After a solid 12th-place finish in the Championship last season, it had looked as though Coventry City were finding a degree of stability after finally climbing back into the second tier. It had been a topsy-turvy few years for the club, with various off-field circumstances contributing to some lacklustre results on the pitch.
Unfortunately, it seems as though Coventry aren’t out of the woods just yet as far as turbulent times are concerned. Mark Robins’ side currently find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Championship table without a win to their name, and they’re facing an uphill battle to climb out of the relegation quagmire and re-establish themselves in the EFL Championship betting odds.
What hasn’t helped is their home ground being out of action in the early stages of the season due to the dangerous state of the pitch. The Coventry Building Society Arena was used for the rugby sevens event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and as a result, the playing surface was pretty badly torn up.
The state of the pitch has seen home games either rearranged or postponed, meaning Coventry have played fewer matches than other teams in the division. It’s all contributed to a pretty terrible start to the season for Robins’ side, with just a single point to show for their efforts — earned in an opening-weekend draw with Sunderland.
It would be a huge shame if all the hard work Coventry have put in to get back to this position was undone now. The stadium has long been an issue for the club, and with past disagreements being put to bed in the last couple of years, it’s a shame that another stadium-related issue has cost them once again.
Robins and co. will be doing everything they can to ensure that they’re in a position to recover their best form. Indeed, while results haven’t gone their way this season, the only game that hasn’t been a close-run thing at the time of writing was a 3-0 defeat to Norwich City. Aside from that, the Sky Blues suffered successive 3-2 losses to Millwall and Hull City, after losing narrowly to Preston North End in what was their only home game of the season so far.
The players and staff will need to take encouragement from their performances, even if the results aren’t coming quite yet. Robins has done a fine job at the club since his arrival in 2017, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a coach in the EFL who puts in more work than the 52-year-old.
The Championship tips today aren’t expecting much from Coventry as the season goes on, but sometimes being written off can motivate a side to pick themselves up and punch above their weight. Coventry’s players and staff will see the challenges they’ve faced as motivation to go out and do themselves justice.
This group of players has put in so much hard work to get where they are, and they’ll be desperate to avoid sliding into the void that is League One. Coventry are facing a real test of character from now until the end of the season, and it will be interesting to see if they can rise to it.
