We Are The Champions

Coventry City are promoted to the Premier League as Champions after an absence of 25 years. What a dramatic rise from the depths of League Two. In eight seasons the club has won three promotions and finally got back to the EPL. In an interesting coincidence the club took eight years to go from Division Four to Division One between 1959 and 1967 under the management of, first, Billy Frith and later Jimmy Hill. The majority of the media have rightly been focusing on the 25-year timescale but for me the eight-year rise is just as important. 

Eight years ago this weekend the Sky Blues lost 2-4 at home to Lincoln and even a play-off place looked in jeopardy. They recovered to reach the play-offs and won promotion in dazzling style with a 3-1 Wembley win over Exeter City. Mark Robins then worked wonders with a limited budget and with shrewd recruitment and transfer business built a new side that took League One by storm in 2019-20 and were deservedly anointed champions of the unfinished season. The team continued to evolve and after two seasons of acclimatisation in the Championship were good enough to reach the play-off final only to lose to Luton Town. The stars, Vik and Gus, were sacrificed to fund a major rebuild which has paid off with three phenomenal seasons culminating in the Championship title in 2026. 

The progress appeared to have stalled in the autumn of 2024 and Robins left to be replaced by Frank Lampard. Doug King’s decision to bring Frank in has been vindicated and Frank’s detractors local and national have been silenced with a season of exciting, outstanding football, goals galore and memorable moments many of which will be talked about for generations.

It’s hard to pick out my favourite moment, there have been so many. The 7-1 demolition of QPR on the day that the deal to buy the CBS Arena was sealed was one of numerous home games where the opposition was overpowered and put to the sword. On the road sell-out away followings were treated to an unheard of 10 away wins (with one game to go) and 42 goals amongst the best wins coming at Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Millwall. My personal favourites were the home win over ‘Boro in February and the 1-0 at Stoke in November. ‘Boro had chased down our 13 point lead through December and January and the previous week had wowed the pundits by easily beating Sheffield United at Bramall Lane to overtake us. ‘Boro we’re now the team on everybody’s lips and many were writing the Sky Blues off but City defied their critics and rediscovered their mojo with an impressive 3-1 win courtesy of a Haji Wright hat-trick. Back on top the Sky Blues never looked back and went on to win eight games out of nine. It was at Stoke that I realised we were true promotion candidates. At Stoke City were not at their best against the second-placed Potters but dug in and were rewarded with Ephron Mason-Clark’s spectacular last minute winner.

I have to admit I was emotional at Ewood Park last Friday as promotion was confirmed and I thought especially of two friends with whom I had shared the few ups and many downs over the years. I’ve known Rod Dean for almost 60 years and we’ve travelled together all over the country and abroad (Munich 1970) watching City. It was Rod who piqued my interest in the club’s history and we collaborated on the Complete History book with David Brassington and Don Chalk over 35 years ago. We were also two of the founder members of the London Supporters Club in 1976 which has gone from strength to strength in the subsequent 50 years. Sadly, Rod has advanced dementia and is in a care home. Geoff Moore was another I shed a tear for at Ewood. A good friend for the best part of 40 years, Geoff, like me, was a serial school escapee to get to City games in the 1960s and was a member of the 92 club and reckoned to have seen City Play on over 100 different away grounds. Geoff passed away in March 2020 just as City were about to clinch the League One title and I missed being with both him and Rod on Friday night. One consolation was being with Geoff’s sons Andy and Chris for one of the special nights in Coventry City’s history.

Frank's team have broken so many records this season and I'll be covering the stats over the next couple of weeks but one new one emerged this week. It is City's fifth title in exactly 100 seasons in the Football League and the first to be clinched before the end of the season. In 1936, 1964 and 1967 the title was confirmed on the final day, and in 2020 the season was curtailed and the title not confirmed until two months later.

We're back!

As I write this Coventry City are on the brink of promotion to the Premier League and it might well have been confirmed last night at Blackburn. The Sky Blues have dominated the division all season and except for seven days in February have topped the table since October 4^th. It is a fantastic achievement bearing in mind the parachute payments available to the three relegated clubs as well as Sheffield United. With Ipswich losing to Portsmouth in midweek the title may not be far away either and could happen this weekend or in midweek. 

Last Saturday's game with bottom club Sheffield Wednesday was a lack lustre affair and I thought the nerves of the occasion got to both players and fans in the CBS Arena. The club managed to squeeze in enough fans to break the record attendance at the stadium for the second time this season with 31,647 fans crammed in. It was the 14^th time in this momentous season that the attendance has been over 30,000 and six of the all-time top ten gates have occurred this campaign.

The average home attendance for the season is now 30,214 and with the final two home games sold out the final average is certain to be greater than this figure. That will be the fourth highest seasonal average in the club's history and the best ever average outside the top flight. The highest averages are as follows:

1. 1967-68 Division 1 34,705

2. 1968-69 Division 1 33,223

3. 1969-70 Division 1 32,405

4. 2025-26 Championship 30,214*

5. 1966-67 Division 2 28,269

6. 2024-25 Championship 27,817

The Good Friday victory over Derby County was a bit of a nail-biter but the Sky Blues got the victory thanks to a brilliant performance from substitute Jack Rudoni. Jack hasn't had the best of seasons with injuries – he missed two months in the autumn then on his return he struggled for form. Finally, in March, we saw the best of him with three goals in three games before another injury blow. There were no signs of rustiness when he entered the field as a substitute against Derby and within five minutes he had conjured up a magical goal out of nothing and followed it up twelve minutes later with a striker's finish to win the game. He is only the ninth Coventry player to score two goals off the bench and he joins an impressive group started by Bobby Gould back in 1967 at Nottingham Forest – he was substitute for George Curtis after the Iron Man was carried off with a broken leg.

The full list is:

Bobby Gould Nottingham Forest (a) 1967-68 (3-3 draw)

Jay Bothroyd Rushden & D (LC) (h) 2002-03 (8-0 win)

Patrick Suffo Torquay United (LC) (h) 2004-05 (4-1 win)

Chris Maguire MK Dons (a) 2013-14 (3-2 win)

Ryan Haynes Wycombe (EFLT) (a) 2016-17 (4-2 win)

Max Biamou Yeovil (h) 2017-18 (2-6 loss)

Amadou Bakayoko Charlton (a) 2018-19 (2-1 win)

Matt Godden Oxford U (FAC) (h) 2023-24 (6-2 win)

Jack Rudoni Derby (h) 2025-26 (3-2 win)

The Derby victory was the club's 25^th win of the season and sets a new club record surpassing the 24 wins of 1935-36 and 1958-59. Both those seasons were promotion campaigns and relied heavily on strong home form. In 1935-36 City won 19 out of 21 home games and only five on the road. In 1958-59 there were 18 out of 23 home wins and only six away wins. This season the away form has been better than those two seasons with 10 wins so far and the potential for two more.

City on the Verge

Nine years ago when Coventry City were sliding into League Two with barely a whimper and if you had told me then that by 2026 we would be back in the top division I would have laughed in your face. A Checkatrade EFL Trophy victory at Wembley gave the fans a taste of success but didn't disguise the fact that their opponents in the old Division Four would include Accrington Stanley, Forest Green Rovers, Morecambe and Cheltenham Town. Even then Mark Robins' team made hard work of getting out of the basement division, trailing champions Accrington by 18 points and only sealing a play-off spot in the final game, a 0-0 draw with Morecambe. Massive performances over Notts County and at Wembley against Exeter sealed promotion and a second promotion, this time as champions, arrived two years later in the Covid affected 2019-20 season. Since then Robins and then Frank Lampard have overseen a gradual evolving squad getting closer and closer to the promised land with the Luton play-off heartbreak at Wembley in 2023, a magnificent semi-final defeat to Manchester United a year later before more play-off grief at Sunderland last season. The club is on the verge of emulating the achievements of the 1960s by going from the fourth tier to the top tier in eight seasons. City won promotion from Division Four in 1959 under Billy Frith before Jimmy Hill took over to win Division Three in 1964 and Division Two in 1967.

City have got there by playing an exciting brand of football all season which their 84 goals, 15 more than their closest rivals, attests to. The defence hasn't been shabby either with 42 goals conceded only bettered by two clubs. They took the division by the throat in the autumn winning 11 games out of 12 allowing them to have their dip in December and January. Then, with Middlesbrough wowing the pundits and nudging into the top spot, City produced a master-class performance to beat 'Boro at home and regain the top spot. City were back on the rails and it turned out to be the first of six straight wins that left their opponents stunned and the Boro-praising pundits eating humble pie.