And King has now stressed that Rhys Carr, one of the club’s first-team coaches, will remain as caretaker manager, when they return to action after the international break with a home match at midday against Sheffield United on November 23.

Asked why he hadn’t already followed the modern football route of finding a replacement, he simply replied: “It’s not the way I work.

“I’ve always tried to be transparent about what’s going on. We’ve received a lot of applications. We have a recruitment process in place.

“The next game is very important. I can’t risk us being relegated. Nobody thought Birmingham would be relegated – and they did.

“You could say it was a big mistake. But I had to do something.

“Sometimes a tough decision has to be made. I love Mark Robins. And we had some good times together, but it had to be made.”