'I'm not stupid' - Mark Robins on Coventry City's fortunes amid Doug King's expectations
Mark Robins remains convinced that he has a “really capable” Coventry City squad that, due their young years and the fragility that can go with inexperience, needs to be given time to grow and develop into the season.
The Sky Blues boss, however, insists he’s “not stupid” and knows that he and his players need to start getting results as they embark on the next block of six games before the next international break – four away and two home, but fixtures he’s very much looking forward to getting to grips with, starting with an always challenging trip to Preston North End, not least because of the fact the club have never won a league game at Deepdale.
As for City’s stuttering start and disappointing progress so far this season, Robins has reiterated the need to manage fans’ pre-season expectations, while insisting ambitious owner Doug King understands the process the club are going through to get to the next level, to be able to bridge the considerable gap to a successful promotion to the Premier League.
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Reflecting on recent performances, the City manager said: “We have conceded too many goals that we have contributed to ourselves, shot ourselves in the foot a few times. Building into the Swansea game we felt in a good place and if we had won the game and maybe if we’d beaten Tottenham that might have given them the confidence boost that they needed. But ultimately there are a lot of things in a season.
“At the start of the season I said I was concerned because of the level of expectation. You have to manage the expectation, and we’re trying to do that while knowing we are going into games with some really capable players. We are going to make mistakes and there are going to be ups and downs, but we have to have an understanding of why things happen.
“I have said it before, we have started off seasons in the Championship not particularly well apart from one season where we won the first seven at home, albeit we still couldn’t win away, but we worked our way into it and that feels like what’s got to happen again.
“But there are really good signs earlier this time, whereas last season I don’t think we performed particularly well at the start of the season. We were struggling a little bit to pick up points, and performances weren’t necessarily great. We lost this game (at Preston) 3-2 last season, lost to Hull 3-2 and Millwall as well, so there were a number of games where we conceded a lot of goals and things changed around gradually. It just is what it is at this moment in time. We just have to face facts and move through it as we always do.”
He added: “Sometimes you can look too deep into things. Players are the same and, really, they have to be free; they have to be free in their heads and brains to allow them to go and flourish. But it can take a little bit of time.
“I am looking forward to this next block of games. We have six before the next international break. It’s incredible really, we have four weeks and then we have stop again. But hopefully we can pick up some points in this spell where we have four away from home and two at home.”
Robins is buoyed by a productive two week international break when there has been plenty of encouraging work done on the training field when his players will hopefully have addressed some of their defensive deficiencies.
“It’s been a decent spell for us,” he said. “The disappointment of the Sheffield Wednesday game can hang over for a little while but it dissipates over time and we can go into this next game and have a real go at turning around this not so great record (of never winning a league game at Deepdale).”
Back to the bigger picture, the 54-year-old insists that the building blocks are there for the club to achieve success and get out of the division, but that it takes time for an evolving squad to get there as it loses players along the way.
“You can’t just turn round and say this is the step because we need to make that step,” he said. “You can’t just do that. It’s impossible for people to grasp; there is too much between that and success from this division. Unless you are spending top money and are the biggest spenders in the division, and even then there’s no guarantee.
“The thing that has changed for us is that we can spend money on transfer fees and that can be a big thing. But there are a lot of players out there who are free and you can pick up and supplement and add to your squad. That’s been the difference. And we have had the environment change, which has been fantastic, and over time – and it’s an indeterminate amount of time – if you are put into a position where you have to achieve now...
“They’re not circus ponies, you have to build into it and make sure things are in place. We have to be realistic and manage that. I have to manage that and understand that is the end goal and what everybody wants, but it is going to take some time and some work. We have got some really good players here but you put all those players into the same boat and you can destabilise things by making unrealistic expectations and challenges.
“We have to put building blocks in place and every season it changes because the dynamic of the squad changes, and while we are trying to build on that, you are still losing some of your best players. So there is always a challenge there.”
He added: “A lot of teams have brought in players who are ready-made from top teams across Europe and they have recruited really well. We feel we have recruited really well, for us. And that is all you can do as a football club.”
The manager warned, however: “The longer you are in this division if you are not careful it gets out of control because the demands change. We have to remember this club was in peril just a few years ago and we have managed to turn it around to this point. We are so healthy in terms of the players we have, in terms of the finances, in terms of the backing and the stadium situation, and in terms of the training ground. Everything has changed but it doesn’t equate to immediate success.
“There’s still a process and that’s the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter if I am here or someone else is here, it’s still the same process, so we have to be mindful of that. I am certainly mindful of that and still need that support. The players still need that support. They are young, younger than they have been forever, and that has its positives and also some negative impacts as well.
“But I’m really excited by the squad; I really like it. I like them as people and as footballers and there’s still a lot to do to try to teach them to make the next step, which is to start winning football matches to climb the division. But they are really capable of doing that.”
As well as managing expectations among the fans, it’s also clearly important that Doug King is on the same page and knows the process that is happening, that the manager has got young players who will take time to hit the required heights.
“Yes, absolutely, and he is really good,” insisted Robins. “As I have said before, he is really good. I put myself under a lot of pressure, as always. I don’t feel under any undue pressure, just normal things, you know. I have got to win football matches. I am not stupid. But as long as things are moving forward.
“It really doesn’t matter if I am doing the right things, I know the team is going to improve if the players are doing the right things and are in the right head space. And I come back to what I said earlier, the psychological part of the game is really important.”
He added: “I know when they have done well. They get told all the time, they get told when they have made errors that they can put right and that’s part of a critique and a development process. They have to be able to take that and some form of criticism. It’s interesting but, essentially, you are looking for robust individuals who can deal with all those things and still perform at the best they can.
“Generally they are really brave, because we ask them to play in a way we want the supporters to enjoy. They try to do that all the time and for that they get a lot of leeway, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and giving opponents chances because the two goals we gave to Sheffield Wednesday were terrible and avoidable.
“They have worked really hard over the last couple of weeks. The sessions have been good and we are looking forward to getting back in front of our supporters and turning our fortunes around a little bit because the results haven’t been what we have wanted. Some of the performances have been great but ultimately we have to look at picking points up.”