Paul Robinson (goalkeeper)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Paul Robinson


fullname = Paul William Robinson
height = height|meter=1.90
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|10|15|df=y
cityofbirth = Beverley
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Blackburn Rovers
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1997–2004
2004–2008
2008–
clubs = Leeds United
Tottenham Hotspur
Blackburn Rovers
caps(goals) = 095 (0)
137 (1)
005 (0)
nationalyears = 2003–
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 041 (0)
pcupdate = 10:59, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:49, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Paul William Robinson (born 15 October, 1979 in Beverley, [cite web|url=http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Archive/?pf=p&i=5848&
] East Riding of Yorkshire) is an English football goalkeeper who plays for Blackburn Rovers. He is an experienced international goalkeeper.

He started his career with Leeds United, where he played 95 league games and also scored a goal in a League Cup tie. In 2004, following Leeds' relegation from the Premier League, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur. He played 137 games with Spurs, scoring another goal, before he was signed by Blackburn Rovers in 2008. He has also earned more than 40 caps for his country.

Club career

Leeds United

Having come through the youth ranks at Leeds United, Robinson made his debut against Chelsea in 1998, keeping a clean sheet. In the 2003-04 season he scored his first professional goal against Swindon Town in the closing moments of a League Cup game, forcing extra time. The game went to penalties, two of which were saved by Robinson to help his team to victory. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/3125082.stm
title=Robinson inspires Leeds
date=24 September, 2003
publisher=BBC Sport] However, he faced much worse times in the Premier league, conceding 77 goals in 36 games. [ [http://www.11v11.co.uk/index.php?pageID=537&playerID=3864 Paul Robinson : Biography ] ] Despite this somewhat dubious record Tottenham Hotspur's Director of Football David Pleat was not dissuaded in his pursuit of Robinson.

Tottenham Hotspur

Robinson transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in May, 2004, for a fee of £1,500,000.

On March 17, 2007, Robinson scored the second goal of his professional career, in a Premier League game against Watford at White Hart Lane. He took a free-kick from just outside of his own penalty area (85 metres, or 93 yards from the opposition goal) and the ball bounced over the head of Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster, and into goal. [cite news
url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/Observer_Match_Report/0,,2036571,00.html
title=Robinson on right end of freak goal as Spurs ease to win
first=Anna
last=Kessel
date=2007-03-18
publisher=The Observer ] He became the third goalkeeper in Premier League history (excluding own goals) to score after Peter Schmeichel for Aston Villa in 2001 and Brad Friedel for Blackburn Rovers in 2004, although of the three only Robinson's team went on to win the match. He was also the third goalscoring goalkeeper in the English league in the 2006-07 season, following goals from Gavin Ward for Tranmere Rovers and Mark Crossley for Sheffield Wednesday.

Robinson captained the team in their 1-0 Football League Cup quarter-final win over Southend United, [cite news
url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,,-70670,00.html
title=Defoe strikes in extra-time to finish Southend
publisher=The Guardian
date=December 21, 2006
first=Simon
last=Burnton] and in their 0-0 FA Cup third round draw at Cardiff City as Ledley King and Robbie Keane were both injured. [cite news
url=http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/6344682
title=FAC: Cardiff City 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
publisher=RivalsDM
date=January 7, 2007]

Following a number of goalkeeping errors in the 2007–08 season, including one against Reading, when he carried a harmless looking lob over his own goal line, new Tottenham manager Juande Ramos dropped Robinson in favour of Radek Cerny. Robinson returned to the starting line-up some 10 games later on 21 February, 2008 in Tottenham's second leg 3-2 aggregate win over Slavia Prague in the UEFA Cup.

Robinson collected the first major trophy of his career in Tottenham's 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final. [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/CarlingCupDetail/0,,10794~1249049,00.html Carling Cup Match Report] ]

Blackburn Rovers

He joined Blackburn Rovers on 25 July 2008, for a fee of £3.5 million on a five-year deal, making him Paul Ince's first signing at the club. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/7526434.stm
title=Keeper Robinson joins Blackburn
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-07-25
accessdate=2008-07-25] On July 29th, it was confirmed during an interview that he would be wearing the Blackburn No.1 jersey left behind by the departure of Brad Friedel. On 30th July, he made his Blackburn Rovers debut in a 2-1 victory against Northwich Victoria. He is currently the first choice goalkeeper in the Blackburn squad.

International career

Robinson has played 41 times for England. He was part of the Euro 2004 squad, as understudy to David James, making no appearances in the tournament. In the subsequent qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup he replaced James as England's first choice goalkeeper.

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Robinson was named in England's World Cup squad for the finals in Germany and was an ever present in England's campaign, keeping clean sheets in four out of five games that he played. He conceded no goals to Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago during the group stage. After the opening World Cup game against Paraguay, when his counterpart Justo Villar was injured 7 minutes into the match, ending his tournament early, Robinson sent Villar his gloves as a gesture of good will after England won 1-0. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_football/5209102.stm
first=Tim
last=Vickery
title=Tim Vickery column
publisher=BBC Sport
date=July 24, 2006] During the knockout rounds, he kept clean sheets against Ecuador in the round of 16 and Portugal in the quarter-finals, although the latter prevailed 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out to end England's campaign.

On 11 October, 2006, during a Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia, an unexpected bobble on a backpass from Gary Neville caused Robinson to miss the ball completely as he tried to clear it out of the penalty area, resulting in an own goal to put Croatia 2-0 up. [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/6035559.stm
title=Croatia 2-0 England
publisher=BBC Sport
first=Phil
last=McNulty
date=October 11, 2006] Robinson later described the incident as a freak. [cite news
url=http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2006/10/CroatiaReaction.htm |title='A freak goal'
publisher=TheFA.com
date=October 11, 2006] On 22 August 2007, Robinson made a mistake to gift Germany their first goal in England's first loss at the new Wembley Stadium, with a final scoreline of 2-1. He was substituted at half-time by James. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/6954720.stm BBC Football - England 1 - 2 Germany] ]

Robinson was not included in the squad for new England manager Fabio Capello's first game in charge, however he was included in his second squad for the match against France due to an injury to fellow ex-Leeds United goalkeeper Scott Carson. [ [http://goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=568805 Goal.com - Internationals - Capello's First England Squad: Heskey And Owen In, Robinson And Becks Out ] ]

Personal life

Paul Robinson was born at the Beverley Westwood hospital and attended Beverley Grammar School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, England.

Whilst playing for Leeds he moved to a mansion in the famous village of Stamford Bridge. He is married to Rebecca, his childhood sweetheart. The couple currently live in North-West London with their daughter Lucy May and son, Jack, born 14 January 2008.

On 4 September 2005, burglars raided his mansion while he was in Cardiff for the 2006 World Cup qualifier win over Wales. His wife and daughter were not at the house at the time of the raid. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4215614.stm BBC NEWS | England | London | England goalkeeper's home burgled ] ]

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur
*Carling Cup: 2007-08

Career stats

^{Correct as of 3 October 2008}

References

External links

*soccerbase|13466|Paul Robinson
* [http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/players/paulrobinson.html Official Tottenham Hotspur Profile]
* [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Archive/?pf=p&i=5848 TheFA.com profile]
*FIFA player|214963|Paul Robinson
* [http://www.football-lineups.com/players/player.php?route=579 Profile] at Football-Lineups.com