Coventry City are on the brink of reaching football’s top tier once again. The Sky Blues are amongst the sport’s most storied clubs, yet have spent recent decades far removed from the glamour of the Premier League . Their 34-year spell in England’s elite division came to a painful conclusion with relegation in 2001. However, on Friday, that could all be reversed, with Frank Lampard’s side requiring just one point to clinch the Championship title and secure their return to the top flight. It has been a campaign beyond their wildest expectations, and while every Coventry player who has worn the shirt this season will be remembered fondly – none will eclipse the club’s most celebrated name. That honour may well belong to the legendary Gianfranco Zola, who donned a Coventry jersey in one of the division’s most peculiar encounters. It was 1997 and Chelsea, along with their collection of star players, had boarded their team coach from West London and travelled north along the M1. At the time, the Sky Blues were oblivious to the fact they had somehow forgotten to bring their away strip. Manager Ruud Gullit, however, devised an ingenious solution – he would ask the hosts to switch kits. Former Coventry defender Richard Shaw revealed they maintained an open dressing room door policy, a tactic borrowed from Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson: “Ruud came through the door and said: ‘We’re not changing!’, even though we were at home, the home team! “I think Ruud thought that his name was enough so we would change. It was a bit of a standoff. In the end, they got given what was probably our worst away kit ever. It was red and black chequered and they wore their blue shorts, it just didn’t go. “They brought the wrong kit and we got blamed for it!” Yet the peculiar incidents didn’t end there: Gordan Strachan, then Coventry manager, selected himself in central midfield – leaving out prolific forward Darren Huckerby. Looking back, Huckerby has since quipped: “I got dropped by Strach, he picked himself, picked up Man of the Match at 40-years-old! it was the right call…” This Chelsea squad boasted the likes of future manager Roberto Di Matteo, 1998 World Cup winner Franck Leboeuf and, naturally, Italian maestro Zola – subsequently voted Chelsea’s greatest ever player. Paul Hughes – unrelated to Mark – put the unprepared visitors ahead 1-0 at the interval, but a dramatic second period saw the hosts net three times through Dion Dublin, Paul Williams and Noel Whelan. Chelsea’s players, appalled by the garish strips, discarded them on the pitch after the final whistle. “I always felt like Chelsea had got a touch of arrogance about them, and I get that,” Shaw told the Coventry Telegraph. “They are party animals, shall we say, so I do understand that. “A couple of years after this they beat us 6-1, we had a keeper sent off, and [Chelsea chairman] Ken Bates came into the changing room with a crate of champagne and said: ‘Unlucky lads, you kept it down to six. Well done!’ “Carlton [Palmer] picked it up threw it at him, ask him! So Chelsea have always had that arrogance.