Robins looks to unlock Potters' potential after penning new deal

MARK Robins has spoken about the importance of his relationships with his coaching staff, Jon Walters and John Coates as he looks to the short and long term at Stoke City.

- Peter Smith

Mark Robins is excited for the future at Stoke City.

Robins is sure to never take his eye too far away from the here and now as Stoke manager - evident in his last answer in this piece, when he brings the focus back to an away game at Leicester - but he is clearly being backed for the foreseeable.

Stoke return to action with news that Robins and his first-team staff - James Rowberry, Paul Nevin, Ryan Shawcross and Darren Behcet - have been awarded new deals as reward for what they have done so far and confidence about what they will do next.

It was a new group pulled together at the turn of the year when Robins walked into the bet365 Stadium and Robins doesn’t underestimate the importance of having got it right.

He said: "It’s massively important. It's not one person, it’s never one person, it's a collective and with the people who are working alongside you it's what they do and how they go about it, the understanding of everything that needs to be done.