Frank Lampard delight as nervy draw at Blackburn seals promotion for Coventry

An emotional Frank Lampard basked in the historic achievement of leading Coventry City back to the Premier League after an absence of a quarter of a century. The Sky Blues have returned to the big time for the first time in a generation, after a turbulent period in which they changed stadiums, hit financial rock bottom and plummeted to the depths of League Two as recently as 2017-18.

Lampard was front and centre of celebrations after a 1-1 draw at Blackburn that put the seal on a famous promotion. It has been a long time coming. The former England midfielder lauded Bobby Thomas’s equalising goal as an “incredible moment” in the champagne-soaked celebrations on the Ewood Park turf. “Because of how the game had gone, you were worried,” said Lampard. “We knew we were very nearly there, but to get it over the line like this for this club after 25 years, wow.”

Coventry had struggled to battle past a stubborn home side across a tense 90 minutes, knowing just a point would send them up. Ryoya Morishita’s goal for Blackburn briefly silenced the 7,000 Sky Blue fans, before Thomas nodded in from Victor Torp’s free-kick late on. It was hardly a vintage Coventry display but the result was all that mattered to Lampard and his men.

Many of those Coventry fans dancing in the Ewood Park terraces, clutching sky blue balloons and letting off flares after Thomas’s goal, would not have been alive the last time their team played in the Premier League. The hero of the night, Thomas, was born midway through that 2000-01 season and was four months old when Coventry last featured in the top flight.

Lampard’s men have played the frontrunners’ role for the bulk of the season, their charge to promotion only briefly halted by recent goalless draws against Hull and Sheffield Wednesday. Now the celebrations can continue until at least Tuesday night when they host Portsmouth. Workplaces in Coventry might as well shut down until at least Wednesday – this city is having a party.

Lampard, who rightly paid tribute to his predecessor Mark Robins, certainly looked ready to dust off his dancing shoes as he conducted the orchestra in the Darwen End after the final whistle, believing the promotion matches anything he has achieved in football.

“This is a serious, serious football club,” he said. “I grew up with them as a top-flight club but I didn’t realise. Mark Robins had done an incredible job. To get automatic promotion as a non-parachute [payment] team with three games to go, it makes me feel emotional.

“All managers talk about the players, but I am proud, and I’m proud of myself and the staff. The boys, me, Chris [Jones] and Joe [Edwards], drove up 15 months ago or whatever in a people carrier, and we went into a bit of an unknown.

“We’ve fallen in love with the players, how they have reacted and the fan-base. So it’s right up there for me for what I may have achieved. I was fortunate to be in great Chelsea teams. Winning the Champions League and winning leagues was amazing. But sometimes I could thank Didier Drogba or John Terry for that.

“Now, to do this with this club in the circumstances that we’ve done it, for me, overachieving. I’m not belittling the players there. They’ve raised their game up by pure work, and I’m very proud to be the manager of that.”

The 25 years Coventry have been away from the Premier League have been far from straightforward. After a 34-year stay in the top flight ended in 2001, Coventry fans have ridden the Football League rollercoaster, playing in the second, third and fourth tiers, getting a new stadium, being kicked out of that stadium due to financial mismanagement by the controversial Sisu owners, before the Robins-led recovery. Then came the climb back up the divisions, with Lampard applying the icing to the cake.

“It’s amazing,” said midfielder Jack Rudoni. “I can’t describe it. We could have got it done quicker. But with the fans here we couldn’t leave without doing it today.”

Much of Lampard’s success has been built on the work of Robins, though the former Everton and Chelsea coach deserves credit for rebuilding himself as a manager after those Premier League disappointments. He has assembled a fine Championship squad, and the fact he was able to usher on top scorers Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante at Ewood Park, plus Torp, who provided the vital assist, shows he can make telling in-game decisions, too.

Blackburn could perhaps feel aggrieved with the draw after a steely display summed up by the impressive goalscorer Morishita, but their head coach, Michael O’Neill, was fairly content with a point that could prove critical to their bid for Championship survival this season.

He said: “It’s obviously gutting to lose a goal so late having led, but that’s the only disappointment. We wanted to make it difficult for the opposition, but ultimately we couldn’t hang on for the three points.” A former Coventry player, O’Neill added: “Frank’s done a great job, it’s brilliant for the club. I really hope they do well.”

Coventry will now have their sights set on securing the Championship title, before the planning for a huge 2026-27 season begins in earnest. Lampard joked his players “can have a couple of beers on the way home, but we want to win the league”.

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