Since the creation of the Premier, the juicy loot obtained from television rights makes the twenty teams that participate in it truly privileged. We have had examples in recent years of teams like Huddersfield, Aston Villa or Forest, who have invested more than a hundred million in their first campaign after promotion, something unthinkable in any other league in the world. Hence the Championship, the prelude to paradise, has become a high-level competition. But since a great reward requires an effort to match, this particular purgatory of the English teams supposes a great wear and tear, a league of 46 games (which can be extended to 49 if they are promoted via play-off) that has spanned since the end of July to the beginning of May in this season crossed by the World Cup.
The Championship is also a competition of contrasts, historic teams rub shoulders with humble clubs and the fact of having recently been in the first division is usually a differentiating factor, thanks to the parachute payments that the Premier provides for relegated players. However, sometimes modest teams dare to challenge the established order. This season, direct promotion has been for Burnley and Sheffield, who fell from the Premier in 2022 and 2021 respectively. However, the playoff places have been distributed among teams of a different nature. Sunderland and Middlesbrough were relegated in 2017 but Luton Town and Coventry City have never been in the Premier League. And it was these two clubs who made it past the semifinals of the play-off to meet this Saturday in the grand final.
Two members of Coventry City celebrating the pass to the historic duel.
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The lives of Luton Town and Coventry City have been curiously linked. These are two municipalities located on the outskirts of a large city, Luton, 50 kilometers north of London, in Bedfordshire, and Coventry, 30 kilometers east of Birmingham. Both clubs were founded on similar dates, Coventry in 1883 and Luton in 1885, and both won the only title that rests in their cabinets at the end of the 80s, the FA Cup of 87 in the case of Coventry and the Cup of the League of 88 in the Luton. His trajectory in recent years has also been parallel. In the 17-18 season the two played in League Two, the fourth category of English football and both achieved promotion. The following year Luton went up again, it cost Coventry one more season, but they met again in the Championship in 2021. The Befdordshire team already reached the play-off last season, but lost in the semifinals against Huddersfield and failed to reach Wembley.
change of status
Coventry Stadium was built in 2005 to replace the old Highfield Road, which hosted their team’s matches for 106 years. The new course is an imposing construction, but it has lost some of the magic that existed in the old Highfield. Luton, on the other hand, continue to play their matches at Kenilworth Road, one of those picturesque stadiums so characteristic of football on the islands, which barely seats 10,000 spectators. This Saturday, at 5:45 p.m. Luton Town and Coventry City will face each other on a high stage, Wembley, for a place in the best competition in the world. As if that were not enough, a prize of more than 100 million euros awaits the winner, a capital that can suddenly change the dimension of the club and deprive it of the status of humble team that it has been able to boast of for so many years.
2023-05-27 10:32:20
#humble #clubs #match #million
