Club History

Coventry City Ladies FC were founded in 1991 although various Coventry Ladies sides were playing as long ago as 1910. The present club started in the West Midlands Regional League.

Coventry City Girls was set up by Coventry City Ladies back in the summer of 1995 as a feeder system to Coventry City Ladies. Although at this point the two clubs (Ladies and Girls) were separate organisations.

Ladies History Until End 2002/03 Season
The Ladies started in the West Midlands Regional League and won the league in 1995-96 but lost in the Premier League play-offs to Calverton MW. The 1996-1997 saw Coventry City win the West Midlands League and finish unbeaten and beat both Calverton MW and Middlesbrough 1-0 to secure promotion to the FA Women's Premier League whilst also winning the Regional and League Cup.

The Ladies had five seasons in the AXA Women's Premier League Northern Division and have excellent links with the Coventry City School Of Excellence & the Coventry and Warwickshire Football Academy. However,2001-2002 was not been a good season, despite a run to the FA Cup 5th Round where they were beaten by Finalists Fulham, the Sky Blues were relegated to the Midland Women's Combination League in their second season.

Girls History Until End 2002/03 Season
For the first season the club only played friendlys against league teams and games consisted of mainly mixed age teams. The 96/97 season saw the set-up of teams in the under 12 and under 14 age groups. The under 14's joined the West Midlands League while the under 12's joined the forerunner to the present Central Warwickshire Girls League.

Season 97/98 the under 12's joined the under 14's in the West Midlands League. During this season the committee was reformed inviting parents on board to help with the running of the club for fund raising and social events to raise money towards new kit and equipment. (The primary fund raising events being the fun run which in the past few years we have raised well over four thousand pounds).

Season 99/2000 saw the set up of our under 17's who played in the West Midlands Ladies League while the under 12's and 14's moved over to the Central Warwickshire League both playing in the Premier League and the under 10's competed in league football for the first time.

This season saw the club win it’s first silverware when the under 10's record a convincing win over the league champions in the League Cup Final with a 5-0 score line. Also the under 17's won the West Midlands League and the League Cup after being knocked out of the semi final by Wolves but were reinstated after it was found that Wolves played several illegal players.

Season 2000/01 saw the formation of Coventry City Girls 2000 under12’s who went on to win the 1st Division title while the under 12’s premiership side won the Open Cup.

Season 2001/02 saw the under 10’s winning the league while drawing the Open Cup with Leafield Athletic and sharing the trophy. This season also saw the formation of Coventry City Girls 2000 under14’s to make under 12’s and under 14’s having two teams each and the formation of the Foundation squad (under 8’s).

Season 2002/03 the club achieved the Football Association Charter Standard Club Award and also saw the club maintaining the silverware cabinet with the under 12’s, 14’s and under 16’s all winning their respective Open Cups. Also the under 10 teams formed the Sky Blue side which joined the Leicester and County League.

Club History Since End 2002/03 Season
At the end of this season 2002/03 the Ladies and the Girls clubs joined forces and appointed a head coach in Paul Barnes while also developing stronger links with Coventry City F.C.

At the start of the 2003/04 season the number of teams expanded again. The club boasts a squad of over 200 girls starting with the foundation squad, four under 10 teams, three under 12 sides, three under 14 sides, two under 16 teams and a reserves and ladies first team. This coincided with Kelly-Anne Willis being called up to the England under 15 squad while Amanda Whalley and Jenny Igoe being called up to the England under 17 and under 19 squads respectively. Amanda and Jenny both started their football careers in the junior section progressing their way through the squads.

Off field areas were also improved including an awareness programme aimed at supporters of Coventry City's men's team to get them interested in the club and it's activities. In order to achieve even more awareness, we have enlisted the Covsupport news service to help us keep Coventry supporters informed.

Season 2003/04 saw the under 10’s win the Leicester City & County Girls Football League while the under 12’s won the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League Shield and the under 14’s defended the open cup eventually sharing the trophy when the scores remained level after extra time.  While the first team won the Midland Combination League Division One with a nail biting finish having to go to Nottingham Forest and avoid a 4-0 defeat which in only losing 2-1 were crowned champions and promoted to the Northern Premier league.

At the end of Season 2003/04 the club appointed Tom Stack as Director of Football with Mark Phillips taking over as First team manager assisted by Ian Weaving while Steve Carter took over the running of the reserves assisted by Mark Howard.

Season 2004/05 saw a disappointing year for the first team, ending in relegation from the Northern Premier league. The team though did make friends along the way and were rewarded at the FA awards receiving for Fair Play. At junior level the Under 11s followed on with winning win the Leicester City & County Girls Football League under 11 league and both the Under 11s and under 12s had success at National Tournaments

At the club AGM in June 05, the proposal was passed to structure two clear pathways for CCLFC. The club created two distinctive sections: Coventry City Ladies Football Club and Coventry City Ladies (Development) Football Club. Each club has its own defined Board, constitution and accounts, but they still have the very close relationship in terms of player development, the sharing of ideas and initiatives etc.

Starting in the 2005/2006 season, the FA launch the Centre of Excellence (COE) league in the Midlands and Coventry set the pace as one of the first clubs to sign up. In the first season Coventry won the Under 16s Midlands Centre of Excellence Cup Winners with the Under 12s also reaching the final. The first team going through transition after relegation finished mid-table in the Midland Combination League. In the Development section the Under 12 A won Central Warwickshire Girls Football League under 12s League Shield. On tour in Holland the Under 17s won the Easter Open Cup held in North Brabant

Season 2006/2007 saw the launch of the 'Think Premiership' campaign for the First Team, a three year plan to return the team back to the Premier League. Stuart Wilson came in to coach the first team and they finished runners up to Rotherham . The Under 16 COE won their league title whilst the Under 12 A won Central Warwickshire Girls Football League - Division One. The club again had enlarged itself with a total of 12 junior teams being run between the two clubs. The Under 17s return to Holland and defended the trophy won the previous year.

For 2007/08 Stuart Wilson was again at the helm of the first team, they narrow missed out on promotion with the places being decided at the final game of the season at Leicester. For the second year in a row the 1st team were runners up. The Open Age Team won the Birmingham County Open Cup and an under 19 team went to Holland to win the Easter Open Cup. International recognition was achieve for Jade Formaston at England Under 17 level and Nikki Miles at England Under 15 level. At the end of the season, the two clubs decided to split into two separate organisations. The Development club decided to return to the name of Coventry City Girls FC which had been used prior to the two clubs joining under the Coventry City Ladies banner. The history for the Coventry City Girls will now appear on their own website of www.CovCityGirlsFC.co.uk and the information on this site will only cover the Ladies, Reserves and COE.

Club History Since End 2007/08 Season
With the 1st team Management duo of Neil and Stuart Wilson going to local national Premier League Club Birmingham City, a new management team led by Paul Cudby and Matt Whitehouse was setup at the club. The results though was the same as the two previous seasons with the team finishing in runners up spot, this time to Derby County. The team though did reach the final of the County Cup . The Coventry City Ladies battled hard but eventually succumb 2-0 to their Northern Premier league opponents as Aston Villa struck twice in the final 20 minutes as the Sky Blues ran out of steam. A new COE Director was also installed with Terry Harvey continuing to develop the excellent reputation of the centre.

Previous first team managers include Neil Chatterton, Simon Benn, John Neeson, Dave Cartwright, Paul Barnes, Neil Wilson, Ian Weaving, Tom Stack and Stuart Wilson.

Thanks must go to Kev Monks, Brian Ellis and Paul Griffiths for providing the above information.