‘You can’t make this up’ – Robins v Lampard one year on

It is anniversary month.

Two dates. Two bosses. Two stories, inextricably linked, that have had everything over the past year and look like delivering a blockbuster finish.

The revivals of Stoke City under Mark Robins and Coventry City, under his successor Frank Lampard, have been been the talk of the Championship thus far and on Saturday the top two teams in the division meet.

A win for Lampard’s free-scoring leaders will take them seven points clear of Robins’ Potters.

Victory for Stoke will trim that advantage to one.

But the table after 15 games does not matter.

It is the thought of what it might look like after 46 that gives fans of both clubs such hope.

Because for the first time in a quarter of a century for the Sky Blues and the first time in what feels like one for Stoke, a return to the Premier League looks on.

“Coventry City Football Club has made the difficult decision to terminate the contract of Mark Robins as manager with immediate effect,” the statement read.

“Since 2017, Mark has overseen the resurrection of Coventry City Football Club from the depths of League Two, to champions of League One and to a hair’s breadth away from both the Premier League and a second FA Cup final, whilst competing in the Championship for a fifth consecutive season.”

Coventry’s decision to sack Robins on 7 November last year came after a run of four wins in 14 league games with the club 17th, two points above the relegation zone.

But the departure of a popular manager and, at the time, the longest serving one in the English Football League (EFL) understandably split the fanbase.

It surely was only a matter of time before another club came calling.

One that might just need their season brought back from the dead.

“At Coventry, Mark built something successful with a real identity and longevity.

“He left the club in a significantly better place than he found it. That’s exactly what we want to achieve at Stoke City, and he has all the pedigree and experience to help us do that.”

Sporting director Jon Walters knew Stoke had a problem that needed a Mark Robins-shaped solution.

Robins began work on New Year’s Day with his new side 18th in the table, four points above the bottom three, with their dream of returning to the Premier League after seven years as distant as the moon.

He was Stoke’s third permanent manager of a chaotic 2024-25 campaign that started with Stephen Schumacher, saw Narcis Pelach come and go within 19 games and had three spells of caretaker coaches.

Robins’ impact was steady rather than spectacular.

There were four draws in his first five games. The maiden win came in his sixth at Hull City exactly a month into the job.

Five more victories in the next 15 never fully shook off the shadow of relegation and they needed a final-day draw at Derby County to secure their second-tier status.

Robins described his first four months in charge as “really challenging” and underlined the fact he had “not come here for a relegation battle”.

Those decisions – including a major overhaul of the squad with 11 new signings – have added a sharper edge and more creativity to an already industrious core.

And it has paid off.

“Mark Robins walked into Stoke like a troubleshooting head teacher walks into a school in special measures,” BBC Radio Stoke’s Potters commentator Mark Elliott said.

“He steadied the ship and displayed a decisiveness and relentless competency that is rarely seen in a division where insanity rules.”

Elliott said Robins’ reshaping of the squad created “an identity that prioritises work rate, solidity, character and togetherness”.

“Robins always feels like the adult in the room, leading,” he said.

“His determination to get Stoke back to the top table of English football and prove himself among the game’s elite in the process could not be clearer.”

Eight wins and only three defeats so far. Eight goals in their past two games showed the Potters can bang them in with the best of them.

The defence – the meanest in the EFL – has only conceded nine times.

Robins’ Championship win rate now stands at 40%, the highest of the seven permanent managers that have tried to resuscitate this grand old club back to the Premier League since they were relegated from the top flight under Paul Lambert in 2017-18.

Better than Stephen Schumacher (38%), Michael O’Neill (37%), Gary Rowett (31%), Alex Neil (30%), Pelach (16%), and Nathan Jones (14%).

The restoration of Stoke City will take more than a year.

But Robins will rightly have a strut in his step at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday and will justifiably think his team can quieten the Coventry cacophony.

“Stoke remain a work in progress,” Elliott said. “But the strides they’ve made under Robins have been remarkable.

“He’s no-nonsense, calm, knowledgeable and engaging and sets standards clearly and simply.

“By and large his squad are meeting those standards and then some and the fans are on board too.

“Something is building in the Potteries, everyone can feel it.

“It’s quite an ambitious appointment and I think there’ll be substantial funds available to strengthen the squad.

“For Doug King’s credibility, he wants to get somewhere near the Premier League, and he sees Frank Lampard as part of that.”

Coventry’s legendary former goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic captured the feeling among Sky Blues followers perfectly when Lampard stepped into Robins’ imposing shoes on 28 November, 2024.

A lot was on the line for King, but Lampard hit the ground running.

Four wins and only three defeats in his first 10 games generated vital momentum before a stunning run of 10 wins in 12, as part of the club’s best league form for half a century, took them from edge of the relegation zone to the verge of the play-off final, losing to the last kick of extra time in their semi-final against Sunderland.

That disappointment, though acute at the time, was softened by the excitement at what Coventry under Lampard could be.

This season we are getting a riotous, technicolour illustration.

No team has scored more than their 39 league goals in England’s professional divisions.

The best start to a Championship season in 25 years has been equalled.

“You can’t make this stuff up.”

BBC CWR sports editor and Coventry City commentator Rob Gurney has lived through all the highs and lows the club have thrown at fans and says that moment to get rid of Robins seemed full of risk at the time.

“The Sky Blues’ fanbase was deeply fractured and divided about the decision,” he said.

“Having dealt with some genuinely emotional supporters jamming the phone lines at BBC CWR on that day, and then a febrile atmosphere at a subsequent live fans’ forum we hosted with Mr King, it seemed totally inconceivable that 12 months on, Robins v Lampard would have such significance attached to it.”

But it has. And Gurney says the two bosses have shown just how good they are.

“Robins has overhauled and transformed Stoke from scufflers at the wrong end of the Championship, to a side riding the crest of a wave, and certainly judging by the recent 5-1 win over Bristol City, a team playing some scintillating football,” he said.

Gurney highlights the impact of loanee goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and his club clean-sheet record, the impact of “The Metronome” in midfield Matt Grimes and the devasting form of strikers Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright.

Armed with knowledge of many of Lampard’s players, having signed them for Coventry, Robins will no doubt hope that can help level up the frustration of his first visit back to the Sky Blues with Stoke in March.

“The pain of coming back from 2-0 down only to lose 3-2 to a 97th-minute Bobby Thomas winner, will still rankle with Robins whether he’ll admit it publicly or not,” Gurney said.

“All things considered, this could be another match for the ages, in a campaign that’s been littered with them already. And it’s only November.”