Paul Robinson (footballer, born 1979)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul William Robinson | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 September 2007 | |||
Paul William Robinson (born October 15, 1979 in Beverley,[citation needed] England) is an English footballer. He is presently the first-choice goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur and England.
He started his career at Leeds United, for whom he made 119 appearances before transferring to Tottenham in May 2004.
Club career
Leeds United
Having come through the youth ranks at Leeds United, Robinson made his debut against Chelsea in 1998, keeping a clean sheet. In the 2003-04 season he scored his first professional goal against Swindon Town in the closing moments of a League Cup game, forcing extra time. The game went to penalties, two of which were saved by Robinson to help his team to victory.[2]
Robinson made a total of 119 appearances for Leeds.
Tottenham Hotspur
Robinson transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in May 2004 for a fee of £1,500,000. In 2005-06, Robinson signed a seven-year contract extension after turning down offers from Manchester United.[citation needed] The contract will keep him at the club until 2012.
On March 17, 2007, Robinson scored the second goal of his professional career, in a Premiership game against Watford at White Hart Lane. He took a free-kick from just outside of his own penalty area (85 Yards) and the ball bounced over the head of Watford Keeper Ben Foster, and into goal.[3] He became the third goalkeeper in Premiership history (excluding own goals) to score, after Peter Schmeichel for Aston Villa in 2001 and Brad Friedel for Blackburn Rovers in 2004, although of the 3, only Robinson's team went on to win the match. He was also the third goalscoring goalkeeper in the league in the 2006-07 season, following goals from Gavin Ward for Tranmere Rovers and Mark Crossley for Sheffield Wednesday.
Robinson is third in line for the role of captaincy at Spurs, after Robbie Keane and club captain Ledley King. He captained the team in their 1-0 Carling Cup quarter-final win over Southend [4], and in their 0-0 FA Cup third round draw at Cardiff as King and Keane were both injured.[5]
International career
Robinson has played 35 times for England. He was part of the Euro 2004 squad, in which was understudy to David James, making no appearances in the tournament. In the subsequent qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup he replaced James as England's first choice goalkeeper.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Robinson was named in England's World Cup squad for the finals in Germany and was an ever present in England's campaign, keeping clean sheets in four out of five games that he played. He conceded no goals to Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago during the group stage. After the opening World Cup game against Paraguay, when his counterpart Justo Villar was injured 7 minutes into the match, ending his tournament early, Robinson sent Villar his gloves as a gesture of good will after England won 1-0.[6] During the knockout rounds, he kept clean sheets against Ecuador in the round of 16 and Portugal in the quarter-finals, although the latter prevailed 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out to end England's campaign.
On 11 October, 2006, during a Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia, a bounce on a backpass from Gary Neville caused Robinson to miss the ball completely as he tried to clear it out of the penalty area, resulting in an own goal to put Croatia 2-0 up. [7] Robinson described the incident as a freak. [8] On 22 August 2007, Robinson made a mistake to gift Germany their first goal in England's first loss at the new Wembley Stadium, with a final scoreline of 2-1. He was substituted at half-time for David James.[9]
Career stats
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Goals | Games | Goals | Games | Goals | Games | Goals | ||
| Tottenham | 07-08 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 06-07 | 38 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 54 | 1 | |
| 05-06 | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 40 | 0 | |
| 04-05 | 36 | 0 | 8 | 0 | - | - | 44 | 0 | |
| Club Total | 112 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 138 | 1 | |
| Leeds United | 03-04 | 36 | 0 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 39 | 1 |
| 02-03 | 38 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 50 | 0 | |
| 01-02 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 00-01 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
| 99-00 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 98-99 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 6 | 0 | |
| Club Total | 95 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 119 | 1 | |
| Career Total | 207 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 257 | 2 | |
Personal life
Paul Robinson was born at the Beverley Westwood hospital and attended Beverley Grammar School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, England. Whilst at school, he played as a striker rather than a goalkeeper, until his goalkeeping skills were noticed when the school team changed its manager.[citation needed]
Whilst playing for Leeds he moved to a luxury house in the famous village of Stamford Bridge. He is married to Rebecca, his childhood sweetheart.The couple have a daughter called Lucy May, and Boxer dogs named Tyson and Molly.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Paul ROBINSON Profile". Yahoo! Sport UK. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ "Robinson inspires Leeds". BBC Sport. 24 September, 2003.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Kessel, Anna (2007-03-18). "Robinson on right end of freak goal as Spurs ease to win". The Observer.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Burnton, Simon (December 21, 2006). "Defoe strikes in extra-time to finish Southend". The Guardian.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "FAC: Cardiff City 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur". RivalsDM. January 7, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Vickery, Tim (July 24, 2006). "Tim Vickery column". BBC Sport.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ McNulty, Phil (October 11, 2006). "Croatia 2-0 England". BBC Sport.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "'A freak goal'". TheFA.com. October 11, 2006.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ BBC Football - England 1 - 2 Germany
