|
While Michael Robinson may not be one of the most instantly recognisable
names to have graced a Liverpool shirt this isn't to say he wasn't a
good player. The fact is that in the 1980s Liverpool simply didn't
actually have any bad players. Instead, Robinson's failure to establish
himself as a Reds' favourite was more to do with the fact that he was at
Anfield at a time when the Ian Rush-Kenny Dalglish partnership was at
its most lethal. Michael was one of Joe Fagan's first signings for
Liverpool, snapped up from Brighton and Hove Albion for a fee of £200,
000 in the 1983-84 close season.
Despite only being 24 years of age,
Liverpool became the Leicester-born striker's fourth club, with the deal
taking his total combined transfer fees to almost £1.5 million - a fair
sum of money in the days before the multi million pound transfers, and a
clear indication of just how highly the Republic of Ireland
international was rated. While Robinson spent much of his time at
Liverpool as the third choice striker, behind Rush and Dalglish, when he
did get his chance in the Reds' attack he certainly never let the team
down. A hat-trick in a league match against West Ham on 15th October
1983, when he was paired up front alongside Rush with Dalglish playing
in a deeper role, proved his prowess in front of goal.
In Robinson's
first and, in fact, only full season at Anfield, Liverpool clinched
their first ever treble, winning the League, League Cup and European
Cup. The striker appeared as a substitute in both the League Cup final
against Everton - although he was only an unused sub for the replay -
and in the European final against Roma in their home city. In December
1984, perhaps understandably frustrated by the lack of first team
opportunities being presented to him at Anfield, Queens Park Rangers
became Robinson's fifth club, signing him for £100, 000. In his season
and a half at Anfield Michael made a total of 51 appearances in all
competitions, scoring 13 goals.
The Irish international spent the best
part of three seasons in west-London with QPR before he joined his
former Reds and Rangers' team mate Sammy Lee in Spain at Osasuna. (David Fuller)
1983–1984 Liverpool 30 (6)
1984–1986 Queens Park Rangers 48 (5)
1987–1989 Osasuna 59 (12)
After retiring Robinson began a broadcasting career in Spain as a commentator for Radio Televisión Española, covering the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
He later worked as a commentator and presenter on Cadena SER's El Larguero and then on the subscription channel Canal+, where he hosted the cult television show El día después for 14 years (1991–2005).
In addition to his television career, Robinson also did voice-over work on television adverts, as well as feature films – voicing the ugly sister in the dubbed Spanish versions of the Shrek films by DreamWorks Animation. In December 2018 he announced during a radio programme that he had incurable melanoma, which had metastsized. He died in Spain on 28th. April 20200 aged 61.
|