Leeds United sealed the Championship title while Frank Lampard guided Coventry City to their second playoff appearance in three years in a typically dramatic final day in the second tier of English football.
Daniel Farke’s team pipped Burnley to the league title on goal difference after Manor Solomon‘s 91st-minute goal sealed a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle at Elland Road.
The Tottenham Hotspur loanee’s strike silenced the party atmosphere at Turf Moor where Scott Parker’s Burnley had thought they were set for the title thanks to their win over Millwall.
Saturday’s victories secured Leeds and Burnley’s status as “centurions” as they moved onto the 100-point mark.
Only six other teams have achieved the feat in Championship history. This season is also the first in which three teams in the English football league have reached 100 or more points — Birmingham City have won a record-breaking 108 points on their way to sealing the League One title.
Leeds’ 29 league victories is a new club record, but Parker’s side could not quite match Vincent Kompany’s Burnley team who amassed 101 points when they were promoted in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, Chelsea legend Lampard has transformed Coventry since he arrived at the club three weeks after former boss Mark Robins left in November. When Lampard took the job, Coventry were 17th in the Championship, 10 points adrift of the playoff spots and only two points above the relegation zone.
A run of eight wins from nine league matches from Jan. 18 to March 8 sent Coventry shooting up the table, but a late wobble in which they lost to Plymouth and Luton Town was put right on the final day after a narrow win over Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough at the the Coventry Building Society Arena was enough to clinch their fifth-place finish.
Coventry lost the Championship playoff final to Luton on penalties at the end of the 2022-23 season. Lampard also has experience of disappointment at the showpiece event at Wembley Stadium — his Derby County team were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in London in 2019.
His side’s achievement marks a return to form for Lampard after spells in the Premier League with Chelsea and Everton ended in disappointment.
Coventry will battle with Sheffield United, Sunderland and Bristol City for a place in the Premier League next season.
Elsewhere, Luton Town suffered a second successive relegation as their 5-3 defeat at West Bromwich Albion condemned them to a place in the third tier, almost exactly 12 months on from their relegation from the top flight.
Despite their draw with promoted Leeds, Plymouth will join Luton in League One next season. Cardiff City have also been relegated.
