Mark Robins is committed to seeing Coventry City’s season end well, but he can’t help but look forward to building on the team’s success and returning the following year.

The Sky Blues manager is getting ready to reflect on an amazing season that has seen the team narrowly miss the play-offs in recent weeks and exit the FA Cup in spectacular fashion at the penultimate round. Due to injuries and exhaustion, City’s remarkable cup run has taken a toll. It has also possibly diverted attention from the promotion push in recent weeks, as City has lost out on significant chances to remain in the running for a top six spot.

They have nine games remaining, starting this weekend with a trip to Blackburn Rovers and quickly followed by home games against Ipswich Town and Queens Park Rangers. They are presently in eighth place with 63 points. Although it is highly unlikely that City will catch Norwich at this point, Robins obviously wants to surpass the 70 points that City scored in fifth place the previous season. With two games left, the Canaries currently have 72 points; however, they can get nine more points to reach their current total.

“From that standpoint, we can only feel that we have missed a few opportunities in the last few weeks, but we will reflect and look back on it, and I am sure we can improve moving forward,” the positive manager said at today’s pre-match press conference, where, in sharp contrast to Wembley, everything was back to normal: zoom was back in place, and only CWR and CoventryLive were asking questions.

“When we have to see how many points we can score in tough games, it’s going to be an extremely interesting few games.” Although it gets harder when you are running out of games and players, we are in a pretty healthy position right now and still have goals for this season, including breaking records for totals from the previous campaign. However, we’ll go up there and give it everything we’ve got, then watch to see where it leads.

To be fair, though, everyone’s support and contribution have been outstanding from the beginning. And we’ll return next season even more formidable.

“Everyone is proud of parts of things but ultimately we will be disappointed,” he continued, setting the stage for a period of introspection. It will change after we have some time to reflect and look back on things. However, those who have consistently performed at a high level know that reaching that point will be extremely challenging, and playing the number of games we are required to play in a short period of time is never easy at the levels we desire.

“We still have three games to go, and it will be extremely challenging to win them. Ten days remain until the season ends, at which point we can evaluate what went well, where we could have made improvements, evaluate individual players, and plan for the following one.

With defenders Joel Latibeaudiere and Luis Binks nursing calf and Achilles problems, respectively, and star player Fabio Tavares sidelined until the summer due to ankle ligament damage, City’s already slender roster is reduced to practically nothing.Before the coach departed for Lancashire on Friday afternoon for an overnight stay, Callum O’Hare (fatigue) and Victor Torp (stomach strain) underwent fitness tests.

On Wednesday night, Robins stated that City’s lack of depth at such a busy time of the season has “come home to roost.” However, when asked if he had had the opportunity to meet with owner Doug King or had a date set for a meeting to discuss what he can do to ensure the club doesn’t run out of numbers in the summer, he was not having any of it and instead chose to discuss the weather!

But he did identify one area where his team has been lacking since Kyle McFadzean left in January: this weekend, the 37-year-old will play his old team for the first time. Even though Fadz’s playing time has been erratic lately, his return to the starting lineup against his beloved Sky Blues may be possible due to the serious knee injury suffered by fellow center-back Scott Wharton this week.

The 4,300 fans who are travelling with the defender are expected to greet him warmly both during the warm-up and, if he chooses to stay, when the final whistle sounds. The defender is determined to bid them a fond farewell.

When asked if he thought the Sky Blue Army would express gratitude, Robins replied, “That’s up to them.” However, it is well known from his time here that he was utterly brilliant for us. He is truly exceptional. It was very sad to see him go, and he felt the same way. He had gone through a really trying time this season after losing his mother, and he left during the transfer window. I’m sure the fans will want to express their gratitude to someone who has been a pillar of the community and is well-liked by all because, quite rightly, he will always hold a special place in the club’s history and in the hearts of the supporters. He is an exceptional human being.

McFadzean is currently pursuing a new contract at Rovers after signing a short-term contract that expires at the end of the current campaign.

Knowing how hard he trains and takes care of himself, his former boss declared, “I’d back him to get a new contract, yes, 100 percent.” He is adamant that he “still has plenty of football left in his legs.”

“He trained properly every day and like it was a game,” the manager said, indicating that he is still in high demand for his leadership, professionalism, and character both on and off the pitch. He took things on board, listened and learned, even at 33 when he came in, he knuckled down and learned and made sure he dragged everyone else with him. He helped all the lads who played alongside him, all the lads in front of him and that’s something that we miss and is something we have got to replace at some point.”

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