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Coventry City’s Remarkable Return to the Premier League, 25 Years in the Making

Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues were crowned EFL Championship Champions and are finally back in England’s Top Flight. Coventry City thrashed Portsmouth 5-1 last week, etching their name onto the EFL Championship trophy, later lifting it after defeating Wrexham 3-1 on Sunday in front of thirty thousand Sky Blue fans. Administration, relegation down to England’s fourth tier for the first time in their history, losing their home stadium on two separate occasions, leading to ground sharing with Northampton Town and Birmingham City, Coventry City fans have seen and followed their club through its darkest period. That unwavering support has all been worth it, as now, after two and a half decades, Coventry City are in the Premier League once more. Super Frank Lampard After the departure of the beloved Mark Robbins back in late 2024, who led the Sky Blues from League Two, all the way to the championship and was just one win away from promotion to England’s top flight, but ultimately lost to Luton in the play-off final. Robins also won the EFL trophy in 2017 and came to a whisker of reaching the FA Cup final in the 2023/24 season, losing on penalties again at Wembley to Manchester United. The appointment of Frank Lampard wasn’t many fans’ first choice; however, since his arrival, Lampard took a 17th-place Coventry side all the way to the playoffs, narrowly losing at the death to eventual winners Sunderland. But this season, Lampard’s men started brilliantly and never looked back, going on a 12-game unbeaten run to cement their spot at the top of the table. This season’s success has also revitalised Lampard’s managerial career. The former Chelsea player and manager now has another opportunity to manage at the top level of English football, following his sacking from Everton midway through the 2022/23 campaign. Perhaps his experience in the Championship has contributed to his managerial development. After a short wobble of form in January, Frank Onyenka arrived from Brentford to reinforce a struggling Coventry midfield. His impact was felt immediately as the Nigerian international put in a stellar performance in his Sky Blue debut in a 3-1 victory against fellow promotion rivals Middlesbrough in February. Onyenka has been a mainstay in Coventry’s midfield ever since and has been a key component in the Sky Blues securing promotion. Looking Ahead to the Premier League Since Doug King fully took over Coventry City from SISU in January of 2023, King has continually bolstered Coventry’s squad, window upon window, spending a total of £63 million, but it is important to note that the sales of Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres did help. King’s goal of getting his club to the big time has finally come to fruition. King will once again open the chequebook to prepare Frank Lampard for the Premier League. Loanees Carl Rushworth from Brighton and Frank Onyenka from Brentford are two purchases King should immediately make, as the pair have been immense in their time at the CBS Arena so far. Current players such as Haji Wright, Jack Rudoni and fullback Milan Van-Ewijk are expected to make the jump to Premier League level, as they have been continuously linked with a move to the Premier League and some of Europe’s top leagues over the past few windows. Following a transfer model, such as Sunderland’s last summer, is something the newly promoted Coventry should aim to follow. A trip down to Vicarage Road to Face Watford this coming Saturday will be Coventry City’s final Championship game before jumping up to the Premier League. An away day set to be full of celebrations from fans and players, as they round off a fantastic season.

April 29, 2026

English FA Cup Fourth Round Draw

The FA Cup fourth round draw has taken place today, and has produced a range of interesting ties. The third round had some high-scoring games, such as Manchester City vs Exeter, which finished 10-1. But it also had a major cup upset, last year’s winners, Crystal Palace, being knocked out by Macclesfield. But here’s how the next set of fixtures looks. Arsenal will face Wigan at home. Aston Villa have drawn fellow Premier League side Newcastle United. Birmingham City will take on Leeds, and Burnley will face League One side Mansfield Town. Another League One vs Premier League side draw in Burton vs West Ham. League Two side Grimsby will host Wolves at Blundell Park, and Hull will be up against Chelsea, where Liam Rosenior will face his 2nd cup fixture as Chelsea manager. Liverpool face Barnsley in the Monday night fixture, and the winner of that game will host Brighton. Shock winners Macclesfield will face another Premier League test as they take on Brentford. Manchester City’s convincing performance against Exeter books their place in the fourth round, and they will face the winner of Salford City vs Swindon Town, which was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Norwich City face West Brom, Oxford United travel to Sunderland, and Bristol City will make the journey to Port Vale. The last three games to be played are Southampton vs. Leicester, Stoke vs. Fulham, and, finally, Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham side will face Ipswich. A total of 16 games to be played over the weekend of the 13th to 15/16th of February.

January 12, 2026

Ex-Rangers Manager Accepts Norwich City Job

Former Rangers boss Philippe Clement has been appointed as the new Norwich City manager. He pens a deal until 2029, and will be joined by Stephan Van Der Heyden, who was his right hand man in Glasgow as well. Former Blackburn Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was ruled out of the running yesterday and fellow sacked Rangers boss Russell Martin, who spent the majority of his playing career at Carrow Road, had also been linked with taking the job. “I’m really excited by this story and opportunity. I’ve known this club for a long time and, whilst we are not in a good moment at this time, we are excited to work together with the players and staff to turn things around.” Clement told Norwich’s official website. “Meeting with the owners and hearing some of their ambitions for the club, it really convinced me that this is the best move. They have big plans for the future, but of course, our job in the short term is to turn around the current situation and get everyone believing again. “I also see the potential in the club and the group of players, and feel totally ready for the challenge ahead.” Clement has yet to return to management since he was dismissed at Ibrox, in a tenure which seen him win the Premier Sports Cup just months into the job, but failed to back this up with further silverware. He spent time as a player in England with Coventry City in the Premier League, but embarks on his first management role in English football. His Rangers side only lost 16 of the 86 games during his spell in Glasgow’s Southside, but was unable to survive being so far behind Celtic and a poor run of form before his departure, which included a catastrophic 1-0 defeat at home to Queen’s Park. The Belgian won league titles in his homeland with Genk and Club Brugge, and has also worked in Ligue 1 with AS Monaco. The 51 year-old has emerged as a shock candidate and would be replacing Liam Manning who was sacked after 17 games in charge. Norwich have failed to pick up any points at home this season so far, and find themselves second from bottom in the Championship, four points from safety. Clement’s first match in charge will be away to Birmingham City, where he may come up against an old foe in Kyogo Furuhashi.

November 18, 2025

Sheffield Wednesday On The Brink As Fans Protest Against Dejphon Chansiri

Sheffield Wednesday fans took to the field on Saturday in protest at the ownership of club Chairman Dejphon Chansiri as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat to Coventry. Whilst Wrexham and Birmingham City are living the dream after respective big money American takeovers the financial situation that has plighted Sheffield Wednesday for years has caused fans to have enough of the owner Dejphon Chansiri who seems to be in no rush to sell the club. Thai businessman took over the club in 2014 and set lofty goals of reaching the promised land of the Premier League. Whilst early on in his tenure this looked a possibly as they narrowly lost the 2016 playoff final to Hull City before succumbing to Huddersfield at the semi-final stage the following season what has proceeded at the Hillsborough club has sent shockwaves through English football. In July 2020 the club were hit with a points deduction for breaking the EFL spending rules being deducted 12 points reduced to 6 on appeal. This sparked the catalyst of what has been a turbulent 5 years for Wednesday supporters. Relegated to League 1 and taking two seasons to return to the Championship the fans were unhappy with the way Chansiri was running the club. In a bombshell statement Chansiri stated he was putting no more money into the club citing his unhappiness with the treatment towards him and demanding the fans pay the outstanding amount owed by the club. Since this statement the club has been put under two registration embargo for failing to pay HMRC. Earlier this summer the north stand at Hillsborough was condemned by the city council and forced to close with the structure being deemed unsafe however, this was later lifted. On top of this earlier this month it was revealed that the players wages were to be payed late the 5th time this has happened in only 7 months with it being claimed this is due to an issue with money owned to Chansiri’s other businesses. The club face further sanctions from the EFL as they are already under a transfer embargo until the end of 2026. With the club looking on the brink of insolvency and Chansiri showing no signs of selling it begs the question what can the EFL do? In the last 5 years there have been financial issues at Wigan, Bury, Derby, Torquay, Hull City, Bolton, Reading, Carlisle and Morecambe with Bury ceasing to trade as a football club due to their perilous situation. The EFL do have measures in place to assess new owners by way of a fit and proper person tests can they do more when owners are essentially running clubs into the ground. The Covid Pandemic has played a part in these issues the power to remove owners who are running clubs unsustainably or holding them to ransom is something that needs looked at. Furthermore punishing clubs for their breaches of rules in the way of points deductions is a counter productive measure. For clubs to find themselves on minus points increasing the risk of relegation in turn causing more financial losses is not the way forward. The future of one of English Football’s most historic and well known clubs in doubt and the situation showing no immediate signs of improving is it time for the powers govern the game to step in and save the club from potential collapse.

October 8, 2025

EFL

Coventry City’s Remarkable Return to the Premier League, 25 Years in the Making

English FA Cup Fourth Round Draw

Ex-Rangers Manager Accepts Norwich City Job

Sheffield Wednesday On The Brink As Fans Protest Against Dejphon Chansiri

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