Leeds United sealed the Championship title while Frank Lampard guided Coventry City to their second playoff appearance in three years in a typically dramatic final day in the second tier of English football.
Daniel Farke’s team pipped Burnley to the league title on goal difference after Manor Solomon’s 91st-minute goal sealed a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle at Elland Road.
The Tottenham Hotspur loanee’s strike silenced the party atmosphere at Turf Moor where Scott Parker’s Burnley had thought they were set for the title thanks to their win over Millwall.
“I can’t put into words what I’m feeling right now. It is a dream come true to score the winning goal and take this Championship,” Solomon told BBC Radio Leeds.
“Throughout the season we’ve shown we deserve this trophy and to finish in the first spot. I’m so glad it happened.
“We all knew what was happening at Burnley and we knew we needed to score. It paid off and the ball went into the net. It will take me a few days to digest what happened today, right now I’m going to celebrate.”
Saturday’s victories secured Leeds and Burnley’s status as “centurions” as they moved onto the 100-point mark.
Only six other teams have achieved the feat in Championship history. This season is also the first in which three teams in the English football league have reached 100 or more points — Birmingham City have won a record-breaking 108 points on their way to sealing the League One title.
Leeds’ 29 league victories is a new club record, but Parker’s side could not quite match Vincent Kompany’s Burnley team who amassed 101 points when they were promoted in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, Coventry midfielder Jack Rudoni’s brace at the Coventry Building Society Arena was enough to keep his team’s promotion hopes alive.
Chelsea legend Lampard has transformed Coventry since he arrived at the club three weeks after former boss Mark Robins left in November. When Lampard took the job, Coventry were 17th in the Championship, 10 points adrift of the playoff spots and only two points above the relegation zone.
A run of eight wins from nine league matches from Jan. 18 to March 8 sent Coventry shooting up the table, but a late wobble in which they lost to Plymouth and Luton Town was put right on the final day after a narrow win over Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough clinched a fifth-place finish.
Coventry lost the Championship playoff final to Luton on penalties at the end of the 2022-23 season. Lampard also has experience of disappointment at the showpiece event at Wembley Stadium — his Derby County team were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in London in 2019.
His side’s achievement marks a return to form for Lampard after spells in the Premier League with Chelsea and Everton ended in disappointment.
“You worry when you don’t score and you’re on top but we got what we deserved in the end,” Lampard told Sky Sports.
“I talk to Rudoni a lot, he is a great kid. Every day he wants to get better. I never had that [heading ability]. He beats me with that. He is constant energy, He can be the main man of the day.”
Coventry will battle with Sheffield United, Sunderland and Bristol City for a place in the Premier League next season.
Elsewhere, Luton Town suffered a second successive relegation as their 5-3 defeat at West Bromwich Albion condemned them to a place in the third tier, almost exactly 12 months on from their relegation from the top flight.
“It is a particularly painful moment for us and everyone associated with our football club,” Luton manager Matt Bloomfield told BBC Three Counties Radio
“Really disappointing performance considering the day and the performance that we needed to get ourselves out of where we were. Sorry to our supporters for traveling up and down the country, supporting us this season. We understand their disappointment and anger right now.
“I don’t know [where that performance came from]. The goals we gave away were so disappointing. We’ve been incredibly resilient in the last two months to really shore up at the back and unfortunately today it just wasn’t there.”
Despite their draw with promoted Leeds, Plymouth will join Luton in League One next season. Cardiff City have also been relegated.
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