Football Season Review

Coventry City’s season ended in glory after making an immediate return to League One following a deserved win over Exeter City in the play-off final at Wembley. The Sky Blues have been travelling in the wrong direction since being taken over by hedge-fund owners SISU a decade ago. They dropped into the bottom tier of English football for the first time since 1959 following relegation in April 2017 and Mark Robins, who returned for his second spell in charge at manager lost several influential players including striker George Thomas. He made several key additions during the summer and they made a positive start to the new season but were unable to keep pace with the sides above them in the automatic promotion places. Their strength was built on a miserly defence whilst striker Marc McNulty proved himself in spectacular fashion after a tricky start. They weren’t helped by the loss of midfield playmaker Anthony Andreu to a season-ending injury in September and he was joined on the sidelines by influential winger Jodi Jones in November. They had to settle for a 6th place in the table and were on the right end of refereeing decisions with a 5-2 aggregate win over Notts County in the play-off semi-finals. The Sky Blues showed their class with a 3-1 win over the Grecians at Wembley to seal promotion back to League One at the first attempt. Despite the continuing battle between the supporters and SISU, they were the best supported side in the division. Robins can take plenty of encouragement into next season with impressive debut seasons from teenagers Jordan Shipley and Tom Bayliss. Captain Michael Doyle missed just two games in the middle of the park whilst full-back Jack Grimmer was influential on the right flank. Marc McNulty was the standout performer however as he finished as leading goalscorer with 28 goals and was voted player of the season.

Player of the Season: Marc McNulty