Manager Info
Sir Robert William Robson
England Manager: 1982 - 1990
Born: 18th February 1933, Sacriston, County Durham 
Died: 31st July 2009, County Durham
- View Playing Profile
- Robert William Robson was born in Sacriston, County Durham and signed professionally for Fulham in 1950 playing as an inside forward. He played 152 times for Fulham scoring 68 goals before making a £25,000 club record move to West Bromwich Albion in 1956. He was soon made club captain and made 239 appearances scoring 56 goals before returning to Fulham in 1962. During his time at WBA he was capped 20 times, scoring 4 times (twice on debut).
In 1967, he accepted a player-manager role with Vancouver Royals which proved difficult and short-lived as Fulham asked him to become manager in January 1968 but he couldn't save them from relegation from the First Division. He joined Ipswich Town in 1969 where he managed for 13 years, in which Ipswich won the FA Cup, finished as runners-up in the league twice and won the UEFA Cup in 1981.
He succeeded Ron Greenwood as England manager after the 1982 World Cup and despite only ever losing one major tournament qualifying match (to Denmark) missed out on the European Finals in 1984. He attempted to resign his position in favour of Brian Clough but the FA rejected his resignation and he successfully qualified England to another 3 major tournaments. The "Hand of God" knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup and despite an impressive qualifying campaign for Euro '88 (dropping only one point), England were disappointing in the final tournament, losing all three games. His vilification in the English press once again prompted his resignation but it was again denied. His contract was renewed until the end of the World Cup 1990 which England duly qualified for, without conceding a goal. A semi-final (ultimately fourth-place) finish was to come, losing out to Germany on penalties. Robson left his position as the most successful manager behind Alf Ramsey.
Life after England was considerably easier and he, arguably, became the most successful English club manager on the continent. Stints at PSV Eindhoven (twice), Sporting Clube de Portugal, Porto, Barcelona and Newcastle United brought him two Dutch League titles, two Portuguese League titles with Porto (with one Jose Mourinho as assistant manager), European Cup Winner's Cup with Barcelona (along with European Manager of the Year 1997). His final managerial position was with Newcastle United from 1999 to 2004.
Robson died from lung cancer in July 2009.
Matches by Type
- Type
- Played
- Won
- Drawn
- Lost
- For
- Against
- European Championship QualifierECQ
- 14
- 10
- 3
- 1
- 42
- 4
- FriendlyFR
- 35
- 18
- 10
- 7
- 47
- 28
- British Home ChampionshipHC
- 6
- 3
- 2
- 1
- 6
- 3
- World Cup QualifierWCQ
- 14
- 7
- 7
- 0
- 31
- 2
- Ciudad de México CupCMC
- 2
- 0
- 0
- 2
- 1
- 3
- Azteca 2000 TournamentA2K
- 1
- 1
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 0
- World Cup FinalsWCF
- 12
- 5
- 4
- 3
- 15
- 9
- European Championship FinalsECF
- 3
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 2
- 7
- Competitive
- 60
- 29
- 20
- 11
- 107
- 32
Match List
ITA, 7th Jul 1990, 1 - 2 (WCF)
FRG, 4th Jul 1990, 1 - 1 (WCF) *
CMR, 1st Jul 1990, 3 - 2 (WCF) *
BEL, 26th Jun 1990, 1 - 0 (WCF) *
EGY, 21st Jun 1990, 1 - 0 (WCF)
NED, 16th Jun 1990, 0 - 0 (WCF)
IRL, 11th Jun 1990, 1 - 1 (WCF)
TUN, 2nd Jun 1990, 1 - 1 (FR)
URU, 22nd May 1990, 1 - 2 (FR)
DEN, 15th May 1990, 1 - 0 (FR)
TCH, 25th Apr 1990, 4 - 2 (FR)
BRA, 28th Mar 1990, 1 - 0 (FR)
YUG, 13th Dec 1989, 2 - 1 (FR)
ITA, 15th Nov 1989, 0 - 0 (FR)
POL, 11th Oct 1989, 0 - 0 (WCQ)
SWE, 6th Sep 1989, 0 - 0 (WCQ)
DEN, 7th Jun 1989, 1 - 1 (FR)
POL, 3rd Jun 1989, 3 - 0 (WCQ)
SCO, 27th May 1989, 2 - 0 (RC)
CHI, 23rd May 1989, 0 - 0 (RC)
ALB, 26th Apr 1989, 5 - 0 (WCQ)
ALB, 8th Mar 1989, 2 - 0 (WCQ)
GRE, 8th Feb 1989, 2 - 1 (FR)
KSA, 16th Nov 1988, 1 - 1 (FR)
SWE, 19th Oct 1988, 0 - 0 (WCQ)
DEN, 14th Sep 1988, 1 - 0 (FR)
URS, 18th Jun 1988, 1 - 3 (ECF)
NED, 15th Jun 1988, 1 - 3 (ECF)
IRL, 12th Jun 1988, 0 - 1 (ECF)
SUI, 28th May 1988, 1 - 0 (FR)
COL, 24th May 1988, 1 - 1 (RC)
SCO, 21st May 1988, 1 - 0 (RC)
HUN, 27th Apr 1988, 0 - 0 (FR)
NED, 23rd Mar 1988, 2 - 2 (FR)
ISR, 17th Feb 1988, 0 - 0 (FR)
YUG, 11th Nov 1987, 4 - 1 (ECQ)
TUR, 14th Oct 1987, 8 - 0 (ECQ)
FRG, 9th Sep 1987, 1 - 3 (FR)
SCO, 23rd May 1987, 0 - 0 (RC)
BRA, 19th May 1987, 1 - 1 (RC)
TUR, 29th Apr 1987, 0 - 0 (ECQ)
NIR, 1st Apr 1987, 2 - 0 (ECQ)
ESP, 18th Feb 1987, 4 - 2 (FR)
YUG, 12th Nov 1986, 2 - 0 (ECQ)
NIR, 15th Oct 1986, 3 - 0 (ECQ)
SWE, 10th Sep 1986, 0 - 1 (FR)
ARG, 22nd Jun 1986, 1 - 2 (WCF)
PAR, 18th Jun 1986, 3 - 0 (WCF)
POL, 11th Jun 1986, 3 - 0 (WCF)
MAR, 6th Jun 1986, 0 - 0 (WCF)
POR, 3rd Jun 1986, 0 - 1 (WCF)
CAN, 24th May 1986, 1 - 0 (FR)
MEX, 17th May 1986, 3 - 0 (FR)
SCO, 23rd Apr 1986, 2 - 1 (RC)
URS, 26th Mar 1986, 1 - 0 (FR)
ISR, 26th Feb 1986, 2 - 1 (FR)
EGY, 29th Jan 1986, 4 - 0 (FR)
NIR, 13th Nov 1985, 0 - 0 (WCQ)
TUR, 16th Oct 1985, 5 - 0 (WCQ)
ROU, 11th Sep 1985, 1 - 1 (WCQ)
USA, 16th Jun 1985, 5 - 0 (FR)
FRG, 12th Jun 1985, 3 - 0 (A2K)
MEX, 9th Jun 1985, 0 - 1 (CMC/A2K)
ITA, 6th Jun 1985, 1 - 2 (CMC)
SCO, 25th May 1985, 0 - 1 (RC)
FIN, 22nd May 1985, 1 - 1 (WCQ)
ROU, 1st May 1985, 0 - 0 (WCQ)
IRL, 26th Mar 1985, 2 - 1 (FR)
NIR, 27th Feb 1985, 1 - 0 (WCQ)
TUR, 14th Nov 1984, 8 - 0 (WCQ)
FIN, 17th Oct 1984, 5 - 0 (WCQ)
GDR, 12th Sep 1984, 1 - 0 (FR)
CHI, 17th Jun 1984, 0 - 0 (FR)
URU, 13th Jun 1984, 0 - 2 (FR)
BRA, 10th Jun 1984, 2 - 0 (FR)
URS, 2nd Jun 1984, 0 - 2 (FR)
SCO, 26th May 1984, 1 - 1 (HC)
WAL, 2nd May 1984, 0 - 1 (HC)
NIR, 4th Apr 1984, 1 - 0 (HC)
FRA, 29th Feb 1984, 0 - 2 (FR)
LUX, 16th Nov 1983, 4 - 0 (ECQ)
HUN, 12th Oct 1983, 3 - 0 (ECQ)
DEN, 21st Sep 1983, 0 - 1 (ECQ)
AUS, 19th Jun 1983, 1 - 1 (FR)
AUS, 15th Jun 1983, 1 - 0 (FR)
AUS, 12th Jun 1983, 0 - 0 (FR)
SCO, 1st Jun 1983, 2 - 0 (HC)
NIR, 28th May 1983, 0 - 0 (HC)
HUN, 27th Apr 1983, 2 - 0 (ECQ)
GRE, 30th Mar 1983, 0 - 0 (ECQ)
WAL, 23rd Feb 1983, 2 - 1 (HC)
LUX, 15th Dec 1982, 9 - 0 (ECQ)
GRE, 17th Nov 1982, 3 - 0 (ECQ)
FRG, 13th Oct 1982, 1 - 2 (FR)
DEN, 22nd Sep 1982, 2 - 2 (ECQ)
- * Match was concluded via extra time, penalties or both.