Former Coventry City boss Tony Mowbray had plenty of kind words to say about his old club when he recently brought his Sunderland team to face the Sky Blues at the CBS Arena.
Mowbray, who managed the Sky Blues for a period in 2015/16, called Coventry City a “proper club”. He also went on to praise Coventry City fans, saying “the fans will always be here and it is amazing to see the club on the up, on the rise”.
Reasonable start to the season
On the pitch, the two sides played out a battling 0-0 draw, typifying their respective starts to the season. Sunderland and the Sky Blues have had reasonable, if not spectacular, starts to their Championship campaigns.
Neither team is one of the betting favourites to win the Championship with the bookmakers, Leicester City currently lead the way on 2/1, with the Sky Blues at 25/1 and Sunderland at 30/1. In the latest Championship betting odds to be promoted, City are 6/1, and Sunderland are 13/2.
Reasons to be optimistic for the Sky Blues
Tony Mowbray’s respectful words about the Sky Blues would have been well-received by fans. But they should also give Coventry fans plenty of optimism for the current season and beyond.
As Mowbray pointed out, the club has just raked in £20-30 million in player sales and has broken their transfer record by signing Haji Wright for over £7 million.
The Sky Blues are now operating on a different level. Instead of picking up bargain basement signings on short-term contracts, they are now signing international-class strikers from Antalyaspor.
The Sunderland boss was also happy to heap praise on what and who is arguably Coventry City’s most valuable asset of all, manager Mark Robins. The transformation of the club since Robins returned has been sensational, and Mowbray was quick to acknowledge the job done by the former Manchester United trainee, stating Robins is “doing an amazing job”.
🚨 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗘: Mark Robins has signed new four-year contract at Coventry. 📝 pic.twitter.com/e3sybYTHlJ
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 17, 2023
The long road back for the Sky Blues
Robins took over the Sky Blues in March 2017 while they were struggling at the bottom of League One. He couldn’t prevent relegation that season, with the damage already done before he returned. But Robins still managed to lead the team to victory against Oxford United in the 2017 EFL Trophy final, giving fans a day in the sunshine in a thoroughly miserable season.
Relegation in 2017 was City’s rock bottom. Mark Robins started the revival that summer, and on limited resources led the team to sixth place in League Two. The Sky Blues then won the playoffs and bounced back into League One at the first time of asking. Two seasons on, Robins won promotion to the Championship when City were awarded the League One title.
The Sky Blues then consolidated their place in the Championship over a couple of seasons and were within touching distance of a sensational return to the Premier League, only losing to Luton on penalties in the playoff final at the end of last season.
BREAKING: Luton Town beat Coventry City in the Championship play-off final to join Burnley and Sheffield United in the 2023/24 Premier League 🟠🏆 pic.twitter.com/T9MMgbADQB
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 27, 2023
Legendary Status
As a result, Mark Robins has now got legendary status at the club. And it’s not just Tony Mowbray who recognises what an outstanding job Robins has done, everyone in Coventry knows it.
