Last week, former Sky Blues manager and FA Cup winner, John Sillett sat down with current City boss and League One title winner, Mark Robins to discuss the Sky Blues promotion back to the Championship.
City were crowned champions of League One back at the beginning of June, following the curtailment of the 2019/20 campaign.
The promotion was the Sky Blues second in three years under Robins, adding to the EFL Trophy he picked up back in 2017.
Reflecting on the title winning season, Sillett expressed his delight in the job Robins has done to take City back into the Championship.
"I have never been more proud of a manager than I am of Mark."
"For me, he has had one of hell of a job on his hands and he has risen to the occasions. He’s fantastic and I have loved him from the start.
"He's got that bit about him. You want to play for him. He's got that golden touch.
"He's a great fella, a class manager and a good coach who has done a wonderful job under the most difficult of circumstances. The club has been away from their own ground and he has done wonders.” Sillett said.
In response to John’s kind words, Mark gave thanks to the team behind him who have helped to make all of this possible.
“Thank you, but I’ve got to say thanks to my staff, I haven’t got many, we’re a small team but we’ve got big hearts and big characters and big minds and they’ve been instrumental with what we do.
“I think it all stems from the way we play and the we go about business and the way they undertake training and the culture of that has improved no end and as individuals they’ve taken it on and they’ve made it really easy for me, they haven’t stepped out of line.
“To work with and to watch them improve and play outstanding football has been a joy but you can see them working and when we give them information on the pitch and in the meeting room you can see they all want to learn and get better and that’s the biggest part of it for both me and Adi Viveash.
“And it’s not only us two, you’ve got Paul Travis who does the analysis and more and then you’ve got Jason Farndon and Luke Tisdale.
“Adam Hearn has been brilliant as well as the physiotherapy team led by Paul Godfrey.
“Aled Williams came in as Goalkeeping coach and took over some massive shoes and done fantastically well.
“Chris Badlan and Stuart Benthom in recruitment as well, the two of them have been outstanding and the scouts they’ve got as well have all been fantastic.”
John also gave praise to the style of play Robins has introduced at the football club and the way in which his side have gone about securing a first title in over 50 years.
"The players want to play for Mark, and that's the difference. It's a golden chalice. They love him. You've got to have players who love you and want to play for you."
“You play football in the right way, not only have you won the league but your side is a pleasure to watch, I love watching them.
“I sit there and say ‘what a good move that is’ and you can see the coaching that has gone into the team and you can see the quality of the management coming out of the players.”
A final thanks between the two was for the Sky Blue Army, who have continued to follow and support their side and have played a huge role in making all this happen.
“The fans are the ones that bind it all together.” Robins said.
“They’ve helped us, and they don’t know how important they are. When we speak about twelfth man, they have really stepped up and been that and helped galvanize everything together and they’ve been a massive help.
“We’ve been in Birmingham and had unbelievable support and that was growing as the season went on and I’m sure it would have got even bigger towards the end had we been able to play out the rest of the season but we’ve got to thank the supporters who made that trip every week and the players have done that whether it was home or away and they’ve followed us in droves.”