Paul Warne reveals what Mark Robins said to him after Derby County inflicted last Coventry City loss

Derby County boss Paul Warne says he’s been shaken by the sacking of his friend and former teammate Mark Robins following Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat by the Rams.

Warne and Robins played together at Rotherham in the early 2000s and have remained pals since, and the last thing the Rams’ manager wanted was to see the 54-year-old lose his job off the back of a victory over him.

“It seems to come out of the sky blue,” said Warne, who believed Robins had one of the securest jobs in the division. “I shook his hand at the final whistle, and his exact words were ‘congrats, mate, you deserved it’. That is quite good because, as a manager, that is your most raw emotion on the handshake.

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“I’ve always tried to be valiant in defeat, but sometimes it isn’t easy. I went to see him after the game, and his family were all in his office. I had a diet 7-Up and chewed the fat with him for about two minutes.

“Then he had a player who wanted to have a word with him. I said, ‘look, mate, everyone’s waiting for me on the bus’. We didn’t discuss the job. If I discussed job security in this league, I’d be doing it and never leave any stadium because everyone feels the heat. We didn’t have any conversation like that.

“Weirdly, in football, I always think that when things are close to happening, everyone knows. There’s always someone who knows something that gets passed around. Sometimes, you might ask me off the record, have I heard such and such, and sometimes I will say yes.

“I wasn’t aware of anything and I always think that when it is coming - and I’m not encouraging fans to boo - but you know when there’s unrest. When people want change then on the final whistle, there’s normally a reaction.

“Every manager has had boos at full-time. But when it’s three or four games on the spin, your brain kicks in and thinks the end might be nigh.

“But I don’t think that was the case. I didn’t hear any boos in midweek. If you’d asked me, who was one of the most secure people of what he’s achieved at the football club and what he’s currently achieving, I would have said Robbo.

“I would have thought he would have been in the top two in the league. The thought of him losing his job has really surprised me and shook me a little if I am honest.”