If you don’t hurt...try harder!
MOX MEETS... PAUL ROBINSON
IN A CAREER spanning 22 years and 762 first-team appearances, Birmingham City’s Paul Robinson has been around the block in professional football.
From the days of ‘win or lose, we’re on the booze’ to the era of the nine-figure transfer fee – the defender’s time in the game has spanned both.
From Watford to West Brom and Birmingham via Bolton, there are plenty who will vouch for Robinson’s determination and will.
But asked about the chances of any of today’s youngsters matching his longevity, Robinson’s honesty hits you like a brick in the face.
“I can’t see it,” he said. “We’ve got 18-yearold players on £40,000 a week. Come on, what sort of lifestyle is that encouraging?
“That’s the problem with modern-day football. Young players get bored – they are obsessed with social media.
“The reason why I’m playing – and I’m 39 later this year – is because I love it. Now? The kids have got no interest after four years.
“The clubs have got to have a structure. It has to be done structurally. The problem is that this Neymar deal has blown it all out of the water. And I’ll tell you one thing – it’s going to get worse.
“I’d like to see the Academy lads clearing out the dressing-rooms, blowing up the balls, cleaning the boots of the older professionals. It’s about growing up.
“It’s not about what car you drive into the car park. Most of them have only played Under-23 football but they are behind the wheel of these expensive cars.
“Honestly, they’ve not even played a single 90 minutes for the first-team. It annoys me, but I can’t do anything about it. So you have to bite your lip – but I’d like to see it go back to the old way.”
There might be the odd fleck of grey now in the hair, but Robinson’s physique puts to shame many players 15 years his junior.
And he believes that the current balance between the status of players and managers has tipped too far in favour of those out on the pitch – who don’t always know better. Robinson said: “Graham Taylor was the one that I looked up to. Graham turned me into a professional footballer. And he did that by being ruthless with me.
“He was ruthless with me and the other young lads. Eight of us came through the academy with Graham at Watford.
“He put me in my place. He never, ever let anyone get above their station. No one. If he saw you were getting too comfortable in the first team he would put you back in the reserves.
“It was a case of, ‘Have a little taste of that.’ He never spoke to me. He didn’t have to. I realised what it was that I had done.
“He would just leave you, Graham. He would let you stew. He would let you suffer.
“Then he would see you getting a little bit itchy. Then he would walk past you in the corridor with a smile on his face.
“The older professionals knew what was going on.
“You would be wondering if he was going to say something to you. He wouldn’t. He would just leave you dangling.
“He would say, ‘Morning’ with a big smile on his face. And nothing else. You don’t get that now. Too many managers have gone soft.
“I worry about some of them. With player-power now, they get into these little groups and they think they are bigger than the club.
“They aren’t, of course, but with the money you have to ask whether it [being left out] hurts as much.”
Robinson’s heading into management himself, when he’s finished playing – whenever that is.
“I’m not putting a time on that,” he said, “I still like to play. I get frustrated. I will keep doing that until my legs say to me, ‘That’s it’.
“And I’d like to think I’ll be honest enough to know when that is.”