Oxford United’s Karl Robinson is one of a small number of managers in League One who never kicked a ball in the Football League. Having started coaching during his non-league playing days and eventually progressing to the UEFA Pro Licence, he has certainly followed an unusual path through the game. Even after nine years in management, he is still one of the youngest managers in football.
Hailing from the Liverpool suburb of Allerton, Robinson grew up supporting Liverpool. However, it was to be Everton where he cut his teeth in youth football, playing alongside Leon Osman and Francis Jeffers from the age of nine. Having spent six years there between 1989 and 1995, he was released at the age of fifteen and eventually found his way to Swindon Town. Unfortunately, he failed to make the grade at the County Ground and suffered an injury that kept him out of the game for more than a year. Robinson returned to his native north-west in 1998 and, despite being just 19, soon found a position as a coach at his beloved Liverpool’s academy under legendary winger Steve Heighway. And so began a career in coaching that has so far lasted for twenty years.
At the same time, Robinson also began a typical odyssey around the non-league game as a player, signing for Northern Premier League club Marine in 1999. He then joined League of Wales side Caernarfon Town, making 18 appearances before returning for a second spell at Marine in 2000. He next spent six months with Northern Premier League strugglers Bamber Bridge from March 2001 before returning to Marine for a third time. In 2002 he signed for Welsh Premier League side Oswestry Town before moving on to rivals Rhyl in November 2002. His time at Rhyl lasted barely a month before returning to Oswestry for the rest of the 2002-03 season, scoring five goals in 26 appearances.
In July 2003 he signed for Northern Premier League Division One side Kidsgrove Athletic for a few months before moving to fellow Division One side Prescot Cables in November 2003. Late in 2004, he signed for North West Counties League club St Helens Town where he was captain for a time before joining up with rivals Alsager Town in March 2006. He returned to the Northern Premier League with Warrington Town for the 2006-07 season, but a broken ankle suffered against Chorley at the end of January 2007 ended his season. On 16 October 2007, he scored in his final appearance for Warrington before leaving to take up his first professional coaching role with Milton Keynes Dons, thereby signalling the end of his playing career.
Having left his position at the Liverpool Academy in 2006, the move to MK Dons was a big step forward. It was the start of a working relationship with manager Paul Ince that would eventually lead to his own first appointment in management. Robinson had first met Ince when they were at Liverpool in the late Nineties and the connection had survived the intervening years. The 2007-08 season at MK Dons was the best in the club’s short history as they won not only the League Two title, but also the Football League Trophy with a 2-0 win over Grimsby at Wembley.
On 22 June 2008 Ince was appointed manager of Premier League Blackburn Rovers and took Robinson with him as part of his coaching team. It was not destined to be a long stay for either of them. Following six successive league defeats, Ince was sacked by Blackburn on 16 December 2008 after less than six months in the role. Robinson remained at Blackburn and stepped up to first-team coach under new manager Sam Allardyce.
Ince returned to MK Dons on 3 July 2009 and immediately appointed Robinson as his assistant. Robinson had recently become the youngest man ever to complete his UEFA Pro Licence, a qualification Ince himself would not obtain until 2014. If anyone expected a repeat of 2007-08, they were to be bitterly disappointed. Out of the blue, Ince announced on 16 April 2010 that he would be leaving at the end of the season due to the financial constraints he would be under. Once Ince had announced his intention to leave, it seemed sensible to place responsibility for running team affairs in the hands of someone else. Furthermore, Ince was about to start a five-game touchline ban and could have little influence over matters on the pitch from then on. Robinson effectively took over as
Expecting an outside appointment, fans were surprised to see Robinson appointed manager on 10 May 2010 on a twelve-month rolling contract. Although popular with the supporters, he had no experience and at 29 was the youngest manager in the Football League. Whilst continuity was probably behind the appointment, no one really expected much from his first season. However, Dons got away to a good start by winning three of their first four games, and there was also a 4-3 win over Premier League Blackpool in the League Cup in August to raise spirits. The side hovered around the play-off positions for much of the season before ten wins from their final fifteen games secured fifth spot in comfort. They went down 4-3 on aggregate to Peterborough in the play-off semi-final, but it was a good first season for the new manager.
Dons got off to a great start in 2011-12, winning five and drawing one of their opening six games to top the League One table. There was another giant-killing in the League Cup in August, this time an astonishing 4-0 win over Premier League Norwich at Carrow Road. Robinson was named League One Manager of the Month for August for their performances. A record attendance saw Dons almost beat Premier League QPR in the FA Cup third round in January before going out in a replay. Although league form slipped a little, they once again qualified for the play-offs in fifth place for the second successive season. There was to be disappointment again as Dons went down 3-2 on aggregate to Huddersfield. For the second season in succession, they had lost to the side eventually winning promotion.
There was an interesting footnote to the 2011-12 season when Robinson participated in an experiment as part of the League Managers Association’s Fit To Manage programme. Robinson wore a heart-rate monitor during a game against Wycombe in November to assess the stresses and strains undergone by managers during the tension of a match. They certainly picked a good game for it: Dons edged a seven-goal thriller, and Robinson passed the test with flying colours.
Promotion was very much the expectation in 2012-13, and Dons sat in the top two for the first half of the season. Robinson was becoming a marked man, and in January 2013 MK rejected an approach for Robinson from Blackpool. However, a poor run of six defeats from nine games saw them slip into the bottom half. Part of the reason for that was a run to the fifth round of the FA Cup. An excellent 4-2 win over Premier League QPR at Loftus Road set up a winnable home tie with Championship Barnsley, but Dons lost 3-1. There was also a run to the third round of the League Cup, and the games caught up. Despite winning five of their last eight matches, they missed the play-off boat by three points. The 2012-13 season was notable for one other reason. In the FA Cup first-round tie against Cambridge City on 2 November 2012, Robinson gave a first-team debut to a sixteen-year-old midfielder from the academy: his name was Dele Alli.
Dons had another good start in 2013-14 and settled into a play-off spot until a run of eight defeats in eleven games saw them slip into mid-table. Despite the talented Alli already being a fixture in his midfield, the season never picked up and Dons finished tenth. The disappointment was soon forgotten as Dons turned in perhaps the best season in their history in 2014-15. The league season was characterised by two outstanding unbeaten runs: eight wins and four draws to take them into second place at the end of December, and another of nine wins and two draws that carried them to automatic promotion. There was also a club record 7-0 victory over Oldham as the side scored a century of league goals. In the cups, they hit the headlines with a sensational 4-0 win over Manchester United in the League Cup in front of another record crowd. Weakened team or not, it was some result. In January 2015 Dele Alli was sold to Spurs for £5 million, but it had no effect on the team’s performances. On a personal level, Robinson was named League One Manager of the Month for December and April.
If 2014-15 was a season to remember, the club’s first-ever season in the Championship was one to forget. Despite winning two of their opening three games, the season produced a depressing twenty-five league defeats as Dons headed straight back to League One. Relegation was confirmed with three games remaining, but there was the small consolation of setting yet another record attendance in a 5-1 FA Cup defeat by Chelsea. The League Cup also ended in a heavy home defeat by a Premier League club, this time 6-0 to Southampton.
The expectation in 2016-17 was an immediate return to the Championship, but MK never got going. After six and a half years, Robinson and the club parted company on 23 October 2016 with the side in nineteenth, one point above the relegation zone. At the time of his departure, he was the third longest-serving manager in the top four divisions. He also claimed that half of his squad was home-grown, a result of the academy system he had helped to develop. It had been an enjoyable ride, but owner Pete Winkelman had Premier League ambitions and he felt his club was suddenly going backwards. A cynic would say that the worst thing Robinson did at MK Dons was to win promotion in 2015.
Nonetheless, Robinson was soon back when he was named manager of League One Charlton Athletic on 28 November 2016. Charlton had also endured a mediocre start to the season after being relegated from the Championship with MK Dons in May. Robinson picked up one point from his first three games before an unbeaten run of three wins and four draws established the side in mid-table. Little consistency was found thereafter, and Charlton finished thirteenth. Better things were expected in 207-18, and Charlton won five of their first six games to sit second in the table. They stayed in the top five until a poor run of three points from eight games saw them slip out of the play-off places. Form continued to be inconsistent before Charlton parted company with Robinson on 22 March 2018 after eighteen months at The Valley.
Robinson was back in management very quickly, announced by League One side Oxford United later that day. Oxford were just five points clear of the relegation zone at the time and needed wins to ensure survival. They got them, but not by much: they finished safe by that same five-point margin.
Robinson turned his attention to a better season in 2018-19 and made fifteen new signings during the summer. It took some time for the new players to gel, and Oxford lost their opening four games. They won just one of the first twelve, a run which left them bottom of League One and already heaped pressure on the new manager. Oxford remained in the bottom four until the middle of March when a nine-match unbeaten run carried them into mid-table safety in a congested league.
Having achieved much during his tenure at MK Dons, Robinson will be aware that his last three seasons have delivered very little to enhance his cv. All but one season of his managerial career has been spent in League One, and there is no manager with a better or more current knowledge of it. That puts Oxford in a strong position in theory, although there are some very large clubs in the division to contend with. The financial position at Oxford has also been under question with staff wages paid late and a dispute with their landlords. Entering the final year of his contract, Karl Robinson will know that another relegation battle will not be good enough. Provided the financial aspects can be addressed, Robinson has the knowledge to make Oxford one of League One’s surprise packages this season.
Key:
P = Promoted; R = Relegated; SF = Lost in play-off semi-final; F = Lost in play-off final; PO = Won play-off final; D = Demoted.
Figures are league games only; cup matches and play-offs are not included.
League position shown is either the position at the end of the season or the position at the time of departure.
Writer: Scotimp
Who Are The League One Managers? No.14: Karl Robinson (@OUFCOfficial):https://t.co/h5doBmvpCj#OUFC #Oxford #SkyBetLeagueOne
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