Robertus Petrus van der Laan (born 5 September 1968) is a Dutch football manager of Northern Premier League Division One South club Newcastle Town, and a former player. He began his playing career in his native the Netherlands with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

club

Schiedamse Voetbal Vereniging SV SVV, short for Sportvereniging Schiedamse Voetbal Verenigingen, is a Dutch football club from Schiedam. Founded in 1904, the club won the Dutch national football title in 1949. In 1991, the professional branch of SVV and neighbouring Dordre ...

in 1987, before moving on to

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many ...

in 1990. In 1991, he moved to England to play for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, where after four seasons as one of the club's key players he was sold on to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. He won the

League Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

with Vale in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, and won promotion out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1993–94. He also won promotion out of the First Division with Derby in 1995–96. In 1998, he transferred to Barnsley, where he saw out his professional playing career until his retirement due to injury in 2001. He made a total of 315 appearances in a ten-year career in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

. As a coach he worked as the director of his own football school in Canada and as a senior coach for Manchester United Soccer Schools, before he was appointed manager of Newcastle Town in February 2018.

Playing career

Netherlands

Van der Laan started his career at

side

in 1987. The club finished in mid-table in 1987–88 and 1988–89, before winning promotion to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

as 1989–90 Eerste Divisie champions. However he remained in the Dutch second tier as he switched to

midway through the 1989–90 season. In four years in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

he played 59 games for SVV and 27 games for Wageningen. He decided to leave his home country after picking up a 14 match ban from the Dutch leagues.

Port Vale

He was signed by English

side

in February 1991 for a fee of £80,000 after impressing on trial. Initially signed as a striker, manager

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

converted him into a bustling, hard-tackling, goalscoring

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 ...

. Instantly recognisable for his mane of

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

blonde hair, Van der Laan soon became a popular figure with the Vale fans, his bustling style and midfield engine enabled him to settle into the English game very quickly, as he hit four goals in eighteen games in

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

. He made 49 appearances in 1991–92, scoring six goals, including a strike in front of the Kop in a 2–2

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

draw with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. Despite his contribution, Vale were relegated, though due to the creation of 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 Fo ...

, the Third Division became the Second Division. He made 53 appearances in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, scoring ten goals, helping the "Valiants" to both the League Trophy Final and the play-off Final. Vale beat

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

2–1 in the cup final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, but lost 3–0 to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

in the play-off final. However he sometimes failed to make the starting eleven due to the form of central midfield rivals Andy Porter, Ian Taylor and

Paul Kerr Paul Andrew Kerr (born 9 June 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He scored 48 goals in 264 league appearances in a 13-year career in the Football League. He began his career at Aston Villa in 1982, before movi ...

, and submitted a transfer request in February 1993 so as to find first-team football elsewhere. Vale went on to win promotion into the First Division in 1993–94, following a second-place finish. He was again a key player at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in 1994–95, as the club retained their second tier status. However his good looks and popularity with the Vale fans saw him targeted by the more thuggish element of

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

Stoke City and he was punched in the face whilst inside a pizza and kebab house in Newcastle-under-Lyme on 18 June 1995.

Derby County

In the summer of 1995, Van der Laan was sold to

for a fee of £475,000 plus

Lee Mills Rowan Lee Mills (born 10 July 1970) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. In a career spanning fourteen years he made 293 appearances in the Football League, scoring 86 goals. He played for numerous clubs and was transferr ...

. He was made captain by manager Jim Smith and was an influential member of the team. He scored the goal which sealed promotion to the

in 1996 – this made him a permanent fan favourite. He made 21 appearances for the "Rams" in 1996–97, and also spent October and November on loan at First Division

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, playing seven games. Injury limited him to thirteen appearances in 1997–98, his final season at

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are bot ...

Barnsley

Van der Laan signed for Barnsley in summer 1998 for a fee of £325,000. He played twenty games for the First Division club in 1998–99, scoring twice. He made 37 appearances in 1999–2000, as the "Tykes" reached the play-offs, only to lose 4–2 to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. He played 22 games in 2000–01, before a recurring knee injury he picked up in December 2000 forced him to retire from professional football in March 2001, at the age of 32. He later played for Newcastle Town, after coming out of retirement in September 2003.

Style of play

Van der Laan spent most of his career as a box-to-box

, having spent his early days as a forward. He was an excellent set-piece taker and had good hard tackling, precision passing and sharp shooting abilities.

Coaching career

Van der Laan worked as the Head International Coach for Manchester United Soccer Schools. He set up The Robin van der Laan Soccer School and Academy in Canada. He was appointed assistant manager at Newcastle Town in May 2014. He was taken ill whilst coaching for Manchester United in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in May 2016 and underwent heart surgery. On 26 February 2018, Van der Laan was appointed as manager at Newcastle Town, who were then fifth-bottom of the Northern Premier League Division One South. The "Castle" finished third-bottom at the end of the 2017–18 season, then 15th in the Division One West in 2018–19 and were 17th in the Division One South-East by the time the 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

Career statistics

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

second-place promotion: 1993–94 Derby County * Football League First Division second-place promotion: 1995–96

References

External links

*
The RVDL Soccer School and Academy Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laan, Robin van der 1968 births Living people Footballers from Schiedam Dutch footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards SV SVV players FC Wageningen players Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Eerste Divisie players Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin Association football coaches Dutch football managers Dutch expatriate football managers Van Der Laan, Robin Van Der Laan, Robin