By Tom HancockThose were the words of chairman Doug King after Coventry City sealed their return to the Premier League after a quarter of a century away – and they must have been the thoughts of Coventry fans who’d seen their club go through the wringer since last playing top-flight football in 2001.Bobby Thomas’ late goal against Blackburn Rovers on Friday night clinched the point Frank Lampard’s Coventry needed to confirm promotion from the Championship – only eight years after the Sky Blues had found themselves in the fourth tier of English football – before Tuesday’s 5-1 home thrashing of Portsmouth wrapped up the title.Two relegations, three promotions and 17 managers later, Coventry are back in the big time, completing an epic story of survival and revival which once seemed so unlikely.Coventry were confirmed as champions with two games to spareDuring the 2019/20 season, Coventry, for the second time in less than a decade, found themselves in exile. Forced out of their own stadium, now known as the Coventry Building Society (CBS) Arena, by a dispute with their landlords, rugby club Wasps, the Sky Blues shared Birmingham City’s St. Andrew’s, having spent the 2013/14 campaign – their second following relegation to League One – playing home games at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium under similar circumstances.Coventry dropped to the fourth tier as recently as 2017Despite effectively playing every game away in 2019/20, Coventry won promotion back to the Championship as champions as the League One season came to an abrupt end amid the onset of the pandemic. The Sky Blues were back at the CBS Arena for their Championship return – albeit the vast majority of the 2020/21 campaign took place behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions – though they only took ownership of the stadium in August last year, 20 years after leaving their old Highfield Road home – on what King called “a defining day” for the club.There have been a number of defining days in Coventry’s recent history, and for Dominic Jerams, founder of independent Sky Blues website Sideways Sammy, two key ones came as the club were at their lowest ebb.The first, says Jerams, was the 2017 EFL Trophy final in which Coventry beat Oxford United 2-1 – a bittersweet moment as they were heading for relegation to League Two but one which, Jerams reflects, made fans feel like the Sky Blues were no longer “fated to just keep on dropping and dropping” – a feeling reinforced by victory over Exeter City in the following year’s play-off final to secure an immediate return to League One.It may have been relatively recently that Coventry came closest to the brink – in 2007, the club almost went bust before being bought out by hedge fund Sisu, whose ownership would represent the most tumultuous period in the club’s history – but, really, their decline pre-dates their relegation from the Premier League by quite some time.“I think you might say they [Sisu] accelerated it,” notes Jerams, “but if you look at our history from the 70s onwards, we were in the top flight, but we were always scrapping to stay up and winning eight to 12 games a season and won the FA Cup [in 1987].“There was a bit of a boost” after that FA Cup success, Coventry’s first major triumph, Jerams continues, “but [we] kind of returned to just circling the drain at the bottom of the Premier League and eventually it caught up to us.”Indeed, Coventry’s average finish during their 34-year top-flight stay was 14th, but they were, objectively, an established entity at the highest level; they recorded eight top-half finishes, peaking with sixth in 1969/70. The hope must be that, ultimately, they can become Premier League mainstays again – not that there’s any rush.“I think the main thing is beat Derby’s record,” Jerams says, alluding to Derby County’s Premier League-low points tally of 11 back in 2007/08, “and pull off one or two big results against some of the big teams.“I think most people are expecting us to battle against the drop; I’d be surprised if you could find a single Coventry fan who’d say, ‘We’re not just going to stay up; we’re going to push beyond that’.“Realistically, we’re probably going to be relegated; I think most people are aware of that.”Coventry’s top scorers in the league this seasonCoventry’s first season back in the top flight ought to prioritise enjoyment over expectation, believes Jerams, who emphasises the importance of using their time there wisely in order to be able to mount another promotion push should they drop straight back down to the Championship.Lampard’s Coventry have surged towards the title with the league’s best attacking and defensive records, scoring 90 goals – for which three players have accounted for almost half: Haji Wright (17), Brandon Thomas-Asante (12) and Ellis Simms (10) and conceding 44 – helped in no small part by having one of the second tier’s standout goalkeepers between the sticks: Carl Rushworth.And while Coventry own their three leading goalscorers – Wright and Simms having arrived in the summer of 2023, Thomas-Asante a year later – Rushworth is poised to return to parent club Brighton, making that a key area to address during the upcoming transfer window.Rushworth has prevented more goals than any other Championship goalkeeperIn Jerams’ eyes, it’s also a case of seeing whether the current crop of Coventry players “have played above their level” en route to promotion this term or whether they can adapt to the demands of Premier League football. With breaking the bank à la Sunderland unlikely, continuity could be of the essence – but “strengthening the backbone” of the side will be important.Coventry will also embark on their Premier League survival quest with a manager few were exactly keen on at the outset – not least because of the popularity of the man he replaced in the dugout.Mark Robins’ second spell in charge of the Sky Blues lasted more than seven years, during which time he won the EFL Trophy, League Two play-offs and League One title, as well as reaching the 2023 Championship play-off final – where Coventry lost agonisingly on penalties to Luton Town. But a slow start to the 2024/25 season proved terminal for the universally popular Robins, who was sacked that November.More than a few eyebrows were raised when Lampard was appointed as Robins’ successor, with a sense that King might have gone for a ‘name’ rather than someone with a more proven Championship track record – but, as Jerams acknowledges, it’s proved to be a masterstroke on the chairman’s part. And Lampard has just pulled off a masterstroke of his own by taking Coventry up automatically – having suffered Championship play-off final heartbreak as Derby boss seven in 2019.“To go and get promotion automatically as a non-parachute [payment] team with three games to go…these boys have managed to achieve something special and unique,” Lampard enthused after the decisive draw with Blackburn, as well as praising the “incredible job” Robins did to give Coventry a platform for promotion.The Sky Blues’ only previous promotion to the top flight came under the manager who introduced their now iconic kit colours, the inimitable Jimmy Hill – whose statue stands outside the CBS Arena, his welcoming gesture beckoning you into the stadium. Coventry won’t want their ground to be too welcoming a place as they bid to stay up and take a few scalps along the way, but the feelgood factor the late Hill instilled at the club – and in the city – is well and truly back.(Images from IMAGO)You can follow every game from the EFL on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage, including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.