Robert Scott (born 15 August 1973) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and manager who currently works as Head of Recruitment for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

as well as working for

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

within their Talent ID Education Department. As a player, he was a defender from 1992 to 2008, notably in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

and Macclesfield Town. He also played in Non-league football for

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

and Halifax Town. After retiring from the playing side of the sport in 2008 he became joint manager of Ilkeston Town along with former teammate Paul Hurst. The pair later took over

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

before joining Grimsby in 2011.

Playing career

As a player, Scott played as a defender from 1992 until 2008, starting his career with

. He notably played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

(where he scored once against Swindon Town) and Macclesfield Town. He also played for

and

on loan, and finished his career in 2008 with

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Halifax Town.

Management career

Ilkeston Town

Scott and former Rotherham teammate Paul Hurst were appointed joint managers of

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

outfit Ilkeston Town in January 2009. The pair led Ilkeston from ninth in the league to second, and ultimately promotion to

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

via the play-offs. Afterwards, uncertainty surrounded whether or not they would remain at the helm of the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

club due to the club's worrying financial position.

Boston United

In May 2009 Scott and Paul Hurst moved to York Street to sign as joint managers of

. In their first season at United they gained a second successive promotion to the

with a win in the play-off final, this was to complete a treble of trophies as they had already collected the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup and

Lincolnshire Senior Cup The Lincolnshire Senior County Cup is a football (soccer) competition for senior football clubs in Lincolnshire organised by the Lincolnshire FA. The competition can be traced back to the formation of the Lincolnshire FA at a meeting held at ...

Grimsby Town

On 22 March 2011, both Hurst and Scott resigned from Boston and the following morning they were both announced as the new management team of

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, replacing the sacked

Neil Woods Neil Stephen Woods (born 30 July 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is academy manager at Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a striker from 1983 to 2000 for Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Ipswich Town, Bra ...

. Grimsby who had suffered relegation from the

in the previous season had hoped for an instant return but following a mid-season slump that led to the sacking of the previous manager, Hurst and Scott could only manage to salvage an 11th place spot come the end of the 2010–11 campaign. During the summer months the duo bolstered Grimsby's ranks in order for a promotion push, but were hit by a blow as previous season's top scorer and player of the year Alan Connell left to join

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. The eventual signing of Liam Hearn was a more than suitable replacement as he scored 32 times during the 2011–12 season, a year which saw The Mariners slide away out of the contention of a play-off spot in the final few months of the season. Grimsby, like the year previously finished 11th in the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

. The 2012–13 season started slowly, but by Christmas Grimsby were top of the league and leading a closely contested pack of Newport County,

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

and

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

. On 6 January 2013 speculation about the pair's future at Blundell Park came into light when rumours circulated a potential move to

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

surfaced. Rovers who had lost manager

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and ...

earlier that day to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

were rumoured to have placed Scott and Hurst on their managerial shortlist. The rumour was quashed the following day with Hurst saying that the pair were focused on earning promotion with Grimsby. Grimsby went on to reach the final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

, but were defeated on a penalty shootout after drawing 1–1 with

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. The Mariners, despite leading the Conference for part of the season, dropped off towards the end of the year and had to settle for 4th place, eventually losing to Newport County in the play-off semi-finals. On 6 September 2013, joint manager Rob Scott was suspended due to reasons not revealed by the club, leaving Hurst in sole charge. On 19 September 2013, Grimsby confirmed Scott had been sacked for gross misconduct and that Hurst would remain in sole permanent charge.