Stats review of 2025-26

After 25 years in the wilderness the Sky Blues are back in the Premier League. The club celebrated their 100^th season in the Football League by deservedly winning the Championship title by a commanding 11 points in an incredible season for the club. After narrowly missing out in the play-off semi final the previous season they led the league from early October to the finish line and clinched promotion with three games remaining. Despite finishing fifth in 2024-25 on the back of a remarkable second half of the season few pundits tipped them for an automatic place especially with the three relegated clubs in receipt of hefty parachute payments. There were blips along the road to promotion with most of them coming in December and January but the management handled that dodgy period superbly and the team rediscovered their autumn form and left their rivals floundering in their wake. In the last two months the team were relentless and lost only once in the final 15 games. 

Another summer transfer window was quiet with the management relying on subtle improvements to the squad. Defender Luis Binks left as did fringe striker Fabio Tavares and Jamie Paterson left after his short term deal. Brad Collins went on loan to Burton and Norman Bassette joined French club Stade Reims, also on loan. Youngsters Jack Burroughs and Ryan Howley left on free transfers to Northampton and Bristol Rovers respectively. Incoming were full-backs Kaine Kesler-Hayden from Aston Villa and Miguel Brau from Granada and importantly goalkeeper Carl Rushworth on a season-long loan from Brighton. The club tried to sign Carl on a permanent deal but the price was too high.

With the season two weeks old City failed in their attempts to sign Hull City defender Charlie Hughes and instead signed experienced Ipswich man Luke Woolfenden on the final day of the transfer window instead. Almost simultaneously They allowed captain Ben Sheaf to leave for Wrexham for a reported £6m fee. Additionally Raphael Borges Rodrigues left on loan to Wigan for the season. 

The opening day 0-0 draw with Hull gave no clue as to the way the season would would pan out but a week later a comprehensive 5-3 win at Derby signalled that this Coventry team had some fire-power. A week later the team celebrated the exciting news that the club had purchased the CBS Arena by thumping QPR 7-1. Thanks to six wins in a row the team remained unbeaten for its first twelve games, the best start since 1937, and after walloping Sheffield Wednesday on the first Saturday in October, they went top of the table.

The run ended with defeat on Halloween night at Wrexham but five wins in November including outstanding wins at their closest rivals Stoke and Middlesbrough gave them a 12-point lead over the third placed team. December was challenging with defeats by Ipswich at the start and end book-ending two home wins and two draws. Things got worse in January and although the home form stayed strong the three away defeats wiped out the lead to just goal difference. A home draw with lowly Oxford together with a Middlesbrough win at Sheffield United nudged City off top spot but only for seven days. New faces, Frank Onyeka, Romaine Esse and Yang Min-Hoek, all loanees, helped lift the squad and in a tactical masterclass City regained top spot with a 3-1 victory over Boro.

Confidence restored, the team were back on point and racked up another six wins in a row including a vital victory coming from behind at Bramall Lane, usually a graveyard for the team. In-form Southampton pinched a win at the CBS but only delayed the inevitable and although they failed to seal promotion against the division's whipping boys Sheffield Wednesday, the deal was sealed at Blackburn's Ewood Park on an emotional Friday night thanks to Bobby Thomas' late headed equaliser in front of 7,500 Coventry fans. With promotion achieved the shackles came off and the free-scoring Sky Blues managed 12 goals in their final three games to take their season's total to 97 including five players in double figures.

2025-26 Appearances & goalscorers

PLAYER	LEAGUE			FA CUP			LEAGUE CUP			SEASONS TOTAL
GRIMES, Matt	46		2				1	1		47	1	2
RUSHWORTH, Carl (L)	46									46	0	0
VAN EWIJK, Milan	43	1			1					43	2	0
DASILVA, Jay	41	1						1		41	2	0
KITCHING, Liam	37	1	2	1				2		38	3	2
MASON-CLARK, Ephron	36	6	10		1					36	7	10
THOMAS, Bobby	33		3				2			35	0	3
WRIGHT, Haji	31	9	17	1			1	1	1	33	10	18
SAKAMOTO, Takashiro	29	6	7		1			1		29	8	7
TORP, Victor	25	14	10				1	1		26	15	10
RUDONI, Jack	24	6	7	1				2		25	8	7
THOMAS-ASANTE, Brandon	21	11	13				1	1		22	12	13
ECCLES, Josh	19	15	4	1						20	15	4
SIMMS, Ellis	15	28	13		1		2		1	17	29	14
LATIBEAUDIERE, Joel	15			1						16	0	0
ONEYKA, Frank (L)	13	1	1							13	1	1
WOOLFENDEN, Luke	11	6		1						12	6	0
ESSE, Romaine (L)	8	9	2	1						9	9	2
KESLER-HAYDEN, Kaine	5	17	2				2			7	17	2
ALLEN, Jamie	4	19	1				2			6	19	1
BIDWELL, Jake	3	8		1			2			6	8	0
BRAU, Miguel Angel	1	8					2			3	8	0
ANDREWS, Kai		7		1			2			3	7	0
MARKELO, Jahnoah		5								0	5	0
YANG MIN-HOEK (L)		3		1						1	3	0
RODRIGUES, Raphael Borges		2					2			2	2	0
SHEAF, Ben		1								0	1	0
WILSON, Ben				1			2			3	0	0
og			3							0	0	3
	506	184	97	11	4	0	22	10	2	539	198	99

Promotion: The promotion completes an amazing nine-year journey from League Two to the Premier League and replicates the rise from Division Four to Division One between 1958 and 1967. Coincidentally that rise saw City win Divisions Three and Two and this rise also saw City win the tier three and two titles. Coventry are the first team to fall from the Premier League to League Two and return. They are also only the fourth team to rise from the Fourth tier to the top tier twice, the others being Swansea, Brighton and Luton Town.

Games: Coventry City played 49 competitive games, 46 league, 1 FA Cup and 2 League Cup. 28 league wins is the most ever by a Coventry City team beating the 24 wins in 1935-36 (42 games) and 1958-59 (46 games).

Points: From 46 league games the Sky Blues gathered 95 points, 28 more than the previous season and the highest number ever in the club's history. The margin over second placed Ipswich Town was 11 points – the highest margin in the EFL Championship since Reading in 2005-06. The points per game of 2.065 betters the previous record of 1.971 set in the truncated 2019-20 title-winning season.

Home Form: 17 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats. Ipswich and Southampton were the only sides to win at the CBS. No side won more home games. Only Ipswich lost less home games. The team gathered 55 home points, the best in the division and the most ever in a season beating the previous record of 46 in 1986-87. 

Away Form: 11 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses. The 11 away wins equalled the club record set in 2012-13 but 40 away points is a new record. The 4-0 victory at Millwall was the biggest midweek away win since 1958. The five away defeats equals the club record for a full season of five in 19 away games in 1988-89.

Biggest win: The biggest league win of the season was the 7-1 home win over QPR in August. It was the biggest league victory since City beat Shrewsbury 8-1 in 1963 and obviously the biggest at the CBS.

Biggest defeat: The biggest defeat was 0-3 at Ipswich in December. 

Goals for: The total of 97 league goals was 33 more than 2024-25 and the best in the whole Football League. It was only one short of the highest since the war, 1963-64 (98) and the fifth highest in the club's history. In total they failed to score seven times in 46 games, the lowest since 1977-78 when Gordon Milne's team failed to score in just five games. The team scored 51 home goals, easily the highest in the division and the most since 1965-66 when Jimmy Hill's side scored 54. There were 46 away goals, a club record beating the previous highest of 37 in 2012-13.

City scored five goals or more four times, equalling the post-war record set in 1963-64 but this is still less than everyseason between 1931-32 and 1935-36 in Division Three South. The 5-3 win at Derby was a good way to come back from the false-start against Hull on the opening day; the 7-1 v QPR was a great way to celebrate the news that City had acquired the stadium; the 5-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday took City top and was City's first 5-0 away win in the second flight; and the 5-1 v Portsmouth was a great celebration of winning the Championship title.

Goals against: City conceded 45 goals, 13 less than 2024-25, the lowest in the division and the lowest in the club's history from a 46-game season.

Goal difference: City's goal difference of +52 was the highest in all four divisions, and City's best by far since goal difference replaced goal average in 1976-77. The previous best had been +18 when City finished 8^th in League 1 in 2015-16 and the truncated League 1 title season in 2019-20 when only 34 games were able to be played. +52 is City's second best total, only surpassed by +57 in 1935-36.

Clean sheets: The team kept 17 league clean sheets, four more than 2024-25. Carl Rushworth won the Golden Gloves title for keeping the most in the division. However it was four short of the record set by Ben Wilson in 2022-23. Carl also set a new club record by keeping a clean sheet for 613 minutes in the autumn including five consecutive shut-outs.

Final position: The club finished as Champions of the division. The fifth time they have topped a division in 100 seasons in the Football League and the first confirmed before the end of a season – all the others were confirmed on the final day or, in 2020, post-season. After going top on 4^th October with the win at Hillsborough the Sky Blues led the table for 128 days (a club record) and only lost top spot for seven days but regained it with a 3-1 home victory over Middlesborough. Thereafter they led the table until the season's end. In total 204 days in top place which is longer than in the previous 58 seasons cumulatively! City were actually top of the table after every game they played from 4^th October until the end of the season.

Leading scorers: For the third season running Haji Wright topped the league scorers list with 17 goals putting him in third place in the Golden Boot competition. Brandon Thomas-Asante and Ellis Simms shared the runners up position with 13 each. For the first time since 1963-64 five Sky Blues players scored 10 or more league goals. Fifteen different City players were on the score-sheet in league games. Wright has now scored 49 goals for the club (45 league, 4 cup) and is now the seventh highest league scorer in the post-1967 era and has the best goals per minute ratio of the top ten.

Doubles: City achieved ten league doubles, easily a club record, breaking the previous best of six. For the third successive season the team did the double over Middlesbrough. It was the first over Swansea since 1946-47, the first over West Brom since 1969-70, the first over Stoke since 1984-85 and the first over Sheffield United since 2001-02.. Only Ipswich did the double over City.

Appearances: Matt Grimes and Carl Rushworth started all 46 league games. Rushworth played every minute (4140) but Grimes was subbed three times and played 4126 minutes. Two other players, Ellis Simms and Ben Wilson, were in every league squad.

Players used: 27 players were used in league games (one more than 2024-25) - and one, Ben Wilson, appeared in all three Cup games. Of the 27 players, eight made their debuts during the season. In addition to the 27 players used four more: Callum Perry, Justin Obikwu, Oscar Varney and George Shepherd sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used. Five of the 27 players, Sheaf, Rodrigues, Andrews, Yang and Markelo only made substitute appearances in the league and Brau made one league start. Of the main squad of 21, seven made 40 or more league appearances, thereby demonstrating the importance of a close-knit, settled side.

Substitutes: Ellis Simms made the most substitute appearances (28 league, 1 Cup) – the most off the bench by a City player in a season beating Andy Morrell's record from 2005-06. Jamie Allen has now made 69 sub appearances in total and overtook Max Biamou's previous record of 55, but Ellis Simms and Josh Eccles are hard on his heels with 66 and 61 respectively. Haji Wright was the most substituted player (27 times in league, 2 Cup) and Eccles has now been subbed 55 times, second only to Jordan Shipley who was hooked 61 times. Seven goals were scored by substitutes: Ellis Simms 2 (Millwall (a) & Sheff Wed (a)) Victor Torp 2 (Southampton (h) & Wrexham (h)), Kaine Kesler-Hayden (Millwall (a), Jack Rudoni 2 (both Derby (h)), Haji Wright (Leicester (h)). Rudoni became only the ninth City player to score two as a sub. Ben Wilson was the most unused substitute, staying on the bench 46 times and Jake Bidwell was unused in 35 games. 

Appearance milestones: Jamie Allen made his 200^th City appearance when he came on as a substitute on the last day of the season at Watford. On the same day Jake Bidwell made his 150^th City appearance and Joel Latibeaudiere played for the 100^th time. This set a remarkable record of eight players reaching the 100 appearance milestone, the others being Ellis Simms, Bobby Thomas, Haji Wright, Jay Dasilva, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Liam Kitching and Victor Torp.

Won from behind: (6) City won from a losing position on six occasions compared to two in 2024-25. Derby (a), Sheff United (h) & (a), WBA (h), Leicester (h), Charlton (h). Twice they came from behind to draw (Norwich (h) & Blackburn (a)). Against West Brom they came from two down to win. . The team won 20 points from losing positions. The Sky Blues scored first in 30 league games.

Lost from in front: (4) City lost three league games from a winning position (at Wrexham, QPR and Norwich (for the third season running). On four occasions City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws – Oxford (a) Preston (a), Southampton (a) & Charlton (a). 17 points were lost from leading positions.

Best run: The Sky Blues best unbeaten run was 12 games from the start of the season. This was the second best ever start to a season for the club, only bettered by the 15-game start to 1937-38. During that run the team won six in a row for the first time in a season and followed it up in February/March with another six in a row. The season ended with the team unbeaten in eight games. Between the end of September and the end of December the Sky Blues won eight consecutive home games – the best run since 1958. 

Worst run: There were three runs of three league games without a win, the first in August-September, then again in December-January and the third in January-February. The first was three draws and the latter two were 2 defeats and a draw.

Hat-tricks: (2) Haji Wright netted a hat-trick in the important home win over Middlesbrough in February Wright is the first Coventry player to score a league hat-trick against Middlesbrough since David Speedie in 1988. Ellis Simms scored his third hat-trick at Watford on the final day of the season – the first away hat-trick by a City player since Matty Godden at Tranmere on New Year's Day 2020 and the first against Watford since Clarrie Bourton in a 5-0 win in 1932.

Opposing hat-tricks: (1) Keiffer Moore was the only opposition player to score a hat-trick against the Sky Blues – in the Welsh club's 3-2 victory in October. He is only the third opponent to score three in the last eight seasons, Portsmouth's Lang and Hull's Estupinan the others.

Former Players: City faced many of their former players during the season but only one, Sheffield United's Sam McCallum, managed to score against them. 

Own goals: For City: (3) Three opposition players scored goals in their own net: Bright Osayi-Samuel (Birmingham (h)), Andrew Hughes (Preston (a)) and Regan Poole (Portsmouth (h)).

Own goals: By City: (1) Bobby Thomas was the only City player to score in his own net – in the 4-2 win at Middlesborough.

Penalties: For City: (6) Six awarded, all scored. Wright 3 (Derby (a), Millwall LC (a), Middlesbrough (h)), Grimes (Preston (h)), Torp (Southampton (h)) & Thomas-Asante (Swansea (a))

Penalties: Against City: (3) Three awarded, all scored. Derby's Carlton Morris (for the second season running), Watford's Imran Louza and Derby's Ben Brereton-Diaz.

Fastest Goal scored: Three goals were timed at three minutes: Thomas-Asante at Sheffield Wednesday, the same player v Watford and Simms at Charlton.

Fastest Goal conceded: Birmingham City's Marvin Ducksch scored in the sixth minute at St.Andrews.

Late goals: Once again the team excelled in late goalscoring with 17 goals after the 80^th minute six of them after 90 minutes and six of them winning/decisive winning goals. The super six were: Sheff United (h), Stoke (h) and (a), Middlesbrough (a), Leicester (h), Derby (h). The Sky Blues conceded six goals after the 80^th minute with two in added-time but none of them were winning goals. 

Defenders scoring: At Middlesbrough Liam Kitching became the first Coventry defender to score two goals in a league game since Reda Johnson at Bradford in 2014.

Red cards: Coventry: (3): Dasilva (Southampton (a)), Thomas (Birmingham (a)) and Latibeaudiere (Bristol City (a)).There was also a retrospective red card for Thomas-Asante at Norwich.

Red cards: Opponents: (6) Six opponents were sent off against the Sky Blues. This season's culprits were: Robinson (Birmingham), Abankwah (Watford), Molumby (WBA), Lindsay (Preston), Lankshear (Oxford) and Randell (Bristol City). Liam Lindsay is only the second opponent to be sent off twice against the Sky Blues (the other being Chris Whyte).

FA Cup: City fell at the first hurdle, losing 1-0 to Stoke City thanks to a very late goal.

League Cup: After defeating old rivals Luton Town the Sky Blues put out a weakened side at Millwall and lost 2-1.

Bookings: Liam Kitching had the dubious honour of most yellow cards with ten cards. Milan Van Ewijk and Bobby Thomas were close behind with eight each. Van Ewijk was the only player who received a one-match ban for clocking up yellow cards.

Home Attendances: The average home attendance increased again. Boosted by a record 24,000 season tickets the average was 30,290, up 9% from 2024-25. That is the highest since 1969-70 when the Sky Blues finished sixth in the old First Division and qualified for Europe and averaged 32,043. It was the highest in the Championship and the fourth highest in the club's history, only bettered by the three seasons between 1967-70. There were 15 league attendances above 30,000 which is the most since 18 in the first season in Division 1 in 1967-68.

An average of 1,710 away fans attended City's games at the CBS.

Away Attendances: An average of 22,521 watched City's away league games, an increase of 2.6% and the fifth highest in the Championship.

Highest home attendance: The CBS attendance record for a City game was broken twice during the season. First the Stoke game attracted 31,516, topping the Middlesbrough game in 2024-25 by 64. Then for the Sheffield Wednesday game a new record of 31,647 was set. You have to go back to 1981 to find a larger home crowd, 35,411 v West Ham United in the League Cup semi final. In total there were fifteen crowds over 30,000, nine of them over 31,000. 

Lowest home attendance: 27,835 v Preston when there were only 350 away fans.

Highest away attendance: The biggest league crowd was 30,857 at Leicester's King Power Stadium.

Lowest away attendance: The smallest league attendance was 10,617 v Wrexham. There were 7,048 at Millwall for the League Cup tie.

Away followings: An average of 2,849 City fans followed the team away up 31%. The largest away following was at Blackburn where 7,375 City fans attended. There were also an incredible 4,866 at Preston for a midweek game in December, with the smallest 1,291 for the game at Wrexham in October. Norwich and Birmingham had followings of over 2,600 before the away allocation at the CBS was reduced to just over 2,000. The smallest following at the CBS was 358 for Preston's visit.

Captains: After having six different starting captains the previous season there was far more continuity this season. Ben Sheaf started the season as club captain but did not start a game. Liam Kitching wore the armband for the first four games before Matt Grimes was appointed on Sheaf's departure. Sheaf took the armband from Kitching in the opening game when he came on as substitute but handed it to Jamie Allen when he went off injured. In the home games against Derby and Wrexham Kitching took the armband when Grimes was subbed and in the final game at Watford Grimes passed the armband to Allen when the latter came on as a sub.

Kits: City wore four different kits during the season. The Sky Blue kit was worn in all 24 home games and 11 away games (5 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats) . The hot coral kit was used in 10 away games (4 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats). The navy blue kit was worn in three away games (1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat) The Brown retro kit was worn once and resulted in a win.

Bogeys: City failed to end their dreadful record at Preston's Deepdale where they have never won a league game in 24 visits to the ground. Norwich continue to be a bogey side for City – in fifteen meetings since 2009 City have failed to beat the Canaries. Despite Leicester being relegated the Sky Blues have still not managed to win at the King Power Stadium for the ninth time. City have definitely become a thorn in Middlesborough's side – the Sky Blues have won the last seven meetings and are unbeaten in ten.

Awards: Frank Lampard was selected as Manager of the Season as well as winning Manager of the Month awards in October and November (the first Coventry manager to win two monthly awards in a season).  Four City players were selected for the EFL Championship Team of the Season: Rushworth, Van Ewijk, Grimes and Wright. Rushworth was nominated for the Championship Player of the Season but lost out to Hayden Hackney of Middlesbrough. Thomas-Asante and Simms won EFL player of the month awards in October and November respectively. 

Game of the season: There were so many outstanding performances in this incredible season. At the CBS the standout games were QPR, West Brom, Derby, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough. Away from home the memorable games were at Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and, of course, Blackburn. Overall the Middlesbrough home win is top for me especially considering that Boro had overtaken us the previous week and we seemed to have hit the wall with only two wins in nine. The 3-1 win put the verve back into the team and the fans and made a serious dent in Boro's confidence.

Internationals: Club form in a very strong season earned full international call-ups for: Haji Wright (USA), Joel Latibeaudiere and Ephron Mason-Clark (Jamaica), Jay Dasilva (Wales), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) and Brandon Thomas-Asante (Ghana). Probably the most players capped in a season since the Premiership days pre-2001.

Goal of the season: How can you choose one from the 99 goals scored by the Sky Blues in League and Cup games. The standouts for me were Torp's 2nd v QPR (h), Mason-Clark at Stoke (a), Simms' 1st v Middlesbrough (a), Rudoni v WBA (a), Torp v Wrexham (h), Torp v Watford (a). My vote goes to Ephron's late winner at Stoke for not only the technical ability and bravery but the context of the game (1^st v 2^nd, Lampard v Robins). It was the result that convinced me that we were serious promotion candidates.

With many thanks to Paul O'Connor.