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Crazy to think of Sky Blues playing outside city, says former club chairman Peter Robins 5 Jun 2013 09:28 Son of legendary chairman Derrick Robins backs Telegraph's City Must Stay campaign Former Coventry City chairman Peter Robins FORMER Coventry City chairman Peter Robins says it’s “crazy” to contemplate the Sky Blues playing outside the city.
The son of legendary Sky Blues chairman Derrick Robins says his father would be outraged by the off-field turmoil at the club and is backing the Telegraph’s City Must Stay campaign, saying: “How can you expect fans to travel to Walsall?” He insists Sisu should have bitten ACL’s hands off when they were offered their last cut-price rent deal with a share of matchday profits and urged both parties to resume negotiations in order to reach an agreement to ensure the club stay at the Ricoh Arena. Robins believes the legacy of his father – who masterminded the Sky Blue Revolution in the 1960s with Jimmy Hill - is being destroyed by the current off-field crisis.
A former chairman himself, Peter Robins added his signature to the Telegraph’s City Must Stay petition and contacted us to speak out about Sisu’s plan to move the club. “What a bizarre and outrageous situation, that one should even have to sign a petition to ensure that Coventry City FC remain at the Ricoh stadium,” said the 70-year-old who still lives locally in Stratford. “What on earth would my father and Jimmy Hill, who built this club, have to say? “I don’t think I could put into words what dad would have said. He wouldn’t have let it get to this stage in the first place but he would have been absolutely outraged that the club that he built with Jimmy is behaving in this bizarre and outrageous way. He’d be totally mortified.
“I feel that my father’s legacy is being destroyed. He built an outstanding success and that has been destroyed over many years. I find it staggering.” Robins, who had two stints as chairman at Highfield Road, first taking over from his father when he moved to South Africa in 1973 until Hill returned to City as chairman, and later in the mid-90s for a couple of seasons when he and Bryan Richardson unseated John Poynton with the backing of his father’s shares. Asked what he and his father would have done about the current rent row, he said: “I don’t really know the circumstances but if it is true that Sisu were offered £400,000 rent with an option to look at the matchday revenue then I cannot understand why they didn’t bite their hand off because it seems like a pretty damned good deal to me.
“When you get a situation like this you negotiate. I don’t know if there is any room for negotiation now but I assume in the early days there was.” He added: “The fact is we should never have left Highfield Road. That’s not being clever after the event. It’s just ridiculous because that was a very suitable stadium for Coventry. The right capacity and a super little stadium and it was a crazy decision ever to go to the Ricoh. It would never have happened under my chairmanship.” As for the prospect of playing outside the city, he said: “It’s crazy.
I can’t see it happening. How can you expect fans to travel to Walsall? Why should they? It’s a complete nonsense and it mustn’t happen. “I support the campaign 150 per cent. I have signed the petition and I hope you win the battle.”
The son of legendary Sky Blues chairman Derrick Robins says his father would be outraged by the off-field turmoil at the club and is backing the Telegraph’s City Must Stay campaign, saying: “How can you expect fans to travel to Walsall?” He insists Sisu should have bitten ACL’s hands off when they were offered their last cut-price rent deal with a share of matchday profits and urged both parties to resume negotiations in order to reach an agreement to ensure the club stay at the Ricoh Arena. Robins believes the legacy of his father – who masterminded the Sky Blue Revolution in the 1960s with Jimmy Hill - is being destroyed by the current off-field crisis.
A former chairman himself, Peter Robins added his signature to the Telegraph’s City Must Stay petition and contacted us to speak out about Sisu’s plan to move the club. “What a bizarre and outrageous situation, that one should even have to sign a petition to ensure that Coventry City FC remain at the Ricoh stadium,” said the 70-year-old who still lives locally in Stratford. “What on earth would my father and Jimmy Hill, who built this club, have to say? “I don’t think I could put into words what dad would have said. He wouldn’t have let it get to this stage in the first place but he would have been absolutely outraged that the club that he built with Jimmy is behaving in this bizarre and outrageous way. He’d be totally mortified.
“I feel that my father’s legacy is being destroyed. He built an outstanding success and that has been destroyed over many years. I find it staggering.” Robins, who had two stints as chairman at Highfield Road, first taking over from his father when he moved to South Africa in 1973 until Hill returned to City as chairman, and later in the mid-90s for a couple of seasons when he and Bryan Richardson unseated John Poynton with the backing of his father’s shares. Asked what he and his father would have done about the current rent row, he said: “I don’t really know the circumstances but if it is true that Sisu were offered £400,000 rent with an option to look at the matchday revenue then I cannot understand why they didn’t bite their hand off because it seems like a pretty damned good deal to me.
“When you get a situation like this you negotiate. I don’t know if there is any room for negotiation now but I assume in the early days there was.” He added: “The fact is we should never have left Highfield Road. That’s not being clever after the event. It’s just ridiculous because that was a very suitable stadium for Coventry. The right capacity and a super little stadium and it was a crazy decision ever to go to the Ricoh. It would never have happened under my chairmanship.” As for the prospect of playing outside the city, he said: “It’s crazy.
I can’t see it happening. How can you expect fans to travel to Walsall? Why should they? It’s a complete nonsense and it mustn’t happen. “I support the campaign 150 per cent. I have signed the petition and I hope you win the battle.”
