Mark Robson (born 22 May 1969 in

Upton Park, London Upton Park is an area of the East London borough of Newham, centred on Green Street which is the boundary between West Ham and East Ham. West Ham United Football Club formerly played at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park. The ter ...

) is an English former

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 le ...

and former joint head coach of

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

. He is currently the lead coach for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

under-23 team. Robson is particularly known for his association with Charlton having spent four years there as a player and eight as a coach.

Playing career

Robson started his career at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

as an apprentice in 1986. He made his debut on 11 October 1986 in a 2–0 win against Lincoln City, a game in which he also scored his first goal for Exeter City. Making 28 appearances in all competitions in his first season he came to the attention of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

transferring to them for £50,000 in 1987. Robson had to wait until 17 December 1988 to make his debut for Tottenham, in a 2–0 against

at Upton Park coming on as a substitute for

Paul Walsh Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

. After several loan spells, Robson moved to the team he supported as a boy,

in 1992. He made his debut for them on 16 August 1992 in a 1–0 away win at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and scored his first ''Hammers'' goal on 15 September in a 5–1 away win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. He played 44 of a possible 46 league games and scored eight goals as West Ham gained promotion to the

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 ...

. He managed only three games for West Ham in the 1993–94 season before being sold for £125,000 to

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 C ...

in November 1993. After four years with the Addicks he moved to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

where he ended his career in 1999.

Coaching

Robson's first full-time coaching position was at Charlton's academy, where he started in 2000. He stayed in this position for nearly six years until 2006. In March he was promoted to reserve-team manager after

Glynn Snodin Glynn Snodin (born 14 February 1960) is an English football coach, and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1977 to 1998. He played for Doncaster Rovers and later made just under 100 appearances for Leeds United an ...

joined

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. In May, after

Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...

replaced

Alan Curbishley Llewellyn Charles "Alan" Curbishley (born 8 November 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He played as a midfielder for West Ham United, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion and has worke ...

, he was designated 'Development Coach', working with both the first team and reserve team. In November, he was named Assistant Head Coach to Les Reed after Dowie was sacked. In January 2007, Robson was named first-team coach after former teammate

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final th ...

replaced Reed as manager. Robson gained the

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

in the summer of 2007, a qualification which will allow him to manage a

club. He left the club in summer 2008. He joined Gillingham as first team coach in August 2008, and although he was sacked along with

Mark Stimson Mark Nicholas Stimson (born 27 December 1967) is an English former footballer and is currently manager of Hornchurch. He signed his first professional contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1985, but was unable to gain a regular place in the team. I ...

and others of the coaching staff in May 2010, following Gillingham's relegation to

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, he was re-appointed and promoted to assistant manager to new boss

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

just a few days later. Three weeks later, however, he resigned for personal reasons. In June 2010, Robson joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

as a coach, signing a two-year contract. At the same time Robson was manager of semi-pro Burnham Ramblers U17's. On 10 June 2012, Robson was appointed head coach at

, with responsibility for the first team, as part of a restructuring of the club's football set up. As part of his role he would also be a major part of the football academy at the Hive, Barnet's training ground. Robson was joined as head coach by

Edgar Davids Edgar Steven Davids (; born 13 March 1973) is a Dutch-Surinamese former professional footballer and current coach. After beginning his career with Ajax, winning several domestic and international titles, he subsequently played in Italy for AC Mi ...

on 11 October 2012. On 28 December 2012, Robson and Barnet parted company leaving all first-team coaching matters with Davids. In March 2013, he was appointed as the assistant coach of John Peacock for the England national under-17 team and in October 2013, he was appointed coach of the

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

under-21 development squad. Following Neil Adams confirmation as Norwich City manager, Robson was appointed assistant first team coach in June 2014. His tenure was short lived with Norwich terminating his contract on 10 November 2014. On 12 November 2021, West Ham United announced that Robson has been appointed lead coach of their under-23 team.

Managerial statistics

:''As of 28 December 2012.''

References

External links

Mark Robson career stats
at

Soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60 ...

Mark Robson profile
from the official Charlton Athletic website

from the FA website {{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Mark 1969 births Living people English footballers Men's association football midfielders Charlton Athletic F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Reading F.C. players Watford F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Footballers from Upton Park, London English Football League managers Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Barnet F.C. managers Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Rosenborg BK players Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Association football coaches West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff