Martyn Sewell

Web Dev. Muse. PUSB //
In spite of it all, life is beautiful

[Martyn Sewell @skybluesam86]

This coffee gets me.

[Coventry City @Coventry_City]

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. 🌟

[Simon Gilbert @TheSimonGilbert]

Just going to say it.
Brad Collins plays next game we miss out on the play offs.
I wanted him to succeed. I really did. It’s done. Release him.
#PUSB

[Anthony ‘Operation Premiership’ Hornsby @Anthony_Hornsby]

I detest Collins. Detest him. The things I want to say about him would get me banned from here and be more unpopular than I am, so I won’t.

Lampard guilty for sticking with him too. Pathetic.

[Simon Gilbert @TheSimonGilbert]

Three of those four goals were Collins’ fault. That’s not an opinion. It’s an evidenced fact.
He simply cannot start another game for us barring an injury crisis.
Other players need to do better. But this goalkeeping situation cannot continue.
#PUSB

[Moose Allain Ꙭ @MooseAllain]

@elisjames I feel it needs to be said as it seems to have been lost somewhere along the way: Cymru connection in a minute is an EXTREMELY high bar. The fact you’ve done it nearly half the time is incredible. I think this needs more appreciation.

[Chris Hewitt @ChrisHewitt]

Catching up with Masterchef. Really wish they’d go with, “you’re going to be cooking for some of the best food critics in the country… and Tom Parker Bowles.”

[Martyn Sewell @skybluesam86]

@simonwoodward I didn't want to point that out

[Martyn Sewell @skybluesam86]

@SHampbolic Remembrance is woke now

[Tom Furnival-Adams @Tom_FA]

The fact that fans won’t even get a chance to thank and say goodbye to Robins has got me fuming this morning.

The guy deserves a statue and a 6-month farewell tour and he’s been ushered out the back door on a Thursday morning with a 4-paragraph statement.

It’s gross.

#pusb

[Raj Chohan @rajsinghchohan]

As I always say, the direction of a club’s owners is the key. You can have as much intelligence in between as you want but the intelligence & direction from the top is what’s important.

And the decisions in the last 8 months show that these owners lack direction and are unnecessarily trying to be the smartest men in the room by wanting change for the sake of it. It is likely related to the owner wanting more power and bleeding Robins dry of the authority he rightly accumulated after taking the club from League 2 to within penalty shootouts of a FA Cup final & Premier League promotion. A miraculous rise over 6 seasons which objectively shows a top class underlying process especially considering this was done on a shoestring budget - until the 2023 Gyökeres and Hamer sales, Robins spent just £6m on players in 6 seasons, incredible to achieve what he did with this budget. The development of many players to greater heights (Gyökeres the standout - remember this was a guy discarded by Brighton & failed at Swansea) was another sign of this top class underlying process.

The bleeding of power from Robins started with first-team coach Dennis Lawrence leaving in March (the public line was that he left for a greater opportunity but no counter-offer was made to extend his stay). He left right before the big FA Cup semi-final vs Man Utd,very unusual timing. Then in the summer,Robins’ esteemed assistant manager Adi Viveash was removed without Robins’ say-so, an ownership decision. Viveash was praised by so many players for his coaching/development skills over the years and has significant pedigree from his 9 year stint at Cobham where he developed so much talent in Chelsea u18 & u21 teams. You could see his work on the training ground objectively with how new loans/signings almost always seemed to improve with Coventry. Whether that be Gyökeres & Hamer or others like Haji Wright & Ellis Simms who initially had struggles from a finishing perspective when they were brought in to replace Gyökeres,but were then attackers transformed were tearing apart the likes of Wolves & Man Utd. 2 new assistant managers have been brought in by the club (not Robins) - any rational football mind can tell you that transplanting two new coaches in place of an asssistant manager who has had a successful 7 year working relationship with the manager isn't going to work.

From being at home matches, you can tell this was very much a Robins, Viveash & Lawrence 3 man show. All 3 men were active on the sidelines giving player instructions and in constant discussion with Robins. This was a collaborative effort more-so than the average coaching team. We have three pieces of objective evidence that these coaching changes have impacted Coventry: 1. League results have dipped ever since Lawrence left, 2. Big structural and concentration issues from a defensive perspective, 3. New signings really struggling to settle in.

The owners will claim that Robins underperformed by not getting to another playoff final last season after getting to the 2023 playoff final so the coaching changes were necessary. But this is simply a bad reading of a football situation. An FA Cup semi-final (and a penalty shootout away from completing the biggest shock in FA Cup history) and missing the playoffs by 7 points after losing two star players in Gyökeres and Hamer, still represents significant progress. Particularly as league results only started to decline after the fixture congestion caused by the FA Cup run, a Championship squad of Coventry’s size last season was always going to struggle to balance both fronts. The other huge positive was Wright & Simms becoming the most lethal attacking duo in the Championsip, the top player development process that was a theme throughout Robins’/Viveash’s tenure remained. There was much to build on next season.

But no, one of the best processes in English football was interrupted.

Thank you Mark, your place in Coventry history is etched forever.

[Simon Gilbert @TheSimonGilbert]

#PUSB

[That Cov Pod @ThatCovPod]

Imagine how excited we would be if our new manager had this CV:

- Promotion from League Two
- League One winner
- Championship play-off finalist
- FA Cup semi-finalist

Championship clubs are going to be falling over themselves to appoint Robins.

#PUSB

[Luke Spud 🌎 ✈️ @spud8550]

All the Robins Out brigade hang your heads in shame. #PUSB

[All Things Sky Blue (C) @AllThingSkyBlue]

Oggy on Mark Robins’ sacking ⬇️

"Very few things in football shock me but this is a poor decision.
It's not a knee-jerk decision because I think this is planned and Doug King has got a plan in the back of his mind, although what that is I don't know."

#PUSB

[Daniel Storey @danielstorey85]

Mark Robins being Coventry City manager felt like a state of permanence in English football. But whatever happens next, to Coventry and to him, he will be missed by those who called him their saviour…

https://t.co/nHCGzyd4L2

[Martyn Sewell @skybluesam86]

Thanks Mark. You gave us all of this. You gave us a team to be proud of, and the best moments I've known in my life as a Cov fan. Gutted is an understatement to describe my reaction to the sacking. #PUSB #TheresOnlyOneMarkRobins

[Mike Seaton @mikeseat]

#PUSB

[Cov Goals @GoalsCov]

I’d rather have Mark than any of these. More pissed off with DK than I’ve ever been with MR following a loss or crappy start.

[Simon James Woodward @simonwoodward]

#SISUIN #BRINGBACKSISU #COMEBACKTIMANDJOYALLISFORGIVEN #WENEEDOTIUM #JUSTICEFORMARKROBINS #IBLAMEMIKEASHLEY #DOUGKINGOUT #CCFC #PUSB