Robert Mark "Robbie" James (23 March 1957 – 18 February 1998) was a Welsh international footballer who played for many teams including Swansea City, Stoke City and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. He represented his country on 47 occasions over a period of ten years, scoring a total of seven goals. He was a talented utility player who contributed greatly to Swansea City's rise from the Fourth Division to the First Division between 1978 and 1981, and helped them finish sixth in their first top division campaign. He played a total of 783 English league games between 1973 and 1994, scoring 134 goals. His league appearance tally is one of the highest of any player in the history of English football.

Career

James was born in

Gorseinon Gorseinon is a town within the City and County of Swansea, Wales, near the Loughor estuary. It was a small village until the late 19th century when it grew around the coal mining and tinplate industries. It is situated in the north west of Sw ...

and began his career with local side Swansea City. He made his debut at the end of the 1972–73 season which ended with Swansea being relegated to the Fourth Division. They slowly recovered and James 16 goals in 1976–77 and 17 in 1977–78 helping the Swans gain promotion back to the

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

. He then scored a career best of 21 in 1978–79 as Swansea gained back to back promotions. After two seasons in the Second Division they completed a remarkable rise gaining promotion to the First Division for the first time in the club's history. James took to the top flight well scoring 14 goals in 46 appearances as Swansea finished in sixth position. However the following season saw Swansea relegated back to the Second Division and James joined Stoke City. He played in 46 matches for Stoke in 1983–84 scoring seven goals but with the team struggling in 1984–85 he was sold to

£100,000. He spent three seasons at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

, helping the Hoops preserve their First Division status and reach the

1986 Football League Cup Final The 1986 Football League Cup Final (known for sponsorship reasons as the Milk Cup) was a football match held on 20 April 1986 between Oxford United and Queens Park Rangers. Oxford won the match 3–0 to capture the League Cup – their first an ...

, where they were beaten 3–0 by

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

. At the end of the 1986–87 season, he joined

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 ...

who had just been relegated to the Second Division. After a season with Leicester he moved back to Swansea City, and later played for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and Cardiff City. With Cardiff, he helped them to win the Third Division 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 ...

, his last season in the English Football League after 20 years. After his time with Cardiff he moved into Non-League football with Merthyr Tydfil. He became player-manager of Llaneli in 1996, but collapsed and died while playing for them against

Porthcawl Porthcawl (, ) is a town and community on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, west of the capital city, Cardiff and southeast of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the S ...

on 18 February 1998. He was 40 years old.

Legacy

In 2007, a bust of James was unveiled outside Swansea's

Liberty Stadium The Swansea.com Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Swansea.com; formerly Liberty Stadium) is an all-seated sports stadium and conferencing venue located in the Landore area of Swansea, Wales. The stadium opened in 2005 and was named the Liberty Stadium. It ...

. The bust, located next to the stadium's ticket office, was made possible by fans raising nearly £7,000 in memory of the midfielder, who played almost 400 games for the club. On 22 September 2012, the first 20 names were inducted into the 'Robbie James Wall of Fame', a hall of fame commemorating notable former Swansea players and managers. The Wall of Fame, located beneath the bust of James at the Liberty Stadium, will eventually consist of a total of 100 plaques, unveiled over a period of 5 years.

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

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 ...

and

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

International

Source:

Honours

; Swansea City * Football League Fourth Division third-place promotion: 1977–78 *

third-place promotion: 1978–79 *

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 ...

third-place promotion: 1980–81 * Football League Fourth Division play-off winner: 1987–88 ; Queens Park Rangers * Football League Cup runner-up:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

; Cardiff City *

champions:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Robbie 1957 births 1998 deaths Footballers from Swansea Swansea City A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Wales men's international footballers Welsh men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Cymru Premier managers English Football League players Llanelli Town A.F.C. managers Association football players who died while playing Welsh football managers Sport deaths in Wales