Take your pick as you can start the Coventry City story wherever you want.
Perhaps on the day they slipped out of the Premier League in 2001, ending 34 uninterrupted years in the top flight of English football, when a defiant fan held a sign promising ‘we’ll be back’.
Or the drop to the fourth tier, failing to finish in the top six for nearly half a century, or the homeless years, seasons spent at Northampton Town or Birmingham City against a backdrop of furious protest.
Or last October, when a new season groaned to life with no wins in seven games, a pitch unfit for purpose, untreated in pre-season and destroyed by the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens, a suspended points penalty, a transfer embargo and landlords, the owners of Wasps rugby, on the brink of bankruptcy.
Wherever you start, all stories happily lead to Saturday.
Coventry City could return to the Premier League via the play-offs for the championship
Mark Robins should be a contender for Manager of the Year for the work he has done at Coventry
Victory against Birmingham in front of a packed house in triumph, hours after new owner Doug King struck a crucial deal for the team to stay at the CBS Arena for another five years.
Certainty, stability and success finally together. Happy days and huge credit is due to manager Mark Robins, the unassuming architect of this emergence from the depths.
There were few arguments when Vincent Kompany won the Championship’s Manager of the Season at the EFL awards last week. Kompany has revived Burnley after relegation and led them to the title in style.
There was inevitably grumbling from South Yorkshire about the omission of Paul Heckingbottom from the shortlist. Michael Carrick has transformed Middlesbrough. Rob Edwards recovered from the sack at Watford to the play-offs at Luton.
Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett impressed, but Robins has guaranteed the Sky Blues their highest finish since 2006 when they finished eighth in the second tier. He will beat that if they win their last game at Middlesbrough next Monday and have a chance at an unlikely promotion via the play-offs.
He’s done it in the toughest of circumstances and the 53-year-old Lancastrian isn’t about to take up the trumpet and announce his own achievements. That’s just not his style, which for many in football is all part of his enduring popularity.
Robins began his second spell as Coventry boss in 2017, unable to prevent them from sliding into League Two.
He was joined later in the same year by Adi Viveash, a hugely respected coach with nine years of success in Chelsea’s academy, and chief executive Dave Boddy, who spearheaded Newport County’s return to the EFL from non-league.
Together with several recruiting leaders, they have consistently found value in the transfer and loan market to create a well-balanced team with a reputation for engaging football.
Viktor Gyokeres, who came over from Brighton after a successful loan spell, has received the most praise this year. Swede Gyokeres scored his 21st league goal of the season on Saturday and has registered 10 assists.
Gustavo Hamer, a Dutch-Brazilian midfielder who cost £1 million from Zwolle, has become a fan favorite in midfield and yet there is more to it.
Viktor Gyokeres and his signature celebration, which could propel Coventry to promotion
Robins has combined this quality with the know-how of experienced lower division campaigners such as Kyle McFadzean, Matt Godden, Jake Bidwell and Liam Kelly who joined Coventry in League Two and led them out against Birmingham.
And with the youthful exuberance of signings like Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Callum Doyle and Luke McNally, and in Josh Eccles, another breakthrough academy that produced England internationals James Maddison and Callum Wilson.
Eccles scored the opener in Saturday’s 2-0 win, his first goal for the hometown club.
All this without arguably their best player, Callum O’Hare, a midfielder who joined from Aston Villa and was paid £9m interest from Burnley when he damaged his cruciate ligaments in December, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
From every angle and from every starting point it’s an incredible achievement from Coventry to be where they are at the end of this season. The clouds have finally parted for the Sky Blues.
And despite lingering mistrust over the long-term intentions of Mike Ashley, who bought the stadium from Wasps, this should be a time of celebration.
Argentinian returns
With Mauricio Pochettino deep in talks to return to the Premier League as Chelsea’s next boss, it could be a whole week before the popular Argentines are back on familiar ground.
Ricardo Villa visited Osvaldo Ardiles at Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday when they drew against Manchester United.
And Sunderland cult hero Julio Arca is back at South Shields, where he ended his playing career and was appointed manager after Kevin Phillips left after promotion to the National League North, tipped for the Walsall job.
The imminent return of Mauricio Pochettino is not the Argentine who made a comeback this week
Watch out for the ref
Away teams tremble awaiting David Coote’s next appointment. Coote was the referee in charge of Brighton 6 Wolves 0 on Saturday. His previous game was Newcastle 6 Spurs 1.
Young irons
The FA Youth Cup, won so emphatically by West Ham who beat Arsenal 5-1 in last week’s final in front of a crowd of over 34,000 at the Emirates Stadium, appeals to fans for its heritage and ability to do visuals reviving players associated with past glory.
For West Ham, this triumph came with memories of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick. For Arsenal, the near miss brought back memories of a pick with Francis Coquelin, Jay Emmanuel Thomas and Jack Wilshere, now in his coaching role.
The Youth Cup is a U18 competition, founded in 1952 and open to everyone, and that carries a lot of weight. The same emotions were not at play when Spurs won the U17 Premier League Cup, or when Manchester City’s U21s turned it into a hat-trick of Premier League 2 titles.
The future at West Ham looks bright after beating Arsenal to win the FA Youth Cup last week
Paul knows what’s cooking
Paul Cook is the first manager to live out a full 46-game season as Chesterfield boss since Paul Cook in 2014/15. In between came 14 permanent and agents. Hardcore instability as highlighted by Paul Fisher @pkfsport on Twitter.
Build better
Reposm is a unique new charity that raises money to build sheltered homes for struggling retired athletes. It grew out of ideas hatched in cricket and football by former Surrey chairman Mike Soper and former Tottenham and Luton boss David Pleat.
After the setback of the pandemic, Reposm is making good progress with £500,000 pledged by the PFA, and a dinner hosted by the irrepressible Soper at the Oval on Thursday last week, where speakers Sir John Major, Sir Trevor McDonald and David Gower endorsed this fine sporting goal while continuing to raise money for his first home.
Goodbye Jeff
Saturday just won’t be the same without Jeff Stelling, the latest broadcasting legend lost in a never-ending quest to change things that don’t need to be changed.