Kop star who went on to reign in Spain
HE WAS AS LOVED AS SEVE
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LEAVING a Madrid restaurant, two sportsmen were approached by autograph hunters.
They politely signed, one of them a little busier than the other, responding to six requests compared to his friend’s one.
The more sought-after signature belonged to Michael Robinson. The other? Seve Ballesteros.
Robinson told this amusing tale to his pal Graeme Souness, who was reduced to tears as he relayed it on the news of his former teammate’s passing.
As was his manner, Robinson was having a laugh but the anecdote summed up one half of his life.
He was a very good player – you do not become a record signing for Manchester City, star for Brighton in an FA Cup final and go on to lift the European Cup with Liverpool, without being a very good player.
But Robinson did something else, something quite remarkable.
He became a voice of football in a foreign land – in Spain, where they take their football and their punditry mighty seriously.
Scroll down the social media tributes to Robinson and you will find every La Liga club has posted.
“A person who loved football and knew how to explain it with knowledge and ingenuity,” said FC Barcelona, whose president Josep Maria Bartomeu thanked Robinson for his “vision”, his “kindness” and his “intelligence”.
Robinson was not, of course, as famous as Seve in Spain but he was respected and loved.
Having closed his playing career with a couple of seasons at Osasuna, Robinson fell in love with the Spanish (left) way. A relative rarity, he was a British footballing export who embraced the culture, the language and the life.
And what followed his playing days was a 30-year career in the Spanish media, a daunting environment at the best of times.
But the way he was among us – easy-going, cheerful, insightful, fair, charming, eloquent – is the way he was in front of the camera.
That is why he was loved by the Spanish.
But as the likes of Rafael Nadal paid moving tributes to their adopted countryman, his second career should not overshadow his first.
To those of us growing up in the Eighties, the winning smile that became a natural trademark was a familiar sight.
Not as familiar as it might have been when Malcolm Allison’s City paid Preston North End £750,000 for
Robinson in 1979. After a relatively brief stay at Maine Road, Robinson enjoyed a fantastic spell at Brighton, scoring 37 league goals in 113 appearances.
But it was in that FA Cup run in 1982-83 that Robinson cemented his status as a club icon.
He scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday and, in the final against Manchester United, set up one of the most infamous missed chances in English football history.
“And Smith must score.”
He did not – and Brighton lost a replay – but Robinson would collect silverware in the one-season stint he loved at Anfield, coming on as a substitute against Roma in the 1984 European Cup final, which Liverpool went on to win on penalties.
Although unable to force a regular place in a starting line-up that featured a certain Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, Robinson – who won 24 caps for the Republic of Ireland – also picked up a League Cup and league title medal and scored a memorable ‘perfect’ hat-trick against West Ham.
Just as memorable was a League Cup quarter-final goal from the halfway line for QPR against Chelsea and after his time at Loftus Road, he headed for Pamplona and his time with Osasuna would change his life.
Here, Robinson will be remembered for that infectious grin that sparkled like the big-eared trophy in his hand on Liverpool’s memorable night in Rome.
In Spain, he will be remembered for his wit, his wisdom and his warmth.
Michael John Robinson, he legacy home and abroad. left a