Coventry owner King speaks out on Robins dismissal

Audio captionRob Gurney, Clive Eakin and Lorna Bailey host a live Fans Forum with Doug King.

大象传媒 Radio CWR hosted a fans forum with Coventry City owner Doug King on Monday after an unhappy response from fans to the recent dismissal of long-serving manager Mark Robins.

Here are the main takeaways:

  • "I fully understand what he has done for this city and this community but I still made the decision"
  • He explained how Robins "dismantled" the coaching staff because of internal conflict
  • He feels the club are lacking a high-quality first-team coach/tactician but struggled to recruit, though he believes recruitment will not suffer if a head coaching position is offered
  • He was surprised by the fans' reaction and felt he was in a "difficult position"
  • There was not a replacement lined up before Robins' dismissal and the decision was made following a senior management meeting in October
  • He does not intend to sell the club and plans to purchase the Coventry Building Society Arena once financially viable
  • He has stated that a sporting director will be a "logical position" to add as the club look to appoint a head coach
  • He does not want a "revolving door" of managers and wishes to build a "sustainable" club but feels that relegation would "squander" what they have already built, so his next appointment will be crucial
  • Robins' exit has not affected the budget for the upcoming January transfer window
  • Head of recruitment Dean Austin on the lack of loan signings: "If we bring loan players in, loan players expect to come in and play - and their clubs expect them to play."
  • Austin spoke about maintaining relationships with other clubs and how he felt loan players would not get a significant amount of playing time.

You can listen to the full fans forum on 大象传媒 Sounds