KARL Robinson revealed the short lifespan of a manager makes him especially grateful he survived a rocky start at Oxford United.

The U’s return to Sky Bet League One action tonight at Doncaster Rovers, who sacked Richie Wellens last week after just 199 days in charge.

The hosts are 23rd in the table so that was not a huge shock, but more surprising was 11th-placed Ipswich Town’s decision to part ways with Paul Cook on Saturday.

The 54-year-old had only been in the job nine months and is good friends with Robinson, who was in reflective mood.

The U’s head coach endured a terrible start to his first full season at the Kassam Stadium, with his side bottom of League One 12 games into 2018/19.

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Robinson feels clubs need to be more patient, but admitted he could easily have been dismissed three years ago.

He said: “For me, it’s not right, but I would say that because I’m a manager.

“This club should have sacked me.

“I don’t think we should really beat around it, at one stage my results were so far behind what Paul Cook’s were.

“I can moan over certain things, but the loyalty this club showed me in the first six months of my tenure is something I still owe a big debt to.

“I see other managers go for records that weren’t as bad as what mine was and I look back and feel very fortunate.”

Robinson added: “I spoke to Paul about when you get time as a manager, it doesn’t half allow fluidity and an openness in how we play to really take a stranglehold moving forward.

“When you go in for a short period you make so many changes so quickly, then all of a sudden you’re catching up a little bit.

“Once you leave a manager to ply his trade in a way that he feels comfortable, a philosophy starts to appear.”

Caretaker boss Gary McSheffrey will take charge of Doncaster tonight.