Coventry City suffered complete and utter heartbreak in the Championship play-offs this past season – something they’ll be aiming to avoid in 11 months time.
The Sky Blues made it into the post-season race for a Premier League spot for the second time in three years, and while they didn’t make it to Wembley like they did in 2023, their defeat to Sunderland in May was painful.
A last-gasp Dan Ballard header at the Stadium of Light in extra time of the second leg condemned Coventry to another season in the Championship, and their 25th consecutive season outside of England’s top flight; surely something has to happen sooner rather than later?
Don Goodman speaks out on Coventry City’s promotion chances
Coventry’s early season dip was transformed into a successful campaign under Frank Lampard’s management, and they will need to build on that momentum to push for promotion again in 2025-26.
However, speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman believes it will be more difficult than ever to crack the automatic spots, given the strength of the three Premier League teams dropping down, as well as the likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham coming up.
Despite the possibility of a more competitive division overall, Goodman believes Coventry will be a play-off contender by next May.
“I believe Coventry will be around the top end of the table next season.
“It’s difficult to determine whether they could make it to the top two challenges. I believe there is a great deal of business to be done. Players will leave and return, making it tough to predict at this point.
“What I will say is that they will be up against the likes of Sheffield United, who I expect to be back up there, West Brom, Middlesbrough, Norwich, and teams like that, as well as those who were relegated – Southampton, Leicester, and Ipswich, who will be very, very strong.”
“And the clubs that came up will be strong, so I do think the Championship as a whole is going to be much stronger than last season, and that’s going to make it all the more difficult for Coventry to get a top two place – I’m not saying they can’t do it, I’m saying it’ll be difficult.”
Coventry City don’t need too many changes to be a promotion contender for 2025-26
After Lampard replaced Mark Robins in the CBS Arena dugout, Coventry’s form improved dramatically, winning 16 of their 29 regular season league matches at a rate of 1.79 points per match – over the course of a full season, it equates to 82 points – an additional 13 points on top of what they received.
It demonstrated that the gamble to hire Lampard had paid off in the short term and that Robins needed to shift course, but it also demonstrated that the playing roster on offer was brimming with quality.
Lampard has players like Jack Rudoni, Haji Wright, Milan van Ewijk, and Ben Sheaf to choose from, all of whom are top Championship operators, and their results in the second half of the season suggest that they don’t need to make wholesale additions in the transfer window to advance and win promotion.
Their divisional competitors will most certainly be more aggressive than ever in terms of transfer activity, so they must be cautious about who they bring in, but in terms of Coventry’s core, Lampard must be pleased that he still has the remnants of a group capable of launching a promotion challenge.
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