Edwards labels Sky Blues chief Mark Robins as the Championship's 'best manager'

Luton boss Rob Edwards believes he is going up against the ‘best manager’ in the league when facing Coventry City’s Mark Robins tomorrow.

The 54-year-old has been in charge of the Sky Blues since 2017, returning for his second spell at the club, as he is now the longest serving manager in the league and the third longest serving in the top four divisions of English football. Having led the Club to the EFL Trophy Final win, plus winning the League Two play-offs and the League One title, reaching the Championship in May 2021.

There, Robins led Coventry to finishes of 16th and 12th, then ending fifth, as they lost the play-off final at Wembley to the Hatters, remaining in the second tier to finish in ninth place last term. This season things haven’t quite gone to plan, City sitting third from bottom with just two wins to their name from their opening 11 matches, suffering six defeats.

However, Edwards said: “Both of us won’t necessarily be in the position we want to be in, but it is what it is and it’s still early enough in the season to be able to turn that around, and I think our form in recent games indicates to me that we’re going to do that. In terms of Coventry, it brings back some special memories, but Mark over the period of time that he’s been there, he’s done an incredible job at that football club.

"I think he’s the best manager in this league and if there’s anyone capable of turning around his sticky situation and start at the moment it’s him. He doesn't need me to tell him that, he knows exactly what to do."

Although City have struggled for results this term, they have only been beaten by more than one goal just the once, that coming in the 3-0 loss at Leeds United last month. Edwards knows despite their poor form thus far, Coventry have the attacking talent to alter that, with ex-Everton striker Ellis Simms and former Schalke forward Haji Wright in their ranks.

He added: “The league’s difficult, they’ve had some good performances and just come out on the wrong end of results and I can empathise with that a little bit this season. That is the nature of the league and just as easily as teams can go on a really good run, you can go the other way, so we treat this game exactly the same way as we treated Watford and Sunderland. It will be just as difficult because every game in the Championship is and away from home, it means a lot to both teams.

"They’ve got a brilliant manager and clearly loads of talented players and we’ve just got to make sure we concentrate on ourselves and their fortunes don’t change tomorrow. I do think in this league it is more merged, literally bottom can beat top. If that happens in the Premier League these days it’s a shock that’s talked about for years isn’t it, it’s just so unlikely, but the levels are so close and the margins are really, really fine. We’ve got to work really hard to come out on the right side of those fine margins.”