Paul Robinson

Leeds United

Born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, Robinson played local Sunday league football in the Hull Boys Sunday League. He played in the York City youth system before coming through the youth ranks at Leeds United after joining following a trial. He won the FA Youth Cup with Leeds during the 1996–97 season, and kept a clean sheet on his senior debut, a 0–0 draw against Chelsea on 25 October 1998. Robinson's appearances at Leeds were at first sporadic, although he did play in a UEFA Champions League match against Barcelona, which finished 1–1. He was Leeds' number two goalkeeper behind Nigel Martyn, making five league appearances in his debut season and none in the following season. He made 16 appearances in the 2000–01 season, following Martyn sustaining an injury, but did not play a league match in the following season. Terry Venables dropped Martyn after he requested a break from pre-season training after the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Robinson became Leeds' number one goalkeeper as a result, with Robinson playing in all 38 matches of the 2002–03 season. Martyn left for Everton at the start of the following season, with young goalkeepers Danny Milosevic and Scott Carson taking over as backups for Robinson. During the 2003–04 season, Robinson scored his first professional goal, a header against Swindon Town in the closing moments of a League Cup match. The goal levelled the scores and forced extra time; with no further goals scored during extra time, the match then…

Between 1999 and 2002, Robinson made 14 appearances for the England under-21s. He was first included in the full international squad by Peter Taylor in a friendly against Italy on 15 November 2000, where he was an unused substitute. His next appearance on the England bench came two years later, under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, who selected him for a friendly match against Portugal on 7 September 2002, where he once again remained an unused substitute. He won his first cap in a 3–1 defeat against Australia on 12 February 2003, a match notable for the entire England team being substituted at half-time (at which point Robinson was brought on in place of David James). He won three more caps that year, all in friendlies, and on all occasions he was brought on at half-time. He made his first international start in a 6–1 victory over Iceland on 5 June 2004, with the match being England's final match before the UEFA Euro 2004 finals. Robinson was part of England's Euro 2004 squad, selected as an understudy to David James, although he made no appearances in the tournament. Although David James remained as England's starting goalkeeper in a 2–2 draw against Austria in the first 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match, Robinson started every subsequent match, keeping six clean sheets in nine competitive appearances, with a further three in seven friendly matches before the tournament. At the World Cup finals in Germany, Robinson was named in England's World Cup squad and was…

Considered by several pundits, players, and managers to be one of England's and the Premier League's best goalkeepers in his prime, Robinson was a commanding goalkeeper, who was mainly known for his shot-stopping, reflexes, agility, and ability to make acrobatic and decisive saves in his prime; he also generally had a good positional sense, although it was occasionally brought into question by pundits throughout his career. However, he also came under criticism in the media for lacking composure and being prone to errors on occasion, and was accused by certain pundits of not always being effective at dealing with long–range shots. While he was not known for being particularly accurate in his distribution, he was also known for his powerful and deep goal kicks.

Watford

Robinson began his football career in the youth system of his hometown town club, Watford. He made his first-team debut as a second-minute substitute in a 1–1 draw against Luton Town on 29 October 1996, aged 17. He went on to make 12 more appearances that season. In Watford's Division Two Championship-winning season of 1997–98, Robinson was in and out of the side. He often played when the side reverted to the 4–4–2 formation from their usual 3–5–2. In 1998–99, with the club playing 4–4–2, Robinson became a regular half-way through the season and featured in the club's run to the play-offs. In a match against Port Vale on 29 April 1999, Robinson made a poor tackle on Vale player Stewart Talbot, breaking both bones in Talbot's lower leg. The injury kept Talbot out of the game for 10 months and resulted in a "six-figure" out-of-court settlement. Out of 252 Watford appearances he was booked 63 times and sent off three times. One of these sendings off came in the 1998–99 play-off semi-final against Birmingham City, which saw him miss the second leg. He did feature, however, in the club's 2–0 play-off victory against future employers Bolton Wanderers. Robinson made 32 appearances for Watford in their 1999–2000 FA Premier League season, and stayed with the club when they were relegated to Division One, making a further 124 league appearances for Watford in the second tier over the next four seasons and taking his totals to nine goals from 252 appearances in all…

After 175 first-team appearances at Birmingham City, he retired as a player in 2018 but remained with the club as assistant senior professional development coach working with the U23 team, and in June 2019 was appointed lead professional development coach, a post that included responsibility for the under-18s. He left the club in August 2020. On 1 July 2021, he was appointed as first-team coach at Millwall working alongside Gary Rowett, one of his former managers at Birmingham. After leaving Millwall in November 2023, In March 2024, Robinson was named first-team technical coach of Birmingham City to assist Rowett, newly appointed as interim manager until the end of the season. In October 2024, Robinson returned to former club Watford as assistant coach. In January 2025, his role changed to see him work on the opposition analysis team. In February 2026, Robinson joined the first-team coaching staff of National League North club Oxford City.

Robinson attended Beverley Grammar School as a child. He has a daughter and two sons.

Robinson was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, and attended St. Michael's Catholic High School in Garston. He captained their football team to the English Schools' Football Association Under-16s Cup Final at Prenton Park, the home of Tranmere Rovers, in 1995. Robinson is married to Caroline. As of October 2010, they have three sons, Luke, Jamie and Archie.

Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 2007–08 Football League Championship