Also, I'm not sure you can be a 'Robinson apologist', as that implies he's done something wrong, whereas he's our most successful manager for 20+ years. Appleton might have exceeded his record had he stuck around but we'll never know.
Appleton put us in this division for the first time since 2001 to begin with,
and gave us two Wembley finals along the way as well as the same sort of cup runs and upsets that people often pretend we’ve never had before the last couple of years. He revolutionised the playing squad (look at the state of the group he inherited - half of them made Agon Mehmeti look like Zlatan) and achieved something tangible in less than two years.
Robinson has achieved the highest league finish we’ve had since the late nineties, absolutely he has, but he didn’t put us in that league to begin with. If you’re going to talk about “most successful” it’s a bit more layered. I would love to see the ex-managers parade one day based on this, though.
“He took us from the brink of Conference relegation to promotion back into the Football League in just 18 months, saving the club’s very existence before leaving us in the League Two automatic promotion spots despite having f**k all money, it’s Chris Wilder!”
*polite applause, the odd boo*
“He inherited one hell of a skip fire before giving us promotion back into League One in less than two years, signing some of the best players we’ve seen this century and getting us to two Wembley cup finals in the process, before leaving us just two places outside of the League One playoff spots, it’s Michael Appleton!”
*more enthusiastic applause, a few whistles*
“Now, here he is, the big one. He took us over in League One, we’re
still in League One, but he got us to the playoffs and he cares a lot which matters more than winning. Give it up for the one, the only, our most successful manager since the 1990s, KAAAARL ROBINSOOOON!”
*entire crowd erupts, people begin throwing clothes onto the pitch, women begin passing out, the stadium collapses under the heaving mass of fans surging forward*