With Leeds and Burnley already popping champagne and planning for Premier League football next season, attention has turned to the frenetic race for the Championship’s remaining promotion place.
The path? The often cruel and unforgiving gauntlet that is the Championship playoffs and beaten 2023 finalists, Coventry, are in a prime position to make the cut for the top six again this year.
Sheffield United and Sunderland have already booked their tickets to the 2024/25 playoff party, leaving two spots up for grabs and setting up a chaotic final chase to secure them.
Liam Manning’s Bristol City are the clear front-runners and market favourites to claim one of the remaining berths, however, their unexpected reverse at Luton muddied the waters and kept the door ajar for some of their playoff rivals.
Coventry meanwhile, are the next-likeliest contenders to land a playoff position, that is at least, according to the bookies’ odds where the Sky Blues are priced at around 2/5 (1.40) to see off a clutch of other playoff-chasing challengers.
Indeed, Coventry have an implied 71.43% probability of success – a significant figure that should be a cause for optimism among those of a Sky-Blue persuasion. If you took a 71.43% probability of success to the tables at top casino sites, you’d almost certainly leave with full pockets.
Still, Coventry boss Frank Lampard won’t be taking anything for granted, nor will a Coventry fanbase that watched as their Premier League dreams were dashed by Luton at Wembley Stadium in the 2022/2023 playoff final.
While City’s chances look extremely promising two years later, a final regular-season fixture at home to direct playoff rivals Middlesbrough on May 3 promises to be crucial and will place Coventry’s destiny in their own hands.
Middlesbrough, chasing from behind, need more than just maximum points from their final games — they also require slip-ups from Coventry or Bristol City to turn the playoff race on its head.
As things stand, Michael Carrick’s Boro have about a 24.6% chance of sneaking in, while Millwall, who are positioned one place further back, have just a 4.3% chance of achieving a top-six finish.
The landscape certainly favours Coventry, who are not just clinging to hope — they’re holding a very real opportunity and it seems fitting that City’s fate will be decided in the West Midlands.
The Coventry Building Society Arena has been the staging point for City’s remarkable revival under Frank Lampard and of the 15 wins the Sky Blues have enjoyed under the former England international, ten have been secured on home soil.
Lampard, whose managerial reputation took a battering following failed spells at Everton and Chelsea (interim), joined Coventry in November with the club in 17th spot and just two points above the drop zone.
The 46-year-old’s decision to loosen his ego and drop down a tier was a brave one and a date under the Wembley archers would be a fitting climax to Lampard’s own personal story of redemption.
In terms of their possible opponents in the playoff semi-finals themselves, Coventry would be in line to face Sheffield United if City land in sixth spot, however, if the Sky Blues can pip Bristol City to 5th place a more palatable double-header with Sunderland would await.
Coventry took four points off the Black Cats in the teams’ two regular-league encounters earlier in the campaign, drawing 2-2 in Sunderland back in early November, before beating them 3-0 in the Midlands in March, while their tussles with Sheffield United (2-2 Nov, 1-3 Mar) weren’t near as productive.
Still, in the unpredictable world of the Championship, it’s never wise to plan too far ahead and before City can prepare for a second bash at the playoffs inside three years, they need to ensure that they make the cut first.
