How Coventry City went within a 'toenail' of beating Manchester United

The scenes at the end of this FA Cup classic said it all.

As the Manchester United end quickly emptied out, almost sheepishly, after £64million (now $78.8m) striker Rasmus Hojlund sent the Premier League side through to the final following a penalty shootout, the sky blue side of Wembley Stadium stayed to show their appreciation for their team.

Coventry City, eighth in the Championship, had come within a “toenail” of stunning their supposedly superior opponents, who have won this competition 12 times. The gulf between these two teams is reflected in their wage bills: United’s is £331.4m, around 14 times that of Coventry’s £23.6m.

U.S. international Haji Wright was ruled offside by the VAR after squaring the ball for substitute Victor Torp to poke home what they thought was the winner in the 120th minute (top photo), leading Coventry manager Mark Robins to say, “Had he cut his toenail, it wouldn’t have gone to penalties.”

Yes, they lost the shootout against a dysfunctional — and often bewildering — Manchester United, but as this contest went the distance, Coventry were the ones that looked the more united.

After their dramatic late 3-2 victory away at Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers in the quarter-final, Coventry took us on another thrilling ride.

This was even more of a surprise as, in truth, they were outclassed by United for much of the first half. Many players appeared rather overawed by the magnitude of the occasion as passes went astray and touches were loose.

When Harry Maguire headed United 2-0 up from a corner on the stroke of half-time, it felt implausible that Coventry could drag themselves back into the game.

Yet Robins’ tactical tweak at the break — switching from the 5-2-3 (as shown below) that had soaked up pressure and struggled to hurt United, to a 4-2-3-1 — changed the momentum and complexion of the tie.

As Robins said: “When we were looking at United, they have got some top players who are blistering on the counter attack, so you have to be careful that you don’t open up too soon because they can kill your confidence for the rest of the game, so we had to be a little bit careful to block spaces. We did that to a degree but we didn’t participate in the game as an attacking force for the first half really. You know you have to stay in the game and then you can make changes afterwards.”

Despite the positive move, Bruno Fernandes’ deflected shot put United 3-0 up after 59 minutes but unlike the two goals in the first half, that came after an improved spell from Coventry, with Robins’ side pressing United higher up the pitch.

Coventry pulled one back through Ellis Simms, followed by a looping deflected shot from the excellent Callum O’Hare, who showed his qualities in the hole behind Simms and Wright.

Coventry repeatedly had joy targeting United’s left side, where a tiring Marcus Rashford was often caught high up the pitch and Aaron Wan-Bissaka struggled to contain Milan van Ewijk (No 27, below) and then Fabio Tavares when he came on.

In stoppage time, the pressure paid off and they drew level thanks to a Wright penalty.

Coventry’s substitutes also had a huge impact when they came on — Luis Binks put a crunching tackle in on Fernandes in extra time that started the move that almost led to Wright putting Coventry 4-3 up, Tavares set up Simms’ 19th goal of the season before coming off injured and Torp nearly equalised with a superb volley before thinking he had won it at the death — only for the goal to be ruled out by the tightest of VAR calls.

From delirium came the drama of a penalty shootout.

“Psychologically, that may have had an impact,” Robins said. “You are only 20 seconds away from going to an FA Cup final and then 30 seconds later, you are in a penalty shootout. It puts you on the back foot a little bit.”

After the heartbreak of last year’s Championship play-off final defeat by Luton Town, also after a penalty shootout, this was another cruel blow for Coventry.

Yet under Robins’ steady leadership, this feels like a club united.

Minutes before kick-off yesterday, Coventry band The Enemy’s We’ll Live And Die In These Towns — the song from their debut 2007 album of the same name — was given a rousing rendition inside Wembley. The song, which is about being stuck with your home town despite all its flaws and foibles, carried extra meaning.

This club has experienced its fair share of dark and depressing days in recent years.

After being relegated from the Premier League in 2001 following 34 years in the top tier, Coventry slowly slid down the English football pyramid.

Robins, who was at Manchester United as a player and where legend has it kept Sir Alex Ferguson in a job by scoring against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in 1990, returned for a second spell in March 2017 when Coventry were bottom of League One, 13 points adrift of safety.

“It was done,” he said. “You could feel that everybody had given up. It was as bad as I’d ever known in any football club that I’ve ever worked at. It was terrible and it’s taken a lot of grabbing by the scruff of the neck, with a lot of support from a lot of people.”

Robins introduced rules, such as banning mobile phones in the changing room to improve team bonding, and also wanted his players to be immersed in the community. Robins’ assistant manager Adi Viveash, who spent nine years coaching in Chelsea’s academy, has also played a major role.

At the end of that 2016-17 season, Coventry were relegated to the fourth tier for the first time since 1958 but a victory against Oxford United at Wembley in the EFL Trophy provided a catalyst and hope for change.

Robins then brought Coventry back to League One at the first attempt, via the play-offs and another Wembley win against Exeter City.

Then they won promotion back to the Championship in 2019-2020, in the season curtailed by Covid-19. In May 2023, Robins agreed a four-year contract.

Coventry have also had to deal with chaos off the field.

They had to play home games at Birmingham City, after an earlier spell at Northampton Town, between 2019 and 2021 due to a rent dispute, and against the backdrop of protests against their unpopular former owners Sisu, a London-based hedge fund, which bought the club in 2007.

A 10-year deal to return to the CBS Arena (formerly the Ricoh) was reached with owners Wasps in March 2021, only for the rugby union club to go into administration.

Finally, in January 2023, Doug King completed his 100 per cent purchase of Coventry, restoring the official company name to Coventry City Football Club Limited and leaving the club free of debt. They also agreed a new rental deal with the CBS Arena’s owners, former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, to play there for the next five years.

There’s now a clear togetherness between the owner, Robins, his players and the fanbase. That sense of unity was on show before the game as videos circulated of the Coventry players waving to their supporters from the rooftop of the Hilton hotel in Wembley Park, where they stayed the night before the game — although they didn’t watch Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Manchester City together.

Coventry had a sluggish start to the season after contending with a sizeable overhaul of the squad that saw star players Viktor Gyokeres move to Sporting Lisbon for £20.5million and Gustavo Hamer join Sheffield United for £15.5m. Since their last trip to Wembley, 11 players have departed and only 14 stayed on.

It took a while for the new-look Coventry to find their groove but Robins did not panic and they have steadily improved — with summer signings Simms (£8m from Everton) and Wright (£7.7m from Turkish side Antalyaspor) starting to click this year. Van Ewijk, a summer recruitment from Heerenveen, gave Wan-Bissaka a torrid time at Wembley. There’s a feeling among Coventry fans that if they add extra quality to their squad this summer, they can mount a promotion push next season.

So, yes, Coventry may have just missed out on the day but this is a club looking up again.

(Top photo: Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)