Key events
Cole Palmer reassured a lot of Chelsea fans that despite an inconsistent season he remains committed to the west London club. Speaking to Jacob Steinberg about report linking the England international with a move to Manchester United Palmer said:
Everyone just talks. When I see it I just laugh. Obviously Manchester is my home. All my family are there, but I don’t miss it. Maybe I’ll miss it if I don’t go for three months or something. But then when I get home I think there’s nothing there for me anyway.
I’ve got no plans to move from Chelsea. We’ve still got a lot to play for. We’ve got the FA Cup semi-final [against Leeds] and if we finish in a Champions League spot it puts us in a good position to sign players that we need. We spoke to the owners and they’re sure of the players that are gonna do it. Reece won’t sign a six-year contract if he’s not spoken to the owners and the directors.
Me and Reece spoke a lot. About things we need, players we need to sign and how things need to be. He wouldn’t sign a new contract if he didn’t know what was going on.
You can read that interview with Palmer in full here:
A lot of goodwill towards Coventry after their troubles since dropping out of the top-flight, keep the comments coming in:
I’m so so pleased for the dear folk of Coventry and their Promotion to the Premier League after 25 yrs, especially as some wanted on these pages Lampard to fail, so well done Frank on proving your critics wrong, and achieving a long awaited Promotion of Coventry City.
Nice work Coventry and Lampard. Finally top flight football in your ‘new’ ground (2005 was it).
Always happy to see a Midlands team go up. Would be happy to see Blues, WBA, Wolves, even Derby and Notts competing. Of course Forest might get to play some of those next season
Sam Cunningham
No more gimmicks: Coventry’s perilous journey back to the Premier League is finally over
To understand the extraordinarily wild ride that Coventry have been on, culminating in the promotion achieved at Blackburn on Friday night, you need only look at the text-a-substitute idea that has become part of football folklore.
In less than a decade, the club were relegated from the top flight for the first time after 34 years, lost their stadium and came within half an hour of extinction before being bought by a Mayfair-based hedge fund in 2007. The story goes that, as a way to generate extra revenue, fans would be able to text substitution suggestions to a premium-rate number during a match. It is frequently recalled in local and national newspapers. Fans are still asked about it today.
But Leonard Brody, the Canadian digital guru who joined the board when Sisu took over and is credited with the idea, insists it was never seriously discussed at the club. “That whole texting conversation was taken out of context of more of a brainstorming conversation that was happening with a reporter, where they pulled out the idea to make it look like a stupid idea,” recalls Brody.
He says he was discussing how clubs needed to seek revenue streams away from broadcasting. “I think it’s kind of funny,” he adds. “But it’s not something we were ever going to do or take seriously in that moment.”
Read Sam Cunninham’s full feature on Coventrys journey down and back up again:
Coventry fans, how are you feeling about promotion? My personal experience is that this is the best bit and that you have eery right to still be nursing sore heads come Monday morning. Get in touch via matchday.live@guardian.co.uk or below the line in the comments with your stories from last night and your thoughts on being back in the big time.
Dominic Booth
Where else to start than with Coventry..
Lampard delight as nervy draw at Blackburn seals promotion for Coventry
An emotional Frank Lampard basked in the historic achievement of leading Coventry City back to the Premier League after an absence of a quarter of a century. The Sky Blues have returned to the big time for the first time in a generation, after a turbulent period in which they changed stadiums, hit financial rock bottom and plummeted to the depths of League Two as recently as 2017-18.
Lampard was front and centre of celebrations after a 1-1 draw at Blackburn that put the seal on a famous promotion. It has been a long time coming. The former England midfielder lauded Bobby Thomas’s equalising goal as an “incredible moment” in the champagne-soaked celebrations on the Ewood Park turf. “Because of how the game had gone, you were worried,” said Lampard. “We knew we were very nearly there, but to get it over the line like this for this club after 25 years, wow.”
Coventry had struggled to battle past a stubborn home side across a tense 90 minutes, knowing just a point would send them up. Ryoya Morishita’s goal for Blackburn briefly silenced the 7,000 Sky Blue fans, before Thomas nodded in from Victor Torp’s free-kick late on. It was hardly a vintage Coventry display but the result was all that mattered to Lampard and his men.
Read Dominic Booth’s full report from Ewood Park:
Right, let’s have a quick whip around the morning headlines:
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The BIG ONE: Coventry City have been promoted back to the Premier League after 25 years (more on that shortly)
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Marcus Rashford’s future is back up in the air again as it looks unlikely is loan to Barcelona will be made permanent
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Cole Palmer has told the Guardian that he is committed to Chelsea, amid links to Manchester United
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Bournemouth are set to appoint Marco Rose as their new manager
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Leah Williamson is fit to play for the Lionesses in their World Cup qualifier
Preamble
Good morning, welcome to matchday live! We’ll be bringing you all the latest news and buildup to all of the weekend’s football, plus reaction to Coventry’s return to the Premier League after a 25-year wait. The end of the season is in sight and we’re finally getting some answers to the questions we’ve been asking since the beginning of the campaign. There’s plenty to discuss, so let’s get into it. As ever, you can get in touch with via the email at the top of the page.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/apr/18/spurs-seek-elusive-victory-lionesses-in-iceland-and-coventry-seal-premier-league-promotion-matchday-live
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