- Mark Robins
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Mark Robins Personal information Full name Mark Gordon Robins Date of birth 22 December 1969 Place of birth Ashton-under-Lyne, England Playing position Striker (retired) Youth career Manchester United Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1986–1992 Manchester United 48 (11) 1992–1995 Norwich City 68 (20) 1995–1998 Leicester City 56 (12) 1996 → Copenhagen (loan) 6 (4) 1997 → Reading (loan) 5 (0) 1998 C.D. Ourense 18 (5) 1998–1999 Panionios 13 (1) 1999 → Manchester City (loan) 2 (0) 1999–2000 Walsall 40 (6) 2000–2003 Rotherham United 107 (44) 2003 → Bristol City (loan) 6 (4) 2003–2004 Sheffield Wednesday 15 (3) 2004–2005 Burton Albion 9 (1) Total 375 (106) National team 1990 England U21 6 (7) Teams managed 2007–2009 Rotherham United 2009-2011 Barnsley * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969 in Ashton-under-Lyne) is an English football manager, appointed manager of Barnsley in 2009.
As a player, he was most notable for his exploits with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City. Robins is often noted as the player who scored the goal which "saved Alex Ferguson's job" in 1990.[1][2]
Contents
Playing career
Manchester United
Robins played a very important part in winning the FA Cup for Manchester United in 1990, which was the first trophy of manager Alex Ferguson's reign at the club, scoring the winning goal in the semi-final replay against Oldham Athletic.
However, it was an earlier goal that secured Robins a vital part in the history of the club. United were playing away from home against cup specialists Nottingham Forest on 7 January 1990, in a third round FA Cup tie. It was widely speculated in the media (but perennially denied by then-Chairman Martin Edwards) that under-pressure United manager Alex Ferguson would have been sacked had United lost and gone out of the Cup, as they were 15th in the league by this stage and had already been eliminated from the Football League Cup. Instead, Robins came off the bench late into the game and scored the winning goal from a Mark Hughes cross. That goal was a turning point in the history of the football club — Ferguson would keep his job and go on to achieve an unmatched run of success at the club.[3]
In that season, Robins scored seven First Division goals and a further two in the FA Cup, bringing his tally that season to nine in all competitions. His goal in the FA Cup third round also had the distinction of making him the player to score the first goal of the decade for Manchester United.[4]
He was second only to Mark Hughes in the goalscoring charts at Old Trafford, while Hughes's regular strike-partner Brian McClair had managed a mere five goals and it was starting to look as though Robins would displace McClair as the club's regular second striker. However, McClair recovered his goalscoring form in 1990–91, and Robins managed only 19 First Division appearances and four goals. He was, however, in the squad that won the European Cup Winners' Cup that season. However, the 1991–92 season was a frustrating one for Robins as he played just twice in the league, failing to score, and in total made just eight appearances in all competitions. His only goals that season came in the League Cup second round at home to Portsmouth, when he scored twice in a 3–2 win at Old Trafford. When the opportunity for a place back in the first team arose in April as United were being overhauled by Leeds United in the title race, Robins was injured and unable for selection.
Two wry forms of consolation for Robins in a frustrating season came during the first half of the campaign. On 30 October 1991, he scored twice in their 3–1 win over Portsmouth in the League Cup third round, putting them on course for a strong run in the competition which culminated in them winning it for the very first time. On 19 November 1991, he collected a European Super Cup winner's medal (as a non playing substitute) as United beat Red Star Belgrade in the game at Old Trafford.
At the end of the season, he asked to be transfer listed.[5]
Norwich City
He left Manchester United for Norwich City for a fee of £800,000 where he played an important role in some of the club's greatest successes, including the remarkable win in the Olympiastadion against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup.
In his first game his two goals helped Norwich defeat Arsenal 4-2 at Highbury on the opening day of the first ever Premier League season. The Canaries were 2-0 down with a quarter of the game remaining before Robins scored the club's first Premier League goal in the 69th minute, following swiftlty by goals from wingers David Phillips and Ruel Fox, before Robins completed a 4-2 triumph with an 84th minute goal.[6]
He helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup at the end of the 1992–93 season, in which Norwich finished third in the Premier League. His 1993–94 season was interrupted by a serious injury, and coincided with a slump in form for Norwich, who finished 12th after spending most of the first half of the season in the top five.
Leicester City
In 1994–95, after falling out with Norwich manager John Deehan, he was sold to Leicester City, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated to Division One. He did, however, help them win promotion back to the Premier League via the play-offs in 1995–96, and win the League Cup in 1996–97, when they finished ninth in the Premier League.
Later career
Robins later played for FC Copenhagen, Reading, CD Ourense, Panionios, Manchester City, Walsall, Rotherham United, Bristol City,[7] Sheffield Wednesday and Burton Albion.
Honours
- FA Cup: 1990
- FA Charity Shield: 1990
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1991
- UEFA Super Cup: 1991
- Football League Cup: 1997
Managerial career
Rotherham United
Robins joined Rotherham United in June 2000 as a player and subsequently as assistant manager,[8] under manager Alan Knill. However, by the end of February 2007, the Millers sat 13 points adrift of safety, making the threat of relegation almost inevitable. This resulted in Knill being sacked on 1 March, with Robins becoming caretaker manager.[9] After a spell of three wins in six games while in charge as caretaker manager, and moving the club off the bottom of League One,[10] Robins' position was made permanent on 6 April 2007.[11] Robins gained much praise for his first 2 seasons with the Millers. The first saw Rotherham consistently in the automatic promotion places until a late dip in form, and the second almost brought promotion despite a 17 point deduction imposed by the Football League. Robins also attracted many high calibre players to the Don Valley Stadium, including League 2 player of the season Nicky Law and prolific goalscorer Adam le Fondre.
Barnsley
Robins was appointed as the new manager of Barnsley on 9 September 2009, succeeding Simon Davey. After his first game in charge, the Championship club sat at the bottom of the table looking likely candidates for relegation. By Christmas, Robins had taken them a full nine points clear of the relegation zone and on a run of eight games unbeaten. This was followed by a poor spell towards the end of the season, and Barnsley finished 18th in the table. Robins resigned from his job at the end of the 2010-11 season, because of differences with the board.
Managerial stats
Team Nat From To Record G W L D Win % Rotherham United 
1 March 2007 9 September 2009 128 55 43 30 42.97 Barnsley 9 September 2009 15 May 2011 92 29 38 25 31.52 Total 220 84 81 55 38.18 References
- ^ RSS feed (7 January 1990). "Remember When... Defeat Could Have Meant the Sack for Sir Alex at Man Utd — Premier League FanHouse". Football.fanhouse.co.uk. http://football.fanhouse.co.uk/2009/08/05/remember-when-defeat-could-have-meant-the-sack-for-sir-alex-a/. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ Peter Ferguson (8 September 2008). "Robins' life on a planet for pauper as manager of Rotherham | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1053297/Robins-8217-life-planet-pauper-manager-Rotherham.html. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ Bevan, Chris (4 November 2006). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man Utd | How Robins saved Ferguson's job". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6096520.stm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Mark Robins — Manchester United FC — Football-Heroes.net". Sporting-heroes.net. http://sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=43244. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ [2]
- ^ Mark Robins (19 February 2003). "BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Bristol City | Robins keen to make a mark". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bristol_city/2780229.stm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "Flown From the Nest — Mark Robins". Ex-canaries.co.uk. http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/robins.htm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "South Yorkshire — Sport — Rotherham sack Knill". BBC. 6 March 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2007/03/01/rotherham_sack_alan_knill_feature.shtml. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Rotherham Utd | Robins sees confidence returning". BBC News. 28 March 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rotherham_utd/6502231.stm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Rotherham Utd | Millers name Robins as new boss". BBC News. 6 April 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rotherham_utd/6529979.stm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
External links
- Mark Robins career stats at Soccerbase
- Mark Robins management career stats at Soccerbase
- Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
- FC Copenhagen statistics
Rotherham United F.C. – managers Heald (1925–29) · Davies (1929–30) · Heald (1930–33) · Freeman (1934–52) · Smailes (1952–58) · Johnston (1958–62) · Williams (1962–65) · Mansell (1965–67) · Docherty (1967–68) · McAnearney (1968–73) · McGuigan (1973–79) · Porterfield (1979–81) · Hughes (1981–83) · Kerr (1983–85) · Hunter (1985–87) · Breckin (1987) · Cusack (1987–88) · McEwan (1988–91) · Henson (1991–94) · Gemmill and McGovern (1994–96) · Bergara (1996–97) · Moore (1997–2005) · Knill (2005) · Harford (2005) · Knill (2005–07) · Robins (2007–09) · Moore (2009–11) · Scott (2011–)
Barnsley F.C. – managers Fairclough (1898–1901) · McCartney (1901–04) · Fairclough (1904–12) · Hastie (1912–14) · Lewis (1914–19) · Sant (1919–26) · Commins (1926–28) · Fairclough (1928–30) · Fletcher (1930–37) · Seed (1937–53) · Ward (1953–60) · Steele (1960–71) · McSeveney (1971–72) · Steele (1972–73) · Iley (1973–78) · Clarke (1978–80) · Hunter (1980–84) · Collins (1984–85) · Clarke (1985–89) · Machin (1989–93) · Anderson (1993–94) · Wilson (1994–98) · Hendrie (1998–99) · Winstanley (1999) · Bassett (1999–2000) · Winstanley (2000–01) · Spackman (2001) · Hodges (2001) · Parkin (2001–02) · Hodges (2002–03) · Thordarson (2003–04) · Hart (2004–05) · Ritchie (2005–06) · Davey (2006–09) · Robins (2009–11) · Hill (2011–)
Barnsley F.C. – current squad 1 Steele · 2 Hassell · 3 McEveley · 4 Edwards · 5 Doyle · 6 Foster · 7 Haynes · 8 O'Brien · 9 Davies · 10 Done · 11 Perkins · 12 Preece · 14 Wiseman · 15 McNulty · 16 Lovre · 17 Addison · 18 Vaz Tê · 19 Butterfield · 20 Drinkwater · 21 Park · 22 Potter · 24 Noble-Lazarus · 27 Gray · 29 Taylor · 30 Lidakevicius · 31 Clark · 32 Rose · 33 Digby · 34 Stones · Manager: Hill
Football League Championship managers Categories:- People from Ashton-under-Lyne
- 1969 births
- England under-21 international footballers
- English footballers
- English expatriate footballers
- Association football forwards
- F.C. Copenhagen players
- Leicester City F.C. players
- Living people
- Manchester City F.C. players
- Manchester United F.C. players
- Norwich City F.C. players
- Reading F.C. players
- Rotherham United F.C. players
- Bristol City F.C. players
- Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
- Burton Albion F.C. players
- Walsall F.C. players
- Premier League players
- Panionios G.S.S. players
- CD Ourense footballers
- English football managers
- Rotherham United F.C. managers
- The Football League managers
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