Coventry City boss addresses boo-boy backlash and gives insight to what he has 'lived through' with Doug King

Coventry City owner Doug King and manager Mark Robins
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A section of the Sky Blue Army caused a bit of a stir among the Coventry City fanbase when they expressed their displeasure towards owner Doug King at Watford.

There was a breakout of booing when supporters began singing his song from the away end at Vicarage Road, resulting in a backlash on social media from fans who struggled to comprehend why their fellow followers had lost faith in the businessman, whom even his fiercest of critics could not deny has transformed the Championship club beyond all recognition in the 21 months he's been in charge.

Asked about the negative reaction to the club’s executive chairman, which most put down to a number of unpopular decisions including high ticket pricing for the Tottenham game and the failure of the club to sign a quality central midfielder in the summer, a situation magnified when the club didn’t make a move for free agent Matty James, manager Mark Robins was quick to jump to King’s defence.

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“This is what I have experienced and lived through with him," said Robins, when asked if it’s fair to say that the club is almost unrecognisable since the new owner came in, in terms what he’s done on and off the pitch, from transforming the training ground to a top class facility to strengthening and reinvesting wisely in the squad.

“He came in and he really wanted to make a strong impact, and still wants to make a strong impact in every aspect of the business. He’s a brilliant, brilliant person. He’s outstanding. I really enjoy working with him and I really like him. He’s head strong and he’s really bright and he has the most energy of many people that I have ever met.”

He added: “He doesn’t get everything right, and he would acknowledge that, but eventually he does get everything right, and right for the football club. Sometimes people don’t see or appreciate that because we all want something for nothing; we all want more than we’re paying for. I’m the same. I wanted more players, I want this, I want that but I think when you strip it all back, we have got a brand new training ground and facility where the environment has changed. We have had new players coming in and we are paying for players, which we weren’t doing before.”

Explaining the need for the club to be prudent with its finances, Robins explained: “What we do is make sure we don’t overpay in terms of our headline salary. We can’t do that because we have to stay within certain parameters which means you are shopping in a certain pool, which has obviously broadened since he came in.

“What we can’t do, and that’s why I said the other day, my biggest challenge this season is managing expectation because you can’t allow that to go out of kilter with the reality of things, and there was, and is, a danger of that happening. And I don’t want to see that happening. That’s not for my sake, although I suppose it is for my sake, but I think ultimately it’s for the club’s sake because if you do that too soon, the wheels come off and all the good work that has gone on from everybody starts to unravel. And that can happen as we have seen a number of times at other places.”

As for the fans, the manager said: “Our supporters have been fantastic throughout my tenure and they understand the process and the work we have done to get there. And the only reason we have been able to do it the way we are doing it now is because of Doug and the money that he has put in, the money that has been raised and the way he has managed that finance.

“From my point of view we need time to generate both the performance on the pitch and obviously the performance off the pitch in terms of our revenues and building those revenue streams which makes the club healthy and strong, and more sustainable moving forward.

“For the supporters, yes, they want to see a strong and healthy club and they expect that to happen. And they also expect a really strong team on the pitch because that’s what they have seen, and I am hoping we can do that. We have now got players in the building who we can develop and utilise to try to get to where we want to get to, and the ultimate aim is obviously to get into the play-offs or better in a division where it’s notoriously difficult to do.

“And every year it becomes different and difficult because, for instance, everyone looks at Ipswich and thinks that if they can do it everyone else can. But you have to look at yourselves and what we are doing at your club and how you are progressing with your club and if you can move it forward year on year, which isn’t always correlated to your league position or points total. Your performances, yes, the players you have got and how they are playing and the style of play – yes you have to get results as we have spoken about with people like Steven Schumacher losing their jobs.

“But I think, for us, we’re in a much, much healthier position than we have ever been in my tenure here. And it’s in a good place to keep building and eventually we will get to where we want to be. I can’t put a time on it.

“You’ll know when it’s right. I’ll tell you when it is right – you’ll be able to tell me. When we start to move you will be able to see it starting to move. It’s about players putting in and giving their all in every aspect of the game. At this moment in time that isn’t necessarily happening all of the time but we will get there and get to that point.”

The Sky Blues gave Tottenham a real scare in the Carabao Cup this week, giving them a tough game at the CBS Arena, and Robins and King share the same ambition, to be competing against that level of opposition every week.

“In our league there are 24 teams that want to be in the Premier League,” he said. “There are 22 or 23 that think they have got a realistic chance. There are probably 16 or 17 teams who are now spending money, post Covid, that have started to get to where they need to be, which makes it difficult for everyone else.

“We’ve spent money and, for us, it’s significant and we’re trying to bring in players who can help us in the short, medium and long term. But also we have players with value in there who you can turn over and help to propagate the next bit.

“You have to try to get there and go and prove it. We didn’t finish high enough last year. The year before we sneaked into the play-offs and got to the final and were really, really close. But what follows next is really important because history tells you that clubs have done that and then expect that to happen, and then pressure comes with that. And then they start to struggle and fight relegation, and some even go down.”

He added: “So you have got to keep everything on an even keel and people need to stay calm without demanding too much. We’re all human beings and in this day and age we have a lot of things to deal with in the game and in life in general. And you have to be there to help, guide and support, and support is a big thing.”

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