Michael Robinson (footballer)
Michael John Robinson ( born July 12, 1958 in Leicester ) is an England -born and formerly accrued to the Irish national team soccer player. Between 1979 and 1989 the striker in the first division club Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, FC Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers and Spain Osasuna was under contract. He celebrated in 1984 in Liverpool by winning the "triples " European Champions Cup, English championship and League Cup the most success. Since the 1990s, Robinson lives in Spain, where he worked for various media formats around the football and rugby.
Sports career
Club career
At the age of just 16 years, Robinson came in the 1975/76 season for the then third division side Preston North End to two first division operations. Then, especially after the rise in the Second Division he made in the season 1978/79 talked about, as he contributed 13 goals in 36 matches at a surprisingly good seventh place and thus the attention of Malcolm Allison drew upon himself the this time coach at League Manchester City was. For a class player, the transfer fee of 750,000 pounds was unusually high and so the followers of the "Citizens" expected a corresponding amount. The experiment failed after only one year. Eight goals in 30 league games were just too little as a total of the seventeenth final table space and for only £ 400,000 went to Robinson then Erstligaaufsteiger Brighton & Hove Albion.
Within the next three years he developed at the small Südküstenklub one of the best strikers in English football. Although technically times somewhat limited, Robinson showed very goal threat in the 1980/81 season with 19 league goals and he had only one less accumulated as the scorers Peter Withe and Steve Archibald. He shot the club almost single-handedly for relegation and the following year he scored eleven of the 43 Brighton goals that secured the whereabouts in the English top flight once again. The third and final year for the " seagulls " did speak his greatest success to date as well as a huge disappointment. For one, he rose with Brighton as Table in the second division from. Notwithstanding this was the finals of the FA Cup but a great achievement, and in this final had to give Manchester United defeated after a replay. Especially his strikingly good performance in the 2-2 draw in the first game earned him great praise, although the second game ended with a clear 0:4 defeat. Following Newcastle United and FC Liverpool revealed not only Manchester United still interested in signing and the " Reds " from Liverpool, who had recently won the championship again, ultimately awarded the contract.
The competition was top-class with strikers like Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush and though Robinson remained in his first nine games without a hit, coach Joe Fagan did not lose patience. With two goals for the 5-0 win against Odense BK burst of knots and it was followed two weeks later a hat-trick against West Ham United. By mid-March 1984, he was initially a constant in offensive play for Liverpool before he gradually lost his place in the team in the decisive phase. In winning the League Cup Final match against Everton he came on in the extension of the first game (0-0 ) at Wembley, but sat in the new edition in the Maine Road ( 1-0) over the full distance on the bench. However, the season ended with the biggest sporting success in his career. In the final of the European national champion competition he came off the bench in extra time for Dalglish and thus he was part of the ultimately victorious team - the protagonists of the decisive penalty shootout, however, he did not count. For the second year in Liverpool was disappointing for Robinson and ended after only seven appearances in the starting lineup ahead of schedule in December 1984. He then moved within the First Division to the Queens Park Rangers to London.
In " QPR " but he was very hesitant in the team. Striker Gary Bannister and John Byrne had mostly their regular place safe and as Robinson received only about defensive roles from November 1985 his parole chances. He played against Oxford United in April 1986 his second final of the League Cup, but lost 0-3. Previously, he had in the semi-final second leg with a 2-2 ( first leg: 1-0) eliminated his former club Liverpool out of the competition. Until shortly after the new year 1986/87 he came on sporadically for the course and as a result he was hired in January 1987 to the Spanish side CA Osasuna. Together with his former Liverpool team-mate Sammy Lee, who six months later, as joined in Osasuna, Robinson spent by the end of the 1988/89 season a sporty successful time and was particularly in the spring of 1988 with the fifth final table space part of a surprisingly good team performance. After retiring at the age of 31 years, Robinson remained on the Iberian Peninsula, learned the language fluently and henceforth worked for various sports formats in the Spanish media landscape.
Irish national
Robinson owed eligible to play for the Irish national team its coming from Ireland grandparents. On October 28, 1980, he debuted at the Paris Parc des Princes against France. The game in the World Cup qualifiers ended with a 0-2 defeat and in the same competition, he scored against Cyprus ( 6-0 ) his first of four international goals. Although Robinson set for Ireland rarely his scoring prowess to the test, he was usually a fixture in the plans of coach Eoin Hand. It was not until 1986 Jack Charlton took Hands successor, his international career went to only two more performances and at the end of 24 internationals to end.
Media activities
After the end of his sporting career Robinson launched in Spain a media career. He accompanied the first public broadcaster RTVE in reporting the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Later he worked as a commentator and presenter for the broadcast of Cadena SER radio show El Larguero and later for the Spanish pay-TV channel Canal . There he was between 1991 and 2005 worked for many years for the football and El día después comedy show. After the show was set, it remained the transmitter continue to receive and began his work as a co- commentator for Sunday's live games and as a moderator of the monthly magazine Informe Robinson.
He is also employed as an expert for the Irish Setanta Sports and also president of the Spanish Rugby League Super Ibérica de Rugby. For Canal , he also reported to speak of the Rugby World Cup and the Six Nations tournament. Even with film synchronizations and as an advertising voice Robinson has become known in the Spanish public.
Title / Awards
- European Champions Cup ( 1): 1984
- English Championship ( 1): 1984
- English League Cup ( 1): 1984