As the Sky Blues get set to take on Portsmouth tomorrow, we take a look some of the players to have played for both sides.
MICHAEL DOYLE:
Popular former Sky Blues promotion winning captain Michael Doyle first joined Coventry in 2003 after spending most of his early career at Celtic. Doyle failed to make a senior league appearance for the Bhoys and joined up with the Sky Blues after a loan spell at Danish club AGF Aarhus.
Doyle joined Coventry in the Championship and was a mainstay in the team for six seasons. He fell out of favour in 2009-2010 under manager Chris Coleman and dropped down a division to join Leeds United on loan. He returned to the first team picture in the following campaign, before joining Sheffield United in January 2011.
Doyle spent four-and-a-half seasons at Brammall Lane, but ultimately the club failed in their ambitions in achieving promotion back to the Championship and he joined Portsmouth at the end of his contract in 2015. His two seasons on the South Coast were successful as he led Portsmouth to promotion as captain in his final season at the club.
He re-joined the recently relegated Sky Blues in 2017 and was made club captain once more. He led the Sky Blues to promotion via the play-offs at the first time of asking after featuring in all but two of the club’s league games. He spent the first half of the League One campaign as first team regular, before being allowed to join Notts County in the January transfer window. He failed to save the club from relegation and is still currently their captain in the National League. Doyle made a total of 373 appearances during his two spells at the Sky Blues, scoring 26 goals.
MARC MCNULTY:
Scottish frontman first arrived in England at Sheffield United after scoring goals in four different divisions in Scotland. During his second season in Yorkshire he joined League Two side Portsmouth and fired in ten league goals during his short spell at the club. Pompey were unfortunate to narrowly miss out on promotion and McNulty headed back north to Sheffield.
McNulty struggled for match minutes in the next campaign and an unsuccessful loan move to Bradford followed before he was released at the end of his deal. Coventry snapped up the front man for the League Two campaign and McNulty proved to be the difference in the Sky Blues’ promotion back to League One, scoring 28 goals in all competitions and ending the season as the club’s top scorer by some distance.
His good form didn’t go unnoticed and interest in the striker was rife in the summer, McNulty eventually joined Championship side Reading for an undisclosed fee and is currently on loan at Scottish side Hibernian.
JOHN ALOSI:
Australian international John Aloisi made his name in English football at Fratton Park after joining up with Australia manager Terry Venables who was chairman of the club at the time.
He netted 12 times in his first season to help the club survive relegation, before scoring 14 in just 22 games up until January in the 1998-1999 season. Aloisi’s form persuaded Premier League Coventry to cough up £650,000 for his services.
He scored two goals at Villa Park in the club’s first away win over their rivals and ended the season with 18 league goals shared between the two clubs.
After hardly featuring in his second season, his final season proved to be the year Coventry lost their Premier League status. After only scoring on three occasions, Aloisi was allowed to leave and eventually joined up with La Liga side Osasuna in the summer of 2001.