Former Coventry City manager Mark Robins knows exactly what it has taken to get the club heading back to the top flight
Peter Smith Football reporter
13:21, 17 Apr 2026Updated 13:31, 17 Apr 2026
Mark Robins applauds the fans as Coventry City
Mark Robins is delighted for old club Coventry City that they are returning to the Premier League.
Mark Robins is sending his congratulations to Coventry City, his successor Frank Lampard and chairman Doug King as they get ready to seal promotion to the Premier League.
Coventry could confirm promotion tonight if they pick up a point at Blackburn Rovers although, in reality, goal difference is such that they can already start preparing for life in the top flight for the first time since 2001.
It feels like the culmination of the work Robins oversaw during nearly eight years in charge, dragging them up from League Two to the top end of the Championship and only losing a play-off final on penalties in 2023 and the FA Cup semi-finals a year later.
He left in November last season after a stuttering start and Lampard subsequently got them back in the top six by the spring and then set the pace pretty much all the way through this campaign.
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“They’re going up,” said Robins, now in charge at Stoke City. “I’m really pleased for them. Frank has done a fantastic job. He took over from me in difficult circumstances and he’s taken it to a different level. They will go up and they’ve got the stadium now and it looks certainly a lot more stable. Not only that, they’ve got a really good team, a top manager and they’ve done fantastically well.
“The owner has been incredible there, to be fair, and what he’s done for the club, the city and what plans they have when they eventually get up, I’m sure they’ll spend money and try to stay in there.
“It won’t for him and certainly for the club and certainly for Frank be anything like going up and just staying in there for one season, they’ll try to stay in there for good. It’s taken quarter of a century to get back and that’s come from a long way down the pyramid – a similar story, in some ways, to the Wrexham story – so it’s been a long time coming.
“Good luck to them. I hope they enjoy their promotion and hopefully we can emulate them in the next couple of years.”
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