COVENTRY CLINCH PROMOTION TO END 25-YEAR PREMIER LEAGUE EXILE

Coventry secured promotion to the Premier League on Friday as the Championship leaders' 1-1 draw against Blackburn ended their 25-year exile from the top-flight.

Coventry promoted to Premier League© X (Formerly Twitter)

Coventry secured promotion to the Premier League on Friday as the Championship leaders' 1-1 draw against Blackburn ended their 25-year exile from the top-flight. Frank Lampard's side needed a point from their trip to Ewood Park to be certain of automatic promotion. They did it the hard way, trailing to Ryoya Morishita's deflected 54th-minute strike before Bobby Thomas headed the priceless equaliser in the 84th minute. Having led the Championship table for much of the season, the Sky Blues have wrapped up their return to English football's elite with three games to spare.

"It was an incredible moment. This is what it's about," a tearful Lampard said in an emotional post-match interview.

"Coming here and getting a point at this stage isn't easy. We had to see it out and we didn't know whether to attack again.

"Doing this after 25 years? Wow! Wow!"

Backed by 7,500 raucous fans crammed into the Darwen End, Coventry were below their best for long periods of a nervous display.

But their performance will quickly be forgotten, replaced by life-long memories of the promotion party that followed Thomas' glancing header from Victor Torp's free-kick.

Supporters wept tears of joy when the final whistle announced their ascent to the Premier League.

"Amazing, amazing. I couldn't believe it when it went in," Thomas said. "It's been a hell of a season. I feel like we deserve it."

Now Lampard's men can set their sights on winning the Championship title, with second-placed Ipswich 11 points behind with five matches to play.

"This is a serious, serious football club. I grew up with them as a top flight club but I didn't realise," Lampard said.

"To go and get promotion automatically as a non-parachute team with three games to go. These boys have managed to achieve something special and unique."

Fittingly, Coventry's previous promotion to the top-flight in 1967 was also sealed at Blackburn when Rovers drew with Bolton.

That was the start of a 34-year spell in the top tier before relegation in 2001 sparked a steep decline.

Coventry plunged into the fourth tier for one season in 2017-18 and were even forced to play their home games in Northampton and Birmingham for three seasons due to a bitter legal battle between the club and their stadium's owners.

The 1987 FA Cup winners' rise back to prominence was initially piloted by Mark Robins, whose second spell in charge brought promotion from League Two and League One.

Losing the 2023 Championship play-off final against Luton stalled Coventry's momentum and eventually led to Robins' dismissal in 2024.

Hiring former England star Lampard as Robins' replacement proved an inspired move as he revived his career following sackings by Chelsea and Everton.

Lampard led Coventry away from the relegation zone in his first season before losing to Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals.

Fuelled by the pain of that near-miss, Coventry embarked on a relentless march to promotion.

A 7-1 demolition of QPR and a 5-3 win at Lampard's former club Derby in August established Coventry as the Championship's dominant force.

Jack Rudoni's assured presence in midfield, complemented by the goals of Haji Wright, Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante, kept Coventry top of the pile as the promotion dream came true.

The Sky Blues' success has also reinvigorated the midlands city, according to Coventry's Lord Mayor Rachel Lancaster.

"It's huge for Coventry football club and the fans, but for Coventry itself as a city, this has been massive," she said.

Coventry owner Doug King added: "The fans have been starved of it for a long time and you can feel it.

"Twenty-five years is a huge amount of time. If you don't bounce back you feel like it's never going to happen.

"Getting out of this league is very difficult but we did it. We got the whole city together. I'm super proud of everybody."

- Agence-France Presse

SHEFFIELD UNITED'S PLAYERS TAKE STEPS TO ARREST FROM SLUMP AMID ",INSANE" LEEDS UNITED, BURNLEY PROMOTION FIGHT

His side may travel to Plymouth Argyle tomorrow on the back of successive defeats at a crucial stage of the promotion race, but Chris Wilder remains adamant that Sheffield United’s season is not over just yet. Tuesday night’s home loss to Millwall saw the Blades drop out of the automatic promotion places with just five games of the regular campaign still to go.

Just two points separate United from the top two, Leeds United and Burnley, with the Blades still to visit Turf Moor on Easter Monday in a clash that is growing in importance by the week. For so long the hunted, United have become the hunters on the final straight of the promotion race but United’s mentality has not changed too much, with their players calling a private meeting this week in a bid to arrest their mini-slump in form.

“I should imagine there'll have been the same situations at all three clubs battling it out,” said Wilder of the pressure of a promotion bid. “We've all had to deal with that. We [all three managers] have all had success personally but it's a new group for me and for Scott [Parker], while Dan's [Daniel Farke] had a season with Leeds United as well.

“We're all in the same situation, with the twists and turns. So keeping calm is important. But for all three clubs to be on 85 points - and I'm not trying to be clever about this now, I'm going on wins and points - at this stage of the season is insane, really, with five games to go.

“We all have the opportunity to win 100 points [although United can only theoretically finish on 98 with their minus-two point deduction]. The points tally is incredible and all have had to do a lot of things right.

“The tally we've got is an incredible achievement. I can't do anything about the narrative and the noise, as we talk about it, from social media and saying ‘We haven't done this and that.’ We own the last two defeats. But we own the 26 wins and the 85 points as well.”

Wilder was delighted to see his players take ownership of the situation earlier this week. “The players had a team meeting yesterday which I’m all over because it shows they're taking responsibility. That isn't me distancing from them, but they're so desperate. The players in this situation need to be as cold as ever ... that's what the best players do.”

- Danny Hall