John Robertson (footballer, born 1953)

Robertson had played for Scotland at Schoolboy and Youth levels and for Drumchapel Amateurs before joining Forest in May 1970, making his debut for the team in October 1970. Although he was an infrequent member of the first team as a midfielder up to 1975, and was on the transfer list when Clough became manager, Robertson became a key player as a left winger under Clough and appeared in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980. He scored the winning goal, a penalty, for Forest in the 1978 Football League Cup Final replay against Liverpool. He also scored the winner in the 1980 European Cup Final against Hamburg and provided the cross for the winning goal in the 1979 European Cup Final, scored by Trevor Francis, against Malmö FF.

Brian Clough, Robertson's manager at Nottingham Forest, was quoted as saying

"John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If one day, I felt a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn in comparison. But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist, the Picasso of our game."{{cite web

|url= https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1053374.html#the+things+they+say+brian+clough

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090511184519/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1053374.html#the+things+they+say+brian+clough

|url-status= dead

|archive-date= 11 May 2009

|title= They said it: Brian Clough

|publisher=FIFA

|access-date=1 May 2009

|date=1 May 2009

|quote=John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If one day I was feeling a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared to him. But give him a yard of grass and he was an artist. The Picasso of our game.}} In his autobiography Clough noted that "Rarely could there have been a more unlikely looking professional athlete... [He was a] scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time...but something told me he was worth persevering with." but that "[He] became one of the finest deliverers of a football I have ever seen – in Britain or anywhere else in the world – as fine as the Brazilians or the supremely gifted Italians."pp, 152, 155, Clough, Brian (1994), Clough: The Autobiography, Partridge Press Robertson's captain at Forest, John McGovern, later said that "John Robertson was like Ryan Giggs but with two good feet, not one. He had more ability than Ryan Giggs, his ratio of creating goals was better and overall he was the superior footballer", whilst Forest coach Jimmy Gordon rated Robertson as a better player than Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews, saying that he "had something extra on top".{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/19/john-robertson-interview-brian-clough-nottingham-forest-european-cup |title=John Robertson: 'It took Clough and Taylor for me to realise my talent' |last=McRae |first=Donald|date=19 October 2015 |work=The Guardian|access-date=19 October 2015}}

Robertson was sold to Derby County in June 1983 on a contested transfer (the fee was set by a tribunal) that soured the relationship between Clough and his former assistant Peter Taylor, but was injured soon after joining the team and failed to reproduce the form he had shown when he played for Forest. Although he rejoined Forest on a free transfer in August 1985, he remained well below his former best and moved to non-league Corby Town at the end of the 1985/86 season. He also had stints with Stamford and Grantham Town.

After retiring from playing, Robertson has been variously chief scout and assistant manager to former Nottingham Forest teammate Martin O'Neill at Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa.

Robertson was voted into first place in a 2015 poll by the Nottingham Post of favourite all-time Nottingham Forest players.{{cite news|url=http://www.nottinghampost.com/Nottingham-Forest-50-players-time-John-Robertson/story-26900434-detail/story.html|title=Nottingham Forest top 5 players of all-time: John Robertson simply the best |newspaper=Nottinghamshire Post|date=4 August 2018|publisher=Local World |accessdate=4 June 2021}}

Robertson's daughter, Jessica, was born in 1983 with cerebral palsy, which left her quadriplegic and unable to speak or control her movements. She had a short life expectancy. In 1994, Robertson and his former wife Sally challenged the hospital where Jessica was born for damages, claiming that they had caused her brain damage by a 12-hour delay to carry out a Caesarean section. However, they lost their High Court case.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Robertson's other daughter Liz appeared on the first ever episode of BBC's quiz show TNL: Who Dares Wins in 2007.

Robertson released his autobiography Supertramp in September 2012. He supported Rangers as a boy, but describes his time at Celtic as assistant to Martin O'Neill as the best years of his life in football.{{cite web

|url= http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/john-robertson-if-martin-oneill-calls-1087402

|title= John Robertson: If Martin O'Neill calls up I'll be back in football in a minute

|author=Mark Guidi

|work=Daily Record

|publisher=Media Scotland

|date=11 November 2011

|access-date=7 November 2013}}

Robertson suffered a suspected heart attack while playing tennis with former Forest teammate Liam O'Kane on 23 August 2013. Fans of Celtic, Derby County, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest took to social network sites to wish him well.[https://archive.today/20130827221235/http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Rams-star-John-Robertson-recovering-heart-scare/story-19709915-detail/story.html%23axzz2dD33s1fe This is Derbyshire]

!colspan="2"|Total

|-

!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals

|-

|rowspan="14"|Nottingham Forest

|1970–71

|First Division

|2||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||2||0

|-

|1971–72

|First Division

|13||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||13||0

|-

|1972–73

|Second Division

|32||4||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||35||4

|-

|1973–74

|Second Division

|5||0||2||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||5||0

|-

|1974–75

|Second Division

|20||0||4||1||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||25||1

|-

|1975–76

|Second Division

|39||5||2||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||45||5

|-

|1976–77

|Second Division

|41||6||5||3||2||0||colspan="2"|—||9||2||57||11

|-

|1977–78

|First Division

|42||12||6||3||8||3||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||56||18

|-

|1978–79

|First Division

|42||9||3||0||8||4||9||2||1||1||63||16

|-

|1979–80

|First Division

|42||11||2||1||10||4||9||3||2||0||65||19

|-

|1980–81

|First Division

|38||6||6||2||4||1||2||0||2||0||52||9

|-

|1981–82

|First Division

|36||2||1||0||5||1||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||42||3

|-

|1982–83

|First Division

|34||6||1||0||5||3||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||40||9

|-

!colspan="2"|Total

!386!!61!!35!!10!!47!!16!!20!!5!!14!!3!!502!!95

|-

|rowspan="3"|Derby County

|1983–84

|Second Division

|31||2||4||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||37||2

|-

|1984–85

|Third Division

|41||1||1||0||4||1||colspan="2"|—||2||0||48||2

|-

!colspan="2"|Total

!72!!3!!5!!0!!6!!1!!colspan="2"|—!!2!!0!!85!!4

|-

|rowspan="1"|Nottingham Forest

|1985–86

|First Division

|11||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||12||0

|-

!colspan="3"|Career total

!469!!64!!41!!10!!53!!17!!20!!5!!16!!3!!599!!99

|}

{{refbegin}}

:A. {{note|Other}} The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the FA Charity Shield, Anglo-Scottish Cup, Football League Trophy, European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.

{{refend}}

:Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first

Nottingham Forest{{cite web |url=http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/club/history/honours.aspx |title=Honours |access-date=9 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922192427/http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/club/history/honours.aspx |archive-date=22 September 2012|publisher=Nottingham Forest FC }}

• First Division: 1977–78
• League Cup: 1977–78, 1978–79
• FA Charity Shield: 1978
• European Cup: 1978–79, 1979–80
• European Super Cup: 1979
• Anglo-Scottish Cup: 1976–77

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{SFA profile}}
• [http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/players/johnneilsonrobertson.html John Robertson international stats] LondonHearts.com

{{Navboxes

| title = Awards

| fg = navy

| bg = gold

| list1 =

{{1976–77 Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year}}

{{1977–78 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year}}

{{Scottish Football Hall of Fame}}

{{English Football Hall of Fame}}

}}

{{Navboxes

| title = Scotland squads

| bg = #0C1C8C

| fg = #FFFFFF

| list1 =

{{Scotland squad 1978 FIFA World Cup}}

{{Scotland squad 1982 FIFA World Cup}}

}}

{{Grantham Town F.C. managers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, John}}

Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:Scottish men's footballers

Category:Scotland men's international footballers

Category:Derby County F.C. players

Category:Nottingham Forest F.C. players

Category:Stamford A.F.C. players

Category:Grantham Town F.C. managers

Category:Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff

Category:Celtic F.C. non-playing staff

Category:Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff

Category:Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff

Category:Wycombe Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff

Category:1978 FIFA World Cup players

Category:1982 FIFA World Cup players

Category:English Football League players

Category:People from Uddingston

Category:Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees

Category:English Football Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Drumchapel Amateur F.C. players

Category:Men's association football wingers

Category:Footballers from North Lanarkshire

Category:Scottish football managers

Category:UEFA Champions League–winning players