I think we should be very sceptical about the possibility for promotion next season. I do believe Robins will stay as to my knowledge he's signed an 18 month contract and will see that out. However the fact of the matter is, SISU are not pumping money into the club. Or even if they are, based on their history it's unlikely they will give Robins the budget that is required for a promotion push.
Whilst I believe he will remain as manager of Coventry City FC for the forthcoming season. It's no secret that if SISU don't give Robins the budget that he wants/needs then there will be no viable reason for him to stay, as there will be no incentive except that of another below-par season for CCFC.
I think we all realise that the budget is guaranteed to be cut next season, the question is by how much. A good friend of mine is an avid Chesterfield fan and he claims that a suitable promotion budget would be in the region of around 1.5 - 2 million. This was their budget upon their automatic promotion in the 2013/14 season. However this was 3 years ago. With the amount of money that has been pumped into football as a whole then there's no doubt that the estimated figure for an automatic promotion push will be higher. If what has been previously stated by the press and CCFC officials is true, then our playing budget this season was around 2 million. Will our budget be in this region next season - the simple answer is no. Then what will it be?
The playing budget reflects on the income of the club. With sponsorship, league prize money and ticketing sales inevitably dropping next season, so will the playing budget. This leads me to believe that the only way we will get the budget required will be to sell players - most likely Ben Stevenson. Whilst I like it no more than the next fan seeing our home grown talent being shipping off for other clubs to reap the rewards, its no secret that this summer we have no option but to sell in order to generate the money required.
However this could be another cause for Robins to leave. If we are selling our best talent upon the start of a season where realistically we want promotion, what message does that send? Our only hope is that Mark Robins is a realist and understands that this is where the bulk of his playing budget will come from. Furthermore, we need to hope that he has the self-belief to realise that with the money acquired from a Stevenson sale for example, he will be able to build a better, more well-rounded team.
Robins knows the football league better than most and has the experience. I think it will be interesting to see his ability to build a strong squad, under the assumption that he stays. Remember he inherited the squad during his previous tenure last time. The three players he bought in that stood out were the acquisitions of Leon Clarke, James Bailey and Frank Moussa who were integral to our overall season. Hopefully given the right budget, Robins can bring in players of the same calibre. I do stress the word 'hopefully' as I'm not holding my breath.