New Sphinx Manager Robbie Banks was recently interviewed on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire
Robbie Banks was appointed Coventry Sphinx First Team Manager at the beginning of December.
The appointment generated interest from the local media and Robbie was asked to be interviewed for the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio show, ‘Climbing the Pyramid’ which was broadcast on Monday 14th December.
Below are the highlights:
After a brief settling-in period he now talks about how he is finding his step into management and his plans for the future of the team.
Q: How are you finding life as a manager?
A: I’m enjoying it, it’s a lot different to playing! I want to concentrate on the management side of things. I had a nasty injury two or three years ago, I’ve been having a lot of problems with that and that was one of the reasons I was looking to go into management. It was Doctors’ orders to try to stay away from the playing side of it.
Q: Is it difficult having been “one of the lads” and now being the gaffer?
A: It’s been easier than I thought it would be. The lads have been brilliant. They’ve treated me with respect and they know where the line is. The lads have given me everything so far.
Q: Obviously the League hasn’t gone to plan this season so are you hopeful you can climb the table? Is the squad good enough to do that?
A: Yes definitely. We haven’t had good results at all and the League table doesn’t lie. The performances have been really good and we haven’t quite had the rub of the green. It’s a case of we might have been a little naïve here and there. I’m trying to fix that. The lads that have been playing have been superb. I think we need a little bit more experience to help some of the younger lads along. Some of these lads are teenagers and they need someone to look up to on the pitch.
Q: Are you able to make calls to people who you know, perhaps who you’ve played with or against?
A: Yes. We don’t need to make huge changes. We’ve got some really good players that we can work with. There are players I’ve played with recently and over the years who I’m talking to. I’ve got a good relationship with Managers from Leagues above and they’ve been brilliant. Coventry Sphinx is a club that’s been around a long time with a great tradition. What we have at Coventry Sphinx is an infrastructure in place. We have teams through the junior age groups. Until this season we’ve used the Youth that have come through and broken into the first team which is great. At the moment we don’t have a Youth team and we want to get that back as soon as we can. We have something here that not a lot of clubs have and that’s a real family atmosphere with a real close knit community which is something that attracted me to the club in the first place.