Sky Blues granted Freedom of Coventry

Coventry City have been given the Freedom of the City after winning the Championship title and gaining promotion to the Premier League, 25 years after the side was relegated from the top flight.

A motion at an extraordinary general meeting of the whole council was approved unanimously on Tuesday, as club chairman and owner Doug King looked on.

Opening the debate, council leader George Duggins said "the freedom is the most prestigious honour that can be bestowed and could only be granted by a meeting of the full council".

He closed his speech with a line from Coventry band The Enemy's song, that has become the anthem of the Sky Blues - We Live And Die in these Towns.

The council's deputy leader, Councillor Lynette Kelly, seconded the motion and said it had been a tremendous season to see the club win the Championship and promotion.

"I got quite saddened towards the end of the season when my brother-in-law turned to me and said - 'you do realise that this is the best season of football we will ever see'," she told the meeting.

"I said 'no Brian, we will keep the faith. We will do well in the Premier League and this will not be the best season ever, it will be the second'."

Kelly told the meeting that the Sky Blues in the top flight would attract students to Coventry and would do the same for companies looking to invest and start a new factory.

The leader of the Reform UK group, the main opposition at the authority, also backed the motion.

Jackie Gardiner said it had been pure joy to see two-thirds of the city's residents and 50,000 people celebrate the Championship title at the War Memorial Park on 4 May.

"From the painful hollowing out of being relegated season after season, to the determined resilience to build back after 25 years. And now the club too has emerged like a phoenix from the ashes," she said.

"And in so doing, has shown the very essence of what it means to be a Coventrian."

Councillor John Blundell, the leader of the Conservative group told the meeting of his memories of standing on the original Spion Kop at the old Highfield Road and watching the club first gain promotion to the old First Division, now the Premier League.

"It will be fantastic to go on holiday and to be able to see all those wearing Arsenal shirts and say - 'we're from Coventry and Coventry once again has a Premier League football team'," he added.

Stephen Gray, the leader of the Green Party at the council house, admitted he was not a football fan, but wished he was a Sky Blues supporter - as fans walked through Holbrooks to the CBS Arena, on the day it was confirmed the club had bought the ground outright.

He also said promotion was a chance to make sure transport links for supporters were improved between the city centre and the Arena.

King, the chairman and owner of the Sky Blues, accepted the honour and told the meeting it was a great accolade that had been bestowed on the club, the players and all staff.

"I went to a Premier League meeting recently and I have to say nearly everyone there commented on how nice it was to have Coventry City, a founder member, back to the Premier League," he said.

Duggins suggested that the club would stay up comfortably next season and predicted the Sky Blues would win the Premier League in five years.

In response, King said the team would do its best to stay up and would establish itself as a top city, as a top football club in the top division of global football.

The official charter, conferring the Freedom of the City of Coventry City Football Club, will be presented to the team and go on display at the CBS Arena.

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