Coventry City development involving 54-year-old is a puzzling blow: View | OneFootball

Adi Viveash was an excellent servant to the Sky Blues - and his departure is an unexpected blow for the fans.

Coventry City have recently announced that Adi Viveash has left his role as assistant manager, which has come as a shock to many of their fans.

The Sky Blues had made a promising start to the summer, striking an agreement to sign Raphael Borges Rodrigues before June had even begun.

And they followed up on that business by recruiting Luis Binks and Jack Rudoni last month, with those two signings providing quality and depth in some key areas.

Binks can operate in a back three and a back four, making him a suitable signing. And having been on loan at the Coventry Building Society Arena last term, it shouldn't take him too long to settle back in.

Fellow new signing Rudoni has come in from Huddersfield Town - and could prove to be an excellent addition after managing to shine at the John Smith's Stadium.

Callum O'Hare looks to be on his way out, but even with that in mind, recent weeks have been positive for the Midlands club, who will be desperate to secure a top-six finish next term.

They may have missed out last season, but they have some talented players who could take them to the Premier League in the next year or two.

Adi Viveash leaves Coventry City

It came as a surprise to many Coventry fans when it was announced that Viveash had left his role.

Some fans were also surprised about how short the statement announcing his departure was, with the Sky Blues' media team only writing four sentences.

Considering how important he was at the CBS Arena, it feels like a very abrupt ending to the former Reading defender's time at the club and there has been speculation about why he has left.

The decision for him to move on seems to have been made by the Sky Blues, with George Boateng and Rhys Carr coming in as first-team coaches amid a revamp behind the scenes.

The 54-year-old was Mark Robins' (pictured above) right-hand man at Coventry for seven years, which is a considerable amount of time in football.

Robins and Viveash seemed to work very well together and that paid dividends for the Sky Blues, who have been promoted twice under the pair and came within a penalty shootout of securing a place in the top flight.

Under the pairing of the coaching duo, the Sky Blues have progressed well and even though they finished lower last season than they did at the end of 2022/23, they were still on the right track.

They may not have had a huge amount of stability behind the scenes for a part of their time at the CBS Arena, but the pair were key in getting the Sky Blues on the right path.

If it was Coventry's decision to offload him, as their statement suggests, it's a risky decision that they probably didn't have to make.

Without knowing exactly what did or didn't go on behind the scenes, it's hard to know whether his departure was the right decision or not.

But looking at this situation as an outsider, it just seems to be a risk that they didn't need to take, with Coventry previously having a real chance of succeeding next season under Robins and Viveash.

And the latter's departure didn't seem to be part of the plan last year, when he signed a new four-year contract.

Thankfully for the Sky Blues, Robins remains at the helm and that could be crucial next term, but the decision to offload his former assistant could prove to be a costly one.

With the quality they have in their squad though, they should do well next season regardless of this news. It's just a bit of an unexpected blow for supporters, who will continue wondering why this exit happened.