Abandoned Premier League stadium – England’s first all-seater – now a housing estate with just a plaque as a reminder

IT’S the stadium that was home to an FA Cup and 34 uninterrupted seasons of top flight football.

But today there is very little left of what was a much loved English ground.

YOUTUBE/MATT SBOnce a much loved Premier League football stadium, this is now a housing estate[/caption]

YOUTUBE/MATT SBVery few traces of the football that used to be played here are left[/caption]

With the stadium fully demolished, only a plaque remains as memorabilia of a 23,500-seater venue that saw some of the world’s best players play.

The team now plays three and a half miles away at a bigger ground, which holds 33,000 for football and 40,000 for concerts.

But they have rarely been able to enjoy the benefits of the new larger venue after a series of relegations and disputes with owners.

However, they are back tentatively on the up after two promotions in three years saw them return to the Championship.

And they were a missed penalty away from once again playing Premier League football after losing the 2023 play-off final at Wembley.

The team is, of course, Coventry City, and the now-demolished stadium is Highfield Road.

It became England’s first all-seater stadium in 1981, but Leeds fans tore out hundreds of seats just a matter of months later before standing returned in 1983.

Following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, Highfield Road once again became an all-seater stadium.

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PAHighfield Road (pictured in 1994) was the proud home of Coventry City[/caption]

Times Newspapers LtdThe stadium (pictured in 1985) became England’s first all-seater before terracing was reintroduced in 1983[/caption]

YOUTUBE/MATT SBOnly a plaque remains commemorating the 106 years Coventry spent at Highfield Road[/caption]

YOUTUBE/MATT SBWhat Highfield Road looks like now[/caption]

Coventry were relegated in 2001 and moved out of Highfield Road in 2005, and the Coventry Building Society Arena they play in now has never seen Premier League football.

The Sky Blues now have a ten-year lease on that venue after previous failures to reach an agreement saw them forced to play out of town at stadiums like Northampton Town and Birmingham City.

However, after reaching an agreement with the University of Warwick, the club is set to construct yet another new stadium.