John Grant Robertson (born 2 October 1964) is a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player, who is currently the sporting director of

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

. His playing career included spells at Newcastle United, Dundee and Livingston, but he is best known for his two spells at Heart of Midlothian totalling about 18 years, where he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer. He has since managed Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Heart of Midlothian, Ross County, Livingston, Derry City and East Fife.

Playing career

Hibernian attempted to sign Robertson as a teenager but he asked for time to think the deal over; after Hibs refused, he signed for Heart of Midlothian along with school friend and fellow future internationalist Dave Bowman. Robertson eventually earned the moniker "The Hammer of Hibs" (in addition to his more standard nickname "Robbo") as he scored a record 27 goals in

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...

matches. In 1986, 20 league goals from Robertson helped Hearts to the brink of a league and cup

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

. A 27 league game unbeaten run ended with two

Albert Kidd Albert Kidd (born 19 October 1961) is a Scottish former football player who now lives in Australia. He is best known in Scottish football for scoring two goals for Dundee against Hearts on the final day of the 1985–86 season to deny Hearts ...

goals for Dundee in the last six minutes of the season allowing

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

to overtake them to win the title. A week later, Hearts lost 3–0 to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in the

cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

. He scored 106 goals in 202 Hearts league games in this spell at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

. He left Hearts to play for

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 ...

in April 1988. Robertson failed to score in 14 Newcastle competitive first team games and returned to Hearts in December of that year, and remained there for the next decade. In 1998 Hearts won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

scoring once in 4 league games, he left Tynecastle that summer. He joined

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

as a player-coach, scoring 14 goals in 41 league games. Robertson was also a Scottish international, playing on 16 occasions for Scotland. He made his debut against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in 1990, scoring in a 2–1 win. He missed out on selection for the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

due to a hernia injury.

Coaching career

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (first spell)

Whilst playing for Livingston, Robertson became involved in the coaching side of the game. He left the club in season 2002–03 to become manager of

where he guided the Highland team to the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

for the first time in their history.

Heart of Midlothian manager

In November 2004 he returned to Hearts as head coach and despite two cup semi-finals and a good season in Europe as well as finishing fifth in the league, he was sacked in May 2005.

Ross County

Robertson was appointed manager of

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

team Ross County in June 2005, but left by mutual consent after four months. He was then appointed manager of Livingston in February 2006, but was sacked in April 2007 after finishing sixth in the First Division.

Derry City

Robertson was appointed by League of Ireland side Derry City in July 2007. He took club out of the relegation battle to a safe mid table position and also won the FAI League Cup and qualified for the Setanta Cup before being dismissed by the new chairman and board of directors at Derry, and replaced by former Derry boss Stephen Kenny. In 2009, Robertson coached strikers at

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

clubs

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. In March 2010, Robertson helped coach the strikers at Hearts on a non-contract basis.

East Fife

Robertson was appointed manager of East Fife in October 2010. In September 2011, his East Fife side knocked SPL club

out of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

Pittodrie Stadium Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they were ...

. On 1 March 2012 it was announced that Robertson had left East Fife.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (second spell)

In June 2017, Robertson returned to

as manager. On 24 March 2018, the club won the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

then made an approach for Robertson, but this was rejected by Inverness. Inverness finished second in the 2019–20 Scottish Championship, which was curtailed due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In June 2020, his contract with Inverness was extended by two years. Robertson was placed on compassionate leave in February 2021, with

Neil McCann Neil Doherty McCann (born 11 August 1974) is a Scottish football manager, pundit and former professional player who played as a left winger. His most recent role in football was a stint as the caretaker manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. ...

given caretaker charge of the team in his absence. Robertson returned to Inverness in May 2021 as sporting director, with a new manager to be appointed.

Career statistics

Club

International appearances

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first''

Managerial record

Honours

Player

;Heart of Midlothian *

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

: **Runner–up 1985–86, 1987–88, 1991–92 *

: Promoted 1982–83 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1997–98 **Runner–up 1985–86, 1995–96 *

: **Runner–up 1996–97 ;Livingston *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

: 1998–99 ; Scotland U16 *

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football A ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

* Dentyne Trophy: 1980

Manager

; Livingston Reserves * SFL Reserve West: 2000–01 * SFL Reserve Cup: 1998–99, 2000–01 ;Inverness Caledonian Thistle *

: 2003–04 **Runner–up 2019–20 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2003–04, 2017–18, 2019–20 ICT and

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

were declared joint-winners on 30 April 2021. The final was originally withheld due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Robertson was the manager when the team reached the final and was still the permanent manager at the time of announcement, albeit Robertson was on compassionate leave at the time. ;Derry City *

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Individual

SPFA Young Player of the Year The PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year, formerly known as the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year, is named at the end of every Scottish football season. The members of the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland vote on which of its ...

: 1983–84 * Scottish Premier Division Top Scorer: 1989–90 * SFL First Division Manager of the Year: 2003–04 * Heart of Midlothian Hall of Fame inductee: 2006 *

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Par ...

inductee: 2019 * SFL Second Division Manager of Month: November 2010, October 2011

* SPFL Championship Manager of Month: October 2017, March 2019

Notes

References

External links

* *
Hearts playing career stats
at londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, John 1964 births Derry City F.C. managers Dundee F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. managers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Living people Livingston F.C. managers Livingston F.C. non-playing staff Livingston F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Scotland B international footballers Scotland international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Scottish Premier League managers Footballers from Edinburgh English Football League players People educated at Portobello High School Scottish league football top scorers Association football forwards Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees