Highfield Road

Highfield Road demolition 2006

Too sad to look at Midland I wish we were back there - it's never been the same for me since we went to the Ricoh. My dad never saw Highfield Road go - we had the same seats for years in Block M in the Main Stand. I actually drove around the housing estate that's now on the Highfield Road pitch earlier this year as I was passing by, very surreal experience. Not even a mention of the ground.

I think there are many fans who wished we had never left Highfield Road, not been the same since we moved to the Ricoh. I think we can look forward to games on Whitley Common the way things have been going lately

Just before my wife and I got married in August 73, we were in Far Gosford Street one Saturday afternoon, looking at furniture. We realised the shops were closing, and being boarded up, or grilles put over windows. The manager of the furniture shop were looking in called us inside "Football's coming out!" He locked us in and barred the door. A few minutes later a rampaging mob came down the street, partly surrounded by mounted police, and a running battle progressed down towards town. Not a nice experience.

On the other side of this I know someone who is a massive West Ham fan who told me Coventry is the only place they've ever left the town centre pubs for, for the comparative 'safety' of a police cordon escort!!! It's really is such a shame - with the cover that went over the Kop the ground really felt complete. It was a great little stadium. I do recall being caught up in an 80's brawl under the West End, being part of a mass ejected group from the Kop for no fault at all, eating those pies from the shop in the top corner of the Kop and having to run in fear through Primrose Hill Park - great days!

Someone I know visited the ground around that time with a group of friends travelling by car. In one of the streets neighbouring the ground they witnessed a young lad being chased by a mob and running for his life. The passengers opened the car door and told him to jump in and then drove off with the lad inside. They were pretty certain he would have been murdered if they hadn't!

I am trying to find out some information about the land in which Highfield Road football stadium sat. Some say the land was gifted to the people of Coventry by Lord Kenilworth, however I read somewhere that it was purchased by the football from Mercers, who owned the jazz club opposite. Does anyone know?

I was in Coventry yesterday and took the opportunity of visiting the site of the Highfield Road ground, a place which holds so many memories for me. It isn't quite true that there isn't mention of the stadium. In the centre of the green area, roughly where the centre circle was, there is a circular metal monument about 4 feet tall. It is truly horrible! On one side it mentions a few dates, such as when it became a ground in 1898, the Jimmy Hill era from 1961, the Cup win in 1987, and when it closed. It is quite difficult to read because of its surface. Around the edge are a few emblems, including a penny farthing bicycle, a vintage car, and a sewing machine! Whoever made this monstrosity really didn't have a clue about Highfield Road, Singers or Coventry City. What a sewing machine has to do with it is anybody's guess. This ridiculous item should be removed forthwith and a monument commissioned which actually does justice to Highfield Road and what it meant to the people of Coventry for over a century.

Coventry City changed their name from Singers FC to Coventry City FC in 1899

The club changed its name in 1898 and moved from Stoke Road to the adjoining site, which became known as Highfield Road, soon after. I am aware of all that and feel the site of the old ground should be properly commemorated. So why should such a monument, aside from the fact that it looks terrible, include sewing machines on it? What possible relevance do they have?

Looks like whoever designed this "monument" got confused over cars (Singers FC being formed by the workers of the car company) and sewing machines of the same name!

That's right, except that it was the Singer cycle factory at that time. Singer sewing machines aren't even British, let alone from Coventry. The monument does also depict penny-farthings, although I'm not sure Singer made them. And cars which look nothing like a Singer either. It really is an abysmally researched project which has produced an inaccurate and extremely ugly end product. The sooner it goes, the better!

What's the betting they got the monument designed and made in China to save money!? I don't think "Ordinaries" (penny farthings) were ever made in Coventry, were they? Starley built a "high-wheeler", but that wasn't the same thing, as I understand it. I think most penny farthings were made in the USA, and some on the Continent, but few here. More to the point, I guess, is that penny farthings are seen as an icon of Victorian cycling and the Victorian era generally. But in reality they were a short-lived phenomenon.

As this topic was morphing into something different, albeit just as interesting, I've begun a new topic and moved the relevant posts across. The Starleys and the Bicycle

Just to revive this - found this today to bring back the memories. A panoramic camera on the pitch! Play Up Sky Blues!