Coventry City owner Doug King has revealed a summer restructure of the club’s coaching set-up was the root cause behind events that led to manager Mark Robins’ hugely unpopular sacking.
Five days on from Robins’ surprise departure, having faced widespread criticism, King spoke candidly at a Fans Forum, held at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
But he stunned impassioned fans present by admitting he had no plan for the future and no immediate successor lined up to replace Robins.
He also began with the chief revelation that the club’s parting with Robins’ long-time number two Adi Viveash had been the Sky Blues manager’s decision – and not, as assumed, one engineered by King himself.
The club wanted to go down the preferred route of appointing a head coach – and King likened the parting of 54-year-old Robins with Viveash, 55, as a “divorce”.
And they have also since failed in their mission to find the “elite tactical coach” they are after.
“It was Mark who dismantled the coaching staff at this football club,” King told BBC CWR. “That is the thing people don’t realise.
“The fall-off after the FA Cup semi-final last season was obvious. I told Mark to take time out at the end of the season and have a rest. But I then had a phone call from him saying that he could no longer work with Adi Viveash. That annoyed me.
“We started interviewing other people. And Mark brought in John Dempster and Mark Delaney (from the Academy) to go on the pre-season tour. That was his decision.”
‘People get divorced’
King explained that a senior management meeting on 30 October involving himself, Robins, head of recruitment Dean Austin and new performance director Claire-Marie Roberts then sowed the seeds for the decision taken on 6 November.
“It had been on my mind for a while,” said King. “I believed in Mark Robins and Adi Viveash.
“The best contracts of both Mark and Adi’s careers both came from me. They worked well together. But marriages break up. They broke up, but I backed the manager.
“It’s disappointing, but people get divorced. They love each other but then they get divorced. I didn’t see it coming but it was coming.”
When Coventry made their official announcement last week that Robins had gone, they said they would take their time to make a decision – and King reiterated that by saying he would simply like someone in charge when the transfer window reopens again on 1 January.
He was further helped in this respect by the Sky Blues battling back from 2-0 down at half-time to draw with leaders Sunderland, on Saturday.
‘We can’t risk be relegated’
And King has now stressed that Rhys Carr, one of the club’s first-team coaches, will remain as caretaker boss, when they return to action following the international break with a lunchtime home game against Sheffield United on 23 November.
When questioned as to why he had not already gone the perceived modern-day football way, of having a replacement lined up, he said simply: “That’s not the way I work.
“I’ve always tried to be transparent about what’s going on. We have had a lot of applications. We have a recruitment process in place.
“The next appointment is very important. I cannot have the risk of us getting relegated. Nobody thought Birmingham would get relegated – and they did.
“You can argue that this was a big mistake. But I had to do something.
“Sometimes a tough decision has to be made. I like Mark Robins. And we’ve had good times together – but it had to be made.”