Thousands of Sky Blues fans celebrate Coventry City's promotion - BBC News

Summary

Thousands of fans have celebrated Coventry City's promotion to the Premier League this Bank Holiday Monday
The afternoon started with an open-top bus parade through the city with the players and management showing off their Championship trophy
The streets were 'absolutely rammed' with people our reporters said, as the bus went past
Then the focus switched to a one-off music festival at the War Memorial Park with Tom Grennan and The Enemy among the line-up
The Sky Blues secured their promotion back to the Premier League in April, followed by winning the Championship title
The club were last in the Premier League in 2001

Live Reporting

Written by Shehnaz Khan, edited by Allen Cook

Sky Blues open-top bus parade routepublished at 12:13 BST 4 May

Image source, Coventry City
There are two parts to Coventry City's celebrations today - a bus parade and a music festival, both starting at 13:00 BST.
The parade will see Sky Blues players and management waving to fans from their open-top bus as the set off from the Coventry Building Society Arena.
From there:
- Depart Coventry Building Society (CBS) Arena at 13:00, travelling south on Jimmy Hill Way
- Holbrook Way and right on to Holbrook Lane (about 13:20)
- Left onto Parkgate Road, then joining Beake Avenue (about 13:45)
- Down Beake Avenue to Bruce Road to Wallace Road (about 14:05)
- Norman Place Road then left on to Hollyfast Road (about 14:20) to Westhill Road
- Down Barkers Butts Lane (about 14:30) and right on to Moseley Avenue
- Cross Holyhead Road (about 14:45) to Four Pounds Avenue to Queensland Avenue (just before 15:00)
- The parade will then conclude at Hearsall Common (about 15:05)
The players and staff will then travel to the War Memorial Park to continue the celebrations from about 16:00 with everyone else.
A 25-year saga in the makingpublished at 12:01 BST 4 May

It has been an odyssey hasn't it Sky Blues fans since that 2001 relegation?
Plumbing the footballing depths with relegation to League One in 2013 - going into administration the same year - and League Two in 2017.
There were two groundshares with Northampton and Birmingham, the detested ownership of Sisu and, well, many, many protests.
But that is the past - this season, under Frank Lampard, the Sky Blues got their return and today they will be celebrating it in the city with a bus parade and festival.
Follow our live updates all afternoon - We'll Live and Die in These Towns.

Coventry celebrates its Sky Blue heroespublished at 11:57 BST 4 May

This bank holiday is going to live long in the memory of many in Coventry - as they celebrate their team's return to the big time - back in the Premier League next season!
When Coventry were relegated in 2001, we were barely into the internet era - Google only started three years before, there was no Facebook, Twitter or TikTok, Tony Blair was prime minister and S Club 7 held the number one spot in the charts.