Tony Mowbray has praised the job Mark Robins has done in 'rebuilding' Coventry City against a backdrop of off-field turmoil and guiding the club from the fourth tier to the Championship. Coventry have endured years of problems under their previous owners SISU, resulting in the club being forced to leave their Ricoh Arena home and play its home fixtures at Northampton Town for a spell and later at Birmingham City.
Sunderland boss Mowbray knows all about the difficulties behind the scenes at Coventry having spent 18 months in charge of the Sky Blues between March 2015 and September 2016, during which time he led the club to safety in League One when it was in danger of dropping into the fourth tier, and then in his only full season in charge to within five points of making the play-offs. After Mowbray left, the club struggled under his successor Russell Slade and when Robins was then installed in March 2017 he could not prevent the club dropping into League Two, but Robins subsequently led the club to promotion to League One and then, at the second attempt, to promotion to the Championship.
Coventry have since been bought by local businessman Douglas King and have begun to find some boardroom stability, but Mowbray says Robins did a fantastic job to keep producing results during the difficult years. "Mark Robins is an amazing coach and a lovely human being, a lovely guy," said Mowbray, who returns to Coventry this lunchtime with Sunderland.
