Ryan Robinson (born 13 October 1982) is an English

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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Career

Born in Kendal, Cumbria, Robinson began his career with

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 ...

, before being released in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, aged 20. He joined

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 ...

, where he got his first taste of first-team action, playing in two

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 ...

games. He was released by Southend after one year, and has since played for a number of

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

clubs –

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

and, since 2006,

Forest Green At right is displayed the color forest green. ''Forest green'' refers to a green color said to resemble the color of the trees and other plants in a forest. This web color, when written as computer code in HTML for website color display, is w ...

. Robinson moved near to his family home when he joined

. He quickly made the goalkeeper jersey his own through a series of excellent displays. However, after being injured Morecambe brought in loan keeper

Steven Drench Steven Mark Drench (born 11 September 1985) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Chorley. Club career Drench began his career with the Blackburn Rovers youth system. Following an injury to Ryan Robinson, he joined Confere ...

from nearby

. Drench similarly excelled and took Robinson's first-team spot. Following an injury to Drench, Robinson again took his place as first team goalkeeper. However a poor game saw him spend the remainder of the season on the bench. At the end of the 2005–06 season Drench signed for Morecambe and Robinson, unhappy at playing second fiddle, was allowed to leave and was quickly snapped up by former Morecambe manager

Jim Harvey James Harvey (born 2 May 1958) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player. Playing career As a player, Harvey began his career at Glenavon in his hometown of Lurgan, before joining Arsenal in 1977. He made only three Football Lea ...

who had just taken over at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. After two seasons at

The New Lawn The New Lawn, also known as The Bolt New Lawn for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It has been the home stadium of League One club Forest Green Rovers since 2006. During the 2007–08 season the sta ...

Robinson dropped into semi professional football when he signed for

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

in May 2009 after Forest Green failed to offer him a new contract. Robinson struggled for fitness for the early part of the 2009–10 season with Bath however after shaking off a back problem he began to feature regularly for Bath including a 2–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

second round defeat to his former side, Forest Green in November 2009. In May 2010, Robinson kept a clean sheet in the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the ...

play-off final to help earn Bath City promotion to the Conference National with a 1–0 victory over

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

. Following a season back in the top flight of non-league football, Robinsonw was released at the end of the 2010–11 season. Robinson featured as a triallist in a game for

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

against

Cirencester Town Cirencester Town Football Club is a football club based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA, the club are currently members of the and play at the Corinium Stadium. History The club was estab ...

on 9 July 2011 however was not in contention to win a contract as Cheltenham boss Mark Yates already had a signing lined up ahead of Robinson. He also featured again as a triallist with

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City ...

in July 2011 in a game against Pershore Town. In August 2011, Robinson made his debut for Evo Stik Southern Premier Division club

Evesham United Evesham United Football Club are an English football club based in Evesham, Worcestershire. They reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in the 2008–09 season. In 2005, they entered the Southern League Premier Divisi ...

in a game against

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

. Robinson also joined Conference side,

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, the ...

in September 2011 as a backup goalkeeper on non-contract terms. He was released by the club in May 2012. The following month he joined

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Honours

;Bath City *

Play-off Winner: 1 :: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Ryan 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Kendal Footballers from Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Southport F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Bath City F.C. players AFC Telford United players Evesham United F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Kendal Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players