“Can’t keep my mouth shut” – Sheff Utd boss Chris Wilder slams Coventry City players over Mark Robins sacking
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has criticised Coventry City’s players ,and hinted that they downed tools under Mark Robins prior to his sacking as Sky Blues boss earlier this month.
Robins had been in charge at the CBS Arena for seven years, and was the EFL’s longest serving manager as a result, but saw his long-standing tenure come to an end on November 7 with the club 17th in the Championship table after just four wins in 14 league games up to that point.
Coventry are still yet to appoint a new manager, and interim boss Rhys Carr has led his side to successive 2-2 draws since he was put in temporary charge, first at Sunderland before the international break, and then at home to the Blades yesterday, as they battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to rescue a valuable point against the joint league leaders.
Chris Wilder takes aim at Coventry City players for Mark Robins’ sacking
Wilder, who has enjoyed a similarly long-standing affiliation with Sheffield United, akin to Robins’ at Coventry, watched on yesterday as his side took the lead twice through Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, but were pegged back in equal measure, first by Norman Bassette, and then Bobby Thomas’ late headed equaliser.
The 57-year-old was complimentary of the Sky Blues in his post-match interview, and highlighted the clear quality of their squad, but also hinted that he felt that the Coventry players had not tried their hardest for Robins, and that their lack of effort had ultimately caused his dismissal earlier this month.
“These are a good group of players that we were up against today. Really good,” Wilder told Sheffield United’s official club media, via X.
“(They are) underachieving, in terms of the stats. Definitely one of the strongest squads in the division.
“I would say top four, top five strongest squads in the division. They’ve decided to turn it on today, haven’t they? And have a go.
“I’m a Mark Robins fan, and maybe, being a little bit controversial because sometimes I can’t keep my mouth shut, if they had run around like that in the previous 14 or 15 games, maybe somebody else would be in a job still.”
And in another interview with Sky Sports, Wilder repeated the point on Robins and Coventry, showing that he feels very strongly about the situation.
“They’re in a false position,” Wilder said.
“I’ve been debating whether to say this or not, but maybe if they’d run around a little bit more like that today then the manager might still be in his job, because they’ve got a really talented group of players, really talented.”
Wilder clearly feels strongly about Robins’ sacking, and may well have a point, given that the Sky Blues have taken points off two top teams in Sunderland and the Blades in the last two outings, while under their former boss, they suffered damaging defeats against the likes of Preston and Sheffield Wednesday.
It has also been revealed by Doug King that results weren’t the primary factor in regards to Robins’ departure, with it instead being a dismantling of the club’s coaching staff over the summer – led by Robins himself – which led to a fractured relationship and eventually the end of his job.
Coventry City look to be close to appointing a new manager
The Sky Blues are now looking to move on from Robins, and however hard that may be for the fans that have adored him since he returned as boss in 2017, they will need to fully back their new head-coach in order to help the players climb back up the league and away from a potential relegation battle.
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