John Neilson Robertson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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There is also John Grant Robertson who played football for Heart of Midlothian. For other people named John Robertson, see John Robertson (disambiguation).
| John Robertson | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Neilson Robertson | |
| Date of birth | 20 January 1953 | |
| Place of birth | Uddingston, Scotland | |
| Position | Attacking Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 1970-83 1983-85 1985-86 |
Nottingham Forest Derby County Nottingham Forest |
385 (61) 72 (3) 11 (0) |
| National team** | ||
| Scotland | 28 (9) | |
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* Professional club appearances and goals |
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John Robertson (born 20 January 1953 in Uddingston) is a former Scottish footballer. He played for Nottingham Forest when they were at the peak of their success under manager Brian Clough. He also played for the full Scotland national football team, scoring the winning goal against England in 1981 and against New Zealand in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He joined Aston Villa on August 4, 2006 as Assistant Manager when Martin O'Neill took charge of the club.
Robertson had played for Scotland at Schoolboy and Youth levels and for Drumchapel Amateurs before joining Forest in May 1970, making his debut for the team in October 1970. Although he was an infrequent member of the first team as a midfielder up to 1975, and was on the transfer list when Clough became manager, Robertson became a key player as a left winger under Clough and appeared in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980. He scored the winner in the European Cup Final against Hamburg in the 1980 final.
Robertson was sold to Derby County F.C. in June 1983 on a contested transfer (the fee was set by a tribunal), but was injured soon after joining the team and failed to reproduce the form he had shown when he played for Forest. Although he rejoined Forest on a free transfer in August 1985, he remained well below his former best and moved to non-league Corby Town F.C. at the end of the 1985/86 season. He also had stints with Stamford F.C. and Grantham Town F.C..
Brian Clough, Robertson's manager at Nottingham Forest, was quoted as saying "John Robertson was a very unattractive young man, if one day, I felt a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared, but give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist the Picasso of our game." [citation needed]
In 1997, Four Four Two magazine declared that John Robertson was 63rd in the 100 greatest footballers of all time.
In addition, he has been variously chief scout and assistant manager to former Nottingham Forest team-mate Martin O'Neill at Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic and now Aston Villa. He left Celtic at the end of the 2004/05 season when O'Neill resigned.
He is best remembered for his time at Nottingham Forest, where he scored the winning goal in their second European Cup success.
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Scotland squad - 1978 World Cup | |
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1 Rough | 2 Jardine | 3 Donachie | 4 Buchan | 5 McQueen | 6 Rioch | 7 Masson | 8 Dalglish | 9 Jordan | 10 Hartford | 11 Johnston | 12 Blyth | 13 Kennedy | 14 Forsyth | 15 Gemill | 16 Macari | 17 Johnstone | 18 Souness | 19 Robertson | 20 Clark | 21 Harper | 22 Burns | Coach: MacLeod |
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Scotland squad - 1982 World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
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1 Rough | 2 McGrain | 3 Gray | 4 Souness | 5 Hansen | 6 Miller | 7 Strachan | 8 Dalglish | 9 Brazil | 10 Wark | 11 Robertson | 12 Wood | 13 McLeish | 14 Narey | 15 Jordan | 16 Hartford | 17 Evans | 18 Archibald | 19 Sturrock | 20 Provan | 21 Burley | 22 Leighton | Coach: Stein |
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1953 births | Living people | Scottish footballers | Scotland international footballers | Derby County F.C. players | Nottingham Forest F.C. players | FIFA World Cup 1978 players | FIFA World Cup 1982 players | FIFA World Cup goalscorers | Celtic F.C.
