Robert McKinnon (born 31 July 1966) is a Scottish former

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 ...

who played at both professional and international levels as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Active in Scotland, England, and the Netherlands, McKinnon made over 500 League appearances in a career which lasted from 1985 to 2002.

Career

Early years in England

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, McKinnon played youth football in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

where his father coached a team. He began his career playing

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

football with

Rutherglen Glencairn Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). Glencairn currently ...

before turning professional in 1985 with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

; however he only played one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

game for the ''Magpies'', a heavy defeat to

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

in which he was replaced by

Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and one of the best English footballers of ...

(whose career was also in its infancy). McKinnon moved on to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

, where he helped the club achieve promotion from English football's fourth tier in 1990–91. He also spent a short time on loan at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, although he did not play a competitive match for them.

Motherwell

In January 1992 McKinnon returned to Scotland and joined

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

club

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. He formed part of a strong team built by manager

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dundee United. E ...

and his successor

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

- Motherwell achieved third place in 1993–94 and were runners-up in 1994–95, and McKinnon gained international recognition along with teammates

Chris McCart Christopher McCart (born 17 April 1967) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a defender. Playing career McCart was born in Baillieston. He started his career at Motherwell where he was voted player of the year in 1991. McCart spent th ...

, Brian Martin and

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-o ...

. However, Motherwell could not afford the wages to keep the players, and McKinnon and Lambert decided to move to continental clubs on a free transfer when their contracts expired in summer 1996 under the recently implemented

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of associati ...

. Lambert signed for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, and McKinnon made the move to Dutch football, joining

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

Eredivisie and return

McKinnon played regularly with Twente in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

for two seasons – in

the first The First or The 1st may refer to: Arts and entertainment Albums * The 1st (album), ''The 1st'' (album), by Willow, 2017 * The First (Shinee album), ''The First'' (Shinee album), 2011 * The First (single album), by NCT Dream, 2017 Television * T ...

, the team finished third and qualified for the following year's

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He returned to Scotland with Hearts on another free transfer, but was unable to hold down a regular place in the side. He went back to Hartlepool on loan during

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, and had another loan with

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 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

before being released by Hearts. He then moved down the divisions with

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

for two seasons, before reverting to Junior football in 2002 with

Bellshill Athletic Bellshill Athletic Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish football (soccer), football club based in the town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire. It plays in the . History The history of the club can be traced back as far as 1897 when Bellshill Ath ...

where he had a period as player-coach alongside former Motherwell teammate Tommy Coyne. Finally he turned out for hometown club East Kilbride Thistle at the age of 39.

International

McKinnon was capped three times by the Scottish national side between 1993 and 1995 while playing with Motherwell, as well as appearing for the

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

in the same period.

Personal life

His nephew

Ross McKinnon Ross McKinnon (1914-1962) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Born in Sydney, Oberon, New South Wales, he played for the Sydney University rugby league team, University, Sydney Roosters, Eastern Suburbs, New South Wales Rugby ...

is also a footballer and plays as a defender.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1989–90 Fourth Division * SPFA Team of the Year: 1994

References

External links

* * * *
Newcastle profile
at ''Toon1892''
Hartlepool profile
at ''In The Mad Crowd''

at ''FC Twente-Files''

at ''London Hearts'' {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Rob 1966 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Men's association football fullbacks Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Bellshill Athletic F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players FC Twente players Eredivisie players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Premier League players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Footballers from East Kilbride Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands