Mark Robins

Manchester United

Robins played an important part in winning the FA Cup for Manchester United in 1990, which was the first trophy of manager Alex Ferguson's reign at the club, scoring the winning goal in the semi-final replay against Oldham Athletic. United were playing away from home against Nottingham Forest on 7 January 1990, in the FA Cup third round tie. It was widely speculated in the media (but perennially denied by then-chairman Martin Edwards) that under-pressure United manager Alex Ferguson would have been sacked had United lost and gone out of the Cup, as they were 15th in the league by this stage and had already been eliminated from the League Cup. Instead, Robins scored the winning goal from a Mark Hughes cross. That goal was a turning point in the history of the football club – Ferguson would keep his job and go on to achieve an unmatched run of success at the club over the next 23 years. In that season, Robins scored seven First Division goals and a further two in the FA Cup, bringing his tally that season to nine in all competitions. His goal in the FA Cup third round also had the distinction of making him the player to score the first goal of the 1990s for Manchester United. He also scored one of United's two goals in the semi-final replay where they beat Oldham Athletic. He was second only to Mark Hughes in the goalscoring charts at Old Trafford, while Hughes's regular strike-partner Brian McClair had managed a mere five league goals and it was…

Robins made his debut for the England under-21s at the Toulon Tournament in May 1990. He started the opening group game against Portugal as England lost 1−0. In the next game, he scored five goals against France in the 7−3 win, then followed that up with a goal against Russia as England qualified for the final. Robins played the whole game in the final as England beat Czechoslovakia to lift the trophy. On 11 September, he scored in the friendly against Hungary as England ran out 3−1 winners at The Dell. His last appearance was in the defeat against Poland during qualifying for the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Overall, Robins made six appearances for the U21s and scored seven goals.

Rotherham United

Robins joined Rotherham United in June 2000 as a player and subsequently as assistant manager, under manager Alan Knill. However, by the end of February 2007, the Millers sat 13 points adrift of safety, making the threat of relegation almost inevitable. This resulted in Knill being sacked on 1 March, with Robins becoming caretaker manager. After a spell of three wins in six games while in charge as caretaker manager, and moving the club off the bottom of League One, Robins's position was made permanent on 6 April 2007. Robins gained much praise for his first two seasons with the Millers. The first saw Rotherham consistently in the automatic promotion places until a late dip in form, and the second almost brought promotion despite a 17-point deduction imposed by the Football League. Robins also attracted several high calibre players to the Don Valley Stadium, including League 2 player of the season Nicky Law and prolific goalscorer Adam Le Fondre.

Barnsley

Robins was appointed as the new manager of Barnsley on 9 September 2009, succeeding Simon Davey. After his first game in charge, the Championship club sat at the bottom of the table looking likely candidates for relegation. By Christmas, Robins had taken them a full nine points clear of the relegation zone and on a run of eight games unbeaten. This was followed by a poor spell towards the end of the season, and Barnsley finished 18th in the table. Robins resigned from his job at the end of…

In 2024, Robins was awarded an honorary doctorate from Coventry University for his impact on both Coventry City Football Club and the city of Coventry itself.