Synopsis
2001 will be remembered as the year when time finally ran out on Coventry City. For 34 years they had graced the elite of English football. In ten of those seasons they carried the threat of relegation into the last match. In all ten they had survived, leaving pulses racing and fingernails chewed to the quick. Such was the elation on each occasion, that supporters greeted the final whistle as if the championship itself had been won. When the bitter end came at Villa Park in May 2001 the tears flowed. The Houdinis had at last failed to escape the dreaded clutches of relegation.
