John Robertson (footballer born 1877)

John Robertson

Personal information
Full name	John Tait Robertson
Date of birth	25 February 1877(1877-02-25)
Place of birth	Dumbarton, Scotland
Date of death	24 January 1935(1935-01-24) (aged 57)
Place of death	Milton, Wiltshire, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Half-back
Youth career
	Poinfield
	Sinclair Swifts
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
189?–1895	Morton
1895–1898	Everton	26	(1)
1898–1899	Southampton	19	(0)
1899–1905	Rangers	102	(18)
1905–1906	Chelsea	36	(7)
1907–1909	Glossop	45	(10)
National team
1898–1905	Scotland	16	(3)
1900–1905	Scottish League XI	6	(1)
Teams managed
1905–1906	Chelsea
1907–1909	Glossop
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

John Tait "Jacky" Robertson (25 February 1877 – 24 January 1935) was a Scottish football player and manager.

Robertson was a central defender whose career included brief stints at Everton and Southampton before moving to Rangers, where he won three consecutive Championships. He was also a Scotland international, winning 16 caps between 1898 and 1905 and scoring 2 goals, both of which came against Wales.

In April 1905, Robertson became the first ever manager of the newly formed Chelsea Football Club but continued to play as well. It was Robertson who scored Chelsea's first competitive goal, in a 1-0 win at Blackpool. In his first season, he led the club to a third place finish in the Second Division. He 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.

He died in Wiltshire in January 1935.

Honours

Southampton

• Southern League championship: 1898–99

External links

• John Robertson at scottishfa.co.uk
• Everton career summary
• Chelsea career summary
• Rangers career summary