This summer, Coventry City hopes to finish in the top six of the Championship, but the opposition will be fierce.
Mark Robins witnessed Burnley destroy Luton Town on Monday night in a Championship match between two teams demoted from the Premier League. The Coventry City manager saw it as a sobering reminder of the calibre of competition his team will face in the upcoming months of the new campaign.
The Sky Blues, who defeated Bristol City in the EFL Cup first round on Tuesday, lost to newly promoted Oxford United at Stoke City on opening day. Oxford United defeated Norwich City, who also finished in the play-offs, last season. This Friday, they will host Oxford United at the CBS Arena.
This season, the Championship is expected to be extremely competitive as City looks to finish in the top six after faltering last year. Robins is aware of the challenge facing his team, which was assembled over a long period of time and currently has both talent and depth in equal measure.
Despite adding a number of eye-catching players to his own team this summer, Robins isn’t particularly interested in the opinions of neutrals and pundits who think the Sky Blues are one of the teams to watch in the division this season. This is because he understands the nature of the league and the capacity of other clubs to both spend and perform.
“We’re not even getting to the status quo, because we’re still miles away from some of them,” he remarked with integrity. “I saw Monday’s match between Burnley and Luton, and I was impressed by their strong squads. They recently finished in the Premier League and are receiving parachute payments; because of their achievement, they will be able to carry on and expand.
That’s our goal and our desired state, but when someone tells us that we must do anything this season, things become somewhat different. You have to be a Luton Town or a Burnley fan to have gone through it. You anticipate those squads to be up there, but with our squad, we have to prove we deserve to be there. They have, too, but we still need to prove we deserve to play football.
“That is still a little ways off for us. We’re among the favourites to place among the top six, regardless of what people say. At this point in the season, about 21 or 22 clubs will believe they can make it to the play-offs this year, or even better. We need to settle into this season, figure out who we are and what we’re doing, and then really go for it.”
Naturally, even after being demoted, Burnley and Luton are two teams that have benefited from the riches of the Premier League. The established parachute payment plan gives individuals who drop out of the top flight more leverage and puts them in a better position when they return to the Championship.
However, Robins sees things differently; for example, he doesn’t regret Luton’s winnings in the play-off final against the Sky Blues in 2023 since, in his words, they were well-earned. It is consequently his group’s challenge to do the same.
“With the parachute payments, if you’ve earned the right and have been in the Premier League, those are the rules,” he stated. It’s challenging for others, but what can you do? You can say, “We remove relegation,” and proceed at any level. It’s simply a component of the current rules’ fabric. Let’s strive to get there and earn them. You get promoted and receive two years of parachute payments for a year, or three if you’ve been there a little longer.
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