Bob Dennison guided Coventry city in to a 14th position finish at the end of the 1975 – 1976 campaign, They crashed out of the league cup in the third round as they suffered a slender defeat against Mansfield Town in the third round of the competition. They reached the fourth round of the fourth round of the league the following year; however they suffered defeat against Everton in the last sixteen of the cup competition. They were in a battle to avoid relegation for most of the season that saw then finish off in 19th place, enough o avoid the drop.
The 1977 – 1978 campaign was a fantastic one for the sky blues as they were in emphatic form into eh top flight, finishing the campaign off in a much improved seventh place finish. Tommy Hutchinson was sin outstanding form for the club and they reached the fourth round of the league cup as they suffered defeat against the mighty Liverpool.
The following two seasons saw the club finish of fin tenth and fifteenth position respectively. They crashed out of the 1979 FA cup in the third round as they suffered defeat against West Brom and crashed out of the FA cup competition in 1980 in the fourth round as they suffered defeat against Blackburn Rovers.