John Robertson (footballer born 1953)

For other people named John Robertson, see John Robertson (disambiguation).

John Robertson

Personal information
Full name	John Neilson Robertson
Date of birth	20 January 1953 (1953-01-20)
Place of birth	Uddingston, Scotland
Playing position	Left winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1970–1983	Nottingham Forest	385	(61)
1983–1985	Derby County	72	(3)
1985–1986	Nottingham Forest	11	(0)
National team
1978–1983	Scotland	28	(8)
Teams managed
1989–?	Grantham Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

John Neilson 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, notably scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory in the 1980 European Cup Final against Hamburger SV. 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.

Nottingham Forest (first spell)

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 winning goal, a penalty, for Forest in the 1978 Football League Cup Final replay against Liverpool. He also scored the winner in the European Cup Final against Hamburg in the 1980 final and provided the cross for the winning goal in Forest's 1979 European Cup Final scored by Trevor Francis against Malmo 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 in comparison. But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist, the Picasso of our game." In his autobiography Clough noted that "Rarely could there have been a more unlikely looking professional athlete... [He was a] scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time...but something told me he was worth persevering with." but that "[He] became one of the finest deliverers of a football I have ever seen - in Britain or anywhere else in the world - as fine as the Brazilians or the supremely gifted Italians."

Later playing career

Robertson was sold to Derby County F.C. in June 1983 on a contested transfer (the fee was set by a tribunal) that soured the relationship between Clough and his former assistant Peter Taylor, 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..

In 1997, FourFourTwo magazine declared that John Robertson was 63rd in the 100 greatest footballers of all time. He was also voted No 1 Nottingham Forest player of all time, forcing Stuart Pearce into second place, in a 2005 poll run by fans.^{[citation needed]}

Non playing career

After retiring from playing, 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 Aston Villa.

Personal life

John suffered a tragedy in October 1996 when his 13-year-old daughter Jessica died. Jessica had been born in 1983 with cerebral palsy, which left her quadriplegic and unable to speak or control her movements. She had a short life expectancy. In 1994, Robertson and his former wife Sally had challenged the hospital where Jessica was born for damages, claiming that they had caused her brain damage by a 12-hour delay to carry out a Caesarean section. However, they lost their High Court case and the opportunity of compensation of up to £700,000. [1]

Honours

Nottingham Forest

First Division: 1977-1978

League Cup: 1977-1978, 1978–1979

FA Charity Shield: 1978

European Cup: 1978-1979, 1979–1980

European Super Cup: 1979

Anglo-Scottish Cup: 1977

Nuremberg Tournament: 1982

Trofeo Colombino: 1982

Career statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1970-71	Nottingham Forest	First Division	2	0
1971-72			13	0
1972-73		Second Division	32	4
1973-74			5	0
1974-75			20	0
1975-76			39	5
1976-77			41	6
1977-78		First Division	42	12
1978-79			42	9
1979-80			42	11
1980-81			38	6
1981-82			36	2
1982-83			34	6
1983-84	Derby County	Second Division	31	1
1984-85		Third Division	41	1
1985-86	Nottingham Forest	First Division	11	0
Total	England		469	63
Career total			469	63

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	7 June 1979	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Norway	3-0	4-0	ECQG2
2	19 December 1979	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Belgium	1-3	1-3	ECQG2
3	28 April 1981	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Israel	1-0	3-1	WCQG8
4	28 April 1981	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Israel	2-0	3-1	WCQG8
5	23 May 1981	Wembley Stadium, London	England	1-0	1-0	BHC
6	9 September 1981	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Sweden	2-0	2-0	WCQG8
7	15 June 1982	Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga	New Zealand	4-2	5-2	WCG6
8	21 September 1983	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Uruguay	1-0	2-0	Friendly

External links

• John Robertson (footballer born 1953) at scottishfa.co.uk
• International stats at Londonhearts.com