Bill Robinson (4 April 1919 – 7 October 1992) was an English 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 le ...

who played in the

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 Engla ...

as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He later became assistant manager at West Ham United and went on to manage

Hartlepools United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Har ...

Career

Robinson was born in Whitburn and played for Hylton Colliery before joining Sunderland as an apprentice at the age of 15. His Sunderland debut came against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 30 August 1937 and he made 10 League appearances, scoring 3 goals in 1937–38. He then played 14 League games in 1938–39, scoring 11 goals. On 4 March 1939, just short of his 20th birthday, he scored four goals in a 5–2 win against Manchester United. This included a four-minute

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

starting in the 60th minute, before netting his fourth near the end. He made a total of 27 First Division appearances for Sunderland. However, his three in the 1939–40 season were voided due to the abandonment of the League after war broke out. During World War II, Robinson was conscripted for

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

and served with the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

, once scoring four goals while playing for them against his old team Sunderland. He made an appearance for the Combined Services C.M.F. in a game against a Combined Services B.A.O.R. team at the Arena Milan on 13 December 1945, and guested for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

. He also played for

, winning the War Cup South final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

with the club in 1944. He officially joined Charlton Athletic, also of the First Division, in May 1946,. He was part of the team that won the

1946–47 FA Cup The 1946–47 FA Cup was the 66th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Charlton Athletic, the previous season's runners-up, won the competition for the first ...

, scoring the winner in the fourth-round, and returned to Wembley for the Final, setting up the only goal of the game for Chris Duffy. The 1947 Cup Final was played on 26 April, the day his son Robert was born. He scored 18 goals in 60 League and cup appearances for the Addicks. Second Division team

then signed him for a fee of £7,000, also buying his house in

Welling Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. ...

as part of the deal. A week after signing for the club, Robinson scored on his debut, a 1–2 away win against

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 pla ...

on 15 January 1949. He followed this up with a goal in his next game, and managed 10 goals in his first 11 games, including his first of two hat-tricks for the club, against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on 15 April 1949. He ended his debut season as the club's second-highest scorer behind Ken Wright. The following season, 1949–50, he scored nine goals in the first nine games. He scored in his first FA Cup game for the club, in the 5–1 defeat of

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 ...

on 7 January 1950. The following season saw Robinson's second hat-trick, in a 5–3 home defeat to Sheffield United, as well as five braces. He twice managed to score in five consecutive League games (between 9 September and 7 October, and between 30 December and 17 February). He held the post-war scoring record at West Ham, with his haul of 26 goals in 40 League games in 1950–51. The record would not be surpassed until 1958–59, when John Dick scored 27. At this point, he was fourth in West Ham's all-time goalscorers list, behind

Vic Watson Victor Martin Watson (10 November 1897 – 3 August 1988) was an English professional footballer who played most of his club football for West Ham United. Playing career Watson, a centre forward, played 505 times for West Ham between 1920 and ...

Jimmy Ruffell James William Ruffell (8 August 1900 – 6 September 1989) was an English footballer who played as an outside-left. He made over 500 appearances in the Football League for West Ham United, and ended his career with a short spell at Aldershot. R ...

and Syd Puddefoot. The 1951-52 season saw Robinson play in the first four games of the season. He played his final game for the Irons on 29 August 1951 and, bar some

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

games, did not feature again due to a persistent knee injury. In all, Robinson made 105 appearances and scored 61 goals for the Upton Park club. Robinson stayed at West Ham United following his injury. He was initially given the task of providing opposition reports to

Ted Fenton TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

and the management team. He then joined the coaching staff, looking after the youth team and helping to produce players such as

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

and

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley St ...

. He guided the U18s to the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

semi-final in 1954, and the final in 1957. He was promoted to assistant to Ted Fenton in 1957 and was responsible for coaching the first team. Under their guidance West Ham were promoted to Division One at the end of the 1957–58 season. After this success, he left to return to his native north east to become manager of

in November 1959. The 1961–62 season proved to be his last in football. Robinson was sacked after Hartlepools finished 22nd in the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and narrowly avoided relegation. He left the role on 30 June 1962 and was succeeded by

Allenby Chilton Allenby C. Chilton (16 September 1918 – 15 June 1996) was an English footballer. Playing career Chilton started his career with Seaham Colliery before joining Liverpool as an amateur in the summer of 1938, but he never played a senior game ...

, an old Hylton friend and former Charlton teammate during the war.

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Bill 1919 births 1992 deaths People from Whitburn, Tyne and Wear English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Hylton Colliery Welfare F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players British Army personnel of World War II Durham Light Infantry soldiers Stoke City F.C. wartime guest players Luton Town F.C. wartime guest players Hamilton Academical F.C. wartime guest players Charlton Athletic F.C. wartime guest players Charlton Athletic F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. managers English Football League players English football managers English Football League managers West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Tyne and Wear People from County Durham (before 1974)