it goes high and wide. Final Score: Aston Villa 1 Coventry City 2.
Meanwhile, Man Utd leave it late to get themselves off the hook against Derby. Two late goals from Ole Gunar Solskjaer, and a controversial penalty from Beckham see them winning 3-1, after being behind for most of the game. It leaves Derby just two points ahead of Cov, with an inferior goal-difference going into the final game. Middlesbrough have all but mathematically saved themselves with a 1-1 draw at long-relegated Bradford.
There's now a 14 day wait, during which time Man City lose 2-1 at Ipswich Town and are confirmed as the second club to go down. It's a straight fight between us (playing Bradford at home on the final day) and Derby County (home to Ipswich). We have to win, and hope that they either lose or draw. Having seen it all before, the Coventry fans are confident of yet another great escape, against all odds.
May 19th finally comes, and Highfield Road is packed. There is so much congestion that the game kicks off almost 20 minutes late - surely the best omen yet. The first half is awful though, and we are lucky to go in 0-0 at half-time. What's worse, Malcom Christie has put Derby 1-0 up at Pride Park.
But during the half-time interval we hear better news. Early in the second half at Derby, Ipswich equalised through sub Richard Naylor. As our own second half kicked off, we had 45 minutes to win or die. On 51 minutes, John Hartson headed a Lee Carsley free-kick just over the bar, but the whistle went, and the kick had to be taken again. This time David Thompson took a direct shot on goal, and it curled in, to give us a 1-0 lead.
The minutes dragged by like years, with Bradford putting up a brave fight, determined to take us down with them. Malicious rumours in the crowd that Derby were winning again proved to be untrue. Then things got a whole lot better when Ysrael Zuniga was bundled over in the area. Carsley coolly slotted home the penalty to put us 2-0 up.
Finally we heard that the Derby-Ipswich game had finished 1-1, and that we would be safe, provided we could just hang on for the last few minutes. As it was, Hartson grabbed two late goals, and we won comfortably in the end. Fans stormed the pitch at the final whistle, CCFC had done it again, and the party was to last well into the night.
Winning the last two games, to stay up on goal difference with 39 points - so what. It was what most of us were expecting, after all. A typical Sky Blue survival scenario. But rebuilding had to be done in the summer. Gordon Strachan appeared across the media saying that this was 'too close for comfort', while others announced serious plans for an investigation into possible anti-Cov conspiracies.
In a grim aftermath, several suspicious gangland style murders occurred in the far-east, suggesting that a betting syndicate's plan for our relegation had gone wrong. The good guys had won, but at a price.
There was much rebuilding to be done throughout the summer, as City prepared for a 35th season in the top flight. City unveiled new signings in Finidi George, Youssef Safri, Hassan Kachloul, Horacio Carbonari and Keith O'Neill, but Magnus Hedman was sold to Everton, and Ivan Guererro, Marc Edworthy, Richard Shaw, Stephen McPhee and John Aloisi all departed in the summer.
On the whole there was a feeling that, having survived this time, the team would be able to mount a serious top half challenge in 2001-2. In pre-season, the Hartson-Bellamy strikeforce looked very impressive, while Roland Nilsson decided to come out of retirement to boost the back four.
On the opening day of the current season, Hartson and Bellamy grabbed a goal each as we beat new boys Blackburn 2-0, and we followed this up with a 1-0 win away at Ipswich, courtesy of new signing Finidi George's stunning goal. Our third game was at Fulham where we claimed a goalless draw, and the subsequent 4-0 thrashing of West Ham at Highfield Road (Bellamy hat-trick) saw us go top of the Premiership with ten points.
Meanwhile, Derby struggled to adjust to life in Division One, and Jim Smith was sacked in early September after a home defeat to Grimsby Town.