Frank Lampard lauded Coventry City for achieving a “special and unique” promotion to the Premier League, ending their 25-year wait for top-flight football.

Coventry went into their match against Blackburn Rovers knowing a point would send them back to the Premier League, and their 1-1 draw was enough to seal their passage.

Blackburn were the stronger side at the start and looked to be spoiling the party when Ryoya Morishita gave them a 54th-minute lead, but Bobby Thomas headed in the equaliser 30 minutes later.

It means Coventry sit 13 points clear of third-place Millwall at the top of the Championship, gaining promotion with three games to spare.

Their 86 points are already their most in a single league campaign in the club’s history (accounting for three points per win all-time), while they will feature in the top-flight for the first time since 2001.

“This is a serious, serious football club. I grew up with them as a top-flight club, but I didn’t realise,” Lampard told Sky Sports.

“Mark Robins had done an incredible job.

“To go and get promotion automatically as a non-parachute team with three games to go… These boys have managed to achieve something special and unique.

Today we have fulfilled our promise to return to the @PremierLeague.

We do so with ambition, with unity, and with a clear vision for the future.

WE ARE BACK. pic.twitter.com/X0ZulyUmZI

— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) April 17, 2026

“Incredible moment. We weren’t at our fluid best, but the quality of the ball in and the power of the header…

“We had to see it out, and we didn’t know whether to attack.

“This is what it’s about. Coming here and getting a point at this stage isn’t easy. For doing this after 25 years… Wow. Wow.

“We’ve fallen in love, and this is right up there with what I have achieved. I’m very proud to be the manager.”

Lampard took over at Coventry in November 2024, but saw his team miss out on promotion last season after a dramatic loss to Sunderland in the Championship play-off semi-final.

This term, they are in pole position to claim top spot in the league if they can hold off Ipswich Town, who have played two games fewer.

“Amazing, amazing. I couldn’t believe it when it went in,” goalscorer Thomas told Sky Sports.

“It’s been a hell of a season, and it’s been a project over the last three seasons, and I feel like we deserve it.

“We gave them [the fans] the point we needed.

“It was a cagey affair. We can’t drop our level now. We need to get the points we need to get the title.”