Matthew Robinson (footballer, born 1974)

Matthew Robinson

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Richard Robinson
Date of birth	(1974-12-23) 23 December 1974 (age 48)
Place of birth	Exeter, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Full back
Youth career
	Dorset Schools
	Southampton
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1998	Southampton	14	(0)
1998–2000	Portsmouth	69	(1)
2000–2002	Reading	65	(0)
2002–2006	Oxford United	171	(4)
2006–2007	Forest Green Rovers	30	(1)
2007–2009	Salisbury City	56	(1)
2009–2010	AFC Totton	?	(?)
2010–2012	Swindon Supermarine	61	(3)
Managerial career
2011	Swindon Supermarine
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Matthew Richard Robinson (born 23 December 1974) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.

As a player, he was a full back who notably played in the Premier League for Southampton, before switching to rivals Portsmouth. He later played in the Football League for Reading and Oxford United before moving into non-league football with Forest Green Rovers and Totton.

He later had a spell as player/manager of Swindon Supermarine, before later joining Chippenham Town as a coach.

Playing career

Having represented Dorset Schools, Robinson joined Southampton as a trainee in July 1991, signing as a professional in 1993. His career at Southampton suffered from the rapid turnover of managers and in little over four years, he served under five different managers. He only made 14 appearances (of which 11 were from the bench) for Southampton before joining Portsmouth for £50,000 in February 1998. ^[1]

At Portsmouth, he was Alan Ball's second signing as manager and he went straight into the side at left-back. His career also suffered from frequent managerial changes, but in his two years at Fratton Park, Robinson chalked up more than 75 games, including 69 league appearances and scoring one goal, ^[2] before moving to Reading in a £150,000 deal in January 2000. ^[1]

Robinson played another 75 league and cup games for Reading before he headed to Oxford United in July 2002 on a free transfer. A regular for Oxford, Robinson amassed 192 games in just over four years.

Another free transfer took him to Forest Green Rovers in September 2006 where he made thirty Conference appearances. In May 2007, he joined Salisbury City on a part-time basis and is now training to be a police officer. After a successful period with Salisbury, Robinson left the club and signed for A.F.C. Totton in February 2009.

In 2010, Robinson joined Southern League side Swindon Supermarine as player-manager. The 2011–12 season was a hard season for Swindon Supermarine finishing third from bottom under the management of Matt Robinson and Gary Horgan. With the appointment of Highworth manager Dave Webb and assistant Lee Spalding the club hoped Robinson would still play for the club and Horgan would take a coaching role.^{[ citation needed ]} Robinson left Supermarine in April 2012. ^[3]

Personal life

Robinson is now a Police Officer. ^[4]

In November 2021, Robinson spoke candidly about how it was difficult to be accepted by Portsmouth fans following his transfer from Southampton. ^[5]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Southampton
	1994–95 [6]	Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	1995–96 [6]	Premier League	5	0	2	0	0	0	—		7	0
	1996–97 [6]	Premier League	7	0	1	0	0	0	—		8	0
	1997–98 [6]	Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	Total		14	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	17	0
Portsmouth
	1997–98 [7]	First Division	15	0	0	0	0	0	—		15	0
	1998–99 [8]	First Division	29	1	2	0	1	0	—		32	1
	1999–2000 [9]	First Division	25	0	1	0	4	0	—		30	0
	Total		69	1	3	0	5	0	0	0	77	1
Reading
	1999–2000 [10]	Second Division	19	0	0	0	0	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	20	0
	2000–01 [11]	Second Division	32	0	2	0	2	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	39	0
	2001–02 [12]	Second Division	14	0	0	0	2	0	—		16	0
	Total		65	0	2	0	4	0	4	0	75	0
Oxford United
	2002–03 [13]	Third Division	42	1	3	0	3	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	49	1
	2003–04 [14]	Third Division	40	1	0	0	2	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	43	1
	2004–05 [15]	League Two	45	2	1	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	48	2
	2005–06 [16]	League Two	44	0	4	0	1	0	3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	52	0
	Total		171	4	8	0	7	0	6	0	192	4
Forest Green Rovers	2006–07 [17]	Conference National	30	1	0	0	—		—		30	1
Salisbury City
	2007–08 [18]	Conference Premier	43	0	0	0	—		—		43	0
	2008–09 [19]	Conference Premier	13	1	0	0	—		—		13	1
	Total		56	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	56	1
Swindon Supermarine
	2009–10 [20]	Southern Premier	25	0	1	0	—		5 [lower-alpha 3]	1	31	1
	2010–11 [21]	Southern Premier	27	2	6	1	—		3 [lower-alpha 4]	0	36	3
	2011–12 [22]	Southern Premier	9	1	0	0	—		4 [lower-alpha 5]	0	13	1
	Total		61	3	7	1	0	0	12	1	80	5
Career total			466	10	23	1	16	0	22	1	527	12

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. Appearances in 2001 play-offs
3. Appearances in FA Trophy (1 appearance) and Southern League Cup (4 appearances, 1 goal)
4. Appearances in FA Trophy
5. Appearances in FA Trophy (1 appearance) and Southern League Cup (3 appearances)

References

1. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. pp. 571–572. ISBN   0-9534474-3-X.
2. Juson, Dave (2004). Saints v Pompey - A history of unrelenting rivalry. Hagiology Publishing. p. 230. ISBN   0-9534474-5-6.
3. "Players". Swindonsupermarinefc.com. Retrieved 1 January 2013.^{[ dead link ]}
4. "Matt Robinson". Where are they now?. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
5. Allen, Neil (11 November 2021). "Matt Robinson: I crossed the divide, not realising the rivalry. Pompey fans never let me forget my Southampton stigma" . Retrieved 22 December 2021.
6. "Player search: Robinson, MR (Matt)" . English National Football Archive. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
7. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
8. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
9. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
10. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
11. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
12. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
13. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
14. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
15. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
16. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
17. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
18. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
19. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
20. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2009/2010". swindonsupermarinefc.com. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
21. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2010/2011". swindonsupermarinefc.com. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
22. "Games played by Matthew Robinson in 2010/2011". swindonsupermarinefc.com. Retrieved 6 December 2022.

External links

• Matthew Robinson at Soccerbase