On This Day – 11th January

Former England captain Bryan Robson was born on this day in 1957. The 67-year-old was Manchester United’s longest-serving captain before leaving Old Trafford to become Player/Manager of Middlesbrough in 1994.

‘Captain Marvel’ won 90 caps for England between 1980 and 1991, wearing the captain’s armband in 65 of those matches. He would surely have a lot more had he not been so injury-prone.

Robson played in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cup and also played during England’s dismal Euro 1988 campaign. He left both the 1986 and 1990 tournaments early through injury.
At the 1982 World Cup, Robson scored England’s first goal of the tournament after just 27 seconds against France. It remains England’s quickest goal in a tournament.

He started his career at West Bromwich Albion, where he played for six years between 1975 and 1981. Former manager Ron Atkinson spent a British record £1.5 million to take Robson to Old Trafford in October 1981.

After Robson’s playing career came to an end in January 1997, he became full-time manager at Middlesbrough. He took the Teeside club to the FA Cup and League Cup Finals in 1997, but the club were relegated at the end of the season.
Boro won automatic promotion the following season and also reached a second successive League Cup Final. He stayed at the Riverside Stadium until the end of the 2000/01 season.

Robson took charge of Bradford City in 2003 before returning to West Brom as manager the following year. He guided the club where he started his professional career to Premier League safety on the final day of the 2004/05 season.

After leaving the club in September 2006, Robson took charge of Sheffield United. He would only spend less than a year at Brammall Lane before being fired in February 2008. His final managerial job was the Thailand national team, who he managed between 2009 and 2011.

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