Researched and written 17 October 2026. Sources are listed at the end.
Twenty-five years away
Coventry City were among the founding clubs of the Premier League, the most watched and wealthiest league in world football. They played in it until relegation in 2001. The years that followed were hard. The club sank as low as League Two, the fourth tier of the English game, before climbing back through the divisions.
The turning point came in November 2024, when the former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard was appointed head coach. His first full season in charge was 2025 to 2026. It was the one that took the club home.
A Championship title won by 11 points
Coventry finished as Championship champions with 95 points. Ipswich Town came second, 11 points behind. ESPN described it as a campaign the Sky Blues had dominated. Lampard called it a special story that ranked near the top of everything he had enjoyed in football.
The reward is a seat back at English football's top table. Deloitte's football finance team put the value of promotion at between £140 million and £170 million over three seasons, mostly from broadcast money and parachute payments. Sky News reported that the figure can pass £300 million if a promoted club avoids going straight back down.
We Are Back: the parade
The city's celebration came on the bank holiday Monday, 4 May 2026. An open-top bus with the words We Are Back painted across its front left the Coventry Building Society Arena at 1pm, carrying the squad, Lampard and the club's owner, Doug King. Its two-hour route crossed the city to Hearsall Common while thousands of supporters lined the pavements. No official attendance was given.
Sky blue smoke, the colour of the home shirt, drifted along the route while the players took turns to lift the Championship trophy above the crowd. The party moved on to the War Memorial Park for We Are Back: Live, a music festival headlined by The Enemy, a band formed in Coventry. Players, Lampard and King all went on stage, with the singer Tom Grennan, a Sky Blues fan, also on the bill.
Match days at the arena
Home games are played at the Coventry Building Society Arena, a 32,609-seat stadium built on the site of the old Foleshill gasworks to replace the club's Highfield Road ground. The same complex holds an exhibition hall, a hotel and a casino. Arena Park Shopping Centre is on the site too.
Supporters sing We'll Live And Die In These Towns at every home game. If you are coming for a fixture, book as soon as the fixture list confirms your date.
Where to stay for a fixture
Sullivan Heights is the closest of our homes to the stadium, about 3 miles away by road. The War Memorial Park, where the promotion party ended, is about 3 miles from the nearest house.
A group coming for a match can take a whole house instead of scattering across hotel rooms: Humber Hub sleeps 10, Stoke Lodge and Stoke House nine each and Sullivan Heights six. Every house has free parking and the price includes electricity, gas, water, Wi-Fi and council tax.
Sources: news.sky.com/story/thousands-of-fans-cheer-coventry-citys-open-top-bus-parade-after-return-to-the-premier-league-13540121; espn.com/soccer/story/ /id/48674598/coventry-ipswich-mark-respective-championship-promotions-day-celebration-premier-league; Wikipedia: Coventry Building Society Arena. Distances by road from each house, worked out on OpenStreetMap.
