Coventry City’s play-off final defeat to Luton Town in 2023 was a turning point on numerous fronts.
Not only were the Sky Blues so tantalisingly close to a promotion to the Premier League, but missing that chance had knock-on effects.
Chief among those was the sale of striker Victor Gyokeres to Sporting.
Now sacked by Doug King, former Coventry boss Mark Robins must wonder how the journey could have looked had they got over that final hurdle.
Coventry lost more than promotion at Wembley
Having battled all the way to fifth by the end of the 2022/23 season, despite spending the majority of the campaign outside of the play-off places, the Sky Blues managed to squeeze past Middlesbrough to book their place in the play-off final with Luton.
They got all the way to penalties in that game but, crushingly, fell at the final hurdle.
Not only had they missed out on their place in the Premier League, but it also meant that their top scorer that season, Gyokeres with 21 goals, was off to find a new venture.
| Viktor Gyokeres’ Coventry City League Stats 2022-23 – as per WhoScored | |
|---|---|
| Starts (Sub) | 47 (2) |
| Goals | 21 |
| Assists | 12 |
| Dribbles per 90 | 2.1 |
| Key passes per 90 | 1.9 |
| Pass success rate | 68.6% |
With Premier League football, it’s unlikely he would have moved at all, but facing another term in the Championship after two strong seasons in front of goal, he needed a new stage, and Sporting offered the opportunity of European football.
It was also too difficult for Coventry to hold onto their man, with a contract rapidly running down, clubs circling and a £17million offer on the table.
Resigned to another year in the second tier, there was no way for Coventry to hold Gyokeres back.
It would have been a different story for Robins with a win that day
Had the shootout gone the other way at Wembley that day, Gyokeres would likely have been retained and who knows what could have happened from there.
Even if they had somehow managed to convince the Sweden international to stay despite the missed promotion, Robins may have guided the Sky Blues to promotion at the second time of asking, because it seems as sure as anything that the striker would have plundered a hatful more goals.
That’s without mentioning the FA Cup run, who knows how much of an impact Gyokeres could have had on the semi-final against Manchester United, with almost nothing separating the two sides on the day.
With Gyokeres in his ranks, Robins may have had the extra edge needed to get his side over the line.
That, however, was not the case, and Robins now sits without a job, likely wondering what may have been had Gyokeres been retained – even if the decision to let the forward go was out of his hands.
Gyokeres ultimately made the right decision
Although retaining Gyokeres would have been an inspired move by Coventry, it’s hard to argue the striker didn’t make the right move for himself.
He went on to score even more goals for Sporting and announced himself on the European stage through the Europa League and Champions League.
When Sporting manager Ruben Amorim took the manager vacancy at Manchester United, Gyokeres was understandably linked with a switch, but there was no end of top-level clubs queuing up for his signature, having established himself as potentially the next top striker, and one to keep an eye on for any European clubs in need of a no.9 to bolster their squad.
Robins will no doubt wonder what may have been if he had been able to keep Gyokeres, but in truth Coventry had little option but to sell.
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