2009/10 to 2017/18

Coventry City never reached the Premier League in the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18, spending three in the Championship and six lower down. Their best finish was 16th in the Championship, in 2009/10. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £498k in transfer fees and took in £10.2m, a net profit of £9.7m.

Coventry City's time in this game's window is short and sobering. Sixteenth in the Championship in 2009/10, 18th in 2010/11, then 23rd and relegation in 2011/12. For the remaining six seasons they were outside the top two divisions altogether.

Good players still came through. Scott Dann was sold to Birmingham in 2009 and Richard Keogh to Derby in 2012, and Callum Wilson left for Bournemouth in 2014 before going on to score goals in the Premier League. Spending was minimal: Lukas Jutkiewicz, from Everton, was about the only signing with a fee worth mentioning.

Coventry were a top-flight club for 34 straight seasons until 2001. £900m on 115.football is a chance to rewrite what came after. Keep Dann, build a team that never has to sweat over 18th place, and the Sky Blues could be back where they spent most of the late twentieth century.