1998–99 Coventry City F.C. season 1998–99 Coventry City F.C. season During the 1998–99 English football season, Coventry City competed in the FA Premier League. Coventry City finished 15th in the Premiership – four places lower than last season – but were never in any real danger of being relegated, despite the loss of key striker Dion Dublin to local rivals Aston Villa. The biggest news of Coventry's season was the announcement of a move to a new 45,000-seat stadium at Foleshill, which was anticipated to be ready by 2002. Manager Gordon Strachan then signed Moroccan international football star Mustapha Hadji, knowing that it would be
Aston Villa F.C.–West Bromwich Albion F.C. rivalry Aston Villa F.C.–West Bromwich Albion F.C. rivalry Aston Villa F.C. and West Bromwich Albion F.C. are two English football clubs from the West Midlands who share a local rivalry. The matches between them are known as West Midlands derbies. Their stadiums, Villa Park and The Hawthorns respectively, are four miles away from each other. Both clubs have bigger rivals—Birmingham City for the former in the Second City derby, and Wolverhampton Wanderers for the latter in the Black Country derby. A 2010 article in "The Daily Telegraph" ranked the rivalry between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion as the third most