Mark Robins

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Mark Robins bigraphy, stories - English footballer and manager

Mark Robins : biography

22 December 1969 –

Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire) is an English former professional footballer and current manager of Football League Championship side Huddersfield Town.

As a player he was a striker from 1986 to 2005. After starting his career with Manchester United, he went on to play in the Premier League for Norwich City and Leicester City before playing in the Football League with Reading, Manchester City, Walsall, Rotherham United, Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and in Europe with FC Copenhagen, C.D. Ourense and Panionios. He finished his career in the Conference National with Burton Albion, and was capped 6 times by England U21. In 2007 he became manager of Rotherham United, and joined Barnsley in the same capacity in 2009, before leaving in 2011, following differences between him and the board.

Honours

  • FA Cup: 1990
  • FA Charity Shield: 1990
  • UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1991
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1991
  • Football League Cup: 1997

Managerial career

Rotherham United

Robins joined Rotherham United in June 2000 as a player and subsequently as assistant manager, under manager Alan Knill. However, by the end of February 2007, the Millers sat 13 points adrift of safety, making the threat of relegation almost inevitable. This resulted in Knill being sacked on 1 March, with Robins becoming caretaker manager. After a spell of three wins in six games while in charge as caretaker manager, and moving the club off the bottom of League One, Robins’ position was made permanent on 6 April 2007. Robins gained much praise for his first 2 seasons with the Millers. The first saw Rotherham consistently in the automatic promotion places until a late dip in form, and the second almost brought promotion despite a 17 point deduction imposed by the Football League. Robins also attracted many high calibre players to the Don Valley Stadium, including League 2 player of the season Nicky Law and prolific goalscorer Adam le Fondre.

Barnsley

Robins was appointed as the new manager of Barnsley on 9 September 2009, succeeding Simon Davey. After his first game in charge, the Championship club sat at the bottom of the table looking likely candidates for relegation. By Christmas, Robins had taken them a full nine points clear of the relegation zone and on a run of eight games unbeaten. This was followed by a poor spell towards the end of the season, and Barnsley finished 18th in the table. Robins resigned from his job at the end of the 2010–11 season, because of differences with the board.

Coventry City

On 19 September 2012, Robins was appointed as the new manager of Coventry City, signing a three-year deal. His first game was a 2-1 defeat against Carlisle United.

Robins became a fan-favourite catapulting them up the league from relegation battlers to true play-off contenders all in the short time that he had been at the club.

Robins lead the club to the Area Final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy which left the club two games away from Wembley. Coventry City also had to face two Premier League clubs away from home during his time. The first, being Arsenal in the League Cup third round, which resulted in a 6-1 defeat and the second being Arsenal’s North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur which ended as a 3-0 loss, knocking the Sky Blues out the FA Cup third round.

Due to Robins’ success at Coventry in the relatively short time of being there he was at high demand by other clubs.

Robins was first linked with the vacant Doncaster Rovers position and various other clubs but nothing really came of this interest and he told the Sky Sports cameras before the JPT Semi-Final game against Preston North End that ‘it’s (Coventry City) in my blood’. However, on 12 February, Coventry City released a statement saying they had allowed Mark Robins to go into talks with Huddersfield Town about their vacant managerial position.

Huddersfield Town

On 14 February 2013, Robins was unveiled as the new manager of Huddersfield Town on a rolling contract. His first game in charge came three days later, a 4–1 defeat to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fifth-round at John Smith’s Stadium. On 19 February 2013, Robins took charge of his first league match as Huddersfield manager, a 6–1 defeat away from home against Nottingham Forest. Robins earned his first win as Huddersfield manager on 26 February 2013, a 1–0 victory against Burnley at Turf Moor. Mark Robins made sure that Huddersfield Town avoided relegation to League One on the final day of the 2012/13 season after drawing 2-2 with Barnsley.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22320562