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Welcome to our live coverage of a historic day for Coventry
Twenty-five years of waiting are over as the Sky Blue Army officially celebrates Coventry City’s stunning return to the Premier League. Today, the city is set to be transformed into a sea of Sky Blue for a day of celebration that will live long in the memory of every Coventrian.
From 1pm, we will be following the open-top bus parade as Frank Lampard and his Championship-winning heroes travel from the CBS Arena through the heart of our communities. We’ll be bringing you every cheer, every song, and every iconic moment as the players make their way to the sold-out “We Are Back: Live” festival at War Memorial Park.
Whether you are standing on the roadside in Holbrooks, heading to the park to see The Enemy and Tom Grennan, or following along from the other side of the world, we are your eyes and ears on the ground.
Stick with us throughout the day for:
Live tracking of the promotion bus through the city streets.
Rolling picture galleries of the fans and the festivities.
Behind-the-scenes access from the main stage at War Memorial Park.
The big moment as the Sky Blues lift the trophy in front of 50,000 fans.
How to get involved: Are you out celebrating today? We want to see your photos and videos! Send them to us on our [Facebook page] or tag us on X (Twitter) using .
The party starts now.
Key Events
The Coventry City FC promotion parade bus makes its way through the city flanked by police.
Players can be seen celebrating on the open top bus as fans line the streets to cheer on their heroes.
The parade is part of what the club has described as the ‘biggest party’ in the city’s history.
The parade is making its way through Holbrooks.
Crowds are lining the streets, cheering on the bus as it passes by.
Some are even walking alongside it as they catch a glimpse of their Sky Blues heroes celebrating their promotion dream to the Premiership.
Sky Blues celebrations with these friends and family in Coventry
There are street and house parties taking place across the city today as the parade passes by.
It is a Bank Holiday that the city will never forget with celebrations across the city.
You can share you photographs with us via email at news@coventrytelegraph.net.
CoventryLive has captured some of the huge crowds that lined the street by the CBS Arena.
As you can see, fans of all ages joined in the celebrations.
To check out the gallery, see our story here
A sea of blue smoke filled the air as fans lined the bus parade route near the CBS Arena.
Cheers and whoops, whistles and chants of ‘champions’ greeted the bus as it made its way past the Arena Park Shopping Centre.
Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner is following the bus as it makes its way along the parade route.
This is the moment the players boarded the promotion party open top bus.
It has started its journey from the CBS Arena.
It will follow a route through parts of the city before heading to Hearsall Park.
But there are no events there – all of the action is at War Memorial Park – but remember, the gates close at 3pm.
Players and manager Frank Lampard on the bus
The players and manager Frank Lampard are on the bus – and they are off!
To cheers and a sea of Sky Blues fans, the parade has offcially started.
This is the moment fans have been waiting for for a quarter of a century
Fans lining the A444
More than one thousand fans are now outside the CBS Arena.
They are lining the A444 to the Arena Shopping Park traffic lights
There have been reports of streets on the parade route decked out in Sky Blue decorations as fans prepare to welcome the parade as it goes past.
Our man on the ground at the arena, Danny Thompson has described the atmosphere, saying:
Listen to the Sky Blues fans in chorus as they sing the City’s own version of The Beatles hit Hey Jude.
They are in fine voice ahead of the arrival of the players on the open top bus.
This is now less than half an hour away.
Coventry City FC has taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share images from both outside the arena and inside War Memorial Park.
The photograph inside the park shows the stage where the team will join in the promotion party celebrations.
Tom Grennan will officially get the festival underway at 3pm and The Enemy will headline the event at 5pm.
Check out our video as crowds of juliant Sky Blue Army fans start the celebrations.
There is now just over half an hour until the hero Coventry City FC team make their way on the open top bus around parts of the city.
You can be part of the celebrations by sending your pictures to the CoventryLive Facebook page or tag us on X (Twitter) using .
Spencer Davis, Harry and Lillie join in the celebrations
Spencer Davis is among the fans at the scene and said:
His daughter Lillie said that promotion was the highlight and that, looking ahead to the Premiership, she was looking forward to taking on Aston Villa.
Hundred of fans have gathered at the CBS Arena ahead of the parade getting underway at 1pm.
One of them, Andy Clarke, a life long Sky Blue fan said: “I still can’t believe it, it has not sunk in.
“For years people would laugh if you told them you supported Coventry. They’re not laughing now.”
See some pictures from the scene, including the parade bus, in our story here
With the start of the parade just under an hour away, there have been traffic warnings issued.
Trafic reporting website Inrix has said Delays expected due tp the Coventry City open top bus parade with rolling road closures until around 4pm on Roads between the Arena shopping park, past Holbrooks Morrsions and down through Coundon past Lake View park to Hearsall Common.
“Expect many more pedestrians than usual along the entire route and on surrounding roads” the warning states.
First look at the buses parked up at the CBS Arena ahead of the parade
Our man Danny Thompson is at the CBS Arena and has captured the first look at the bus that will lead the parade.
It is due to head off in just over an hour and a half.
Hundreds are already at the arena to watch the historic moment.
The map shows where you will find everything at War Memorial Park today (May 4)
A map shows what’s inside the We are Back Live festival site at War Memorial Park.
It shows where to head to when it comes to the main stage as well as bars and food vendors.
Check out more about this here
Timings have been confirmed for the Coventry City FC ‘We Are Back Live’ to mark the Sky Blues’ promotion to the Premier League.
The historic open top bus promotion parade is set to leave the Coventry Building Society Arena at 1pm today.
Many householders have decked out their homes in Sky Blue decorations to welcome the bus as it passes by.
For the estiimated timings of the parade, see our story here
The Enemy at the Coventry Building Society Arena(Image: Photo by Emilie Cotterill)
On the day that The Enemy will headline the We Are Back Live event at War Memorial Park in front of 50,000 Sky Blues supporters, the band has made a huge announcement.
Next year, the band will play a show in the indoor arena at the home of newly promoted Coventry City Football Club – the Coventry Building Society Arena – to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their Platinum-certified Number 1 debut album ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’.
You can read all about it here
To pave the way for the open top bus parade there are a number of rolling road closures in the city today.
CovenrtyLive has compiled a full list of where and when they will be closed.
See our story here
The countdown is on with just two hours to go.
This is day the whole city has waited a quarter of a century for and we want you to be part of our liveblog.
Are you out celebrating today? We want to see your photos and videos! Send them to us on our [Facebook page] or tag us on X (Twitter) using .
You can also email them to us here at news@coventrytelegraph.net
Coventry City boss Frank Lampard celebrates with Coventry City chairman Doug King
With only a few hours to go, owner and chief executive Doug King has issued a message to the city ahead of the historic celebrations.
The Sku Blue army will be out in force, but the sky hasn’t been looking that blue this morning.
It was a grey and dark start to the day but it appears that the sun may not be coming out.
The key question is – will you need your brollies to watch the parade and join in the festival?
CoventryLive has compiled an hour by hour forecast for the day here
Good morning on what is a historic day for the city,
We are proud to be bringing you the very latest in the run up to and during the parade as well as the music event at War Memorial Park.
Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner will be following the open top bus parade while CoventryLive reporter Danny Thompson is our man on the ground.
We will share with you images and videos as they happen on what is set to be the biggest day in the city’s sporting history. PUSB
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