Two of Coventry City’s double Wembley heroes and Academy graduates are looking for new clubs this summer after being released by their newly promoted club.
Jordan Willis and Lee Burge – who helped the Sky Blues win both the Checkatrade Trophy and gain promotion via the League Two play-off final – have been let go by Sunderland following their promotion back to the Championship after beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in the League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
Goalkeeper Burge was released by Robins in the summer of 2019 after coming up through the Academy with the likes of Callum Wilson and Gael Bigirimana.
He immediately joined Sunderland where he was first-choice goalkeeper the season before last, but ended up as third choice last term behind academy product Anthony Patterson and on-loan Bayern Munich man Thorben Hoffmann.Although born in Hereford, Burge joined the Sky Blues Academy as a boy and was, as the song goes, ‘one of our own’ having spent his formative years under the guidance of coach and legendary keeper Steve Ogrizovic.
He was first handed the No.1 shirt in 2014 following Joe Murphy’s departure but it wasn’t until the last few years that he really established himself at the club’s first choice stopper, making 160 appearances (140 in the league) overall.
He played a key role in two Wembley finals, notably pulling off a brilliant late save to deny his former Academy team-mate Josh Ruffels an equaliser for Oxford United as City secured a 2-1 victory to lift the Checkatrade Trophy in front of 43,000 ecstatic Sky Blues fans in 2017.
He also featured 12 months later as Mark Robins’s men gained promotion from League Two at the first attempt, playing his part in the play-off campaign that climaxed with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Exeter City in the final.