Burton Albion owners issue a statement on sacking head coach Mark Robinson and the club’s woeful start to the 2024/25 season.
A statement was published on Wednesday (23rd October) from the owners and the sacked manager after defeat to Wycombe on Tuesday meant the Brewers are still yet to win in League One this season (W0 D4 L7 GF13 GA24).
11 games in they sit bottom of the third tier and are on a run of seven successive defeats in all competitions.
MEN’S FOOTBALL UPDATE
Burton Albion has made the difficult decision to part ways with Mark Robinson with immediate effect.#BAFC
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— Burton Albion FC (@burtonalbionfc) October 23, 2024
CLUB STATEMENT:
AS owners of our football club, we have always vowed to be open and transparent.
In our first five months here, we have implemented wholesale changes. We know it is not possible to get everything right, particularly when there is this amount of change taking place, but we felt such a transformation was essential now to build the type of culture and structures required to allow the club to flourish for the long-term.
We know that the responsibility for club performance falls on us, and we must explore every means possible to improve our situation.
Every day we learn and we are regularly evaluating everything we do to ensure we are always doing our best to improve and move forward.
We accept that results and, consequently, our position in the table are not at the level any of us want or expect right now.
In recent weeks, we have maintained an open and honest dialogue with a wide range of senior staff in our sporting departments, including our Head Coach, Mark Robinson, to address the performance of the Men’s First Team.
Following further lengthy and detailed discussions in recent weeks, we have agreed with Mark Robinson to make the difficult decision to part ways with immediate effect.
Bendik Hareide said: “During our time working together, we’ve all got to know and appreciate ‘Robbo’, which is why we have great regret over the fact that this has not worked out in the way any of us would have wanted.
“We have to be objective with our decision-making, and we feel we have reached a point where a change is necessary to improve the team’s results.
“We believe we have a talented squad, and we remain committed to our football strategy. Now is the time to re-group and look to deliver a positive season for our fantastic supporters.
“We thank Robbo for all of his efforts. He will always be welcome at the Pirelli and we wish him the very best of luck for the future.”
Mark Robinson has made the following statement: “I’d like to thank everyone at Burton Albion for giving me this opportunity, all the staff for their support during my time here, and a special mention to the supporters who have stuck with the team throughout. I wish nothing but the best for all of you for the remainder of this season and beyond.”
Assistant Head Coach Tom Hounsell has agreed to step in as interim Head Coach until a permanent successor is confirmed with John Brayford, Jake Kean and Elliott Axtell continuing in their First Team roles.
Mark Robinson said after defeat to Wycombe: “It’s just a lack of concentration, I need to watch the goals back but certainly the third one looks that way and it’s cost us,” said Robinson.
“Tonight, I thought we were more direct, but we’ve still conceded three. We knew it would be a game of second balls and we needed to be good at that because of the way they play. In the first half we didn’t win anywhere near enough of those.
“We didn’t plan to play more direct, but did at times. We had Mase (Bennett) for the physicality and we just seemed to take that more direct option. I didn’t feel we had any real control in the game, and even though we worked hard and got ourselves back in the game I didn’t feel we had enough control or sustained pressure.
“It was a very different type of performance compared to what we’ve had. We’re working hard to try and find different solutions but at the moment no matter what we do we seem to lack concentration in key moments and it’s costing us. We all want it to work so badly so it’s bound to have an effect but I just have to keep working hard to find a way round things.”
Looking ahead to Cambridge United on Saturday, Robbo added: “I don’t think it matters who you’re up against when we’re in the run of results that we are, we played against 3rd in the league today and every game is tough so we just have to take it one game at a time and try to improve.”
On Danilo Orsi’s form in front of goal and Charlie Webster’s first Burton Albion goal: “Yeah, Orsi’s on six goals now, with the form he’s in he’ll be hitting the same number of goals that he did in League Two. Charlie’s got that sort of quality, there’s still some things he’s figuring out at this level but we put him in today because we knew he’d have that quality and he’s got that goal but even if we’d have got the point today there was still other things in the performance that we’ve got to look at and we’ve got to learn very quickly.”
BURTON’S RESULTS:
Sat 10 Aug (H) Lincoln City – League One – (2) 2 – 3 (2)
Tue 13 Aug (H) Blackpool – Carabao Cup 1 – (0) 0 – 4 (0)
Sat 17 Aug (A) Mansfield Town – League One – (1) 3 – 3 (2)
Tue 20 Aug (H) Leicester U21 – EFL Trophy – (0) 3-1 (0)
Sat 24 Aug (H) Stevenage – League One – (0) 0 – 0 (0)
Sat 31 Aug (A) Northampton Town – League One – (0) 0 – 0 (0)
Sat 14 Sep (A) Rotherham United – League One – (1) 2 – 2 (1)
Sat 21 Sep (H) Barnsley – League One – (0) 1 – 2 (1)
Tue 24 Sep (H) Notts County – EFL Trophy – (0) 1 – 2 (1)
Sat 28 Sep (A) Blackpool – League One – (0) 0 – 3 (1)
Tue 1 Oct (A) Reading – League One – (0) 1 – 3 (2)
Sat 5 Oct (H) Bristol Rovers – League One – (1) 1 – 3 (0)
Sat 19 Oct (A) Bolton Wanderers – League One – (0) 1 – 2 (0)
Tue 22 Oct (H) Wycombe Wanderers – League One – (1) 2 – 3 (1)
UPCOMING GAMES:
Sat 26 Oct (A) – Cambridge United – League One
Sat 2 Nov (H) – Scarborough Athletic – FA Cup 1
Tue 5 Nov (H) – Crawley Town – League One
Sat 9 Nov (H) – Shrewsbury Town – League One
Tue 12 Nov (A) – Northampton Town – EFL Trophy
Sat 16 Nov (A) – Wigan Athletic – League One
Sat 23 Nov (H) – Stockport County – League One
Tue 26 Nov (H) – Charlton Athletic – League One
Tue 3 Dec (A) – Peterborough United – League One
Sat 7 Dec (H) – Wrexham – League One
Sat 14 Dec (A) – Leyton Orient – League One
Sat 21 Dec (H) – Exeter City – League One
Thu 26 Dec (A) – Birmingham City – League One
Sun 29 Dec (A) – Huddersfield Town – League One
Wed 1 Jan (H) – Peterborough United – League One
Sat 4 Jan (H) – Northampton Town – League One
Sat 11 Jan (A) – Stevenage – League One
Sat 18 Jan (A) – Crawley Town – League One
Sat 25 Jan (H) – Rotherham United – League One
Tue 28 Jan (H) – Reading – League One
Sat 1 Feb (A) – Barnsley – League One
Sat 8 Feb (H) – Blackpool – League One
Sat 15 Feb (A) – Bristol Rovers – League One
Sat 22 Feb (A) – Lincoln City – League One
Sat 1 Mar (H) – Mansfield Town – League One
Tue 4 Mar (A) – Wycombe Wanderers – League One
Sat 8 Mar (H) – Bolton Wanderers – League One
Sat 15 Mar (A) – Shrewsbury Town – League One
Sat 22 Mar (H) – Wigan Athletic – League One
Sat 29 Mar (A) – Stockport County – League One
Tue 1 Apr (H) – Leyton Orient – League One
Sat 5 Apr (A) – Wrexham – League One
Sat 12 Apr (H) – Huddersfield Town – League One
Fri 18 Apr (A) – Exeter City – League One
Mon 21 Apr (H) – Birmingham City – League One
Sat 26 Apr (H) – Cambridge United – League One
Sat 3 May (A) – Charlton Athletic – League One
Fans reacted as Burton Albion owners issue a statement on sacking the head coach and their woeful start to the season…
@C8JP8S: Darren Stride & Aaron Webster as his assistant I would go for if they have any badges. You need people who are leaders and will know the club inside out.
@Goonyella_: Shame it didn’t work out. But this is a fully deserved decision. Waiting any longer could’ve left us even further in the mud. Can’t have unlimited amount of time to think things up. Had to go
@AJayS319: I feel terrible for Robbo. He seems a great guy and speaks so well but he isnt a League One coach. That’s the bottom line. He may prove us wrong in the future but this wasnt to be like we all wanted it to be. Good luck to Mark. NFG… over to you…
@LYelland_90: A real shame it hasn’t worked, but it’s the right call, things were getting worse rather than better. Good luck to Mark for the future.
@ben_boocock: Not shocked about the decision, but I am shocked at the timing. Would have expected Cambridge to be a last chance for Robbo given we’ve played some tough teams recently. Great bloke and clearly good at developing talent, but not worked out. Interesting to see who replaces him…
@Haushinkadaz: To be honest, I’m gutted. Like a lot of people, I liked the bloke. Just hope we don’t become a club that sees this as the only solution when things get tough in future 💛🖤
@DarrenBarks: Great Bloke, gutted it didn’t work out.. Gary Rowett for me
@jkanalysis7: What the new owners need to understand, is that to get to where they want to be, they need to stop prioritising the style of play in the short-term Graham Potter spoke about it at Brighton, before they developed a possession based system, they finished 15th, 17th, 15th & 16th, then in their 5th season, they finished 9th. As League One is unbelievably competitive this year, you can’t go into it with a brand new squad, with an inexperienced manager, expecting to be in the top-half, or even have a chance of surviving, because it simply won’t work. Cambridge away is massive for Burton on Saturday, however now Cambridge have got 2 wins on the bounce, it’s not as easy as what it would have looked, a week ago. Can’t predict who they’ll appoint next, because if they go for a possession based manager, he’ll have probably the exact same background & profile as Robinson. Or if they don’t and go for an old-school gaffer, they’ll be going from one extreme to the other, like Carlisle are doing. Who do you want next, Brewers? #BAFC
@jack_2831: I think he needed to go but at the same time the directors might need to reevaluate their model. Only having one fixed style of play with no flexibility is a disaster waiting to happen imo. If we get another coach in who continues to play the exact same way nothing will change
@craigj_thomas91: I wanted it to work for Robbo because he’s a top bloke. However, football is a results business, and even performances declined. Right decision and nice to see the owners being honest. Good luck, Robbo! 🟡⚫️
@markwighty6: Gutted it didn’t work with Robbo, great bloke but that doesn’t matter in football, Experienced manager needed now imo to steady the ship & also guide NFG who are new to this. Players also have to have a hard look at themselves & start proving they are good enough for this level
@Jdog1188452: Thank you for giving it a go Mark. Loveliest bloke I think we’ve ever had at the helm, but it wasn’t to be. So sorry it had to end like this. I hope he gets his feet back on the ground asap.
@10_2317284: All the best mark it just wasn’t meant to be 🫡💛🖤
@C8JP8S: Nothing difficult about it, he was out of his depth.
@jackyp97: His recent record spoke for itself unfortunately. I honestly thought he’d be a success for us with the new squad but not to be, massive decision to come for NFG
@tylercu19795369: Rowett in 😝
@DaiYonggeout: That’s a shame was looking forward to going Burton and staying at the end Just to outstay their home support 🙄
@mrlucasholland: The question is, who tf are we gonna bring in? I can’t see us tempting any experienced manager at all. And as it goes, it’ll most likely be another assistant manager, who speaks well.
@bencrutchleyy: Decision that needed to be made, 11 games without a win says it all, was really hoping it would work for robbo. Hope the club have someone lined up quick as the next 3 games are huge. Up the brewers #bafc
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