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Kim McQueen perfectly encapsulates the feelings of most Coventry fans that day in 2001.
"I was excited going in and in tears leaving," she said. "I don't think there's any shame in loving your club that much that it leaves you in tears when you go down.
Like Graeme and Rick, Kim never anticipated what would happen to her club in the 25 years that followed.
"I think being unsinkable, external took on a whole new meaning," she said.
After spending 11 years in the Championship, Coventry were relegated to League One before falling into administration in 2013.
Two point deductions followed, home games were temporarily played at Northampton Town and supporters protested against owners Sisu and Coventry City Council as they dropped into League Two.
Coventry midfielder Josh Eccles, 26, joined his boyhood club as a seven-year-old.
"I've seen the worst of this club on the day-to-day," he told BBC Sport. "We had a lot of broken things and it just wasn't a very good atmosphere or environment at the training ground and so on.
"There weren't many shirts around the town or a lot to celebrate. Then Mark Robins came in and he brought the energy and the fans back into the club."
Robins had first managed Coventry in 2012-13. He returned in March 2017 and though he could not save them from relegation to League Two, he did lead them to promotion at the first attempt.
By then, home games were being played at Birmingham City, and it was there they were crowned League One champions in 2020.
Their aim in that first season back in the Championship was "just to stay up" according to former striker Matt Godden, but since achieving that "the club has kept going from there".
"They are a huge football club," said Godden, who now plays for Charlton.
Coventry have been close to returning to the Premier League in recent years.
They were beaten by Luton Town on penalties in the 2023 play-off final and, after Robins was sacked in November 2024 following a poor run of results, Frank Lampard picked up the baton.
The former England midfielder guided Coventry to the play-off semi-finals last season, but that heartbreak was eclipsed when they were crowned champions with two games to spare.
"Pound-for-pound we have overachieved this season," said Graeme, who praised owner Doug King for "changing the feel of the club" since he bought out Sisu in 2023.
"I'm excited to return to where we belong," said Kim. "It means so much because we have been through so much. This time, it's tears of joy."
