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For a long while, Coventry City could lay claim to being the unhappiest professional football club in England. Between 1970 and 2018, they finished in the top six of any division precisely zero times. When change came, top-flight stagnancy gave way to abject collapse at the hands of a deeply unpopular ownership group.
Eight years ago on Tuesday, Coventry drew 0-0 away at Barnet in the bottom tier of the Football League. They would follow that immediately with league defeats against Accrington Stanley and Forest Green Rovers, the latter attracting a home crowd of just 6,366. Then, merely competing at Championship level was a far-off dream. Everything was breaking or broken, including the spirit of the city.
Stevenage and Bournemouth supporters may politely disagree, but Coventry City surely now possess the most enthused fanbase in the country. They are England’s only unbeaten professional team this season. Their attacking returns lately have been outrageous: 12 more goals than any other Championship club, 27 more shots and 10 more shots on target.
Coventry City are living their best life under Frank Lampard (Photo: Getty)
Nor have
Frank Lampard’s team simply been cavalier. They have won their last three matches by an aggregate scoreline of 12-0 and faced only three shots on target in the process.
Almost half of their league goals conceded came during a 50-minute period at Derby County (a game they won 5-3 anyway). The dominance is monstrous: the second best xG per game difference (so xG minus xG against per game) in the Championship is 0.82; Coventry’s is 1.66.
In years to come, supporters may look back on 23 August, 2025 as the most significant day in the club’s modern history.
When
The i Paper interviewed Doug King early last season about a wide range of topics, what stuck out most was his deep desire to purchase the CBS Arena back from Mike Ashley. Without that, his club would forever be left in a position of disadvantage financially and competitively because it could never truly feel like they were playing at home.
On that Saturday morning, Coventry City announced that the purchase had been completed. In the 20th anniversary year of its opening, Coventry City finally owned its own ground. A long-term future was secured.
That same afternoon, Coventry City beat Queens Park Rangers 7-1, scoring seven or more goals in a league game for the first time since 1963. The mood was one of ecstasy, off-pitch ambition and on-pitch brilliance finally married together.
Dominic Jerams, who runs the Coventry City fan website
Sidewayssammy.com, described the day to me:
“I was one of a number of fans who were just completely speechless early on that day, taking in the journey pre-match that had taken us through so much heartache, to Northampton and Birmingham and back. Adding the result to that just felt like the most incredible fever dream I could imagine.”
The Sky Blues are the only team who remain unbeaten this season (Photo: Getty)
The foundations for the unbeaten start to the season were laid this summer.
There is a lesson here. There were times during the transfer window when supporters online expressed serious misgivings about the lack of incoming signings. All 90 of the starting places given to outfielders so far in 2025-26 were for players at Coventry City last season.
But so what? King was able to keep hold of Milan van Ewijk, to my mind the best attacking full-back in the division. Jack Rudoni also stayed despite serious Premier League interest and he is the principal central creator.
Matt Grimes is ludicrously important and stayed too. Missing chances at key moments was the standout flaw of last season, but Haji Wright is the Championship’s top scorer. If you believe what you have is good enough, retention can be the strongest form of ambition.
This is a good year to be an excellent
Championship side. Two years ago, the three relegated clubs took 50 points from their opening nine games; now it’s 39 and that includes Leicester City, who will surely be heading for a points deduction.
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Last season, 16 points from nine matches had you sixth and now it is good enough for third. This is an open league and any team that steals a march can cement a place near its top.
As such, there is little immediate concern that Coventry’s form is unsustainable.
None of their next five league fixtures are against teams in the top 10 and they have scored 11 goals against the teams currently in sixth and eight place. Early draws against Norwich City, Oxford United and Hull City suggest a need to improve against the bottom half, but there is no good reason why they won’t.
King’s entire personality as an owner is not to get carried away but to control what he can. The same is roughly true of Lampard
as a manager, who has looked to take the pressure off players and create a working environment where they feel comfortable to make mistakes and improve thereafter.
When you have been out of the top flight for 25 years and lost in a play-off final and semi-final over the last three seasons, complacency is not an option.
That doesn’t mean that we – and certainly supporters – shouldn’t get excited and embrace this brilliant new age of a club that needed one like no other. For too long, Mark Robins was the only good news story here, an antidote to the mess.
This is a lesson in squad-building and planning, but more than that it is proof of the potential every club has when the structure is right, every stakeholder is working together and goodwill abounds.
The Coventry City success story is finally here: get through the worst years of your existence, find a rich, benevolent, local owner, rebuild the club, back a manager and watch things soar.
inews.co.uk
