Mark Robins praised his “brilliant” Sky Blues players as he reflected on City’s 2020 both on and off the pitch.
City began the year in League One, battling for promotion, before eventually securing their place back in the Championship after producing a 14-game unbeaten run in the league.
The Sky Blues were promoted as champions on a points per-game basis, following the curtailment of the 2019/20 season in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but were unable to celebrate their success with the supporters amidst the ongoing pandemic.
The manager admitted it has been a tough year for everyone on a human level, but a brilliant year for the Sky Blues on a professional level.
Robins said: “It’s mixed emotions, it’s been horrific for a lot of people, on a human level it’s been the worst in my lifetime.
“On a professional level, we were brilliant last year, the supporters were outstanding, up until this pandemic happened everything was ticking along really well.
“Players were playing very, very well, supporters were outstanding, it was just a great season up until March 7th, what happened after that was something that would have been inevitable anyway, we got promoted on the back of it.
“Not being able to celebrate has been a big part of it, changing things round with new players coming in and supporters having to support from a distance, it’s been tough for everybody, so we’re glad to see the back of this year.”
Returning to the second-tier for the first time in eight seasons, City haven’t looked out of place in the Championship this term and secured their first win of the campaign against Queens Park Rangers in front of the Sky Sports cameras at St Andrew’s.
City also went on an eight-game unbeaten run in the league between November and December and Robins hopes his side can keep their momentum going into the new year as they look to retain their Championship status.
“We’ve played some brilliant football and we’ve lost some games we’ve deserved to win, we’ve deserved to pick up more points than we’ve got, but we haven’t got them so we need to double down and make sure that we keep going.
“It’s been very difficult because we’ve not been able to train, it’s just been game after game after game and injury after injury which means that we’ve not been able to get our strongest possible team out on the pitch.
“The players have been brilliant, they’ve given me everything that they’ve got, they’re getting to grips with the level and we just have to keep going and keep working towards our goals.
“We want to hopefully see the end of this virus once the vaccine can get rolled out properly and then we can get back to normality and look forward to that really, that isn’t too far down the road.
“Happy New Year to all the supporters!”