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Very few football fanbases have experienced a more dramatic decade than supporters of Coventry City. Nine years ago, the club slipped into League Two in front of four-digit crowds at the cavernous Ricoh Arena. They managed to rebound under Mark Robins, despite constant uncertainty under owners Sisu, and a spell in exile at Birmingham City’s ground for their Championship return in 2020. Three years later, a playoff final between two comeback clubs went the way of Luton, on penalties. And last season, the chief suit, Doug King, decided to replace Robins with Frank Lampard, an unpopular decision justified by a push for promotion that ended in an unlucky playoff semi-final defeat to Sunderland.
There seemed to be little chance of repeat heartache this term, with Coventry kicking off in a stadium they finally owned and launching a ferocious, goal-packed assault on the Championship summit. When they saw off promotion rivals Middlesbrough – who had just lost manager Rob Edwards to Wolves – with a 4-2 win at the Riverside in November, they were 10 points clear of a pack led by Robins’ Stoke City, having scored 47 goals in 17 games. December’s 3-0 defeat at resurgent Ipswich looked like a bump in the road, but since Boxing Day, Coventry have taken two wins from eight games and the goals have dried up. Saturday’s goalless draw at home to 10-man, relegation-threatened Oxford was a textbook case of a team buckling under promotion pressure. “We were very good up to the last bit,” sighed Lampard afterwards. Unfortunately, that’s the bit that counts.
