John Robert Campbell Robinson (born 29 August 1971) is a Welsh former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He made over 400 appearances during his professional career with

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 ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, Cardiff City and Gillingham and also won 30 caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Early life

Robinson was born in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

(now Zimbabwe) to a

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-born father and Rhodesian mother. His father's job later moved the family to

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

in South Africa before they settled in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in order for Robinson to pursue his dream of playing professional football.

Club career

After attending the

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World ...

Soccer School, Robinson began his professional career at

, signing his first deal with the club in 1987. In 1992, he moved to

for £75,000; he would spend the bulk of his career with the south-east London club. In eleven years at Charlton, he helped the Addicks to two promotions and also enjoyed three seasons of

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

football. He played in their dramatic win over Sunderland in the 1998 play-off final, winning 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw, with Robinson himself scoring one of the penalties. Robinson was released at the end of the 2002–03 season and joined Cardiff City following their promotion to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, making his debut on the opening day of the 2003–04 season in a 0–0 draw with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. In October 2004, Robinson decided to leave Cardiff to sign for Gillingham to be closer to his mother, who was suffering from illness, and family. However, he retired after making just four appearances for the club after becoming disillusioned with professional football, stating "''I haven't fallen out of love with playing football, it's the politics of football and becoming a commodity I don't like.''" He later had short spells with non-league sides

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

and Lewes before retiring.

International career

After winning 16 caps for the Wales U21 side, Robinson made his debut for the senior team in a match against Albania in 1995. He played 30 games and scored three goals for the senior team before announcing his retirement in 2002. Born in

, Robinson qualified to play for Wales by being a British passport holder – a route to qualification that had been removed by the time he retired from international football.

After retirement

After leaving football, Robinson set up a property business with former Cardiff teammate

Martyn Margetson Martyn Walter Margetson (born 8 September 1971) is a Welsh football coach and former professional footballer who is a goalkeeping coach for the England national team and Swansea City. A youth player at Manchester City, where he went on to appea ...

and also runs his own football training school. In 2008, he managed Canterbury School (Ft. Myers, FL) to an unbeaten 15-0-2 season in his first year at the school. On 21 May 2013 Robinson was named the head coach of the

SW Florida Adrenaline SWFL Adrenaline was an American soccer club that competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth division of American soccer. The team represented the Naples–Marco Island metro area of Florida. History The Adrenaline won their inaugural ...

of the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

. In 2017 he was elected to the Charlton Athletic Hall of Fame.

Honours

Individual *

Welsh Footballer of the Year The Welsh Footballer of the Year is an annual award chosen by the FAW, to determine the best player in Wales. Winners Men Women See also * List of sports awards honoring women This list of sports awards honoring women is an index to arti ...

: 2000 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1997–98 First Division, 1999–2000 First Division

References

External links

*
John Robinson Soccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, John Living people 1971 births Welsh people of Scottish descent Footballers from Bulawayo Welsh men's footballers Zimbabwean men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's international footballers Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Lewes F.C. players White Zimbabwean sportspeople Zimbabwean expatriate men's footballers Zimbabwean expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England