Adi Viveash exclusive: Feelings of losing big stars, a couple tracing Vik’s route, and falling in love at Ryton

Part three of our exclusive interview with Adi Viveash, the head coach and assistant manager of Coventry City, in which Mark Robins’ right-hand man shares personal details about his tenure with the Sky Blues

Adi Viveash, head coach and assistant manager of Coventry City, and Mark Robins, the manager of Sky Bues, side by side
Adi Viveash, head coach and assistant manager of Coventry City, and Mark Robins, the manager of Sky Bues, side by side
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After acquiring his skills at Chelsea, Adi

Viveash is known for his demanding standards on the Coventry City training field, which is probably why he can be a frightening taskmaster at times. However, the 54-year-old coach—who, along with manager Mark Robins, has overseen the team’s ascent from League Two to within a tantalizingly close proximity of the top flight—has two very distinct personalities.

His domain is the training field, where he works diligently and takes his work seriously. Woe betide anyone who plays around and doesn’t give his sessions his all. However, it’s also where he has complete respect from the players, who acknowledge the professional coaching they’re getting as they and the team work to improve even further with the ultimate goal

to realize the shared goal of being employed and participating in Premier League football.

To witness the teacher’s talent, one need only examine the many individual success stories over the last six and a half years with the Sky Blues: the remarkable growth of players such as Viktor Gyokeres or the return of Kasey Palmer to Prem caliber, to mention just two.

Here, in the third segment of Robins’ right-hand man’s exclusive interview with CoventryLive, he discusses Gyokeres’s journey and the parallels between his successors, Ellis Simms and Haji Wright. He provides a coach’s viewpoint on losing the team’s best players and talks about the “emotional” day in the summer of when the players and staff believed they were losing Callum O’Hare.

2022, considering his own future at the same time.

 

The man also has a compassionate, human side to him. His own life tragedy and difficult upbringing have molded an understanding disposition that has benefited many players and coworkers over the years.

Amidst the many fantastic accomplishments he and Robins have plotted on the field, he also talks about finding love over the breakfast table at Ryton—”a lovely life moment.”

Viveash spent almost ten years working at Chelsea’s Cobham training facility, where he was able to mentor some of the world’s top young players. When asked which players, whether from the London club or the Sky Blues, left an immediate impression on their first day due to their exceptional talent, he

reclined in his chair and gave it some thought.

He recalled seeing Dominic Solanke train under the tutelage of Bob Osbourne, a talented under-9s coach, when he was at Chelsea.

“When I used to drive him in, he was eight years old, and his physical stature was absolutely ridiculous.” When I took the youth team to Cov, I had Ruben Loftus-Cheek. He was about 14 and gave an amazing performance akin to a Rolls Royce, and people were asking me who he was. We played up here. Back then, he was extremely thin.

“You could see that (Charly) Musonda, who they acquired from Belgium, was the best under-16 player in the world.”

Regarding more current instances, he continued:

“I think little things like Viktor’s (Gyokeres) evolution and the speed on the turn are something where I would go, ‘ooh yeah.'”

“Kasey’s arrival at the club was intriguing because I knew what was going to happen. And when he practiced for the first time, he struck someone who was in possession before beginning to drive with the ball, just like he did in the Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday. When the players say, “Oh, he can play,” I always enjoy their reactions more than mine. It is pleasing to observe that.

“The speed on Milan’s (van Ewijk) first day.” He was facing Jake (Bidwell), and they could run through a gate. Bidders essentially moved forward, and Milan simply moved forward. We’ve rewatched it.

on video, and even the bidders commented, “Whoa, that was fast!”

Complete bullet

“I enjoy it when they claim to be the fastest and someone is quicker in races, and then you see Ellis Simms flying through the middle like a bullet and you go, ‘Whoa, that guy is fast.'”

Every coach finds fulfillment in watching players grow, whether it is 33-year-old Kyle McFadzean joining the team at the age of 33 and wanting to get better or Callum Doyle, a Manchester City prospect, joining as a raw Premier League prospect and departing nine months later as an accomplished performer.

Gyokeres is one of the more remarkable success stories. joining the Sky Blues in January 2021 on a half-season loan from Brighton, having hardly received a

Despite having all the raw qualities, especially after being shipped off to Swansea in the first half of the season, only a select few, like Viveash, saw his potential. After scoring 23 goals in his second full season at Coventry and 18 goals in his first, he was traded to Sporting Lisbon, where he has since excelled, tallying an amazing 30 goals in 39 games across all competitions.

When asked if he was proud of his role in helping the Sweden striker grow, he replied, “Yes, and to be fair, the manager was the one who insisted on getting him signed.” I thought, “You saw the glimpses, right? That goal he scored against Stoke to get us out of that relegation zone?”

in his debut season, but it was more of a “will he get to that level?” question for me. However, the gaffer was adamant about signing him for the agreed upon sum, which was a wise move.

Adi Viveash (right), the assistant manager of Coventry City, gives Viktor Gyokeres instructions at Ryton
Adi Viveash, the first team coach and assistant manager of Coventry City, is pictured on the right working with former Sky Blues player Viktor Gyokeres on the training field.
“And you could see that he was a different animal from the first day of pre-season when he came back,” he continued. It resembled the conviction he had gained from someone purchasing him, placing their trust in him, and declaring, “You are going to be our

number nine,” and he just began harassing people right away. His stature had altered physically.

Gyokeres developed a reputation for being somewhat grumpy during training, and Viveash acknowledges that the player wasn’t always enjoying the drills he led for the gifted goal scorer.

He disclosed, “He detested possession sessions where he couldn’t run and we’d have tons of arguments about it.” However, we later gave him drills where we would practice passing the ball to the keeper and having him intercept it. The idea was to put him in a one-on-one situation, much like when you leave him up in a corner. And he returned past us when that plays out the way it did against Blackpool and he scored.

in the dugout and merely gave a simple nod, as though to say, “Thank you.”

But considering where he came from, what he became was amazing. Everyone in this room, including Adam Hearn, the head of sports science, Paul Travis from the medical department, and Trav, who does the analysis, should be incredibly proud of the significant role they all played in Vik’s journey. It extends beyond the coaches.

“I frequently discuss Marshy, the kit man Chris Marsh, who never stops singing or laughing about the place. Thus, each of us plays a unique role. Marshy surrounds the players; it simply soothes them. After their intense training, they will enter the building with Marshy and the other members of their team during their free time.

He will be singing as the music becomes louder. Additionally, you need to go down and inform him that we’re trying to have a meeting upstairs, but players always value that detail. And Vik required that, required someone to converse with on the training field.

Kit Man from Coventry City Chris Marsh leads a rapturous performance of Sweet Caroline during the Wolves dressing room festivities.
Kit Man from Coventry City Chris Marsh leads a rapturous performance of Sweet Caroline during the Wolves dressing room festivities.
Every day, employees were soothed by athletes like Gus Hamer, who would stand up and treat everyone in the office like royalty. Vik was able to step outside of himself because it was morning when he first arrived.

And then, three months later, he was having a talk, and by the time he departed, he had changed. Thus, every person he and Gus spoke with on a daily basis contributed to their development by calming them through everyday conversations and life experiences.

The Juggernaut

“You need to take care that the club doesn’t lose its sense of community. Everyone talks about the team’s incredible run to the playoffs at the end of the previous campaign. It wasn’t only about the football; everyone was working, usually two jobs at a time, and doing their assigned duties, whether they were in marketing, the commercial department, the press office, or the office.

Ellis Simms and Haji Wright’s travel experiences are comparable to Gyokeres’.