27 May 2023 , 07:30
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After an entertaining game on Wednesday night, the draw between Brighton and Manchester City was held up by some as an example of everything that is good about the English game.
And apart from Pep Guardiola’s lamentable antics on the touchline - for which he should be punished - they had a point.
It was entertaining, skilful stuff.
But if you REALLY want an example of everything that is good about the English game, then watch the Championship Play-off Final between Coventry City and Luton Town on Saturday evening at Wembley. It might turn out to be a rubbish match but that will not matter.
The taste of utter despair is still in the mouths of these two loyal fanbases, the worry about whether there are any new depths to which their clubs can sink is still a fresh memory. And here they are, on the brink of clambering back to the summit of the English footballing mountain.
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And, let’s be honest, it is probably the play-off that quite a few of the Premier League elite did not want, not their commercial and financial operatives, anyway.
It is a nice picture of Luton’s terraced-house entrance but it does not bring in the bucks.
Consider, though, the journeys these two clubs have been on.
Who will come out on top in the play-off final? Have your say in the comments section
Coventry and Luton were opponents in League Two in 2018 (Coventry Telegraph)
In the 2017/18 season, they were playing each other in League Two - Coventry winning 3-0 at Kenilworth Road and the reverse fixture ending in a 2-2 draw - but that is not half the story.
After dropping down to League Two, Luton began the 2008/09 season on -30 points after being punished by the EFL and FA for financial irregularities.
If only Luton had enjoyed the resources of a modern-day Manchester City - a club they once famously helped to relegate from the top flight in 1983 - they might have avoided such a draconian sanction but, instead, went out of the league, thanks to that punishment.
Luton fought for five years in the old Conference before returning to the EFL in 2014 and now they are on the verge of playing Premier League football for the first time, having been relegated from the top flight in its last season as Division One.
It is remarkable.
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Coventry booked their place at Wembley with a win against Middlesbrough (Greig Cowie/REX/Shutterstock)Equally remarkable is the Coventry City story. This is a club who were forced to groundshare with Northampton Town for the 2013/14 season - a round trip of 70 miles.
It was not the last time the fans would not be allowed in their own home yet since they were relegated to the the third tier in 2012/13, Coventry’s average crowd, throughout all their stadium strife, has been in excess of 11,000.
Now, those fantastic loyalists - along with those who stood by Luton during the fall into national obscurity - can almost touch the Premier League’s promised land.
And as the promised land becomes more and more consumed by the unimaginable wealth of clubs backed by oil states and American hedge funds, the rise of whoever wins at Wembley on Saturday really will represent everything that is good about the English game.