Yahoo Sport 
'This is the thanks he gets' - Why the sacking of Coventry City boss Mark Robins defies logic
The sacking of Mark Robins has sent shockwaves throughout the football world, let alone Coventry City’s stunned fanbase. Neutrals up and down the country have expressed their surprise, some even disgust, that the Sky Blues have parted company with the manager who has achieved so much over his remarkable seven and a half year tenure.
First and foremost, it’s a decision that simply defies logic, The club went through 14 managers in 16 largely miserable years after dropping out of the Premier League; under Robins, it has enjoyed much needed stability and time to rebuild, grow and evolve despite a backdrop of adversity, ground-shares and limited budgets.
Two promotions and four Wembley visits later and this is the thanks he gets. Yes, it has been a poor start to the season but there have been signs of recovery from a talented group of players, in whom Robins had real faith to turn things around and start competing on a more consistent basis.
READ MORE: Coventry City next manager odds and early favourites to replace Mark Robins
READ MORE: Coventry City confirm interim head coach for Sunderland after Mark Robins sacking
The backlash from the supporters has been loud and clear and Doug King’s honeymoon period is officially over. The fans stopped singing his song weeks ago – a bizarre concept in the first place, if you ask me – and now he will feel the full wrath of his paying public if he gets his next move wrong.
Robins admitted recently that he could have lost his job amid the stuttering spell of form and results, and King would almost certainly have pulled the trigger earlier had City not come back to beat Luton last week. The fact that the fans were singing the manager’s name aloud at Loftus Road in the previous match, and again with renewed gusto against the Hatters and up at Middlesbrough spoke volumes for the way the vast majority feel about the man who has given them so much, put the Sky Blues back on the map and brought the good times back to Coventry City.
King will, no doubt, claim he was acting in the best interests of the club, and he has every right to do what he feels fit for his investment. After all, he is the owner – it’s his baby and he can do whatever he wants with it. But the decision shows scant regard for the lifeblood of the club, the people who turn up week after week, shell out hundreds of pounds on season tickets and merchandise, and travelling the length and breadth of the country following their team.
Like most football club owners, he wants success and he wants it now. But in keeping with many a custodian from outside the game, he ignores the fact that football is like no other business and simply doesn’t function as such. Unless you throw money at it left, right and centre, building success takes time and there can be setbacks along the way. Top players come and go and that leaves voids to be filled which, again, can take time as squads evolve.
We should, perhaps, have seen the warning signs when King announced when he first took over the club that he wanted three play-off campaigns out of five years. Well, Robins got him to the final in his first year, was denied an FA Cup final by VAR in his second when the team went close to a second play-off push. And who knows what this season would have brought if he’d have only kept his cool and shown Robins the loyalty he’d earned from his outstanding time in charge?
The departure of Adi Viveash – the explanation for which we may never know – was an ominous move. His influence was huge and that has to have had an impact.
So what next? Will King go high profile, maybe foreign as seems to be in vogue these days? But whatever route he decides to go down, the one thing he must avoid is a return to a revolving managerial door, constantly hiring and firing in the pursuit of top-flight football, which would see a club that has achieved so much in recent seasons reduced to just another Championship basket case.
