Coventry City Shirt History
In 1961, Jimmy Hill arrived as the Coventry City manager and it sparked a club revolution as a new sky-blue home shirt was revealed. Let’s go on a journey through their kit manufacturing and sponsorship history.
Coventry City Shirt History - Downloadable Checklist
Coventry City Kit Manufacturing History
2019 – present – Hummel
Going through the jerseys that have been produced during this partnership, Hummel have definitely ceased the opportunity to capture supporters’ hearts by producing shirts containing elements of some Coventry classics. For example, Hummel’s first home top of this era, which is a contrasting white and sky-blue gradient, is a nod to their infamous FA Cup winning strip from 1987. Another example came in the following campaign, where a distinctive pattern used during the clubs first two years in the Premier League (1992-1994) held a section of the shirt. Finally, in 2022/23, there was a return of a design that those who follow the club call the Admiral tramlines.
Some of the alternate jerseys can take you back even further than the Coventry City days, with kits coming in 2020/21 and 2021/22 both taking inspiration from when the club were known as Singers FC. The reason that they originally had this name was because they were founded by a man named Willie Stanley, who was an employee of a local cycle firm named Singers. The 2021/22 edition takes the reminiscence one step further than the 2020/21 version by using blue and pink – the colours often used by the club back in its Singers days due it being the businesses corporate colours Furthermore, there were other alternate kits that, like many of the home tops, paid tribute to more recent times, with a purple away top being worn throughout 2022/23 and a blue and red chequered number being used throughout 2023/24 – both inspired by the 90’s.
Despite the throwback attempts, Hummel did try to put their own unique stamp on things too. A perfect example of this is the 2020/21 third jersey, which is inspired by Coventry’s award-winning efforts of being crowned the UK City of Culture. Inside of it, there are photos of Coventry legends. Yet another example is the 2022/23 third strip, which is uniquely styled after Coventry cathedral.
2015 – 2019 – Nike
This was a pretty basic period for Coventry jerseys, with a majority of the designs being based off pre-made Nike concepts. Although, despite the basicness, it wasn’t without its controversy, with a number of Coventry associates voicing their discontent about the lack of sky-blue on the 2016/17 home strip – due to the gradient concept, white was more prominent than usual.
Nike’s attempts to make amends for this error saw a complete sky-blue home top released for the following season – a year which the Sky-Blues earnt promotion to League One via the Play Off Final. It wasn’t the all sky-blue look which they donned at Wembley though, with a vertically striped white and blue jersey being especially released for that day. Coolly, supporters had the chance to buy it with commemorative stitching to mark the occasion.
2006 – 2015 – Puma
Puma got off to a sound start with home shirts with a tonally striped sky-blue strip, which included a couple of stylish navy touches to top it off, being released in the first campaign. However, the next one which was majorly of note, although you could make a case for the 2010/11 version which incorporated white horizontal pinstripes, came a few seasons later in 2011/12 – the use of an old club crest from the 1960’s particularly pleased supporters.
On their travels, one of the most impressive tops came in 2008/09 – even though it was minimal, it had a classy feel to it given it combined black and gold. Another cool look, which was also a nod to their past, is the black and green vertically striped top worn in the aforementioned 2010/11 season. The final puma away top was a little different, as the ‘grandad collared’ design had an all-white crest, barring a couple of navy touches.
The German brand also had the honours of marking a couple of Coventry City landmarks and the first came in 2008/09. To recognise the clubs 125th anniversary, a chocolate coloured jersey was used for one game against Watford, where Coventry came away as 3-2 winners- only 1,125 were made available for fans to purchase. Another came in 2011/12 and it commemorated the 25th anniversary since they won the FA Cup for the first and, as of April 2024, only time. The latter top had a cool stitched in feature towards its lower trim reading the date of the game and the score.
2004 – 2006 – Kit@
Kit@’s second batch of Coventry shirts have a historic feel to them, given that the home strip had commemorative stitching to signify their controversial departure from Highfield Road – the stadium which was their home since 1899. It is a talking point for another time, but their move to the Ricoh Arena wasn’t warmly received by all.
1999 – 2004 – In House
Fan of a central crest jersey? Then we would wholeheartedly recommend that you check out this five-year Coventry spell of designs incorporating that feature.
The final year produced the most magic, with a vertically striped home top combining sky-blue and navy being worn alongside an away jersey which just radiates Ajax with its large red colour block flowing down its centre.
Although, another honourable mention for an away strip did come in 2001/02 and it was worn for two campaigns.
1996 – 1999 – Le Coq Sportif
Embossed club crests could be labelled the theme of Le Coq Sportif’s era, with two of the home strips and one away kit making use of that concept. Extravagant is probably the best word to describe the first home top which incorporated this feature, as it came in the form of one large emblem placing behind the sponsorship features on a slight angle. The second home jersey was done with much more elegance in 1998/99, as smaller versions of the crests appeared within the two dark stripes.
Notable away shirts were a navy and red chequered version and a vertically striped navy and yellow edition.
1994 – 1996 – Pony
Contrary to Le Coq Sportif, Pony subtly imprinted their own logo into the background of pretty much all of the shirts from this time period.
They wore a polo design at home for both seasons, but away from home, they switched from green and black stripes in their first year to a shirt which combined yellow and two shades of purple in the second.
1992 – 1994 – Ribero
Both seasons under Ribero saw the same shirts used in each of them, but while there is no doubting the awesomeness of the home shirt, and the smartness of the third, the jazzy away attempt, which was a mash up of white and red, wasn’t executed quite as well.
1989 – 1992 – Asics
Asics produced three fairly steady home tops, but their two black and yellow away designs left a little to be desired. The first one almost looked like a tyre mark had been left on it with its diagonal stripes in the top right corner, while the second had uneven wavy horizontal black stripes on its top half.
1987 – 1989 – Hummel
This Hummel spell saw their excellent non-ageing pinstriped concept, where a darker colour tone is used on one half of the shirt, in use for the home top. A minimalistic yellow jersey with blue features was worn away.
1986 – 1987 – Triple S Sport
In their one and only season, Triple S Sport produced one of the most historic shirts in Coventry history given the clubs remarkable aforementioned FA Cup success. They beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in the final.
1983 – 1986 – Umbro
The same tonally striped home and away shirts were in use for all three of these Umbro campaigns.
1981 – 1983 – Talbot Sports
Talbot Sports’ jerseys were unique in the fact that they looked more like fashion shirts. Both of them had a black and white T running up its centre with Talbot written within it. No Coventry crest seemingly featured.
1975 – 1981 – Admiral
As previously referred to, this was the clubs ‘Admiral Tramline’ era. Throughout this period Coventry wore a chocolate coloured away top.
1962 – 1975 – Umbro
Although their logo didn’t feature, Umbro were the first to manufacture for the club. They were also the original creatures of the green and black away strip, which we have seen many copies of since.
Coventry City Shirt Sponsor History
Coventry have been through their fair share of brands as their front of shirt sponsor, so let’s find out more about them…
2023 – present – King of Shaves
King of Shaves is a male shaving company founded by Will King, brother of Sky Blues owner Doug King.
Their feature is a large K with King of Shaves written through it but, if we’re to be honest, it isn’t the greatest looking sponsor.
2020 – 2023 – BoyleSports
Irelands’ biggest bookmaker, Boylesports, had the centre spot for three seasons. They had ‘this is betting’ written underneath their name.
2019 – 2020 – Allsopp & Allsopp
Allsopp & Allsopp is a real estate agency in Dubai. This was their second shirt sponsorship agreement with the Sky-Blues and on this occasion their text-based feature had a prestige feel to it.
2018 – 2019 – Midrepro
For one season Coventry partnered with one of the UK’s leading suppliers of photocopiers, printers and multifunctional devices in Midrepro.
The branding selected combined with the shirts quite well and it didn’t take anything away from them.
2014 – 2018 – Allsopp & Allsopp
As previously mentioned, Allsopp & Allsopp had previous with Coventry before 2019/20. On this occasion, they sponsored just the home shirt to begin with, before eventually agreeing to sponsor every jersey. However, unfortunately, this feature had a much tackier feel to it.
2014 – 2015 – STATSports
While Allsopp & Allsopp only sponsored the home strip, STATSports had their branding on the alternate jerseys.
STATSports specialises in player performance tracking through GPS’s and they had a slick, mostly text-based, feature.
2013 – 2014 – Grace Research Fund
Grace Research Fund is a charity which raises money and awareness for medical research into premature birth and neonatal care.
Their research is conducted at University Hospital in Coventry, Warwick Hospital and Nuneaton’s George Eliot Hospital, as well as the two universities local to Coventry.
2010 – 2013 – City Link
City Link is a Coventry based British next day courier company which is sadly no longer trading.
For the most part, they had their logo on the jerseys in all white, although in the first campaign they did mix in green and yellow.
2005 – 2010 – Cassidy Group
Property development company, Cassidy Group, sponsored all of the shirts in every season. However, from 2008 onwards, they used the alternate jerseys to advertise StadiArena – ‘a unique and patented product turning an outdoor stadium to an indoor arena in minutes.’
1997 – 2005 – Subaru / Isuzu
The text-based feature of Japanese car makes Subaru and Isuzu appeared from 1997 until 2005.
1989 – 1997 – Peugeot
Peugeot is a popular French brand of automobiles. Their feature looked much better when they ditched the navy and yellow backgrounds in 1992/93.
1986 – 1988 – Granada Bingo
Granada Bingo is a historic Coventry City sponsor. Barring their use of red in the first campaign, their feature was a smart look.
1985 – 1986 – Elliotts
Coventry based business, Elliotts, was a car accessories store and it was the first place in the area to sell petrol.
1984 – 1985 – Glazepta
It is unclear what Glazepta specialised in, however they had a text-based feature with a background.
1983 – 1984 – Tallon
Stationary business Tallon had the centre spot for a year in the 80’s.
1980 – 1983 – Talbot
Talbot, who presented unique and stylish looking jerseys, were also the clubs first ever front of shirt sponsor.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that they have taken inspiration from the classics of yesteryear for most of the range, there is absolutely a valid argument to say that their current spell with Hummel is their most impressive run of shirts.