Hello there, Sky Blues..
I see that your new manager is none other than Mark Robins, our previous gaffer.
I thought I'd share what I know with you.
As a man, he's a top bloke. Very polite, very humble, and fan-friendly.
As a manager, he's decent. Nothing more, nothing less.
He did well when appointed in 2009, and during both seasons in charge, he had us looking towards the playoffs by xmas. Unfortunately, performances after xmas were few and far between, in both campaigns, and we slipped down to the nether regions.
He was given a healthy budget (how we wish Keith Hill could be afforded the same) and signed a few quality players (Shackell, O'Brien). He also bought many duds (McEveley, Dickinson, Lovre etc).
However, he will always be known for his habit of signing loan players. He was obsessed with it, and we never knew what our side would line up like from one game to the next.
At the end of the 2010-11 season, he'd relied so heavily on loan players, that our squad was down to about 12 players, which consisted mainly of players he'd stopped selecting (most were his own signings, that he'd decided fairly quickly weren't good enough, instead preferring loanees).
It was quite worrying, and it looked as though another costly rebuild was on the cards that summer.
He kept telling the press that he had a huge list of summer targets, and was just waiting for the budget to be announced.
However, in May that year, rumours surfaced that he'd been sacked. Then other rumours denied it. Then it seemed he'd left. Then it was gardening leave.
It was so confusing at the time.
Eventually, the club announced that they'd presented Robins with his budget, to which he told them he'd "go away and think about it". The Barnsley board told him he wasn't paid to "think about it" and they parted company.
We still don't know the real reasons exactly, for his departure. But it all boiled down to money. He didn't think the budget he was given, would allow us to be competitive in the Championship.
He then touted himself to newspapers etc, saying he'd love the Cardiff job (Mackay got it). Then declared himself in the running at Sheff Utd (Wilson got it).
Meanwhile, Keith Hill took over at Oakwell, and with the budget that Robins deemed uncompetitive, he built us a cracking squad that despite getting ripped to pieces in January through injury and player sales, was enough to see us stay up.
Robins however, was overlooked for the Nottm Forest job, the Bristol job, and even the Burton and Notts County posts. He EVEN applied for his old job at Rotherham, but lost out to Steve Evans....
And now he's got your gig, a big club for him no doubt, but at a time where you are on your knees, with zero budget by the looks of it. Ironic is how I'd describe it.
Some people will credit him for his work here, and whilst he did keep us up twice, the football was awful to watch in the main.
He was obsessed with playing 2 holding midfielders, and chose to ignore the obvious talents of Jacob Butterfield in favour of his loanee Diego Arismendi, a Uruguayan defensive midfielder, who was utter gash.
Despite his hit and miss loanee recruits, he did get Keiran Trippier on loan who proved a shrewd bit of business, and has since excelled further at Burnley.
Despite signing Jim O'Brien himself, he stopped playing him after a few months, and most of us wrote 'Jimbo' off. However, like Butterfield, O'Brien thrived under Keith Hill, and it does leave you wondering whether Robins' man-management skills were up to scratch.
His interviews are as negatively dull as the football he served up.
And, as bad as it was to watch at times, his tactics were effective in the main.
He'll not give you free-flowing football, but he'll make you harder to beat. Could be just what you need.
I may sound harsh in my summary of him, but I'm only being honest.
I do believe he has potential, and his record isn't that bad when you look at it. And, to be fair, I didn't want a managerial change, none of us did. We were prepared to give him another year. Mainly because we wanted some stability, and partly down to his likeable nature as a man.
I wish you luck moving forward, and may I also thank you for Martin Cranie, who looks a class act in midfield so far.
Here's the views of some of our supporters, from our own forum...
http://v2.barnsleyfc.org.uk/showthread.php?174493-Mark-Robins
Andy
