--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-07-24T20:56:07.002Z last_updated: 2026-07-23T10:19:39+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/coventry-city/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY292ZW50cnl0ZWxlZ3JhcGgubmV0L3Nwb3J0L2Zvb3RiYWxsL2Zvb3RiYWxsLW5ld3MvZGFyay1kYXlzLXByb21pc2VkLWxhbmQtaG93LTM0MjkyNzg1 --- # Inside story of how Coventry City finally found their way back to the top flight - **Source:** - **Published:** 23 Jul - **Club:** Coventry City - **Original URL:** https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/dark-days-promised-land-how-34292785 It took a quarter of a century but Coventry City have finally come full circle. It’s felt like the turning circle of a super tanker at times but we’re here, just weeks away from a triumphant opening day back in the Premier League. Sky Blues fans have been on quite a journey, been through the wringer and come out the other side. We’ve waited years for this prize and the time has come to sit back and soak it all in. Here we reflect on what's gone and what's to come as Coventry City enter a new era in its rich and colourful history. The last time Coventry were in the Premier League it felt like there was an air of inevitability or even resignation that the club’s time was up come the midway point to the final season of 2000/01. One measly point - at home to Aston Villa - between late October and early December plunged the Sky Blues into panic mode and a New Year winless run of eight games put the writing on the wall for many that there was no way back this time; no great escape after numerous last day survival scrapes. Clubs live and die by their recruitment and today is no different to 25/26 years ago when the combined departures of Gary McAllister and Robbie Keane proved too much of a void to fill. A reasonably comfortable 14th place finish the season before, and 15th the year before that, had brought relative stability and optimism amid some exciting football on display. What made matters worse was the spiral of decline that came afterwards, both on and off the pitch. Instead of bouncing straight back, City fans endured years of second tier mediocrity before financial troubles took them to new depths under new owners. That, we can safely say, is not the case today under the stewardship of Doug King who picked up the reins of a successful rise back up the divisions and has led the club to spectacular, long overdue heights. Not only has he overseen the triumphant return to top flight football, but he’s brought stability back with the long-awaited ownership of the stadium – something few believed would ever happen. Few would have foreseen just how low the club fell in the dark days of the last 25 years but we’re a resilient lot, and despite enough heartache, anger and frustration to last a lifetime, the experience made the journey back all the more enjoyable. It’s a remarkable back story, full of dark days before the glorious light. Few fan bases have suffered as much, treated appallingly by previous custodians who showed scant regard for their customers, their years of loyalty to the club that they were been born into and which runs through their blood. Years of mismanagement were followed by ground shares that ripped the heart out of die-hard supporters. Exiled to Northampton, the life was sucked out of the supporters whose only answer was to take to the streets in protest and vote with their feet. Where were they when they were ****? I’ll tell you where they were, they were standing on a hill outside Sixfields or back home breaking their hearts at being treated so despicably by the very people who should have been looking out for them. An average ‘home’ crowd of 2,169 - comfortably the lowest in League One - made the 60-mile round trip every other weekend. But more than 7,000 of the downtrodden masses travelled to MK Dons for a 3-1 away win as then manager Steven Pressley was doing a remarkable job in the face of adversity, overhauling points deductions with scintillating, attacking football. The club, however, went on to hit rock bottom in 2017 when it was relegated to the fourth tier in a bitter sweet end to the season which saw the arrival of City’s modern day saviour, Mark Robins, who kick-started the ‘rise together’ when a 43,000-strong Sky Blue Army was mobilised and marched on Wembley Stadium for the Checkatrade Trophy final victory over Oxford United. It lit the touchpaper, reignited the flames as one of the club’s greatest ever managers and CEO Dave Boddy galvanised the players and supporters, and set off on a joyous seven year journey up through the leagues. Another Wembley final followed with League Two play-off victory over Exeter before taking the League One title in the curtailed covid hit campaign of 2020. A new generation of supporters had fresh heroes in the likes of Marc McNulty, Max Biamou, Michael Doyle, Liam Kelly in he middle and Matty Godden, to name just a few. More were to follow with Kyle McFadzean, Callum O’Hare, Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres, again, just a handful who left their indelible mark on the way up. Doug King’s arrival coincided with more trips to the national stadium as City edged closer to tangible success via the play-offs and FA Cup, while finally ridding the football club of off-field uncertainty by taking ownership of the stadium. What happens in this new and exciting chapter remains to be seen. Having already insisted that he’s not going to throw millions at it as Sunderland did to the tune of £150m plus last summer, it could go either way. We all know it’s going to be tough, that it’s going to be a struggle and that’s why fans are so eager to see how City operate in the transfer market. It’s all well and good letting those lads who got the Sky Blues promoted have their chance, but they need help. And that’s there for all to see. The club’s top flight status will, therefore, be determined by the level of quality Frank Lampard is able to bring in. The good thing is that he wouldn’t have signed a new contract without assurances that he’d get the backing to build a competitive squad this summer, so we can safely assume that’s going to happen in order to give his team the best possible chance of being competitive, at the very least. One of the club’s biggest strengths in recent years has been the fans. The CBS Arena was a fortress last term and it has to be a place that again provides home advantage for the players to go out and pull off some impressive, perhaps even remarkable, results against top opponents. Many will recall some glorious days in the sun at Highfield Road – the stunning 3-2 festive victory over Manchester United, taking three points off an all-star Chelsea side in consecutive seasons and a Boxing Day win over Arsenal to name just a few. It’s taken a while but our new home is now packed out every week and with a cracking atmosphere guaranteed, and this is the chance to showcase the club’s outstanding support to the football world and earn new admirers. That first globally televised fixture at home will be an emotional, hairs on the back of your neck moment as City’s brilliant pre-match anthem, We’ll Live and Die in these Towns, belts out ahead of kick-off, sung along to like never before. That’s when it will all sink in, that’s the moment we’ll reflect on how far we’ve come, remember loved ones and friends who are no longer here to witness the return. We need to embrace it, savour the moment and look forward to challenging but ultimately good times ahead, safe in the knowledge that the club is now run properly. The Sky Blue Army, as always, will also play a crucial role on the road where they will sell out every allocation and be among the noisiest travelling fans in the country, sticking behind the players through the tough days as well as the good. It won’t be easy, but let’s enjoy it; marvel in the fact that Bobby Thomas might be pitting his defensive wits against Erling Haaland or one-time hero of this parish, Viktor Gyokeres. Lampard has made it clear he received the right assurances from owner Doug King about the funds available for transfers this summer when he signed a new contract with the club. “Yeah, of course,” he agreed. “You think about different things when you sign a contract. As a manager you’re at the forefront of it and you want it to go well. “I understand what we need, I’ve been very open with Doug about that from the moment we got promoted and won the league, so I’m very keen to do the right thing to help us, to give ourselves the best chance.” Speaking to BBC CWR, he added: “We’re going to want to - and have to - strengthen the squad where we can. “That’s for us to keep close to ourselves now, to see how we do it in the best way forward in terms of the players here who deserve a chance in the Premier League because they got us here, but, of course, the opportunities we may have to be able to strengthen the squad to help those players, to help us challenge in this league. “So we’ll see, but we have to keep that close to our chest and try and do our business.” On City’s tough opening day fixture at Arsenal, he said: “We will put the work in now to be ready. We know every game is difficult in the Premier League. Arsenal will be a big test for us, but it’s something we have to go into with positivity. “Over the course of the season we won’t be defined by the result against Arsenal, so why not go with a positive feeling, take on the game and do the best we can?” “I think it’s going to be hard, but I think it’s hard to get out of the league. We’ve done that and getting out and then popping back again, isn’t obviously on our agenda. “We know it’s likely, seven out of the last nine have been relegated, so it’s a huge challenge.” Speaking to BBC CWR, the club owner added: “That’s why I think I took quite a bit of time trying to reflect on that and how we might approach it in a way that suited us and got us into a position to achieve that. “And if it doesn’t work then OK, it doesn’t work, but I think they (the fans) will forgive that if we do all the right things and push all the right buttons and give it our best shot.” On team improvements, he said: “I made a few comments obviously at the end of last season that I think we have a really good core team/squad that got us to this position, and I think they’ve absolutely earned the right to lead us into the Premier League. “It wasn’t whole-scale ‘we’re going to totally change everything’ because of our culture and what we’ve done and what we feel about that achievement and the club. It matters a lot and people belonging and having that extra 5% of really enjoying where they are as a football club. “I haven’t changed on that, you’ll be glad to know, so the squad’s still fully intact, been on holiday and come back ready to go.” The club have invested millions this summer in making changes, improving and upgrading the facilities at both the CBS Arena and the training ground in order to become Premier League ready. There are also better facilities for the fans, not least with the club’s new superstore and visitor experience including F1 simulators and stories of the history of the club. In an interview with BBC Midlands Today, King said: “It feels like maybe not as so much has been done when you look at it but there’s been huge cabling in for the camera work that they want to do, gantry work, studio for the presenters, new floodlights and whole transformation of the dressing room area. “It’s called Section K that they come in and lay down the rules of what we have to do, and we haven’t been here for a while, right? So by the turn of it, with our superstore investment as well, we’re going to have spent six or seven million quid, something like that.” Every day, the CoventryLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Coventry City content. Social media: Our dedicated reporter Andy Turner - who you can follow on X by clicking here - follows the Sky Blues home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. We also have a Facebook page updated throughout the day, every day, and is a place where you can share your views and reactions with other fans - click here There's a our Coventry City account on X, too - click here WhatsApp: You can also get all your favourite content from CoventryLive's Sky Blues team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.App: If you prefer reading our stories on your phone, consider downloading the CoventryLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Coventry City as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.