Coventry City are just 90 minutes away from a long-awaited return to the Premier League following their play-off semi-final win over Middlesbrough. Mark Robins will lead the team out in the final against Luton Town on Saturday, May 27th with the riches of the Premier League within their reach. It completes a remarkable turnaround for the club – not just this season when they were in the relegation zone after 15 games – but over the past decade which has seen them enter administration and forced to play their home games away from the city. If they get the better of Luton, they will become the first team to have played in the Premier League, drop down to the fourth tier and return to the top flight.
Coventry had a long spell in the Premier League in the 1990s and were one of the inaugural members of the competition when it was formed in 1992/03. They played in every season before their relegation just after the turn of the millennium. Their best result in the competition was the couple of 11th place finishes they achieved in 1993/94 and 1997/98. Coventry’s only spell in the top flight of English football was between 1967 and 2001.
After suffering Premier League relegation, the club spent the next 11 years largely languishing down in the bottom half of the Championship. Coventry were relegated from the Championship to League One in 2011/12, and then to League Two in 2016/2017. They came back up to League One the following season, spending two years in the division before earning promotion back to the Championship in 2019/2020. They finished 16th and 12th in the two previous Championship seasons before finishing fifth this time around to seal their spot in the play-offs. Having entered administration, and amid leasing issues with their stadium, Coventry played their home games in the 2013/14 season in Northampton, 33 miles away. They were then forced to play their home fixtures at Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s in 2019/20 and 2020/21. With a win against Luton Town on Saturday, May 27th, Coventry City could make history as they become the first team to have played in the Premier League, drop down to the fourth tier and return to the top flight.