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THE latest installment of our Top Ten countdown is ready to go and we can now bring you the most deadliest striker according to the Sky Blue Army.
Fans have been voting in their hundreds this month to whittle down a list of the most potent hitmen the club have ever had under their charge and we continue proceedings with...
#1 Dion Dublin
DUBLIN started his career at Norwich City but after failing to play a first-team match for the Canaries, he moved on to Fourth Division Cambridge United in search of first-team football.
He switched from a defender to striker whilst at the club and it was his goals which helped Cambridge achieve successive promotions up to Division One.
During an FA Cup run in 1991, Dublin caught the attention of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and after Cambridge missed out on promotion to the top flight, Dublin moved to Old Trafford for a fee of £1 million.
His spell at Old Trafford didn't go well though as he constantly found himself out of the team due to the great form of Eric Cantona.
In 1994, the Sky Blues made an offer of £2 million for the front man and he began his four-and-a-half year stint at Highfield Road. He quickly established himself as one of the country's top strikers and under the management of Gordon Strachan, he flourished.
He scored 61 Premier League goals for Coventry which is the most any player has ever achieved for the club and he found great partnerships with Noel Whelan and Darren Huckerby.
He provided several memorable moments including sneaking up on Newcastle keeper Shay Given to score for City and he scored one of the goals in the 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur to keep the Sky Blues up in the 1997/98 season.
Dublin finished joint top in the Premier League scoring charts that season alongside Blackburn's Chris Sutton and Liverpool's Michael Owen with 23 goals, form that earned his four England caps although many were surprised when he failed to make the squad for England's 1998 World Cup campaign.
Dublin revealed to Sky Blues Player last year, that he thoroughly enjoyed his time at Highfield Road and says he owes his career to the experience he gained at Coventry.
The 42-year old said: "I had a good four and a half years here, years that were very successful for me and reasonably successful for the side. Very successful in terms of staying up in the Premier League so my time here was great.
"In terms of the players I played with throughout my career, a lot of the best ones were here with the likes of Gary McAllister, Paul Williams and Darren Huckerby to name a few. So they were just outstanding players to play with.
"They got the best out of me and I think my goal-scoring here was some of the best in my entire career. I had a few decent spells elsewhere but I got in the England squad while I was playing here which was probably down to other players like Paul Telfer and John Salako."
Dublin was eventually sold to fierce rivals Aston Villa for £5.75 million but despite moving to Villa Park, he is held in high regard by the City fans.
#2 Robbie Keane
'KEANO' started his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers making his debut for the club at the age of 17.
Many of the top clubs in the UK were tracking the striker but Coventry sealed the signing after meeting the £6 million price tag.
This was a British record for the most money spent on a teenager at the time and it was considered to be a risk by some of the Sky Blues faithful. Still raw, the young Irishman had a lot of growing up to do to warrant such a high price tag.
However, fears of him not fulfilling the fee were short lived as his Coventry career got off to a flying start. He scored two goals on his debut and picked up the Player of the Month award for August; the first month of the season.
With the likes of Gary McAllister and Youssef Chippo in midfield, Keane benefited from the attacking style of football Coventry were playing at the time. He scored 12 goals in his one season at Highfield Road which attracted the attention of some of Europe's top clubs.
Internazionale came in with a bid of £13 million, more than double City paid Wolves for him, and Keane clinched a dream move to play in the Italian top flight.
Since then, his spells at Inter and Leeds United were unsuccessful but his form picked up when he moved to North London club Tottenham Hotspur, becoming the club's eighth highest league goal-scorer in the club's history.
Having also had spells playing for Liverpool and Celtic, he is currently plying his trade for Aston Villa having sealed a loan move from Los Angeles Galaxy.
This is to increase his chances of making the Republic of Ireland squad for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.
#3 Micky Quinn
QUINN was one of the characters of the game and despite joining the Sky Blues late on in his career, he had a profound impact at Highfield Road.
Having started his career at Derby County as an apprentice, he started to show his goalscoring prowess at Wigan Athletic. However, he was sold to Stockport County as the then manager Larry Lloyd believed he was too inexperienced for professional football.
He scored 41 goals at Edgeley Park before signing for local rivals Oldham Athletic where he continued to score freely with 37 goals whilst with the Latics. At the time, Oldham had to balance the books so Quinn was sold to Portsmouth.
His great goal scoring record helped Pompey achieve top flight status before securing a £150,000 deal to Newcastle United. He played over 100 times for the Magpies but fell out with Kevin Keegan so after a move to Aston Villa fell through, he secured a loan move to Highfield Road in November 1992.
He scored two goals on his debut against Manchester City and he continued this tremendous run of form, scoring 10 goals in his first six games. He was bought a month later for £250,000 and provided memorable moments, scoring two goals against both Liverpool in a 5-1 win and Aston Villa in a 3-0 win.
He continued to impress with his finest moment coming against Arsenal at the start of the 1993-94 season when he scored a hat-trick at Highbury in a 3-0 win over the Gunners.
He was seriously considered for the England squad when he was at City, and earned the affectionate nickname 'Sumo', but he eventually fell out of favour when Dion Dublin moved to the Sky Blues from Manchester United.
He had two loan spells at Plymouth Argyle and Watford before moving to P.A.O.K Thessaloniki in Greece. After a short spell at P.A.O.K, he retired in 1996.
#4 Ian Wallace
ONE of Gordon Milne's biggest gambles was signing the flame-haired Scot, but it definitely paid off.
At the age of 20, Wallace was spotted by City playing for Dumbarton in Scotland's Second Division and the Sky Blues paid £40,000 for him in 1976.
The gamble didn't look like it was going to pay off early on in Wallace's City career as he suffered a horrific car accident which threatened his sight. He eventually recovered from the set back and he then started to show the City faithful what he could do.
Forming a partnership with Mick Ferguson, he became the first Coventry player ever to score more than 20 goals in England's top tier. This fine form pushed the club to the brink of a European spot and he started to be selected for one of Scotland's best ever sides.
After a successful four years at the club, scoring 57 league goals, the Scot was sold to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest for a fee of £1.25 million. At the time, this was the second highest fee ever received by the club for a player and he was well liked at Forest, scoring on a regular occasion.
After his spell at the City ground, he moved to Brest in France for a year before moving back to England to play for Sunderland. He also played for Portuguese side Maritimo before finishing his career in Australia.
#5 Darren Huckerby
HUCKERBY signed for City from Newcastle United at the age of 20 and to make the Sky Blues his fourth professional club.
Spells at Lincoln City, Newcastle United and a loan at Millwall had seen the player become unsettled early on in his professional career.
He found a home at Highfield Road with him finally able to show some of the pace, skill and agility which made manager Gordon Strachan sign him for £1 million. He forged an effective partnership with Dion Dublin and they both had a major role in Coventry staying up in the 1996/97 season.
His finest moment in a Sky Blues shirt came in the match against Manchester United in December 1997. Not long after Dion Dublin's penalty made it 2-2, Huckerby picked up the ball and ran past four defenders before slotting home past keeper Kevin Pilkington to win the match.
In his three seasons at the club, he made over 90 appearances for the Sky Blues in the Premier League giving City a fantastic return on the £1 million paid for him. He was sold to Leeds United in 1999 for a reputed £6 million meaning Coventry made a huge profit from the forward.
He retired back in 2009 after a spell in America with the San Jose Earthquakes and he also played for Norwich City, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.
#6 Clarrie Bourton
WHEN he was brought to the club by Harry Storer, it would have been hard to imagine the amazing effect Bourton had on Coventry City's history.
It was something of a coup when Bourton agreed to move to Coventry as he joined from First Division side Blackburn Rovers with a record of 47 goals in 66 league outings.
It didn't take him long to settle in as in his first season, he got the record for the most goals scored for City in a single season, including seven hat-tricks on his way to 49 goals.
He also scored in 11 consecutive games which is a feat that hasn't been equaled since and Coventry ended up scoring 108 goals that season.
He was the highest scorer in Division Three (South) for both the 1931-32 and 1932-33 seasons.
Despite the success in Division Three, when City were promoted, Bourton struggled to carry on his prolific form against the tighter defences and was often man marked throughout matches.
He left the club in 1937 having shattered the club's goalscoring records, records which still stand today.
Overall, he scored 181 goals in 241 matches for City and he is still held in such high regard at the club despite making his debut 81 years ago.
Clarrie Bourton died on the 24th April, 1981.
#7 Cyrille Regis
THE former England international is fondly remembered by the City faithful for playing a vital role in winning the FA Cup in 1987 and scoring two goals against Everton in 1984 to prevent relegation.
He started his career at non-league level with Hayes before being spotted by Ron Atkinson at West Bromwich Albion.
With the Baggies in a downward spiral, Regis was brought to Highfield Road in a £300,000 deal in October 1984 and he made 30 appearances in his first season.
Despite coming to the club with a fine goal scoring reputation, his goals to games ratio at the Sky Blues was surprisingly low but his contribution to the team was often under-rated.
When John Sillett and George Curtis took over, that was when Coventry fans started to see the best of Regis' seven years at the club.
He was a fine servant for the club and is the tenth highest scorer in City's history. Many fans would argue his time at the club finished too early as Terry Butcher gave him a free transfer in the summer of 1991, and he joined Aston Villa.
At Villa Park, he continued to display fine form before moving onto Wolverhampton Wanderers.
#8 George Hudson
THE Lancashire lad began at Blackburn Rovers as an apprentice before moving to Accrington Stanley to start his career as a professional footballer.
Despite having a good spell at Stanley, he moved to Peterborough United for £5,000, and impressed Jimmy Hill in his two years at the club with 81 goals in 88 appearances for Posh.
He was brought to the Sky Blues for £22,000 and went straight into the side with Hill dropping Hudson's former Peterborough team mate Terry Bly to the bemusement of the fans.
Bly had scored 24 goals in 31 league games but Hudson was picked ahead of him and it turned out to be an inspired move. He scored a hat-trick on his debut and in his first full season at the club, he scored 24 goals in 32 league matches.
Click here to watch our FULL interview with George Hudson!
In his entire City stint, he scored 75 goals in 129 matches including the winner at Colchester in 1964 to clinch the Division Three championship. He was at the club for four years and was sold to Northampton in 1966, once again, to the outrage of fans.
He also had stints with Tranmere Rovers and Altrincham but never reclaimed his goal-scoring touch. After retiring, he was employed by the Daily Mirror at the Manchester printing press.
#9 Terry Gibson
'GIBBO' started his career at Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice but struggled to break into the first team at White Hart Lane.
Hailed as one of Bobby Gould's best signings, he joined the club in August 1983 for the relatively small sum of £70,000 and at 5ft 5in, Gibson was definitely one of the shortest strikers around.
In his first season at Highfield Road, he scored 21 goals in all competitions which was remarkable considering the Sky Blues were struggling at the time.
One of his greatest moments in the City shirt came against Liverpool where he scored an amazing hat-trick in December 1983 where we beat the Reds 4-0.
In 1985, towards the end of his City stint, the 'nippy' striker scored in seven consecutive matches to create a Division One record for a Coventry striker.
His brilliant form and his record of scoring 51 goals in 111 games caught the attentions of some of the best clubs in the country. In 1986, after heavy transfer speculation, he left for Old Trafford in a £600,000 deal which saw Alan Brazil come the other way.
His spell with Manchester United was a disappointing one though, scoring once in 23 appearances. Gould ended his Manchester misery by bringing him to Wimbledon and he appeared in the 1988 FA Cup final where Wimbledon pulled off one of the greatest Cup shocks by beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final.
Towards the end of his career, he also had spells with Swindon Town and Charlton Athletic.
#10 David Speedie
THE first on our list and possibly one of the most popular Coventry City forwards in the modern era.
Speedie moved to the Sky Blues from Chelsea in the summer of 1987 after a fall-out with then Chelsea boss John Hollins and immediately took to life at Highfield Road.
He scored on his league debut for the club during a 2-1 win against Spurs and quickly developed a deadly reputation in front of goal.
His chipped goals against the likes Norwich City, Wimbledon and Southampton amongst many became embedded into Sky Blue folklore whilst his indiscipline was equally infamous.
Speedie also features in our Top Ten Hardmen! Click here to check it out!
A 'nippy' forward, if you wanted the ball to fall to anyone inside the box, Speedie would be among your first choices as he formed an effective partnership with Cyrille Regis.
Regis' aerial dominance would often pave the way for Speedie to get in behind the defence unchecked and this combination became a familiar sight for the City faithful.
As well as having a great finish, he was also brave in the challenge and fearless on the pitch. This bravery adhered him to the City faithful and he went on to score 31 goals for the club, making 122 appearances over four seasons before moving on to Liverpool.
He continued to have a productive career under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish in a short but successful spell at Anfield and also scored 23 goals in a season-long stint at Blackburn.
As his career drew to a close, he played for Southampton, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United and Leicester City where he retired from professional football in 1994.
Want to find out the Top Ten Hardmen? Click here!
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