NIGEL CLIBBENS confirmed Mark Robins wasn’t the biggest name Huddersfield Town could have appointed as manager, but he firmly believes he’s the best.
The 43-year-old former Coventry City boss began work on a rolling contract yesterday with a brief to save Town from relegation and lay Championship foundations which aren’t totally dependent on chairman Dean Hoyle’s cheque book.
Chief executive Clibbens says Robins – top out of 70-odd contenders (some serious, some not) – will be backed with cash to make loans if necessary for this season’s run-in.
But while Town are “totally confident” they’ve got a “driven and ambitious” manager who can lift them from 18th, three points above the relegation zone, Clibbens insists Robins is the ideal fit for the owner’s longer-term ambitions.
“We have a short-term issue in that we are at the wrong end of the table, there’s no hiding from it, and our top priority is dealing with that situation,” said Clibbens, who says Robins may bring in one more staff member alongside first-team coach Steve Taylor.
“Obviously we want to get away from the bottom as soon as we can by putting points on the board, then in the medium term we look at consolidation in the Championship and improving the depth of the squad, improving the quality of the squad and also the assets we have in the squad.
Click on the link below for a gallery of images by John Early of Mark Robins taking training at Huddersfield Town today.
“At the same time, we want to continue developing our Academy and the Canalside training ground project and after that you never can tell – but we have to keep trying to improve year on year.
“You can’t just say you are going to win games, you have to have the building blocks in place in your club which help you win games.
“So the preparation of good players, the analysis and the sports science must all come together to provide a platform for winning games – and we believe Mark is the man who can achieve all that as our manager.”
Want to see what was said at today's Press conference? Click here to see Part 1 of our video here
Applicants included “household names” with Premier League experience, but Clibbens explained why Town triggered Coventry’s five-figure release clause in his Ricoh Arena contract to make Robins their fifth permanent manager in just under as many years.
