There was sky blue smoke coming from the Darwen End. After 25 years, Coventry City’s exile was over. There have been times in the past quarter of a century when it has felt never-ending, points when they trailed at Ewood Park when it looked like it would be extended for a little longer.
Then Bobby Thomas headed in Victor Torp’s free kick, his name echoed around Blackburn – the town, it seemed, and not merely the football club – and confirmation came that Coventry’s stay in the EFL will end. They needed a point and got precisely that. The messages on the scarves and banners the enterprising traders were hawking outside Ewood Park – reading “we are Premier League” – will become fact. Frank Lampard has a feat that brooks no dissent, which cannot be caveated with asterisks. “It's right up there for what I've achieved,” he said. “I will never talk down the [2012] Champions League. It is probably the best night of my life. This comes very, very close. It very much dawned on me the achievement of what this is. I am very excited but more emotional.”
He was not alone in that. There was an invasion from the Midlanders, 7,000 fans in the stand behind the goal where Thomas scored, a few more who had bought tickets among the Blackburn supporters. No wonder. Coventry may have stumbled over the line, their performance been largely mediocre but there is a case for calling this their greatest day since the 1987 FA Cup final.
Go back a decade and it could be argued the Coventry fanbase were starved of joy more than any other. While it did span their 1987 glory, they went 47 years without finishing in the top six in any division. Once Premier League ever-presents, they were tumbling into League Two. Once the constants in the top flight, the club with the uncanny ability to avoid relegation, Coventry then became the strangers from it. Some 44 other clubs have played Premier League football during Coventry’s long absence.
Now a comeback is complete. This has been the fall and rise of Coventry; perhaps the fall and rise of Lampard, too, given that it was easy to assume his ignominious second spell at Chelsea might have finished him off as a manager. Lampard had successes at Coventry, Chelsea – the first time around – and Everton, but none as seismic as this. He is a history-maker, in unlikely company with Jimmy Hill, who clinched Coventry’s only previous promotion to the top flight, back in 1967.
Now Lampard has emulated him. Coventry were 17th in the Championship when he took over. Their next target may be 17th in the Premier League. As it is, two managers have been transformative for a club who reached the lowest ebbs in the lowest division. They bottomed out when 10th in the fourth tier. “A club that has suffered for 25 years and that journey going down to League Two,” reflected Lampard.
He was quick to praise a predecessor who was the architect of a rise, taking Coventry up two divisions and to a Championship play-off final. Lampard said: “Mark Robins did an incredible job.” His sacking seemed harsh; the subsequent choice of Lampard was met with scepticism. A mocked appointment has proved a masterstroke. “Super Frank,” a chant familiar from Stamford Bridge for many a year, has earned the nickname in Coventry. “I’m very proud to be their manager,” he said.
A man whose medals justify descriptions of him as a success as a player can now say he is as a manager. A commanding promotion was secured without parachute payments, even if with a supportive owner, in Doug King. Few envisaged a season of dominating the Championship, but Lampard oversaw one.
There are men who stand out. Matt Grimes, signed in Lampard’s first transfer window, was a catalyst as captain. Two astute loan recruits in Carl Rushworth, the best goalkeeper in the division, and Frank Onyeka, a mid-season injection of excellence. It has been a collective effort, with seven players scoring at least seven goals. That strength in depth was shown when Torp came off the bench to turn provider for Thomas’ goal. It was Coventry’s first in three games.
They can testify the last step can be the hardest, even for a club who have taken giant strides. They could have gone up last week but could not score against a Sheffield Wednesday team whose points tally begins with a minus sign. They trailed to Blackburn, who are at risk of relegation to League One, though their eventual point should help Michael O’Neill complete his admirable rescue job. Rovers were the better side and merited a lead given them by Ryoyo Morishita, who deflected shot on the turn; Lampard, often unfairly accused of scoring deflected goals, could rue this.
But Coventry summoned a response. Lampard turned to his bench and Torp allowed Thomas to take his place in City folklore.
It won’t be Coventry’s most famous header – Keith Houchen will forever have that distinction – but it allowed them to complete a belated return. It may have been apt that Blackburn’s PA selected Pulp’s Disco 2000 to soundtrack the celebrations. In a way, they have transported everyone back to a bygone era.
They were relegated by a David Ginola-inspired comeback from Aston Villa in 2001, a Coventry team including future international managers Craig Bellamy and Lee Carsley, plus John Hartson, Mustapha Hadji and Chris Kirkland. There may be fewer big names in the side that has come back up. But that only emphasises the achievement, Lampard’s greatest in a dugout.
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