Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game be ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the manager of club Oxford United.

Playing career

Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town,

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

, Marine,

Oswestry Town Oswestry Town Football Club was a football club from Shropshire, playing at Victoria Road. They joined the Birmingham League in 1924 and switched to the Cheshire County League in 1959. In 1975 they made the move to the Southern League before ...

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the west ...

Kidsgrove Athletic Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. is an English football club based in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England currently playing in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team, nicknamed "The Grove", play their home games at Hollinwood Road, Clough ...

, Prescot Cables,

St Helens Town St Helens Town Association Football Club is an English football club based in St. Helens. The club are members of the , and as from season 2016–17 play their home matches at Ruskin Drive Sports Ground, which they share with local rivals Pilk ...

Alsager Town Alsager Town Football Club is a association football, football club, based in Alsager, Cheshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at Wood Park Stadium. Affiliated to the Cheshire County Football Association, they also operate ...

and

Warrington Town Warrington Town Football Club is an association football club based in Warrington, Cheshire. They were established in 1949 under the name of Stockton Heath, adopting their current name in 1961. They currently compete in and play at Cantilever P ...

Style of play

Robinson played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, being described as a "big, powerful centre forward", and later in his career played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Coaching and management career

Robinson coached at the

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

and later worked as a coach at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Milton Keynes Dons

He was appointed

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of League One club Milton Keynes Dons on 10 May 2010, having previously been the club's assistant manager under previous boss

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, sta ...

. At 29 years of age, he was the youngest manager at the time 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

coach

John Gorman John Gorman may refer to: * John Gorman (director) (1884–1936), American movie director * John Gorman (entertainer) (born 1936), English vocalist and musician * John Gorman (politician) (1923–2014), Northern Ireland politician * John Gorman (fo ...

was named his number two. In the 2010–11 season, his first season in charge, Robinson guided MK Dons to 5th place in League One. This was regarded as a good achievement, improving on the Dons' points total over the previous season. The team lost in the play-offs to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

over two legs. In the 2011–12 season, he continued making impressive strides, attracting big-name players and guiding his side to another 5th-place finish and was again in the play-offs. During the season, he signed a three-year contract extension. In 2014–15, Robinson masterminded arguably MK Dons' greatest victory, a 4–0

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

win over Manchester United, as well as leading the Dons to promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

for the first time when they finished as runners-up in League One. On 20 July 2015, Robinson signed a contract extension alongside the club's Head of Coaching, Richie Barker, though MK Dons did not publicise the length of either deal. Robinson's MK Dons suffered relegation from the Championship during the 2015–16 season, finishing in 23rd position. On 23 May 2016, it was revealed that Robinson had turned down an offer from Massimo Cellino to become

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

's Head Coach. In October 2016, he was relieved of his duties following a 3–0 defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

the previous day, which took the club's winless run to four games.

Charlton Athletic

Robinson was named the new Charlton Athletic manager on 24 November 2016 following the sacking of Russell Slade, taking full charge of the club from Monday 28 November. He departed by mutual consent in March 2018.

Oxford United

On 22 March 2018, Robinson was appointed as the new head coach of League One club Oxford United, joining on the same day as his departure from Charlton Athletic. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, extended to 2022 in August 2019. In his first season in charge, Oxford finished in 12th place. In December 2019, Robinson was charged by the Football Association for using abusive language to a match official. Oxford were adjudged to have finished the COVID-affected 2019–20 season in 4th place in the League on average points per game; they reached the play-off final but lost 2–1 to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

. The following season Oxford again reached the play-off places, finishing 6th in League One before losing to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

in the first round of the playoffs 6–3 on aggregate.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a manager

Milton Keynes Dons *

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Lea ...

runners-up: 2014–15 Individual * Football League One Manager of the Month: August 2011, January 2015, April 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Karl 1980 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Caernarfon Town F.C. players Marine F.C. players Bamber Bridge F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players St Helens Town A.F.C. players Alsager Town F.C. players Warrington Town F.C. players Cymru Premier players English football managers Milton Keynes Dons F.C. managers Charlton Athletic F.C. managers Oxford United F.C. managers English Football League managers Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches