Coaching philosophy, nearly getting the sack, personal tragedy & working at Woolies – Adi Viveash exclusive
Part one of exclusive interview with Coventry City assistant manager and head coach Adi Viveash as Mark Robins’ right-hand man lifts the lid on his time with the Sky Blues
Adi Viveash is, without doubt, an integral part of Coventry City’s success under Mark Robins – the club’s assistant manager and head coach; the man who ‘paints the pictures’ on the training pitch, according to the Sky Blues boss.
He can also be ‘difficult,’ by which Robins means he’s far from being a ‘yes’ man, which makes them a perfect partnership that has masterminded the club’s rise from League Two to the brink of the Premier League.
But what about the man behind the gruff exterior, the human side of City’s tough task master on the training pitch? Here, the highly decorated former Chelsea youth and development coach who won everything going at Stamford Bridge, opens up about his early days, a hard, working class upbringing and the personal tragedy in his life that helped shape the man he is today – a father figure to so many players as well as a brilliant coach.
Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner sat down with the 54-year-old to find out a little bit more about his journey in football as well as in life, from his playing days to coaching elite Premier League prospects, and back down to lower league seniors at Coventry. He lifts the lid on what goes on in the dressing room, the stories behind some of the biggest games in the rise up the football league to the Championship, including the incredible play-off second leg victory at Notts County, nearly getting the sack and his special connection with the fans.
In the first of three features – in the other two he discusses tactics, formations, the evolution of individual players and the team as a whole, his relationship with the ‘gaffer’ and finding love – I started by asking him how he went from a seemingly rugged centre-half and master of the dark arts largely in the lower leagues to an educator of the beautiful game.
“I was a bit of both, to be fair. I knew the dark arts but I could also play, and I was fortunate to have some good managers,” he said, speaking exclusively to CoventryLive.
“When I was at Swindon I had Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle [as manager], so my philosophy on coaching was honed at a young age. I was only 20 when Glenn was there when Swindon got into the Premier League and he was player/manager and I was back-up for him, so when he didn’t play, I did in the centre of a back three. And so from there I could see the centre-backs in a three working the width of the pitch, which was quite early in my education.
