Coventry City told to avoid 'harsh' Josh Eccles decision - 'It all comes down to Doug King' | OneFootball

Coventry City have been urged to give versatile midfielder Josh Eccles a chance in the Premier League next season.

It is not yet mathematically and officially confirmed but Coventry City’s long-awaited return to top-flight football should now happen in 2025.

Coventry sit 12 points clear of Ipswich Town at the top-of-the-table, albeit the Tractor Boys have a couple of games in hand, and 12 clear of third and fourth place Middlesbrough and Millwall.

Frank Lampard has done an excellent job since taking over mid-way through last season, initially leading them to the play-off semi-finals last season and now to a position of being champions-elect in the Championship, following the Easter schedule.

After a rough patch of form through the late winter, Coventry rediscovered their form in the nick of time to more or less ensure promotion to the Premier League and, as a product of that, likely an extremely busy summer transfer window.

Work will need to be done to make Coventry competitive in the top-flight and there will be question marks over the status of some of their squad right now – perhaps none more so than midfielder Josh Eccles.

Coventry urged to give Josh Eccles a chance in the Premier League

Josh Eccles is down the pecking order at the Coventry Building Society Arena and it would be fair to assume he would only fall further down after a summer of recruitment targeted at achieving survival in the Premier League.

However, as FLW’s Coventry Fan Pundit Chris Deez has explained, there is a bit of room for sentimentality in football and Eccles is someone who should perhaps benefit from that next season.

“I absolutely love Josh Eccles, I really do.

“He’s a Cov lad through and through, he works his socks off. He’s pitched in with a couple of very good and very important goals.

“Whenever he has been asked to step up, he has done so and I really want him to get a chance to play for us in the Premier League.

“I know a lot of that is sentiment. I don’t think he’s a Premier League quality player don’t get me wrong, but I really hope we keep him somewhere on the sidelines. Keep him as a squad player because it would be harsh for him to have put so many years into his boyhood club and then just be cast aside as soon as we get there.

“I don’t think we would get rid of him altogether. I could see him getting loaned out but it would still feel really brutal.

“The lad gets so much hate online and I will never, ever understand it. It’s like I’m watching a different game to other Cov fans – the ones who criticise him.

“It’s almost as though because he’s from Coventry, he’s in line to receive more criticism than the others.

“I’ve seen a hell of a lot more effort from Josh Eccles, in his limited appearances this season, than I have from Haji Wright or than I have from Ellis Simms.

“It all comes down to Doug King and how he feels about, how sentimental he is.

“If we get up and someone comes in with a decent offer for Josh, a few million or something up to £5 million maybe, that’s what I’d value him around.

I don’t think he (King) would say no to that, with us needing that money to try and stay up, but I would hope he would at least wait until the end of the transfer window, see what happens with players coming in and out – we might need Josh. He might not be Premier League standard but we might need him to step up.”

Josh Eccles has been a good servant for Coventry

Having come through the academy, of which he joined at the age of just seven, Coventry-born Josh Eccles has been a pillar of the Sky Blues’ rise in the last decade.

Turning professional in 2018, the season after they had gained promotion from League Two, Eccles steadily grew into becoming a Coventry player before a real breakthrough in the 2022/23 campaign, making 38 appearances across all competitions as Coventry lost the play-off final to Luton Town on penalties at Wembley Stadium.

Eccles, who spent a part of the 2020/21 season on a short-term loan deal at Gillingham, has made 193 appearances for City and been crucially involved in some of their most memorable moments from the past few years.

The Premier League is, of course, a major step up and there are questions around his limitations – but, as Chris points out, it could well be that Eccles is required next season and his versatility, industry and loyalty should be qualities taken into account.