After nearly eight years, two promotions, a heartbreaking penalty shootout loss in the Championship playoff final, and a toenail offside that cost them a spot in last year’s FA Cup final, Mark Robins has been dismissed as Coventry City’s manager.
In English football’s top four divisions, only Pep Guardiola had a longer tenure – and let’s face it, his job was a breeze in comparison. When Robins returned to the Sky Blues in 2017 for his second stint, he provided stability amidst the chaos as the club faced homelessness and nearly went bankrupt. Operating under a harsh financial constraint imposed by former owners Otium, he managed to achieve success after success, guiding the team back to the Championship from League Two, overseeing four trips to Wembley, and reigniting a fanbase that had lost its passion for the club.
Robins is rightly celebrated as one of the club’s greatest managers, ranking only behind John Sillett and possibly Jimmy Hill. Many feel he deserved to see out a challenging period after so many years of progress. My heart tells me his exit is a sign of ingratitude, that Robins is a victim of his own success. However, the harsh reality is that he oversaw a gradual decline over the past 18 months.
After Coventry sold key players Viktor Gyökeres and Gustavo Hamer for significant sums in the summer of 2023, missing out on Premier League promotion, the club’s recruitment efforts have been both costly and disappointing. Signings like Haji Wright from Antalyaspor for £7.5m and Ellis Simms from Everton for £3m looked uneasy in their early days with the Sky Blues. Despite a brief surge, Simms remains lacking in confidence – he’s the kind of striker who is expected to miss even the easiest chances, akin to the Championship’s Darwin Núñez.
Following a gut-wrenching Cup exit to Manchester United at Wembley last season, City suffered four defeats in five games, missing out on the playoffs. This season, seven losses in 14 league matches – including a dismal performance at home against promoted Derby – have left them precariously outside the relegation zone on goal difference. It’s the third consecutive year that City have started the campaign in a hopeless manner.
With Callum O’Hare moving to Sheffield United on a free transfer and Kasey Palmer abruptly leaving for Hull on deadline day, the injury-prone Ben Sheaf is now the only standout midfielder left in the squad. Robins’ decision to buy more attackers in the summer while neglecting to strengthen the midfield was a puzzling oversight in a league as physically demanding and intense as the Championship.
Recent wins against Luton and Middlesbrough had temporarily eased concerns of an unexpected relegation battle, but the performances surrounding those victories have been abysmal, leaving the club’s owner, Doug King, understandably frustrated. “No energy, passion, or leadership,” one fan lamented on X (formerly Twitter) after Wednesday’s loss. Another commented, “If you watched that game tonight and don’t know what standard it was, you’d be kind to say it was League Two. Absolutely dreadful.”
To be honest, Robins was never a tactical genius and often seemed averse to making substitutions, but alongside Adi Viveash and Dennis Lawrence, he formed a strong coaching team. The sudden departure of Viveash for unknown reasons in the summer, shortly after Lawrence left for Minnesota, shook the club. Consistency has been replaced by confusion; optimism by frustration.
Ultimately, what hurts about Robins’ sacking is not that it happened, but that it happened so abruptly. Few supporters were openly rebellious, and most would have tolerated a season of underperformance. I wouldn’t have objected even if Robins had led us down a division, for he might have recreated the old magic to propel us back up.
Who knows what level the Sky Blues will be at if Robins ever receives the statue outside the ground that he deserves.
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
