Coventry City have been tipped to strongly challenge for promotion to the Premier League in the upcoming Championship campaign following a flurry of impressive summer business.
Expectation is high at the Coventry Building Society Arena heading into the new term, with the Sky Blues having acquired the likes of Brandon Thomas-Asante, Oliver Dovin and Jack Rudoni across the off-season in order to bolster their promotion ambitions.
Coventry finished ninth in the 23/24 season, some nine points away from Norwich City in the final top-six position. However, Mark Robins possesses a young, hungry squad at his disposal which will only have improved from the experience of last season.
The existing side has been supplemented with some exciting arrivals and there’s a strong school of thought that this could be Coventry’s season after remarkable progression over recent years.
Coventry City top-six prediction
The Sky Blues faithful have every right to be optimistic for what next season could bring, with many neutral supporters similarly tipping Coventry for 24/25 success.
Indeed, our Coventry fan pundit Neil Littlewood believes his side have significantly improved from last season and should really be aspiring to place themselves in the top-four, deeming any potential finish outside the play-off positions as a failure.
“I don’t like doing predictions before the transfer window has finished because a lot can change. However, based on the business we’ve done so far and the [pre-season] performances I’ve seen, we look better than we did last season,” Neil explained to Football League World.
“We’ve had a slow start in the last couple of years which has cost us, and I think we’ve recruited really well. [Ephron] Mason-Clark will be dynamite I think, you’ve also got Rudoni, he’s come in and looks incredible.
| Jack Rudoni’s 23/24 stats, as per FotMob | |
| Appearances | 35 |
| Goals | 5 |
| Assists | 3 |
| xG | 8.40 |
| Chances created | 35 |
| Successful dribbles | 43 |
| Touches in opposition box | 115 |
| Tackles won | 41 |
| Duels won | 215 |
| Interceptions | 29 |
The likes of [Ellis] Simms, [Haji] Wright, Milan Van Ewijk and Victor Torp have all now had a lot of time with us and they’ve adapted to our style, [Tatsuhiro] Sakamoto is back from injury. I think him being injured last season cost us.
“We’ve recruited really well. One area we really needed to pick up on was goalkeeper and we’ve brought in Oliver Dovin, who looks steady, comfortable with the ball with his feet, looks a lot more imposing between the sticks, commands his box a lot better and looks a bit more vocal as well. So I think on that front, recruitment-wise, we’ve done fantastic.
“I still think we’re a midfielder short, I wouldn’t mind a few more bodies coming in on loan. One thing we don’t really do is utilise the loan market, and I think for squad depth we could do with that.
“I personally think play-offs have to happen this year as a bare minimum. We could be an outside bet for automatic promotion, but that’s an outside bet. I don’t think anyone looking at it logically will have Coventry going up automatically.
“I think we could be there or thereabouts, I don’t think we’ve got the squad depth at the minute to do it. Looking at other sides and the business they’re doing, I keep seeing our rivals being weakened. Leeds have lost Summerville, Norwich have lost Sara which is only going to help us.
“I just hope they don’t go out and spend a load of money and rebuild! I think the aim is top-six, personally top-four and anything less than that should be seen as a bad season at this moment in time.”
Coventry City could be in for an exceptional season
If we’re assessing squads on paper before a ball has been kicked, which is a routine yet risky exercise each summer, it must be said that Coventry do look among the strongest sides in the league going into next season.
22-year-old Dovin feels like a shrewd, long-term option between the sticks, a midfield trio of Ben Sheaf, Torp and Rudoni is bettered by very few and their attack could yield goals galore through Wright, Simms, Thomas-Asante, Mason-Clarke and Sakamoto. What’s even more exciting is most of Coventry’s core players are still at the ages where they’re bound to improve further or just entering their prime.
Perhaps Coventry would benefit from bringing in a more experienced central defender – all of their current options there are aged 24 or under – and Neil does raise an interesting point pertaining to their lack of utilisation of the loan market, but there’s not much more that Robins needs to do at this stage.
He’s made signings over the last few seasons who’ve improved year-on-year and are now ready to light up the Championship and they’ve been accompanied by a batch of impressive recent captures. It feels as though everything could finally come together this season for Coventry, who surely are among the favourites for promotion.
