Things are going pretty well for Coventry City right now as they chase down promotion to the Premier League under Frank Lampard, but they were battling it out in League Two just a few years ago.
When Coventry City parted ways with Mark Robins late last year, many Sky Blue fans feared the worst and predicted their beloved club would be going backwards once more.
But, Frank Lampard has rejuvenated the team and has put Coventry on a record-breaking run of form that has seen them catapulted into the play-off places at the perfect time.
However, those dizzying heights are a complete contrast to where Coventry were in the 2017 when Robins took on the job there, and the story of how they worked their way back up the Football League is an incredible tale.
Photo by Stephen White - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images
Coventry City and Morecambe played out a ‘dead game’ that helped both parties
Coventry had dropped down to League Two in the 2016/17 campaign, and were big favourites to go straight back up given the size of the club.
But, speaking on the I Had Trials Once podcast, former Sky Blue defender Chris Stokes explained how Coventry really didn’t have it easy down there despite numerous advantages on and off the pitch.
He said: “We had a half a chance that season… we had forwards scoring goals who could get us out of the league. It takes the pressure off, you don’t want to be holding on for clean sheets.
“We were playing in a 35,000 seater stadium against teams like Forest Green… in a massive stadium, fans were confronting the players on the pitch. Away games were carnage, home games were maybe worse… they were fuming about where Coventry were.”
“We didn’t blow it away in the league though. We were midtable, and then we got in the play-offs at the very end of the season when we played Morecambe.”
Pos Team Pld W D L GD Pts
1 Accrington Stanley (P) 46 29 6 11 30 93
2 Luton Town (P) 46 25 13 8 48 88
3 Wycombe 46 24 12 10 19 84
4 Exeter City 46 24 8 14 10 80
5 Notts County 46 21 14 11 23 77
6 Coventry (PO) 46 22 9 15 17 75
League Two table 2017/18
Discussing that make-or-break tie, Stokes revealed a little bit of sneaky play from both sides might have factored into the final league table.
He added: “Last game of the season, they needed a point to stay up and we needed a point to get into the play-offs. So the game of football was a complete non-starter.
“We spoke to each other and just almost said, ‘If you don’t go this way I won’t go that way and we’ll just see what happens,’ and nothing happened. 0-0, it was a complete stalemate. They weren’t going for it and we didn’t want to risk it going forward and have a counterattack go against us.
“There were a few opportunities and it would have sent everyone mental, it would have changed the game completely and sent them down. The [Coventry] fans were booing even though we got in the play-offs, they’d obviously paid to come and watch it and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.”
Coventry would eventually make it past Notts County in the play-off semi-final with a 5-2 aggregate score, before defeating Exeter City in the final 3-1 to climb back into League One. And, as they say, the rest is history.
Coventry City on the brink of play-off glory once more
Since then, Coventry have returned to the Championship, established themselves there, and were one penalty kick away from the Premier League just two seasons ago. Throw into the mix an incredible FA Cup run last season, and it’s hard to deny how much of an astounding job Robins did there.
But, under Lampard, Coventry are a completely different animal now. With eight games to go, they are sitting in fifth place in the Championship table with 59 points, two points clear of West Brom and Bristol City behind them.
Of all the play-off contenders this season, Coventry look like the team to beat now. They’re in electric form, full of confidence, and have gathered momentum just in time for the play-off dates come May.
Thankfully, they’re doing it all without any kind of unspoken gentleman’s agreement, too. Or, at least, we don’t think that’s happened. We’ll keep an eye out for Lampard’s shocking admission in years to come, but until then, we can only sit back and enjoy the work he is doing at the CBS Arena.