John Robson (24 May 1860 – 11 January 1922) was an Englishman who was the full-time secretary manager of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, as well as manager of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Career

Robson started his managerial career with

, where he was paid £3 a week and declined to travel to away games as an economic measure. Despite his parsimonious attitude, he took the club from being an amateur outfit in the Northern League to a professional club in the First Division. He was also the first manager of

and coached the club to one of the greatest

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

shocks of all time when they defeated

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

in 1907. He later managed

and started the concept of being a manager and not a secretary at Manchester United. He stepped down as United manager due to ill health in October 1921 and died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

on 11 January 1922.

Honours

As a manager

;Brighton & Hove Albion *Southern League Division One: 1909–10 * Charity Shield: 1910

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Jack Sportspeople from Durham, England English football managers Middlesbrough F.C. managers Crystal Palace F.C. managers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers Manchester United F.C. managers 1922 deaths 1860 births Deaths from pneumonia in England