Is it a signal of better times to come for City?

EARLY in his impressive set in the city on Sunday night, bad boy of rock Liam Gallagher acknowledged to the crowd: “You’ve got a big day tomorrow then!”

He went on to suggest in his somewhat uninformed and simplistic view that the club shouldn’t bother with hotels at their ground but, ‘buy some proper players instead.’

Well Liam, the Sky Blues may not have the billions of your sky blues of the north, but they’ve got plenty of decent players for the level they’re currently plying their trade.

Whether that’s enough to compete at the next level remains to be seem but this special squad look far better equipped for life in League One than the group that dropped out of it little more than 12 months ago.

Mark Robins cleared out the dead wood and replaced it with a bunch of lads who have got stronger as the season has gone on and finally delivered what they set out to achieve – promotion back to the third tier at the first attempt.

And how fitting that the man who wore the skipper’s armband when City dropped down to the fourth tier last May, centre-back Jordan Willis, was the player who sparked the victory for their return with a stunning opening goal straight out of the striking handbook. This is not a League Two squad, it’s a group of hungry and talented players capable of playing at a higher level.

But the key to any further success, of course, is keeping as many of them together as possible.

Some will, inevitably, move on. It’s difficult to see Tom Bayliss staying around for too long with the talent that he has in his precocious teenage boots.

But one man who could stay the distance for at least one more campaign is talismanic striker Marc McNulty who has provided the impetus up front to fire the Sky Blues back up and who, while not getting on the scoresheet at Wembley, set up two of the three goals for his team-mates.

He’ll not be short of offers this summer but it’s going to take something pretty special to prize him away from City who now have to show some ambition to keep him.

The club need to make sure he’s not lured into a sideways move on the strength of wages. If Coventry want to harness their momentum and strive for the next level, they have to push the boat out with McNulty and make staying worthwhile.

There will be few clubs in League One with the potential and fanbase to match this proud football club; few that could command nearly 40,000 supporters at Wembley Stadium. And that’s because Liam, Coventry City is a proper football club that just happens to have fallen on hard times. But having come through their ‘big day’ with flying colours, this might just signal the start of better times to come.