Doug King facing his biggest ever Coventry City decision that simply must work | OneFootball

King has made some positive steps at the Coventry Building Society Arena - but his decision to sack Robins has been met with huge criticism.

Coventry City have taken the decision to sack Mark Robins, following a successful seven-and-a-half years.

Robins, 54, guided the club from League Two to the Championship and even managed to take the Sky Blues to the second-tier play-off final at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

They were a penalty shootout away from securing Premier League football, but they were defeated by Luton Town in the end and this is a regret that Robins will have after being dismissed from the top job at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

He didn't exactly make much progress last season, with the club finishing ninth in the league table, but they were able to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup and very nearly beat Manchester United at Wembley following a remarkable comeback.

It's not a secret to say that the Sky Blues haven't had the start to this season that they wouldn't have wanted, with the club sitting in 17th place following their defeat against Derby County on Wednesday night.

But not many people would have expected Robins to be sacked the morning after.

Having won against Luton and Middlesbrough in their two games leading up to their clash against the Rams, they weren't in the worst position, even after such a disappointing performance and result against Paul Warne's men.

But owner Doug King and the rest of the board have decided to end Robins' tenure in the Midlands, something that has created uproar in the football fan community, considering how successful the manager has been during his time at the club.

Many Coventry fans are especially upset about his dismissal and a lot of criticism has been directed towards King on social media, who was likely to be a key player in making this decision.

King, in fairness, hasn't been afraid to invest in the squad and did just in the summer of 2023, with big-money signings Ellis Simms and Haji Wright coming in after the departure of Viktor Gyokeres.

His commitment is there for all to see - and he was welcomed with open arms after replacing the controversial SISU - but he hasn't been able to oversee that much success in the past year or so apart from the FA Cup journey.

Revamping their coaching structure hasn't worked and it's clear that the departure of Adi Viveash hasn't had a positive impact either. That's something King received criticism for.

But the pressure on him today is unlike anything he had witnessed before during his time as the Sky Blues' owner.

Coventry City will not be keen to follow Birmingham City's path

Birmingham City were doing much better at the time during the 2023/24 season, but they sacked a liked manager in John Eustace, who has gone on to do well at Blackburn Rovers.

After Eustace's departure, Blues nosedived, with his replacement Wayne Rooney not proving to be the right man for the top job at St Andrew's.

In the end, the Midlands club were relegated to League One and this was mainly caused by the poor decision to sack Eustace.

It's a warning to Coventry that this could potentially happen at the CBS Arena with a much-loved manager being dismissed, even though the Sky Blues have some very talented players.

Next Coventry City appointment is crucial for Doug King

King, who is under a huge amount of pressure after sacking Robins, must make the right appointment.

It could be argued that Tom Wagner has managed to recover following his decision to sack Eustace, with Blues now in a strong position to win promotion. But there are no guarantees that they will go up still.

With this in mind, the next appointment could be one that ends up defining King's time at the CBS Arena.

He must bring in someone who's an upgrade on Robins, but that's going to be a difficult task, considering how much of a good fit the 54-year-old was at Coventry.

Robins' successor needs to be able to make a very positive start to life at the CBS Arena, because questions will be asked of him and King like they were asked of Rooney and Wagner at St Andrew's if he performs poorly during the early stages of his spell in charge.

In the end, the pressure probably didn't help Birmingham and it may also harm Coventry.

In all honesty, this is a decision that King didn't have to make and he's put a huge amount of pressure on himself after making the call to make a change.