Opponents Coventry show just how far Norwich City have come

Norwich v Coventry at Carrow Road looked nothing other than a potential mid-table slugfest when the Championship fixture list came out last June – but what amazing circumstances this match is going to take place in.
While Coventry have hovered around in mid-table for much of the season, Norwich have been right up there all along and on Monday secured promotion to the Premier League.
It’s ironic that it’s Coventry we’re playing today – along with the likes of Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton, the Sky Blue and the Canaries are probably thought of by the rest of the football world of teams of about the same size. Growing up I always thought that Coventry and Norwich were like that – sporadic success and great players but nothing particularly long term about them in terms of success.
Back in 1984/85 before final days in the top flight became proper final days – as in the games all started at the same time, a crazy bit of scheduling meant Coventry still had games to play to save their season and send Norwich down, which they did by beating an Everton side in the midst of resting their players for two cup finals in a matter of days.
When Norwich went down in 1994/95, Coventry stayed in the top flight for another handful of seasons and seemed to pull away from Norwich in terms of quality. They boasted Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin before they saw out their careers at Norwich a decade later, they came to Carrow Road in December 1999 as Premier League big boys and hammered us 3-1 in the FA Cup and worse of all, nine months later, they paid an unbelievable £6million for our starlet Craig Bellamy.
Fast forward to February 2009 and Coventry’s last visit to Carrow Road and the difference between the two was still being felt. The Sky Blues were a solid Championship side, the complete opposite of what Bryan Gunn’s Norwich were. We were a mix of loan signings heading for the drop – the likes of Otsemobor, Grounds, Cureton, Cort, Fotheringham, Daley, Gow and Bertrand were on the City team sheet that day, while Coventry had a pretty good Championship squad.
City went down of course and it back in August 2009 the day after our opening League One disaster against Colchester, I sat down and watched Ipswich lose 2-1 at Coventry on the opening day of last season.
‘I’d give anything just to be a solid Championship side like Coventry’ were my thoughts.
Today, as we welcome back the likes of Sammy Clingan, who flew the nest upon relegation, and David Bell, who I always rated but didn’t really fit in at Carrow Road, being a solid Championship side like Coventry are the last things on my mind.