Mark Robins says that Coventry City’s situation at the Ricoh Arena is “unfair and unjust” and has reached the stage where it “just needs sorting out.”

The Sky Blues boss concedes that he has no influence on the current impasse surrounding the club’s future at the stadium but trusts in all parties involved to reach a resolution.

City’s plight came into sharp focus on Friday when the English Football League set a deadline for the club to secure their future at the ground for next season or face expulsion from the league.

The 819-strong Sky Blue Army protested in front of the Sky TV cameras this afternoon as Coventry earned a 1-1 draw at league leaders Luton Town, holding up posters on six minutes to highlight the number of games left at the Ricoh before the club are effectively homeless.

Coventry City manager Mark Robins

Supporters chanted “Let down by the Football League,” as well as venting their anger at owners, Sisu, on a day when sympathetic Hatters’ fans applauded their protests.

Asked if Friday’s news has affected the playing side of the club, Robins said: “Well it doesn’t. What happens is that you guys get hold of the news that isn’t news because it’s old news that’s been going on for ages.

“It just needs sorting out.

“And while we’d all like an easy life, we don’t get one.

“So I have got to make sure I manage the situation. It’s like Brexit. You can’t do anything until you know what’s happening and what the outcomes are, and then you can manage the situation. But you just have to get on with it.

“I have got a group of young players I am excited by.

“But it hasn’t really affected anything. We have just got on with it. The lads that have been here for while understand it and the players are only interested if they are going to receive their wages or not.”

Coventry City's future at the Ricoh Arena is uncertain

Asked if he has any leverage in terms of leaning on people at the club, the manager said: “Absolutely none.

“What I would say is that I have listened to the facts and I understand a little bit more and I can understand what’s happening.

“And it’s really unfair and unjust why we don’t have the Ricoh Arena.

“I can go on about that all day and now we’re getting into the realms of the Wasps are, to all intents and purposes, in control of what happens at the Ricoh.

“I’m sure that all parties can work together to get a decent surface, to have a decent and fully functioning stadium that earns money because it’s a brilliant, brilliant facility which should be the home of Coventry City Football Club.

“That’s why Highfield Road was sold. That’s my understanding of it, and that’s what some of the money was spent on getting that site ready because that was going to be our home. Otherwise Highfield Road wouldn’t have been sold and we’d still be playing there.

“For me, it isn’t black and white and it isn’t simple. And I just need to trust in the powers that be to ensure, and I am not just talking about the owners, I am talking about everyone, all the stake holders, to ensure that Coventry City don’t get exiled from Coventry and playing in the city of Coventry and, ultimately, the Ricoh Arena which is our home.

“That’s where we should play and we need to get to a point where a decision is made where two brilliant clubs, a rugby football club and a football club can work together to make that stadium the best for the two teams.”


When it was put to him that there’s a simple solution to the stand-off if Sisu stop their on-going legal action against stadium owners Wasps, who have said they won’t negotiate a new rental deal until they do so, the manager said: “Look, I can’t get into specifics.

“I can’t do that and I don’t think it’s that simple.

“I just think we have got to let things play out and trust that we can get to a resolution.

“Like I said, it is unbelievably similar, on a smaller scale, to Brexit. Totally, totally similar.

“But someone at some point has got to make the right decision for everyone; for all the stake holders because there’s not just one party interested in this. There are a number of parties interested."