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This BBC Podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Influences and content creators have been making headlines at the US Open, but how important are they to tennis? Find out by searching for more than a school wherever you get your BBC Podcasts. Get more with BBC Podcasts wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows, like Evil Genius, Good Bad Billionaire and Your Dead To Me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon Music subscription. Two, they've had five different home grounds in Inverse of Commerce. They went into administration. They've had 15 managers as well before returning to the top tier. We'll go back through that story. We'll speak to players, fans and staff from the various different eras. Dion Dublin, who won the Golden Boot during four-year spell at the club, is winners. Where do you have your Golden Boot? It's one of the most in the Premier League title. Yeah, I tell you, you've had a good pre-season. You've come back flying, haven't you? You're match-ready. I do want to let you down. And with us, also as well, Coventry Coventator for BBC Radio, Coventry and Warwickshire, Rob Gurney, and you have been down and up with them, haven't you? Yes, there's a fan and a broadcaster, Chapters. Great to touch base with Dion again. We worked together when he was the Coventry captain for what, four successive seasons, Dion, when you were top scorer in the Premier League for each of those four seasons. And yes, considering where they were eight years ago, Mark, they were in league two. They were just about to win or just won the league two playoff final in 2018. And now we're talking about a return to the Premier League, the top table after 25 years away is just an extraordinary story. You are a lifelong fan up until 2001. All you had known was Coventry being in the top flight, very much an established member of the first division, and then going into the Premier League. Obviously, the amazing FA Cup win of 1987. And by the way, this season's kit is fantastic. This season's kit for Coventry is just brilliant, because it is just like the 87 Cup win. The 40th anniversary trippy kit is brilliant, it's such a great kit. Anyhow, I'm slightly digressive. So how, because you aren't the only sort of fan base to have suffered this, you know, be established and then drop all the way, but probably one of the most prominent. How difficult was it? Forget your job for you as a fan. Oh, hugely, Chapters. Absolutely, hugely. Because, well, keeping my son who's now going to be 24, Charlie, on Friday, actually, my daughter, Holly, she's twin sister as well. Keeping them interested when they were kids was very, very difficult. You know, and I'm happy to say that, certainly, Charlie, is a died in the wall, Sky Blues fan. But when we were going to, I mean, I was taking him to the greatest of respect, places like Barnsley and Peterborough to go and watch matches, you know, away from home, and they plummeted all the way into League 2. I mean, Michael Doyle, I know we're going to hear from Doyle later, and there's a famous story of him in a game against Forest Green Rovers, where we were losing at home to Forest Green Rovers in the League 2 season. A fan came onto the pitch to demonstrate with the players. Doyle was the one that frog marched him off. We lost 62 at home to Yovall in that League 2 season. I mean, it is absolutely incredible. And a sliding Doors moment came, Mark, really. At Knott's County, the second leg of the playoff semi-final in 2018. It was one-one after the first leg. Got the dodgiest penalty ever just before the end of the first leg, to taking it one-one draw to Medo Lane. And then absolutely blue Knott's County away, four-one in the second leg of the League 2, playoff semi-final. We went on to get promoted to League 1. They ended up going National League, the following season Knott's County. And it was, you know, a commentary for a while, looked as though that sliding Doors moment was going to, you know, be there. Fade, if you like, going into the National League. But fortunately, it wasn't the case. But, you know, unbelievable. As a fan, I'd seen them relegated from the Premier League, obviously, in 2001, relegated from the championship, relegated from League 1, although did win the EFL trophy, the Checkered Trade trophy that season in 2017. And that was another seminal moment, really, where 47,000 or whatever it was, Coventry fans were at Wembley for that EFL trophy final against Oxford. And that was another day where you could tell what the ground swell of support was like, the fact that, you know, there was huge interest in the football club, if somebody could just tap into it. And that's what Mark Robbins did for the seven years that he was at the club. But it's just, you know, phenomenal what Lampard has achieved, as well, in getting us into the Premier League. We have to start with the relegation in 2001, and they're long stay in the top flight coming to an end. Gordon Stracken stands there, impassively, and has to accept Coventry are relegated. Shakes hands with John Gregory, after 34 years in the top flight, the lights have gone out on Coventry's time, and the upper echelon of football. They are heartbroken, the Coventry players, they applaud the 5,000 or so fans at that far end of the ground. John Halson first off the field, he'll be shattered, and the Coventry supporters and players will be shattered. As similar three, Coventry two, Coventry's relegated. Pat Murphy on sports report, the day Coventry's relegation was confirmed. It was the penultimate game of the season, Deon, as we said, in the village team. Coventry had been tuna up in that game. They needed Derby and Middlesbrough's results to go their way, and they didn't, and just to give you an indication, by the way, of that team. This was a, I mean, this really was a decent team rob, wasn't it? You look at some of the names in it. Kirkland was in goal, Gary Green was at the back. They had John, John Eustace and Lee Karsley in there. Must have a Haji, Bellamy, Heartson. I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't the worst, I think. No, it certainly wasn't. And I always say that had John Hartson been signed a few weeks before, he finally did make the move to Coventry, then there'd probably not have been relegated that particular season, just ran out of time. I mean, him and Bellamy did form a pretty lethal partnership towards the end of that season, but it must have a Haji had moved on. He's scored for Villa, having moved to Villa part, and George Boating was another one that made that move across to Villa. But yes, it wasn't the worst quality squad in the world, certainly, but they just came up short. I mean, again, Robbie Keane only lasted one season before Coventry doubled their money on him when he went to into Milan, having been the Britain's most expensive teenager, £6 million when he signed for Coventry from Wolves in 1999. And Craig Bellamy was his replacement now. That didn't go massively well either with the fans, or, as I'm sure Craig would probably admit now, himself. You know, that was a move that didn't quite work out, and that was one of the catalysts as to why the club ended up being relegated that season, I think. They were relegated, and maybe everything started to snowball a little bit, Robin, in 2005. Deans talked about the importance of Highfield Road, but the mid-90s to the early 2010s were sort of a lot of clubs move from their traditional grounds to a lot of them, actually, to stadium that were quite similar. I mean, there is a certain feel to a sort of mid-2000s stadium move. So they moved to what was called the Rico Arena, and this is where things started to unravel a bit. They did, yes. I mean, originally, the original incarnation of the arena was thought about as early as the late 90s, the former chairman Brian Richardson, the old Folls Hill gas work site in the north of the city. I remember, Bob, Mr. Richardson, in the chairman's office when I signed, he had a little miniature, a little miniature version of the new stadium in his office, and he was saying to me, Deans, this is where you're going to be playing. Look at this stadium, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. Never seen it. No, and that was going to be my point, is that the idea was originally conceived in the late 90s. It was at one time the country were launching a bid to become the home of the new national stadium. That was one of the drums they were banging at that particular time. There was talk of a retractable roof and a sliding pitch. I remember we went on a visit to Arnhem in the Netherlands where they got an identical model. Brian Richardson was, you know, saying how fantastic this was going to be. And then slowly but surely for financial reasons and the club had been relegated with, the time was reported, a 60 million pound debt in 2001. Now you convert that to today, you can imagine how much debt the club was in 25 years ago. So they had to, you know, hugely scale back all those plans. And by the time the RICO arena got built and opened in 2005, they'd sold high field road for housing. That's now a small housing estate. Unfortunately, although high field road park now has been literally in the last couple of days been unveiled so that they commemorated the site of high field road a little bit more fully than has been in the last 20 years. But they'd sold high field road. The RICO arena was opened in 2005. But it was already, you know, long overdue in terms of, in terms of, you know, when they were supposed to originally move there. And then we got, you know, administration, the club, you know, financially was on its knees, sold its 50% share in the stadium. And that's where the, you know, the real problems began. Because then by selling that 50% share, they became tenant. Yes, exactly. And that led to all manner of difficulties. The ownership, make fair hedge fund called CISU, owned the club, December 2007. They came in, apparently the club was very, very close to going to the wall. If CISU hadn't of bought the club, you know, it was going to go pop. And I suppose, Rob, but I suppose, Rob, on that, I don't want to annoy anybody here. But does that have to be, well, well, not only, I mean, obviously, Dylan, that happens a lot. But I mean, what I mean is, CISU were incredibly on popular owners as time went on. Yes, I completely understand that. Completely get why they became on popular owners for the fan base, which we will come onto when we look at where commentary ended up having to play and so on and so forth. But it is worth reiterating, is it, that commentary were in a real mess when they took over? Did they rescue them at that stage, or is that going too far? No, I mean, that is the story at the time was that CISU were the only game in town, effectively. That's been disputed elsewhere since. But that was the narrative at the time. And if Joe Elliott, who was the chairman at the time, not the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard, obviously, but a local business man who owned a very successful, and a good bloke, one of the reasons. He is a tremendous bloke, yes. He always says, if he hadn't sold the club to CISU at that point, the club was 20 minutes away from going bust. So the very fact that CISU then became hugely on popular, because they stopped paying the rent. That's when the club ended up going to Northampton for a season. But as I say, the narrative at the time was, if it hadn't been for CISU, the club would have ceased to exist. During this period then, before Doug King came and bought them out, just quickly then, and then we'll come on to the move to Northampton. What were the issues that made them so unpopular in their running of the club? Was it the moving of the club to different, to different home grounds? Yes, there was that, and the lack of investment in the playing squad, really. And again, without going over all the minutiae of this, because it's a very, very complicated story. But they were, effectively, CISU were trying to force arena commentary limited, which was the company that owned the stadium into administration, so they could get the arena for nothing. That was their MO. That's what they did at various other businesses that they acquired over the years. And that's what they were trying to do with Coventry. And that never happened. There was a huge clash of personalities between the people that were at the top of CISU. Not so much Joyce Apala, but Tim Fisher, who was the chairman, was vilified by the supporters. He was very, when he came on here on the radio, he was extremely inflammatory in what he used to say. It almost, to me, as a fan, he used to like winding the supporters up. That was my perception of how he was. I mean, certainly tell a story while I was away and just following the club as a fan. He came into these studios now to be smuggled out of the back door because what he said on the radio, one particular occasion was so inflammatory that people started gathering outside the studio. So he was a problem. The city council at the time who owned part of the stadium as well, there's a massive clash of personalities. And that's where the relationship completely broke down. CISU stopped paying the rent for the stadium and that's how they ended up going to six fields for a season. Let's talk to Mos Baker, chair of the Sky Blues Trust at the time. Evening Mos? Hello, Mark. I mean, you must be delighted at where you are now on what is to come, but there was a real anger amongst the fan base. Wasn't that, but also I'm told some splits in the fan base. Yeah, that period when we moved to Northampton was an awful time for the club because as a common city fan, as well, I started watching them in 1975, when they were playing a high school road. And the fact that we were moving after the club, after the community, 35 miles down the road to Northampton, just was something that I just couldn't comprehend and many common city fans felt. So equally, you had people who had the view that I wanted to watch my club play, wherever they're playing. And there was kind of a disconnect there and there was falling out because people paid to pull the club, but other people had different views of how to deal with it. Now, I initially went and spent my time on the hill at Northampton, if you know, 6th of the stage, you know, there's a hill where you can see parts of the pitch from that hill. But even that, for me, became something too much for me, lying to be spending my Saturdays and when common city were playing and doing other things. I went to every away match that season, but I would not go to a home game. And many of the covensy city fans felt the same. It was a really difficult time for the club. So hard, Dion, isn't it, because probably one of the most prominent fan bases to have to suffer this. But it's so hard when fans find their loyalty tested in this way. When actually you can see both points, you can very easily see both points of view. Yeah, you can. While I was at Coventry, I never thought that the football club was going to go down, because we were so stable and I can only see the training ground and the match day part of this and the staff and the fan base. We felt so stable and then like you've mentioned and we're having a conversation there about how it's kind of crumbling away. And I think it's down to, obviously it's down to bad ownership and bad decisions, but then the relationship between players and fans becomes distant as well. Fans don't want to go and support their club at somebody else's ground. That's not the right thing to do. And also don't want to reward owners, moz for bad decisions that have left them in this situation. But then moz, there will be other people, weren't there? And it's so, I completely get this as well. Well, I've watched my team home and away for the last 30 years. I don't want to break that run. They are my team. What else am I going to do on a Saturday? I'm supporting the team, not the club. It's very difficult. It was incredibly difficult for people. And I was in that boat as well. I'd watched the club home in a way for years. But there was no way, in my view. And like I say, we shared with a lot of other colour city fans, because you saw the minimal crowds that we got at 6 p.m. So I was going to watch my team call company, said Jerry Football Club played matches in Northampton, but equally there was some who wanted to go. And it caused this distinction between fans. And that was the real tragedy of this, because we were all colour city fans. We all wanted to support our club, but we decided to support them in different ways. And I went down the road and was getting involved with it. The supporters trusted and I became chairman. And just doing what I could with my colleagues and galvanising the supporters to recognise that this wasn't right and doing whatever we could in the form of protests and marches and rallies to get the club back to Coventry. It's early, early stop opportunity. How do you feel now? Oh, I'm actually elated. I'm actually at an event at the CBS Arena tonight, actually. I've just come out of the Premier. They did a big, they did a big Premier there, aren't they tonight? Absolutely, yeah. And I've just come out of the action, Deon. You feature quite heavily at the point I came out. It was, as a point I came out, we just survived relegation in 1977. So we've got a good point to leave that, Mos. Absolutely. Where's my, was I didn't get any vibe, Mos? What's happening? Well, Dave Bennett's got an invite. And Mickey Doyle's here. The important players, the important players. Maybe you're not lost in the post, but... Good man. To answer your question, Mark, I'm absolutely elated. And I like Rob. I mean, I've run out and Rob probably is from the last 40 years. Supporting club for a very long time. And just to be back in the Premier League. Now, after all we've been through, that journey down into League 2 and back again, and Mark Robin deserves an incredible amount of credit for his contribution to that. To be playing Arsenal in two days time, the Premier League Champions, against Champions League Champions. It's just, it's the stuff that the third may believe, to be honest. I think, I think you have a chance to surprise in a few people from what I've seen in Coventry and the Frank Lampard. You're quite hopeful. I don't necessarily mean Arsenal away. I'll give you that one. I mean, the picture. Now, I'm very hopeful. I mean, I've spent a long time tonight chatting to Dean Austin, who's the head of recruitment here, and also Dukking, the owner of the club. And I share their optimism. I think we will surprise a lot of people. I think, obviously, it's a mathematical between the Championship and the Premier League. But I think we're going to give it a go. The players we've signed in the last few weeks, give me the hope that I think we will all do okay. But just for a let you go, Moz, who's the best number nine that you've seen at Coventry? Yeah, that's right. That's what you're going to do. Yeah. John Harson. Mickey Quinn. Mickey Quinn, actually. You can come back on any time you want. Moz Baker. I've got to come in and say the undubbed hero of mine did fantastic job when he came to the club, and he was trying to hand it. Some of his goals going to people. Yeah, I did that out of the podcast, but thank you, Moz Baker, Jared, the sky blue, he's just going to join the rest of the Premier there. That this ditch. No, but it's funny, Deon, isn't it? I'm delighted to say they're FA Cup winner, they're former goalkeeping coach, they're former caretaker manager, and now Rob Sidekick on Coventry for the BBC. Steve Agrizzavitch joins us. Evening Steve. Yeah, good evening, Mark. Good evening, Deon and Rob. Deon is the second here, you're loud and clear. Deon was full of praise for you, Steve. Don't tell him that. I'll tell you what, Deon, I mean, he's not been down to see Coventry a lot in recent years, obviously, with all his exports, but I'm sure that he'll be seeing quite a bit of them this season. And he's absolutely excited to buy what he sees. I hope so, I certainly hope so. How, and I've asked this, everybody connects to the club, Steve, tonight, and then we'll get on to everything else. But how excited are you, or relieved are you, or maybe just tell me your emotions ahead of Coventry being back in the Premier League? Because I'm guessing at times you thought this one you would never get to this day. Well, yeah, I mean, in football in terms, Coventry has certainly been to hell and back in the last couple of decades. There's no doubt about that. But I mean, football just tend to turn full circle. You know, everybody has the time in the sun at some stage. And I always felt that at one point, Coventry would get back quite how they've done it quite as quickly as this. When you think they were in division two, only, I'm going to say seven years ago, it's quite remarkable. And the club have turned around the fortunes. Mainly off the, you know, away from the football pits, they got things, started to get things right at the time when Mark Robbins came in, you know, just in 2017. You know, the club started to be run like a football club again. I've got to say, and this is what you see. When a club's run well, when there's good planning, when there's a structured approach, you have success. And the success has happened quickly. And it's been really, really exciting, Mark. I mean, some of the football that the boys have played, not just Lamellashia was off the scale. It was incredible. But, you know, every year, it's year on year. It's been very, very good. Take me back, then, Steve, to the club being in the fourth tier for the first time in 58 years. Mark Robbins had come in the year before, or towards the end of the season year, before one of the EFL trophy a month after he came in. But we're still relegated. Tony Mobri and Russell Slade had also been managers. That season. That's right, and I mean, you mentioned the Czechotrade trophy. Rob will remember it well as well. You know, that really was the turning point. It's crazy, because it's a nothing trophy. You know, most people want to go out in the early rounds and commentary somehow manage to find themselves into a semi-final. And that's when you start to take it seriously. Mark Robbins had just come in. We found ourselves playing Oxford at Wembley. And I think that was when the fortunes changed. Because I think everybody, the players, the staff, the hierarchy, really. Notice for the first time probably, the love that the football club was had from the fans. I mean, the fans came out in the droves. 45,000, I think it was. In a relegation year to cheer the boys on at Wembley. We won that game. And although we got relegated, promotion followed the following season. Another visit to Wembley. Every single year, you've seen what it's like, baby steps larger than that, actually. Just improvement, you know, from one year to the next. They just gradually got stronger. Well, I suppose even when Mark Robbins came in, then Rob, that changed things. Because even though they went down, four of the knowing games that they won that season were after he was appointed. So you, I suppose you could see those baby steps, even in relegation. Yes. And I mean, I'll he will acknowledge this. There was a little bit of skepticism from the fan base when he came back because he left in 2013, having established quite a solid team. You know, the club was challenging for the playoffs. And then he left to go to Huddersfield because he simply got a, you know, better offer from Huddersfield town. So supporters were a little skeptical when he came back for a second time, given what had happened four years previously. But obviously winning a trophy, you know, within a few weeks of him returning massively helped. And he bought into, you know, the fan base. He bought into the project, if you like, of country going into to league two. And I talked about it earlier on, Mark, you know, the untapped talent, if you like, or the untapped support that the club had got. Oggy mentioned 47,000 at Wembley that day. So there was huge potential around the club. It just needed somebody to unlock that. And Mark Robbins ended up being the person to do just that. What did Mark Robbins do that brought the buoyancy back? For me, he was the first manager, the managed to get the ear of the owner really. And, you know, things started to change upstairs off the pitch. All of a sudden, I think the owner had realized the mistakes, you know, in previous years. And started to listen to Mark. Recruitment got better. I talked about, you know, baby steps. We didn't have a lot of money to bring people in, but recruitment was a lot better. You know, we spent years, I mean, it's crazy now when you looked at it. But years really doing recruitment on, you know, on the back of the fact package, it was that, say, you know, ringing people up, doing it old school, checking things out. And, you know, and we didn't really have a recruitment, you know, department that was worthy of anything because the club wouldn't fund it. When they did start funding it, I think you started to see, you know, the fruits of those labors, you know, the players that have come in, you know, whatever level. And you've got to remember that different teams have been assembled, you know, as you go, what the leagues, but, you know, the recruitment has just got better and better and better. And I think that's one of the reasons we are where we are at the moment because, you know, the way I see it, the recruitment department at the moment are doing an outstanding job. And I think Rob, I think Coventry would have been in league one. And I did a FA Cup draw with Mark Robbins. Like we did it from Coventry and had a good chat with Mark at that. And he was full of praise for how their recruitment was starting to work. And he felt that they had caught up a bit then, that there was data being used. And they narrow it down to three players, for example, he would tell me. And then he would be able to then make a decision based on those three and go out and watch them and scout them. But it took a while for them to get to that stage. And maybe even some of the youth stuff was starting to pay off a little bit then. Yes, that's absolutely right. And I think that the club was being run as Oggy alluded to there, a lot more professionally. And Mark had a relationship with Dave Body, who is the chief executive. They had a very close working relationship. And I'm sure, well, I know that Dave, various times, when things were looking particularly bleak, he successfully persuaded Mark to stay and, you know, resist overtures from other clubs. So that relationship was absolutely key. But it was just for somebody to stay at one football club. We all know these days, for seven years, is an extraordinary achievement. And that's what Mark Robbins did, brought the club all the way up through the divisions. They were a mispenalty away from going into the Premier League, losing to Luton on penalties at Wembley three years ago. That would have completed the story, if you like, with Mark Robbins taking the club all the way through the divisions from League 2 to the Premier League. Didn't quite work out. And then Doug King took the extremely at the time, controversial decision to sack him in November 2024 and replace him with Frank Lampard. I just want to go back to that spell with Mark Robbins. Before we come onto Robbins' departure and hear from Mark Robbins first captain when he returned to the club, which was Michael Doyle, who was also returning for his second spell at the club. So let's hear from him, because he's been talking to Rob. I've just been a part of Mono Lagos, quite torn of, you know, the way Gal was, you know, because I really enjoyed it. A part of it, selfishly, from a professional point of view. But, you know, he asked me to go back down, and he basically locked the doors when I went back down and said, you ain't leaving here till you're so in. So that was going to start at that second adventure. Then, you know, the big thing with Mark, he maybe felt really wanted, you know. And I was excited to walk when it was agreed, you know. And what was he like as a manager? How would you describe him, Doyle? And why did you think he ended up being so well-loved at the club, do you think? Well, look, from a personal point of view, from me, I was as captain, you know, he confided in me a lot, and he'd tell me stuff like, you know, football lawyers, what he felt, the olden say, I was on a pedestal, but it was a lot older and a lot of the lads so I could take myself away and I'd deal with a lot of stuff in the dressing room that needed to be dealt with. Well, it's all like if I felt that he needed to know something. I wasn't, I wasn't like, listen, we need to keep an eye on this. That I could have that chat with him, that type of relationship, you know. But he's really good at managing a book, but he was very realist as well. And I think you have to be that as if you want to be a top manager, you know. And he certainly was that, you know, he was quite realist, you know. Because his job's to win and he has to do whatever it takes, you know. For us as players, we're selfish. We just want to play and he's probably got 11 happy people on the Saturday and, you know, the rest are really disappointing, not happy, but he was quite realist with that. He was spying on win onto the next game. And he surrounded themselves, you know, very good coach in ADV, as she was brilliant tactically in that. And I think they walked really well together. You know, Mark was a great man, manager. Could feel what the game needed, whether it was an extra forward or defender on the pitch. And, you know, well, he didn't take too much coach, you know, we stood back and he managed, you know. I think he managed the whole club at that point, you know, as I said it before, he was, he was kind of, he was CEO, he was the manager, he seemed to be doing everything, you know, and he did it really well. And obviously the club brief massive rewards from what he did, you know. And just lastly, clearly beating Exeter in the playoff final league two in 2018 was a magnificent occasion, but a lot of fans remember the second leg of the semi-final at North County just as much, if not more because of the performance on that night. And just the feeling of togetherness between, you know, you the players and the fans, Michael. Yeah, I think like, you know, from me personally, you know, as I said, that was probably one of the best days I had there. Certainly we had some great days, you know, as a player through your career and cup games and promotion and things like that. But that was probably one day that stands out for me. It was an amazing day. It was a, we were, we were up against it. And not so the, you know, quite formidable record at home, you know. I think the last one game, my home, I'll see you in and there were quite cherries coming off the pitch at the rego when we drew one all. And I'll be honest, going into the game was taking bloody hours. It's going to be tough. I wasn't too sure what we'd do. But, you know, performance, it was a brilliant performance from the lads. And I said, we took it over. Made all the M8, 6,000 fans there. I don't know. It was a bit unforgettable. But I just felt that night for me. It was the night, the kind of fans. It was the night they got the club back. You know, that's what I felt like to me. That night was like, it was a brilliant season. I just felt that night in North County. It just changed everything. And the club never looked back from that moment. I've had, like, you know, some unbelievable memories the last 10 years, I think, as a supporter, basically. I think they couldn't have asked for any more. And now they've topped it off, we're getting to the Premier League. Michael Doyle, the former commentary captain, talking to Rob Gerney, commentary commentator at BBC Radio, commentary and Warwickshire. And Deon, he sounded like the leader they needed at the time. Yeah, just a very confident footballer. You know exactly what he brought to the game. Fearless, spoken incredibly well. And when he did speak as well, he was listened to, which I think is very, very important. It's okay having a leader, but people around you have got to respect what you're saying. And I knew Doyle looked quite well, actually, even though he's different to my era. He actually viewed one of my houses and he wanted to buy it. Oh, my gosh. But we were very, very close at the time, but he pulled out and then I got rid of his number. LAUGHTER I've been thinking of you. You quit Deon, didn't you? He just used to do it. He just used to do it. Oh, god. He's been, I can't believe it, Doyle, he used to like you. What? We're not offering him a sort of covetry old boy's favourable deal on your house. Oh, I got him a signed steve because of its church and he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Again, you know, when you go through, I mean, you know, Doiler was massively influential in those early years, turning the, turning the club around the promotion to division one and then, you know, the fact he managed to recruit some very, very good experienced players who lead on the pitch, I think of Liam Kelly who's just joined the staff only this season as under 21 coach now is finished playing, you know, that it's massively important that you've got somebody on there that, you know, that that can actually pull the strings, almost know what's happening in a game and Michael Doyle was brilliant for that Liam Kelly was, and there were a few others that followed as well, and you see it now, we're Matti Grimes and on Yakka now he's joined, you get the feeling that they understand what's happening in there and they'll need to because the Premier League will be totally different to challenge to what they've been used to so far. Before I let you go, Dion, how do you view this season ahead for Coventry? Paul and as it sounds, just keep jabbing, keep jabbing and keep keep keep your distance, keep doing what you do. I just feel if they play the way that they play, they've incredibly brave, they try to play the game in the right way. I mean, the way that Frank, Frank has changed the football club, he's changed the training ground and Oggy would have been back so many times. I went to the training ground chapters, I walked into the gym and there was a few players that were injured and there's training going on, by the way, the players that were injured, I was just looking around, I was going to interview Frank after training and they stopped what they were doing, they came over to me, they said, Dion, nice to meet you and then they carried on with their rehab. That's what Frank Lampos brought into the side, professionalism, respect and I think it shows on the pitch, those players are really playing for him, the football club and the fans as well, it's going to make a massive difference if those fans stay with the players this season. Dion, enjoy your evening, thank you. Thank you very much, Oggy, great to see you mate, you were the best mate, you were the best, Rob, I didn't write you anyway, cheers, chapters. Thanks for texting the post. That's true, always a pleasure. That was a pleasure, never at all. Let's go back then, Crikey, right, let's go back to Doug King, buying out CSU in 2023, which leads us on to, and you've already touched on it, Rob, the removal of Mark Robbins, but what changed with Doug King? Basically, optimism and a sense that the club was really moving in the right direction and CSU were no more, and that was such a relief if you like for the supporter base, it wasn't necessarily a case of anybody but CSU, but the fact that they'd been through such turmoil under the previous ownership meant that the fans were just relieved, basically, to have a new owner in charge of the football club who was prepared to put some money behind it and get them to where we all think they deserve to be, which is back in the Premier League, so it was optimism, Mark, that was the one thing that Doug King did bring to the club when he bought it. When he decided to move on from Mark Robbins, what were your feelings, Steve? Because as Robb has sort of mentioned, the atmosphere felt fibrous. Yes, it did, and it was disappointing because if you go back to, I think it was November, was it two years ago when we'd had a really bad start to the season, but we'd had a bad start the previous season and the season before then, and Mark Robbins and Alive Asher turned it around, we'd managed to make the playoffs one of those years, get into the semi-final of the FA Cup and all the ones, so I still felt that they'll probably follow in the same pattern as previous years and they'll probably turn it around, so it's always disappointing when you lose a manager that's been so successful. But I've got to say, with due respect to Mark Robbins and everything, I mean, Frank Lampard has just done an incredibly good job. The way he's taken the club forward, moved it on, the results last year, the way that they played was incredible, and on top of that as well, the owner, Doug King, he's barely put a foot wrong, really. There's two things, really. I mean, he's managed to buy the ground for Coventry, we've not owned the ground since the day we stepped foot in it. I think it was Michael Doyle that was talking about the soulless place previous to it now. I mean, you walk into the CBS now, it's a cold one, and if we're going to survive this season, we're going to need to have the type of results and the type of atmosphere that we've experienced in the last few years, we results have been absolutely brilliant. We're, you know, he's managed to buy that stadium, but, you know, even this season, you know, we've got to the Premier League, I was thinking, how much are you going to spend, 60, 70 million? I mean, you know, as of today, I think we're upwards of 120 million, which is just incredible at the moment. Five likes, four. So here's the first ball of this season. All the cricket you've lost. Check Robbins out. Lips on BBC Sounds. Smash straight back down the ground. This girl. Here, ball by ball coverage of the biggest competitions on the domestic and international circuit. It's a ball cricket and it's the huge one. Two, three, four. Set it down to episode eight. Cricket on five live sport. Oh, I believe in every ball release. Listen on BBC Sound. Influencers and content creators have been making headlines at the US Open, but how important are they to tennis? Find out by searching for more than a score, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Get more with BBC Podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows, like Evil Genius, Good Bad Billionaire, and Your Dead To Me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts, add free, with an Amazon Music subscription. You're listening to the football daily podcast with Matt Chapman. It's been Katie Stafford in to this, member of BBC CCWR Sky Blues fan cast, Evening Katie. Good evening. Are you optimistic? You have to be, don't you? Well, as somebody who rarely is, no. It's just me, Daniel. I'll be really optimistic. Well, if I take you back, we'll come on to this season at a moment. If I take you back to where Lampard was appointed, and what your feelings were then? It was a difficult time, I think, that a lot of people disagreed, maybe with the sake of Mark Robbins, purely for the fact of what Oggy just said there. Commentary always started their season slowly. They always said that if they started the season with Tony Mobray, and finished with Mark Robbins, then we would have got up a whole lot quicker, because they were just chalk and cheese in that respect. But I think that people were disappointed and angry, and it was the end of an era, and he was the only person that stuck around when the club was in, well, plummet in, and then brought them back up again. So he was almost the dad of the club. I think everybody saw him that way. It was the fatherly figure that was always there when you needed him. Normally, Chapters as well, the fan base by the time a manager is sacked, is calling for his head. Now, that wasn't the case at all. Some supporters were starting to question whether he was the man to take the club forward, but not many. So that's why the decision came as a bolt from the blue. Katie will know this. A lot of fans were preferring the idea of Roode Van Nistelroy being Mark Robbins' successor, rather than Frank Lampard, because he went to Leicester and things ended up on the glass mountain as far as he was concerned. So Lampard has turned out to be a phenomenal appointment. And just on the ownership, I think again, a lot of Coventry fans thought that Mike Ashley, who is part of Fraser's group, obviously the Chief Executive, they owned the stadium at one point when Doug King only owned the football club. And I think a lot of people, me included, thought that Mike Ashley was more likely to buy the football club to pair the stadium and the club together. Rather than what's turned out to be the case, Doug King has bought the stadium as well as the football club. It's just strange how things work out sometimes. I mean, Steve, you knew the squad that Lampard was coming to take over and you knew the atmosphere around the club. You know, I'm quite biased here and I know Frank, I like Frank, I've interviewed Frank a few times. My concern was more for him to be honest because of the reaction to Mark Robbins going because I felt like he'd been dealt not the greatest set of cards in previous managerial roles that was always something to deal with. Do you know something? I mean, obviously you do your homework when people come in and you look at Frank Lampard's managerial record. And actually, I thought he got a tough road really because he'd done quite well. I mean, I remember taking Derby to the playoffs. Everton, when he took over, was always a difficult club to manage. There were so many managers before Morris came in that struggled there. And when he went back to Chelsea again, it was only a short period of time and the club was in freefall then. But when you looked at his record, for a young manager, I always felt it was pretty good. I used to listen to him when he was either on Sky or other TV channels talking about the game. And I always felt that when you sit there, you always think, well, could you play for this player? What sort of manager would it be? I always thought that he sounds like a player's type of manager. He can relate to them. He can talk to them about the modern game. And it's certainly not all about, you know, he was such an outstanding player. It's sometimes very, very difficult for players who are that good to be able to accept that some players can't do the things that they could. And he's managed to bridge that gap. He can talk on a level to all the players. I absolutely love him. And I think that's probably been probably one of his biggest successes in management. The fact that he can build an atmosphere and winning mentality within those players just by the way he is. Let's hear from him. Here is the commentary manager then on getting ready for the season ahead. We've had a lot of time to prepare. Fortunately, we were promoted early in April. And as the season had already had a long break, it's hard to do certain recruitment business in the middle of a summer. We were well-cooked there, but we were trying to be strategic about how we see it. I love the squad that got us to the Premier League. They fully deserve it. And they were great for us last year. But of course, we know we want to improve. So we're brought in some players that we think will help the squad. We've had a good preseason. The players are working very hard. We've given a massive challenge of the Champions and they won. And there's no problem. You have to play them. So we have to be ready for that game and try and give a good account of ourselves. But I think we're working hard to get ourselves in the best position to take on the challenge ahead. That challenge you speak of, is it the greatest you've faced in your career? Would you say the challenge of keeping Coventry City up, given the advantages that more established teams in the top flight have? I think maybe, yes. And I don't want to sound defeatist in that way because it's fine. Life's about having challenges. And when you have a challenge in a place that you enjoy working, if a good feeling when a good trajectory is a club, a fan base or with us, the players I love working with. So that's great. It's a great base. But of course, we study a lot of the teams that go up and come down. That's pretty regular. There's some teams that will come up and stay up and you go, what did they do? So we have to take on the challenge in our own way with the players that we have and try and make our mark. There was this sense of a kind of yo-yo effect of clubs that come up immediately going down again because, as I say, of the advantages that their competitors have. And yet, you had last season Sunderland obviously doing really well leads as well. How much encouragement does that give you in the squad, do you think, seeing that precedent being set? Yeah, it does. Every situation is different, but Sunderland credit recruited strongly, recruited, went for it, and brought out an aggressive team that you could see, could give in teams problems, and had different ways of plan. I've watched a lot of their games. It's a good case study for us because their story was a little bit similar in terms of we played them. And they were promoted in a semi-final. And they hadn't been in the Premier League for a while, so they went bang. This is what we need to do. Leads slightly different because they probably had some more Premier League players. So it's like good to watch those and then think about what we want to be, but they're good reference points for us. And it's good for confidence to see teams come up and do that, and we'll try and do our version of that. Sitting here now, would you take 17th if it was offered to you? I would. You framed that question to make me do that to give you that answer. I want to say more than that. I want us to compete every week. You look at what Sandland did. They ended up in Europe start. I don't like setting benchmarks low, but of course we start with that as a baseline, but we want to go and compete, and maybe we can do better than that. I think you've spent more than 70 million so far this summer. What does that tell us about the ambition, the level of ambition of the club? Yeah, we're ambitious, and credit to the owner for Doug. He gave me my opportunity at the club, and we've had a great 18 months. I think we know now it's a necessity to improve your score. If you come up and it didn't the market now, we all know where it's going, especially at the top end. So it's not easy for a club like us to do that. So we have to pull all the stops to try and sell the project to players. Sometimes it's more of a developing player or an experienced player who's coming to help us in a different way. And that's fine, but yeah, we are ambitious. We want to stay here. The size of the club, as it is, deserves to be a Premier League club in my opinion, but when you've been 25 years out of it, that's easier said than done. We have to do the work on the pitch. And you've enjoyed plenty of battles against Arsenal over the years. How special will it be for you personally walking out in that opening match, having achieved what you wanted to last year and being up against a club that really is at the height of it. It's power as it seems. Yeah, I'm excited for that, and it will be difficult for us. We're probably nobody's favourites, I'll say that. But for me to have gone to Coventry from the position, I was in personally going to the club 18 months ago to have had this time with Coventry. I'm proud of everybody that's been involved in it, but in my role, and I want to go to the Premier League and do well. And unfortunately, I'm used to as a player and as a coach before Chelsea and Everton have happened these occasions. And now I've got an opportunity to get back there, so I'm excited for that. Steve has alluded to it, and Dion very much mentioned it as well, Katie, that he's changed the culture as Lampard. Absolutely, and there's a massive group cohesion that I don't think you can actually describe until you've seen it yourself. Everything about the club is just on the up, whether it's on the pitch, off the pitch, the fan base. Everybody's quite optimistic going into Friday. It can't get any tougher as far as Premier League starts go. It's Arsenal, then it's the sixth pointer against Hall at home the following week, and then it's Manchester City away. But what a time to play them, and I think that's the attitude that a lot of the fans have. We're going in as underdogs, zero pressure, because if you're playing them near the back end of the season in their own yard, it's a completely different game. So there is a real feeling of optimism going into Friday. Will the style that they played last season at times, and I'm looking at a stat here that says 10 of their 28 wins came with the minority share of possession, Katie. Will their style suit at times, having to hit on the counter attack in the Premier League? That stat really surprises me, because I'm trying to cast my mind back to 10 games where we were without the ball for a lot of the game. I think that we'll see quite a few changes in the way that we set up. I went to the Monaco game last week, and we were far better off the ball that time around. We have physical box to box midfielders. It was a joy to watch. Very different to the fluid football that we saw last season, but definitely going to hang on in there and try and be gritty this year. But I think that against maybe the teams in the lower part of the table, then we will have time on the ball, and that'll be them when we get to play the lamppard ball that we've all come to know and love. It will be that fluid. I hope so. I can't see lamppard wanting to play anti football. I think that that's just not his style at all. He'll still want his attackers to be going at it. And you can see from the business that commentary have done in this window that they've still brought in wingers and the midfielders they brought in actually have quite a good goal record too. I think he's still planning on, you know, outscoring the opposition where possible. That's our best line of defense effectively. What he has done in the transfer market this year for me has brought legs, you know, there's athleticism. There's people who want to work hard. Katie was talking about the game last week against Monaco. The press high up the pitch was the best I've ever seen a country city team do. This was a preseason game. And, you know, we have to be careful not to get carried away with with preseason, but Monaco are a decent side to beat Liverpool the year before. You know, they were very, very uncomfortable trying to get around Coventry's press. And, you know, the Premier League could be different. We're going to wait and see on Friday night. But there's no doubt about it. Coventry have got legs. They've got hard work to go with it, athleticism. And that takes you a long way in being able to stay in games and, you know, unbecompetitive. I can't pleasantly surprise, by the way, sorry, I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount that, you know, Doug King has sanctioned spending in the transfer market. You know, it's around, well, over 120 million, I mean, Frank on Yekko was six million. That was an obligation to buy from Brentford. From China, 20 million from Burnley, Oral Amender, the Swiss centre back for around 17 million Karl Rushworth. That was the big signing of the Summer, the guy that was on loan from Brighton last season, 17 clean sheets. One of the Champions gold and glove, 22 and a half million for him all there about Calabriarenchi. Now, what a phenomenal talent he looks to be at 23 million pounds for, you know, just a 20 year old. Just hammer very romantic signing him coming back for six million. And then in the last couple of days, Taiwai or one year for nine million from Nottingham Forest and just today's Sadeeki Sharif. Again, it reported 20 million pounds for a 19 year old sort of French age group international from Fenerbahce. So Doug King has sanctioned a hell of a lot of money going out the door. It would appear, well, the club are clearly going to give it a go to the very least as Frank Lampard, who was telling Dan Rowan just now, you know, finished 17, did not better than that in the forthcoming season. I'm glad you've gone through all those names because it means I don't have to know. But the other thing Katie that strikes me when I look at them is a real blend. A real blend of Premier League experience players. I they have featured in the Premier League coupled with some really quite interesting young players from the continent. But also with some experienced players as well. I think a one he is is 29 and but also then players who know the club as well. You know on Yekka who is already there, Rushworth who's been there, even Gus Haiman coming back. So there's a real blend even before you look at positions and what they need and so on and so forth in terms of experience, club knowledge, league knowledge and age. Yeah, I think the balance is spot on really. If you think about the players that might not have Premier League experience have come from the top leagues in Europe, a lot of them have Europleague and Champions League experience too as well as being internationals. And that will be crucial. They are used to playing at the top level just not in the Premier League. So they arrive fresh and knowing the standards that aren't necessary to compete in the Premier League. I think that it's wise to look at the younger players because you have to have one eye on this season and one eye on the future. If commentary don't survive this season and are relegated, you have to have salable assets. And the likes of Urenki and probably Amenda and the new like Sharif that arrived today are exactly that. They are young raw talent. So I think it's good business all around. And obviously if you bring in those Premier League experience Premier League players come at the premium don't they? That's where your highest price tag is. But I also think Steve and you've watched these players for many years. It will be interesting to see those that Lampard has been loyal to since taking over from Mara Robbins, which has been the majority of the squad, whether they are ready to step up. Many times on a Saturday afternoon, myself and Statman David argued about whether we prefer Hayden Hackney or Jack Rodoni. Well Hayden Hackney's got a Premier League move to Everton. And now it will be interesting to see what Jack Rodoni as just an example can do in the Premier League with commentary. But there will be several players that will be interesting to see whether they are now ready for that step up. Well the will, I mean they all do so incredibly well last season. I mean Jack Rodoni unfortunately won't be playing at the weekend. He's still recovering from his shoulder operation. But he's always looked premier, ship material, Milan Vane, like AVAC has got so much pace down the right hand side. You think the Premier League would suit him. And there's a number of others that have waited a long time and worked very, very hard to get to this level. I think the manager has bought players in and some of these players will get an opportunity to show what they can do at this level. But they're going to have to learn fast and they're going to have to be thinking on the feet. Because if they don't, there will be other players that want to get an opportunity as well. So it is something that you look at and a lot of the fans' favourites last season you would like to think will play this season and do really well. It's not always the case. Football moves on. And if players come in to replace some of them then that's the way it is. It's up to the players that get an opportunity to try and stake a claim and keep the place. What will you be thinking Katie five or ten minutes before kickoff on Friday night? It probably only just be sinking in. I've never watched this in the Premier League. So I am so excited to be there on Friday very fortunate to be in the away end with the other Sky Blue Faithful. I have sunk in, especially now with all the media and it all ramping up for this week. But until maybe I step foot through the turnstiles of the Emirates I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. Any part of you rob and I feel like I could say this to you as a grizzled veteran that will think of. Not sure. Not sure this is proper football. It's not like when we went away to Peter Burr on a Tuesday night in November. Any part of you? Just a little bit. Well, like you said earlier, I am, as everybody will know, that knows me. A glass half empty person. That is my nature. Even I am optimistic looking ahead to this new season because I just think the recruitment has been terrific. And yeah, I'm looking forward to it, Mark, in a way that I didn't think that I would be necessarily. But I just... Yeah, there will be a bit of you going, this buffet and the press room at the Emirates is honest. Oh, wow! Who... Who is where we... You know, we have to cope with that. Oh, don't do it. That's a whole new other show. Who needs... Who needs quinoa? I just want a sausage roll when I go away to a grass. Katie, Rob, Steve, thank you very much. Enjoy the season. And that's it. Commentary back in the Premier League, it starts on Friday night. 209 coverage is on the way on Five Live and BBC Sands across the season. And all the analysis on the football daily feed. Next up is EuroLeaks. This goes beyond what the KGB did back in the days. The conspiracy theories and the football world cup. Is there ever one without the other? Well, I've been digging into one of the very best back in 1994. Yeah, from Iraq, it's a red coat for a dubious tackle. I'm James Montague and from BBC Five Live, this is Sport Strange's Crimes Presents. Shadows on the pitch. Listen on BBC Sands. 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