Coventry City

"The amount of new managers coming into the league this year, I have never seen anything like it".

Aaron Paul and Jobi McAnuff are joined by special guests Tommy Smith and Alex Bruce to preview the 2025-26 Championship season.

They discuss a range of topics including assessing chances of sides coming down from the Premier League, who the contenders might be for the top six and take a deep dive of each of the sides promoted from League One.

Listen to the full episode of 72+ and more on BBC Sounds.

After falling at the semi-final stage of the Championship Play-offs in May, Coventry begin their latest quest for promotion to the Premier League with the visit of Hull City on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Frank Lampard begins his first full season in charge aiming to steer the Sky Blues to a fast start, something which evaded his predecessor Mark Robins in recent seasons.

Having avoided relegation on the final day of last season, a new era begins for Hull City with Sergej Jakirovic taking charge of the Tigers for the first time after replacing Blades-bound Ruben Selles at the helm in June.

• Coventry City have won just one of their last seven league games against Hull City (D3 L3), failing to keep a clean sheet across that time.

• Hull City have won four of their last six away league games against Coventry City (D1 L1), winning three of those without conceding in the process.

• This is the second time that Coventry and Hull have met on the opening day of a league campaign, with the previous fixture back in August 1966 in the second tier seeing the Sky Blues win 1-0 on home soil.

• Hull have won two of their last three away games that have fallen on matchday one of an EFL campaign, though did lose their last 2-1 vs Norwich City in August 2023.

• Last season in the Championship, only Josh Brownhill (24) and Finn Azaz (23) recorded more goal contributions among midfielders than Coventry's Jack Rudoni (22 – 10 goals, 12 assists). Two of those came against Hull (one goal, one assist).

The countdown is on to the start of Coventry City's Championship campaign and it's expected to be a packed out CBS Arena for the opening fixture as the Sky Blues take on Hull City on Saturday (12:30 BST).

After his first pre-season working with the club, head coach Frank Lampard will be looking for the side to hit the ground running after disappointing starts by the team in recent seasons.

The BBC CWR sports team are also all about getting off to a good start with changes to the on-air matchday line-up.

Lifelong City Fan Rob Gurney moves into the matchday commentary role, taking over from Clive Eakin, who ended his 24 year run of Sky Blues commentaries at the end of last season.

Rob's no stranger to commentating on his team, having guided fans through the Premier League years in the 1990s.

Former Coventry City goalkeeper, Steve Ogrizovic, remains a safe pair of hands in the summariser's position alongside Rob.

Joining the starting line-up this season, after several appearances from the bench, is Lorna Bailey, who will host the build-up and post-match phone-in.

Southampton have failed in an approach for Coventry's 24-year-old midfielder Jack Rudoni, but might come back with another offer. (The Sun, external)

The Sky Blues want £15m for their Dutch right-back Milan van Ewijk. Wolves and Wolfsburg are among the clubs keen on signing the 24-year-old. (Coventry Telegraph), external

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Friday's gossip column here.

"Just listening to the manager Frank Lampard, he seems quite happy with where the squad are.

"We all want to get off to a great start but historically we know how bad our starts have been in recent years - it's not the end of the world if that happens.

"I look at the fixtures and it's a nice steady start so fingers crossed it'll be good for us in August."

Former Coventry City goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic joined host Lorna Bailey and the team for BBC CWR's Coventry City Fans' Forum ahead of the new Championship season.

The Sky Blues kick-off the campaign at home to Hull City on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Listen to the full Sky Blues Fancast Live and more on BBC Sounds.

Coventry City are among those interested in Luton Town midfielder Lamine Fanne but the Hatters are not looking to part with the Spanish 21-year-old this summer. (Rudy Galetti), external

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Tuesday's gossip column here.

Image source, Forest Green Rovers

Forest Green Rovers have signed forward Aidan Dausch from Coventry City on a season-long loan.

The 19-year-old USA youth international has made two senior appearances off the bench for the Sky blues.

Dausch played nine National League South matches and scored two goal on loan for St Albans City as the Hertfordshire club were relegated in 21st place.

He follows fellow Coventry loanee Isaac Moore to the New Lawn Stadium for the 2025-26 season.

"Aidan is an exciting talent that we're delighted to work with here at Forest Green," Rovers manager Robbie Savage said.

"We're thankful to Frank Lampard and Coventry City for allowing us to bring Aidan and Isaac to the football club. We're excited to see them both develop and help us in our quest for promotion."

Rovers begin the National League season away at Solihull Moors on Saturday.

Image source, Getty Images

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard is happy with the competition he has among his strikers after a 2-2 draw with St Pauli on Saturday in their final pre-season friendly.

Brandon Thomas-Asante and Ellis Simms were on target as the Sky Blues completed their warm-up programme before the Championship opener at home to Hull City on Saturday (12:30 BST).

"It's nice to have strikers scoring goals - we've been a bit short of that in pre-season," Lampard told BBC CWR.

"But that's the hardest part of football, the sharpness and ability to finish so we can be happy with that.

"We've got competition up there and we need the players to perform but I'm well aware that strikers who are scoring and in confident runs can score more. It's a good feeling for them."

Haji Wright finished last season as Coventry's top scorer with 12 goals and was able to play 15 minutes against the German Bundesliga side as he continues his return from an Achilles injury.

"Haji's a big player for us and he came on having progressed very well with his injury - he's really keen and very positive and we're pleased to get him some minutes," Lampard added.

"He has some work to do to bridge the gap but it puts us in good stead having players of the calibre of Haji playing in that central area," added Lampard.

Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard believes his side's 1-1 friendly draw with Real Betis was a valuable experience for his squad ahead of the Championship season.

Jack Rudoni's first-half goal put the Sky Blues ahead before the visitors equalised through substitute Pablo Garcia. But it was goalkeeper Carl Rushworth who shone against the La Liga opposition.

"[He's] a young goalkeeper with a lot of experience," Lampard told BBC Radio CWR. "I think he showed a lot of his qualities."

Lampard emphasised the importance of City's pre-season preparations.

"I want to extend the players, to help focus, to help the feeling of playing higher level opposition. I think we've done that."

"We've had some good challenges in pre-season and I like that because we should test ourselves.

"I'm not so concerned about results, I'm more concerned about performance."

Next up for Coventry City is Bundesliga side St. Pauli at the CBS Arena on Saturday.

Listen to the full interview and more on BBC Sounds.

"If you look at it logically, it does make sense as to why Doug King would like to look at alternatives."

BBC political reporter Simon Gilbert breaks down Coventry City owner Doug King's potential plans to build a new 40,000-seater stadium and why it might be in the Sky Blues' best interests.

Listen to Simon's full analysis and more on BBC Sounds.

"I think Real Betis will be a really tough test for us. I think they will be maybe the best test we've had in recent pre-seasons, dare I say that."

BBC Radio CWR's Lorna Bailey and William Oelrich are joined by guests Laura Hartley and CJ as they talk new signings and possible departures, away kits, and going back to the CBS Arena for a pre-season friendly against Real Betis on Wednesday.

Listen to the full episode of the Sky Blues Fancast and more on BBC Sounds.

Norwich City are considering a move for Brighton forward Abdallah Sima, 24, to join up with Senegal team-mate Papa Amadou Diallo, who signed for the side on Thursday. (Pink Un - subscription required), external

The Canaries are also interested in RC Lens winger Anass Zaroury, however they face competition from Coventry City for the 24- year-old Morocco international. (L'Equipe - in French), external

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Tuesday's gossip column here.

Midfielder Matt Grimes says Coventry keeping much of last season's play-off reaching squad together is "a big strength" going into their upcoming Championship campaign.

Of the Sky Blues' eight released players, only forward Jamie Paterson featured in the Championship last season.

Their only sale of the summer so far has been forward Fabio Tavares, who played just one minute in the league last season before heading on loan to current club Burton Albion in January.

"I think a big strength of ours is that we've kept the majority of the squad over the summer," Grimes told BBC CWR.

"The retained list that we put up, there was only a couple of players that we lost. Whereas a lot of teams chop and change and lose five, six or seven players and have to rebuild that."

Listen to the full interview with Matt Grimes and more on BBC Sounds.

Coventry City goalkeeper Carl Rushworth says it was a gut decision to join the Sky Blues after speaking with boss Frank Lampard and midfielder Matt Grimes.

Rushworth, who joined Coventry on loan from Brighton on Thursday, previously played with Grimes during their time together at Swansea City during the 2023-24 season.

"[Lampard] is putting all the ownership into my hands," Rushworth told BBC Radio CWR.

"It's not like he would like me to play out, he's not saying we are stuck in those ways. He believes in me to play what I see and I have the backing from him.

"Along with speaking with [Matt] Grimesy and having a non-biased opinion about how much he was loving this club and loving his time here. I was always going to go with my gut."

It's not just talk that drew Rushworth's attention, it's also the possibility of adding a promotion to his CV with usual Sky Blues number one Oliver Dovin likely to be ruled out for the start of the season.

"The plan is just to compete and try and play as many games as possible and look to get promoted," the keeper added.

"That's something that is very exciting for me to think about and it's actually very realistic as well."

Listen to the full interview with Carl Rushworth and more on BBC Sounds.

Join Lorna Bailey for BBC CWR's 'Fans' Forum Live' with special guests matchday announcer 'JD' and Coventry City fan John Dawkins.

The best part? It's completely free! Just drop an email to cwrsport@bbc.co.uk asking to join the ballot and they will notify you by Friday, 1 August if you've won yourself a place.

The event will be held at BBC CWR's Open Centre in Priory Place on Monday, 4 August at 18:00 BST.

Can't attend? You can listen live via BBC Radio CWR or catch up on BBC Sounds shortly after broadcast.