Thomas Henry Robson (31 July 1944 – 8 October 2020) was an English

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 made more than 600 appearances in the Football League playing as a

left winger 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 ...

Life and career

Robson was born in Gateshead. He played for Newcastle United as a junior, but was released and joined

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

as a 15-year-old. He represented England at youth level, and went on to play for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

before returning to Newcastle United. In 1968, he 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 ...

. Robson served the club for 13 years, becoming their all-time record appearance-maker with 482 league matches played, before leaving League football for Nuneaton Borough and Stamford. On 4 October 2008, Robson became the first ever inductee to the Peterborough United Hall of Fame. In September 2019, Robson revealed that he had been diagnosed with

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most commo ...

. He died in Peterborough City Hospital on 8 October 2020, aged 76 following his battle with MND.

References

External links

Player profile
at Toon1892.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Tommy 1944 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Gateshead English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football wingers Northampton Town F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Stamford A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Deaths from motor neuron disease Neurological disease deaths in England