Tom Cleverley was certainly not alone in expressing his surprise at the news that Coventry had sacked manager Mark Robins this morning.

The Sky Blues are the only visiting team to have taken a point away from Vicarage Road this season, and although 17th in the table they are still only seven points adrift of the play-off places.

Having been in the hot seat at Coventry for almost eight years, Robins was comfortably the longest-serving manager in the Championship before today’s news.

It now means that Derby’s Paul Warne sits atop the list of managers in the division – and yet he has been at Pride Park for only 25 months!

With six months and two weeks in charge of Watford, Cleverley is 15th in that particular table – although it’s eight months if adding in the time he spent as interim manager before being given the job permanently.

“I am surprised because I thought I could see a real quality side when they played against us,” said Cleverley, who ironically became Watford’s interim head coach in March after Valerien Ismael’s side lost 2-1 to Coventry at Vicarage Road

“When you can read through the results and see the quality, and expect that to rise to the top over a 46-game season, then I thought that would be the case with Coventry.

“Their results haven’t matched their performances a lot of the time this season.

“I think Mark Robins is a great guy and I said to him after we played them this season how much I respect how calm he stays at the side of the pitch, and that radiates to his players.

“That’s somewhere I’ve not quite got to yet!

“But he is someone I look up to as a young coach, and what he has done for Coventry.

“Promotion, a Play-Off Final, an FA Cup semi-final: he has brought them great football and I think he’s a great coach.”