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Mark Robins challenges ‘utter rubbish’ after Coventry City coaching comments
Mark Robins is keen to calm the ‘noise’ and mis-information, largely on social media, about his coaching and back room staff that has increased noticeably in numbers this season.
The Sky Blues boss has up to 14 members of footballing staff on any given matchday, including four first team coaches and a goalkeeping coach, as well as sports science/fitness personnel, medical specialists and analysts. The sight of several track-suited members of staff has led to some fans questioning how many the club need, and suggesting the manager has too many, having had just a couple of first team coaches in the past in Adi Viveash and Dennis Lawrence.
The reality is, however, that Robins has been under-staffed for years and is only now playing catch-up with other Championship and elite clubs – all of whom have extensively populated backrooms with all the necessary support staff.
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“I think there’s a lot made about the change in the staff and whilst individuals have left, it’s not about individuals, it’s about the collective and what we need to do; what we wanted and needed to do to move it forward where people have specific jobs,” explained the City manager, whose first team coaches are George Boateng, Mark Delaney, Rhys Carr, John Dempster and Aled Williams (goalkeeper coach).
“There isn’t a hierarchy. There’s a flat coaching staff with individual responsibilities, so John Dempster will do some set-play work, as will Aled.
"We have got some individual work that we need to do, there’s team work that we need to do and there are different elements to different sessions where people have different strengths. We have to bring all that together and make that work for all of the players.
“They have no ego, they have got the club’s best interest at heart, they have the players’ best interests at heart, as importantly, and they work really hard delivering a really good programme for the players, and that’s the only thing that matters.”
He added: “The outside noise doesn’t make any difference. Sometimes it can be hurtful for individuals if they are not used to it, but it certainly shouldn’t make any difference because these are absolute idiots who have nothing better to do with their time and love to just throw out negativity and destabilise things.
“People should see it for what it is, which is utter rubbish, and if they want to know anything they can come and speak to me. I do fans’ forums regularly anyway and speak to the supporters regularly. My programme notes are there for everyone to read if they want to. I am honest, I don’t flannel or white-wash anything. I will front things up, and I have no issues with that.
“With the support I have personally, and the club has generally, people have only got to look back a few years and see the work that’s gone on and where we have come from, and people should never forget that because we haven’t got a divine right to go up. We haven’t got a divine right to stay in the Championship. We have got to earn it, earn what we need to do because it is really dangerous to say, ‘now this is what we’re going to do’.
“It doesn’t change the goal, and the ultimate goal is to get to the Premier League and nobody should forget that. That’s something we are desperate to do but you can’t, in desperation, then start floundering. We have to make sure we keep building and that’s something we have done.
“Change, and fundamental change, year on year isn’t always a great thing but change and fundamental change has been necessary for us and we have done it with the best interests of everybody to try and move it forward to what everyone wants, which is Premier League football. What we have got to deliver now is winning Championship football that’s good to watch, and that’s what we will do. We just need that little bit of time and support to deliver it.”
Here, performance director Dr Claire-Marie Roberts explains who’s who in Mark Robins’ first team coaching staff:
* Rhys Carr - 1st Team Coach. Rhys is a very experienced coach having worked at Wolves, Sheffield Utd, Bristol City, Bristol Rovers amongst others.
* George Boateng - 1st Team Coach. Former coach at Blackburn Academy, Aston Villa U23, Asst Manager at the Ghana National Team.
Dr Roberts further explained: “George and Rhys were brought in to replace the vacant position left by Dennis (Lawrence). Mark (Robins) and I interviewed a strong pool of candidates and both offered different strengths, so we created roles for both.”
* John Dempster 1st Team Coach - has worked for CCFC for four years. Joined the first team coaching set up last season to help the alignment between the U21 and the first team, and we have kept him in this role. Former head Coach of our U21 Team.
* Mark Delaney - Mark has been at the club for two years. He started in the Professional Development Phase at our Academy (U21), and coached with us in the pre-season to help integrate the new signings.
