John Tait Robertson

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Not to be confused with John Robertson (footballer, born 1884) or Thomas Robertson (footballer, born 1875).

John Robertson
Personal information
Full name John Tait Robertson[1]
Date of birth (1877-02-25)25 February 1877
Place of birth Dumbarton, Scotland
Date of death 24 January 1935(1935-01-24) (aged 57)
Place of death Milton, Scotland
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Half-back
Youth career
Poinfield
Sinclair Swifts
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1894–1895 Morton 33 (0)
1895–1898 Everton 26 (1)
1898–1899 Southampton 19 (0)
1899–1905 Rangers 101 (16)
1905–1906 Chelsea 36 (7)
1907–1909 Glossop 45 (10)
International career
1898–1905 Scotland 16 (3)
1900–1905[3] Scottish Football League XI 6 (1)
Managerial career
1905–1906 Chelsea
1907–1909 Glossop
1911–1913 MTK Budapest
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Tait Robertson (25 February 1877 – 24 January 1935)[2] was a Scottish football player and manager who played mainly as a left half. He won 16 caps for his country, scoring three goals.

Having started his career at Morton, Robertson moved to Everton of the English Football League in 1895, and then Southampton in 1898, with whom he won the Southern Football League in his only season. He then returned to his homeland with Rangers, where he won three consecutive league titles in his first three seasons. Robertson was the first player signed to Chelsea in 1905, and served as their player-manager in their first-ever season, in addition to scoring their first competitive goal. He finished his career in the same role at Glossop North End.

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

Robertson began his career at Morton,[4] and moved to Everton in 1895.[5] He spent his first two seasons at Everton in the combination team, and made his first team debut in September 1897, against Wolves.[5] Robertson then spent a single season at Southampton in 1898–99, winning the Southern League.

Rangers[edit]

Following his success in Southampton, he returned to Scotland and won three consecutive Scottish Football League championships at Rangers in his first three seasons, plus a Scottish Cup in the fourth; his last of 178 appearances for the club in all competitions was a play-off for the 1904–05 Scottish Division One title, when he scored but Rangers still lost to Celtic.[6][7]

Chelsea[edit]

In April 1905, Robertson was the first player to be signed by the newly formed Chelsea Football Club for the role of manager, but continued to play as well (he was 28 years old at the time).[8] It was Robertson who scored Chelsea's first competitive goal, in a 1–0 win at Blackpool on 9 September 1905.[9] In his first season, he led the club to a third-place finish in the Second Division, one place off promotion.[10] In Robertson's second season at the club, he signed future club legend George Hilsdon on a free transfer, who scored five goals in the opening match of the season, defeating Glossop North End in a 9–2 win.

Robertson then surprisingly resigned from the club (third in the table at the time) on 27 November 1906. Chelsea were promoted to the top flight at the end of that season under caretaker secretary-manager William Lewis. Soon afterwards Robertson became player-manager of Glossop, where he remained until summer 1909, when he became reserve-team manager at Manchester United. [5][11][12][13]

MTK Budapest[edit]

With the sponsorship of Alfréd Brüll and a London fabric company, Robertson arrived in Hungary to coach MTK Budapest in 1911,[14][15] where he remained for two years before returning to Britain in 1913. During his two years stint, he won the Hungarian Cup in the 1911–12 season,[16] as well as finishing runners-up twice in the league, both times behind Ferencvárosi TC.[15]

Robertson was considered to be one of the coaches responsible for the development of football in Hungary between the 1910s and 20s, by introducing physical preparations and technical innervations to the Hungarian game.[14][17]

International career[edit]

Robertson made his debut for Scotland on 2 April 1898 while at Everton, in a 3–1 home defeat to England in the Home Nations Championship. His second cap came on 8 April of the following year, while at Southampton. All of his 14 remaining caps came during his spell at Rangers.

He captained the Scots in his fourth match, as they beat England 4–1 at home on 7 April 1900. His first goal came in his sixth match, on 2 March 1901, in a 1–1 draw with Wales, again as captain. Robertson was Scotland's captain in five matches, and scored two more goals, both against Wales. The last was in his last international on 6 March 1905, in a 3–1 away defeat in Wrexham.[18]

Death[edit]

He died at the Royal Cancer Hospital, Milton in January 1935.

Honours[edit]

Player[edit]

Southampton

Rangers[6]

Manager[edit]

MTK Budapest

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (17 October 2019). "Scotland – International Matches 1901-1910". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  3. ^ "[SFL player] John Tait Robertson". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  4. ^ John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Gillham, Richie (2022). "JACKY ROBERTSON – CHELSEA'S FIRST BOSS!" (PDF). Everton v Chelsea – 1 May 2022 – Official Matchday Programme. Everton FC. p. 81. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b (Rangers player) Robertson, Jacky, FitbaStats
  7. ^ Jensen, Tony (16 April 2016). "CELTIC'S SIX IN A ROW, THE FIRST TIME". Celtic Quick News. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  8. ^ The Chelsea Club 1905-06, Penny Illustrated Paper, 9 September 1905, via Play Up Liverpool
  9. ^ "Blackpool v Chelsea, 09 September 1905 – 11v11 match report". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Football League Division 2 table 1905/06". Footballsite. 18 November 1905. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  11. ^ Bliss, Dominic (1 June 2017). "The man who made Chelsea". Nutmeg Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  12. ^ Gunnar Persson (13 December 2016). "The Exile". In Wilson, Jonathan (ed.). The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue Twenty Three. The Blizzard Media. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-908940-24-7. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  13. ^ Memon, Taha (12 January 2021). "Chelsea's first-ever manager, player, and goalscorer: The story of John Tait Robertson". Tribuna.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Neves elődök nyomdokain a DVSC [DVSC follows in the footsteps of its famous predecessors]". mlsz.hu (in Hungarian). 13 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Ezen a napon hunyt el John Tait Robertson, aki csapatunkkal Magyar Kupát, és bajnoki ezüstöket nyert [John Tait Robertson, who won the Hungarian Cup and championship silverware with our team, died on this day]". mtkbudapest.hu (in Hungarian). 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Ezen a napon nyerte meg 1912-ben csapatunk a 1911. évi Magyar Kupát [On this day in 1912, our team won the 1911 Hungarian Cup]". mtkbudapest.hu (in Hungarian). 29 September 2019. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  17. ^ Clark, Andy (8 July 2012). "GREAT EXPECTATIONS | Hungarian Review". hungarianreview.com. Hungarian Review. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  18. ^ "John Robertson – national football team player". Eu-football.info. Retrieved 27 September 2016.

External links[edit]

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