Now its potentially a reality , Will mark Robins be Coventrys greatest manager if we get promoted (1 Viewer)

[NorthernWisdom]

That's the question , I doubt ANY of the others mentioned would have done what's happened here over 6 years

And Robins wouldn't have done what Hill did so there we are, apples and oranges, circles without an ending.

 

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[SkyBlueMatt]

( DISCLAIMER - I DONT THINK WE ARE A BANKER FOR PROMOTION )

I think NOW is the perfect time to ask this question, as it's no longer something that won't happen .. it's a potential reality


3 promotions it would be , the most of any manager in our history

League 2 to the Premier league In 6 season

In a word... Yes.

5 years ago we could have ended up like Nott's County or worse. The depressing state we were in. Instead we are 1 game away from the Premier League.

Sent from my M2101K6G using Tapatalk

 

[Evo1883]

Is Clarrie Bourton a better striker than Ian Wallace?

Using this argument will only ever end up looking bad for Jimmy Hill who as a manager , achieved as many promotions as Robins.. and will be 1 behind him should we win promotion .. he never managed us in the top flight as a manager

 

[Grendel]

I really struggle to see how any of the other managers mentioned could have achieved what Robins has under the same circumstances. He’s achieved everything he has in spite of the owners. Hill for instance done it largely because of the owners who had a vision of their own that Hill bought into. Without that vision would Hill ever have come to Coventry in the first place? I doubt it.

What block are you in next Saturday tony?

 

[slowpoke]

Is Clarrie Bourton a better striker than Ian Wallace?

52 goals in one season is pretty good at any level. And 173 goals in 228 games brill. really.

 

[Evo1883]

I’ve never measured win ratios because you’re quite right. If we’ve been competing for playoffs/promotion in the EFL pyramid to fighting for survival in the PL. MR’s win % will take a knock and that’s not because he’s a bad manager.

Greatest manager doesn’t necessarily mean ‘best’ in this context because each manager in different eras had different sets of challenges. Robins, won us our first piece of silverware since ‘87 and whilst he didn’t get us there, he did get the club from its lowest point to the top division against all odds. The Championship has become a big money league and we’re on the cusp of getting promoted with a budget fit for a League 1 team.

I used to joke with my friends that Mark Robins is a God and now I’m believing my own shit chat.

I pointed out to grendel some time back that the spending difference between coventry city and Liverpool in a couple of seasons in the 80s was about 3 million in today's money

It's a different game

Man city pay 1 player more than our entire wage bill

 

[Finham]

I think Gordon Milne ranks above robins.

Why do you think robins is better?

Well said. I think Robins has to at least manage top flight to be able to even challenge him and Sillett.

 

[Evo1883]

Well said. I think Robins has to at least manage top flight to be able to even challenge him and Sillett.

Well any of our top flight managers in theory then

 

[Grendel]

Using this argument will only ever end up looking bad for Jimmy Hill who as a manager , achieved as many promotions as Robins.. and will be 1 behind him should we win promotion .. he never managed us in the top flight as a manager

my argument is it’s pointless. I had the privilege of from 1972 to 2000 seeing the club in the top flight and through the 80’s going to every game almost home and away. Since that it’s been support through blind loyalty so obviously I’m going to look at managers who achieved against often impossible odds top flight survival which meant every season I went to Highbury old Trafford and Anfield

 

[Evo1883]

my argument is it’s pointless. I had the privilege of from 1972 to 2000 seeing the club in the top flight and through the 80’s going to every game almost home and away. Since that it’s been support through blind loyalty so obviously I’m going to look at managers who achieved against often impossible odds top flight survival which meant every season I went to Highbury old Trafford and Anfield

Fair enough

 

[NorthernWisdom]

I wasn’t being facetious, I’d genuinely like to know if anyone had seen him at work!

Well I'd ask my Granddad but he's dead, so won't get the bang up to date view.

Always rated the Plymouth winger, took a while for others to acknowledge his greatness!

Jack Leslie: Family of the first Black footballer to receive an England call-up presented with posthumous honorary cap by FA

Jack Leslie was called up to the England squad in 1925, but denied an appearance because of the colour of his skin; the Football Association presented his family with a posthumous honorary cap, 98 years after he was called up, before Englands Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine

www.skysports.com

 

[Grendel]

That's the question , I doubt ANY of the others mentioned would have done what's happened here over 6 years

Its irrelevant - would robins have kept the club up when Bobby Gould did?

 

[Grendel]

Robins is the best manager we’ve had since relegation from the top flight - that’s it really

 

[Evo1883]

Its irrelevant - would robins have kept the club up when Bobby Gould did?

Why not? Bobby was a decent manager but not great

 

[Grendel]

Why not? Bobby was a decent manager but not great

Im talking his first stint in charge

 

[Evo1883]

Im talking his first stint in charge

What would it take for robins to be number 1 in your mind

A brentford esc couple of years ?

 

[COVKIDSNEVERQUIT]

we qualified for Europe Rupert

Yes indeed, but if he was that good why did the club sack him ?

 

[NorthernWisdom]

Yes indeed, but if he was that good why did the club sack him ?

Death, taxes, football managers being sacked.

 

[croatskyblue]

He became manager at 34 - kept the club in the top division against impossible odds for 10 years and ask your dad if the 1977 78 season wasn’t the best the club had since the Hill era

77/78 was beyond entertaining. It was amazing.

But that was one season. And saying “impossible odds for 10 years” is pretty much nonsense.

people tend to go for the names from when they started out, as they were their ‘magic times’, so I get why a few say Milne but to put Milne over Robins is pretty funny.

Hill was much more of an icon for the city, Sillett was also more of a personality. Hill left us in the shit right before the start of the season, and almost destroyed the club when he came back in the 80s. Sillett worked miracles but was mostly bad in the transfer market and was as too reliant on old faces. Robins doesn’t have anything like the charisma of those two.

Cold, hard facts would put Robins as our most successful manager of all time if we got promoted, it’s not really an arguable point.

Three promotions up to the Premier League in 5 years, 2 of which with no stadium, it took Hill 6 years to get 2 promotions with heavy financial backing.

Every season on here people have said “oh we’re doomed, we have no budget, we have a small squad, we need a load of new signings”, and every season he has blown away every expectation. When you look at what he has done and what he’s had to work with, I’d argue it’s as close to a football miracle as we’ve ever had.

 

[croatskyblue]

The problem with these threads is it’s just subjective and pointless and only based on memories and time

was Clarrie bourton better than Dion Dunlin? Anyone?

Without Jimmy Hill we wouldn’t be having this conversation so he’s top and put a very minor not talked about club to one that was conducted pioneering

Cantwell like hill before my time but a top 6 position

Comparing Milne to Dowie is laughable. He managed to keep the club in the top flight for a decade against hide odds. Crippling debts, players sold behind his back and he creating a revolutionary scouting system that unearthed great talent like Gillespie Wallace and also a youth system which kept the club afloat in the 80’s

I’ve always stated why I believe Sillett was a great manager and shamefully removed by that cretin Pointon

wrong- it was WW2 that scuppered us because another of our all time great managers Harry Storer had us nailed on for promotion to the top league pulling gates of 25,000 every week.

to say we were an irrelevance is wrong, it was the war which took all our momentum away- know your history.

 

[Evo1883]

Welcome to the forum croat

 

[croatskyblue]

If we get promoted I would say

1. Mark Robins
2. John Sillett
3. Jimmy Hill
4. Noel Cantwell
5. Harry Storer

if you want to rank those who had the biggest impact on the game and the city itself then Hill is in a league of his own, but purely on field matters, he can’t compete with Robins or Sillett

 

[100 miles from Cov.]

Mark Robins came back as this club was on a massive downward trajectory. This club was done. Look at where we are now. I wonder if any of the previously mentioned managers could have have such an influence as he has?

 

[croatskyblue]

Welcome to the forum croat

Thank you- long time lurker overseas, and for what it’s worth you are an excellent poster, especially in the match threads which can be a total cesspit

 

[clint van damme]

77/78 was beyond entertaining. It was amazing.

But that was one season. And saying “impossible odds for 10 years” is pretty much nonsense.

people tend to go for the names from when they started out, as they were the magic times, so I get why a few say Milne but to put Milne over Robins is pretty funny.

Hill was much more of an icon for the city, Sillett was also more of a personality. Hill left us in the shit right before the start of the season, and almost destroyed the club when he came back in the 80s. Sillett worked miracles but was mostly bad in the transfer market and was as too reliant on old faces. Robins doesn’t have anything like the charisma of those two.

Cold, hard facts would put Robins as our most successful manager of all time if we got promoted, it’s not really an arguable point.

Three promotions up to the Premier League in 5 years, 2 of which with no stadium, it took Hill 6 years to get 2 promotions with heavy financial backing.

I can understand people trying to argue Robins is the greatest, but the amount of times people try and put down Sillett to bolster their argument is incredible.

He won us a competition, that at the time was fucking massive, massive in this country, massive abroad, and taken serious by everyone involved. And he did it playing attractive football, immense achievement.

 

[Evo1883]

Thank you- long time lurker overseas, and for what it’s worth you are an excellent poster, especially in the match threads which can be a total cesspit

 

[Finham]

Well any of our top flight managers in theory then

Well no, because a lot of them failed. Think of it like players: some strikers score plenty in the lower leagues but don't do it at the highest level-you wouldn't say they are the club's Best Ever and I can't see the difference with managers, either.

 

[mmttww]

Here's hoping a certain poster's opinion finally hits it's own immovable object next weekend. #Allens

 

[NorthernWisdom]

I can understand people trying to argue Robins is the greatest, but the amount of times people try and put down Sillett to bolster their argument is incredible.

He won us a competition, that at the time was fucking massive, massive in this country, massive abroad, and taken serious by everyone involved. And he did it playing attractive football, immense achievement.

And followed it up with our best league season. People don't appreciate we really were championship challengers for 2/3 of the season we finished 7th, and would undoubtedly have finished higher if we'd had Europe to go for - we downed tools once the title was gone.

Plus an unlucky semi final loss to Forest in the days when the League Cup was something.

Certainly not just a one off fluke cup win.

 

[Finham]

77/78 was beyond entertaining. It was amazing.

But that was one season. And saying “impossible odds for 10 years” is pretty much nonsense.

people tend to go for the names from when they started out, as they were their ‘magic times’, so I get why a few say Milne but to put Milne over Robins is pretty funny.

Hill was much more of an icon for the city, Sillett was also more of a personality. Hill left us in the shit right before the start of the season, and almost destroyed the club when he came back in the 80s. Sillett worked miracles but was mostly bad in the transfer market and was as too reliant on old faces. Robins doesn’t have anything like the charisma of those two.

Cold, hard facts would put Robins as our most successful manager of all time if we got promoted, it’s not really an arguable point.

Three promotions up to the Premier League in 5 years, 2 of which with no stadium, it took Hill 6 years to get 2 promotions with heavy financial backing.

Every season on here people have said “oh we’re doomed, we have no budget, we have a small squad, we need a load of new signings”, and every season he has blown away every expectation. When you look at what he has done and what he’s had to work with, I’d argue it’s as close to a football miracle as we’ve ever had.

Gallacher? Speedie? Emerson? Phillips, Pickering? Didn't he spot Nuddy, too?

 

[Finham]

Strachan also put together one of the best city teams for many years too didn't he .. Still don't rate him

Had LOADS of money for that era, mostly wasted it.

 

[NorthernWisdom]

Gallacher? Speedie? Emerson? Phillips, Pickering? Didn't he spot Nuddy, too?

Pickering was already here. Signed with the Gibson cash.

 

[croatskyblue]

I can understand people trying to argue Robins is the greatest, but the amount of times people try and put down Sillett to bolster their argument is incredible.

He won us a competition, that at the time was fucking massive, massive in this country, massive abroad, and taken serious by everyone involved. And he did it playing attractive football, immense achievement.

Oh I’m not putting him down one bit.
I’d put Sillett ahead of Hill, and if he’d have had a better eye for a transfer and a bit more of a taskmaster he could have taken us even higher- I remember 89/90 when we were 4th right up until March or so (I think), but we just wilted.

Sillett was a magician in terms of taking a team and transforming them, but I put robins higher if we go up.
Not running him down for a millisecond.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

In a word no

Well that isn’t true. Milne had to work with severe financial restraints for much of his time at City. He took us to the second highest finish in our history and was a whisker away from having us qualify for Europe. He also produced arguably the best ever City team, certainly my favourite ever team, who were a joy to watch. (the Fergie-Wallace team of the late 70s). His teams generally played good attacking football. He also signed the greatest ever Sky Blue, Tommy Hutchison.
Milne was in my opinion an excellent manager who against the odds kept us in the top league with only one real fight against relegation which resulted in safety after the much talked about Bristol City match (when Sunderland went down).
I’m sure Grendel will have Noel Cantwell above Robins (I haven’t read all of the thread). It’s true he did a remarkable job. City was his first managerial job and he somehow kept us up in our first two top flight seasons after taking over from Jimmy Hill. In his third season we finished in sixth place and qualified for Europe. He is the manager who has achieved our highest ever finish but the style of football wasn’t great and his final two seasons were poor with sterile football. Gates fell from an average of 34k in his first season to the low 20k by the time he left. I don’t think he achieved as much as Robins has considering all that the latter has had to face.
I certainly think Robins has to be top three if we get promoted and could go on to be the best of the lot.

 

[clint van damme]

Oh I’m not putting him down one bit.
I’d put Sillett ahead of Hill, and if he’d have had a better eye for a transfer and a bit more of a taskmaster he could have taken us even higher- I remember 89/90 when we were 4th right up until March or so (I think), but we just wilted.

Sillett was a magician in terms of taking a team and transforming them, but I put robins higher if we go up.
Not running him down for a millisecond.

Fair enough, but that comment wasnt aimed solely at your post but was harking back to the last time this debate blew up!

There were some quite disparaging remarks made.