 The 1975–76 season saw a similar pattern to the previous, but supporters were shocked when star midfielder Dennis Mortimer, who had been with the club since the age of fifteen, was sold to arch-rivals Aston Villa for £175,000.The fans, who had assumed Mortimer would be the player around whom the team was built, were outraged at the apparent lack of ambition at Coventry, and the sale proved to be poor value as Mortimer went on to have a stellar career and captaincy at Villa, culminating in victory in the 1982 European Cup Final.After a few seasons without serious danger of relegation, and despite the arrival of influential players Terry Yorath and Ian Wallace, City struggled in 1976–77.