Former Coventry City favourites took to social media at the weekend to express their excitement at the prospect of their former club edging closer to a return to the Premier League.
Posting on X after Saturday’s brilliant 3-0 win at Swansea – a result that put the Sky Blues 11 points clear of third and fourth placed Ipswich and Millwall with seven games to go – legendary striker Mick Quinn wrote: “Another cracking win for Coventry City at Swansea and with 7 games to go 25 Years of hurt could be over.”
Star of the mid-late 1990s Darren Huckerby, meanwhile, posted: “Coventry City back in the Premier League, it’s just a matter of time!”
Elsewhere, local lad James Maddison, who maintains a great deal of affection for his home town club, said: “See you soon Coventry City,” complete with a winking emoji face.
The irony of the last post, however, is that his club, Tottenham, are currently embroiled in a relegation battle and could well be passing the Sky Blues on the way down to the Championship.
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Frank’s nagging doubt
Frank Lampard refused to engage with title talk as Coventry City edged tantalisingly closer to automatic promotion at the weekend, admitting there’s still a nagging doubt that it could all go wrong in the final seven games of the season.
For the fans, however, the 3-0 victory at Swansea on a day when their closest rivals Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Millwall all drew and dropped points in the race for the Premier League signalled that their club had all but done it.
Now 11 points clear of third and fourth place, the Sky Blue Army sang about the prospect of playing at Arsenal and renewing hostilities with Aston Villa next season. Asked if he’s feeling the yearning, more and more from supporters to end 25 year absence from the Premier League, Lampard said: “Oh yeah, absolutely! Absolutely because it’s this story, and I have talked about it a bit lately. I walked into this club which has a huge history, including a short-term history of the last 25 years or whatever, of going down to League Two and back up.”
Speaking to Sky Sports he added: “I made my debut against Coventry (for West Ham) with Gordon Strachan going on for them in what feels like an eternity ago, and the club still hasn’t managed to get back and now the stadium is part of the club, thanks to the owner, the team is playing well and I think the fans have enjoyed it.
“There’s a build up of excitement with a little bit of ‘this could go wrong,’ you know, this Coventry culture, British culture, I don’t know what it is. So it’s our job, and thankfully we can do it. You know, we’re in control of what we can do here in terms of trying to get over the line.”
Coventry City manager Frank Lampard and Matt Grimes celebrate at full time at Swansea
Coventry City manager Frank Lampard and Matt Grimes celebrate at full time at Swansea
Grimesy feels the love
Matt Grimes had mixed emotions at the weekend when there was an out-pouring of support from Coventry City fans when he was booed by the supporters of another club he loves.
The Sky Blues midfielder spent a decade at Swansea, making more than 300 appearances and captaining the side for five years before moving to the CBS Arena just over a year ago.
He was heckled by some sections of the home support on Saturday, prompting the travelling Sky Blue Army to sing his name and song louder than ever. The 30-year-old then offered the perfect response to the boo-boys by scoring City’s second goal, after which he refused to celebrate out of respect to his former club.
“I have got a lot of love for Swansea, I spent a good chunk of my years here, they gave me a lot, so out of respect for the club and the people I felt it was right not to,” he said, speaking to BBC CWR after his first return to the Swansea.com Stadium.
“It was strange, I obviously spent a long time here so it was strange being in the away dressing room. It was good to get on the scoresheet but the main thing was the three points. I thought the lads were brilliant, it was the perfect away performance.”
As for the support he received from the Coventry faithful, he said: “The amount of love I got from the fans was outstanding and I can’t thank them enough, they were brilliant from minute one to minute 90. I know they will be with us for the rest of the campaign; we just keep going.”
As for the prospect of automatic promotion with seven games to go and a healthy 11 point cushion to third and fourth placed Ipswich and Millwall, he said: “Nothing is done yet. We’ve obviously put ourselves in a brilliant position. We just need to keep our levels as high as possible, as they have been all season, to get us over the line.
“We just have to keep going - ticking them off. It’s (all about) the next game.”
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First call for EMC as Frank faces venue switch v Iran - International round-up
The Sky Blues have six players out on international duty this week including a first ever call-up for Ephron Mason-Clark by Jamaica and a venue switch for Frank Onyeka who was due to play away in Iran.
Mason-Clark’s impressive form with the Sky Blues has earned him a call to join Joel Latibeaudiere on a long-haul trip to Mexico to play New Caledonia in a World Cup play-off semi-final on Friday (March 27). If successful, the Reggae Boyz will then face DR Congo in the final, also in Mexico, next Tuesday (March 31).
Jay Dasilva will represent Wales as they look to secure their World Cup spot through the play-offs, taking on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final (Thurs, March 26). If Wales win they will face either Italy or Northern Ireland for the chance to progress to this summer’s finals.
Onyeka, meanwhile, is also set represent his nation, Nigeria, who are scheduled to play friendlies against Iran and Jordan - both of which are away fixtures. However, due to the current war in the Middle East it’s understood the games have been switched to Turkey.
Elsewhere, loan winger Romain Esse has joined up with England Under-21s for a European qualifier away to Andorra on Friday before a home game against Moldova on Tuesday, while Yang Min-Hyeok has travelled home to South Korea to represent the Under-23s in a friendly v Japan on Monday (March 30).
Meanwhile, Brandon Thomas-Asante has withdrawn from the Ghana squad after picking up an injury against Swansea, having been scheduled to play in away friendlies against Austria (Fri, March 27) and Germany (Mon, March 30).
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