Ex-Bristol City and Bristol Rovers coach named Coventry interim boss after Mark Robins sacking

Former Bristol City and Bristol Rovers coach Rhys Carr has been named Coventry City's interim head coach after the Championship side made the surprise decision to sack long-serving manager Mark Robins on Thursday morning.

Cardiff-based Carr had spells at both Bristol clubs as a coach, spending almost six years with the Robins between 2013 and 2019 with most of that stint spent as a first team development coach. He then made the move to Sheffield United before returning to Bristol to take up the role of Lead Professional Development Phase Coach at the Gas in 2022, although that spell only lasted six months as he then moved to Wolves.

During his spells in Bristol, Carr worked under Lee Johnson for a sizeable chunk of his time at City while he was at Rovers when they secured promotion to League One in dramatic fashion three seasons ago.

The 37-year-old, who also has a Phd in Sports and Exercise, will now take charge of Coventry on an interim basis after the Sky Blues parted company with the Championship's longest-serving manager Robins.

Since taking charge in March 2017, the 54-year-old took Coventry from League Two to the Championship while also seeing them a penalty kick away from the Premier League in 2023 as well as a controversial VAR call away from the FA Cup final last season.

However, this term has been far from straightforward for the Sky Blues who were beaten 2-1 at home to Derby County on Wednesday night, leaving them 17th in the table with 15 points from their opening 14 matches.

Carr is set to take charge of Coventry for their trip to league leaders Sunderland this weekend with the exact length of his interim period currently unclear as the second tier outfit search for a permanent replacement.