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Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Stoke City. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier League with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City.
Robins began his career with Manchester United. During this period, he scored a goal against Nottingham Forest in a 1989–90 FA Cup tie that has subsequently been credited with "saving" manager Alex Ferguson's job at Old Trafford. After spending time with Norwich and Leicester, Robins went on to play for Reading, Manchester City, Walsall, Rotherham United, Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League. Robins also played across Europe during spells with Copenhagen, CD Ourense, and Panionios before finishing his career with Burton Albion in the Conference National.
In 2007, he became manager of Rotherham United, and joined Barnsley in the same capacity in 2009, before leaving in 2011, following differences between him and the board. In 2012, he became manager of Coventry City until 2013 when he joined Huddersfield Town. Robins left Huddersfield Town in 2014 by mutual agreement. A few months later he became manager of Scunthorpe United before leaving in 2016.
In March 2017, Robins rejoined Coventry City and a few months later won the EFL Trophy. In the 2017–18 season, Robins won the EFL League Two play-offs with the Sky Blues and were promoted to League One. After a solid eighth placed finish in League One in the 2018–19 season, Robins led Coventry to promotion to the EFL Championship as League One Champions in the 2019–20 season. He followed that up by guiding Coventry to a respectable 16th placed finish in the EFL Championship in the 2020–21 season, and further improved upon this with a 12th placed finish in the 2021–22 season. In the 2022–23 season, Robins led Coventry to a fifth place finish in the EFL Championship, qualifying for promotion play-offs. Coventry City met Luton Town at Wembley Stadium in the final, where they ultimately lost on penalties. In the 2023–24 season saw Robins lead Coventry to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1987, where they lost to his former club Manchester United. Robins left Coventry in November 2024 and later was appointed manager of Stoke City in January 2025.
In that season, Robins scored seven First Division goals and a further two in the FA Cup, bringing his tally that season to nine in all competitions. His goal in the FA Cup third round also had the distinction of making him the player to score the first goal of the 1990s for Manchester United. He also scored one of United's two goals in the semi-final replay where they beat Oldham Athletic.
He was second only to Mark Hughes in the goalscoring charts at Old Trafford, while Hughes's regular strike-partner Brian McClair had managed a mere five league goals and it was starting to look as though Robins could displace McClair as the club's regular second striker. However, McClair recovered his goalscoring form in 1990–91, and Robins managed only 19 First Division appearances and four goals. He was, however, in the squad that won the European Cup Winners' Cup that season. September was a good month for him, as he scored twice in a 3–1 home win over Queens Park Rangers in the league and the winning goal in a visit to Luton Town.
However, the 1991–92 season was a frustrating one for Robins as he played just twice in the league, failing to score, and in total made just eight appearances in all competitions. His only goals that season came in the League Cup second round at home to Portsmouth, when he scored twice in a 3–1 win at Old Trafford. When the opportunity for a place returned in the first team arose in April as fixture congestion took its toll on an increasingly goal-shy United, who were being overhauled by Leeds United in the title race, Robins was injured and unavailable for selection.
On 19 November 1991, he collected a European Super Cup winner's medal (as an unused substitute) as United beat Red Star Belgrade in the game at Old Trafford.
Following a frustrating season, and with United looking to sign a new striker, he asked to be transfer listed.
In his first game, his two goals helped Norwich defeat Arsenal 4–2 at Highbury Stadium on the opening day of the first ever Premier League season. The Canaries were 2–0 down with a quarter of the game remaining before Robins scored the club's first Premier League goal in the 69th minute, followed swiftly by goals from wingers David Phillips and Ruel Fox, before Robins completed a 4–2 triumph with an 84th-minute goal. On 9 November 1992, he became the first English player to score a hat-trick and the first player to achieve that in an away game in the Premier League in a 3-2 win against Oldham Athletic.
He helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup at the end of the 1992–93 season, in which Norwich finished third in the Premier League, having led the league at several stages and featured in the title race until well into April, before his old club Manchester United finally won the title. His 1993–94 season was interrupted by a serious injury, and coincided with a slump in form for Norwich, who finished 12th, after spending most of the first half of the season in the top five.
Leicester loaned Robins to Copenhagen in 1996. He played six games for the Danish club, scoring four goals. Among the FC Copenhagen supporters, Robins and his then attacking partner Michael Manniche got the nicknames "Batmanne and Robins".
After falling out of favour at Rotherham, Robins joined Sheffield Wednesday in December 2003. As he had done at Bristol City, Robins made an impressive debut for his new club in the Football League Trophy, scoring twice as Wednesday defeated Carlisle United.
Robins ended his playing career at Conference side Burton Albion, whom he joined after leaving Sheffield Wednesday in 2004. He stayed at Burton until leaving to take up an assistant manager role at Rotherham United in January 2005.
Robins gained much praise for his first two seasons with the Millers. The first saw Rotherham consistently in the automatic promotion places until a late dip in form, and the second almost brought promotion despite a 17-point deduction imposed by the Football League. Robins also attracted several high calibre players to the Don Valley Stadium, including League 2 player of the season Nicky Law and prolific goalscorer Adam Le Fondre.
Robins became a fan-favourite catapulting them up the league from relegation battlers to play-off contenders in the short time that he had been at the club.
Robins took the club to the Area Final of the Football League Trophy which left the club two games away from Wembley Stadium. Coventry City also had to face two Premier League clubs away from home during his time. The first being Arsenal in the League Cup third round, which resulted in a 6–1 defeat and the second being Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur which ended as a 3–0 loss, knocking the Sky Blues out of the FA Cup third round.
Robins was first linked with the vacant managerial positions at Doncaster Rovers and Blackpool. On 12 February 2013, Coventry City released a statement saying they had allowed Robins to go into talks with Huddersfield Town about their vacant managerial position.
After surviving the following season, Robins and Huddersfield mutually agreed to part company after the first game of the 2014–15 season, a 4–0 home defeat to AFC Bournemouth.
On 2 April 2017, Robins led Coventry to a 2–1 victory over Oxford United in the EFL Trophy final at Wembley. Robins won his first promotion as a manager after leading Coventry to a sixth-place finish in League Two, and winning the play-offs at Wembley. Over the course of the 2017–18 season, Robins broke numerous records as Coventry City manager, including the club's first top six finish in 48 years, their first promotion in 51 years and their most points in a season. Robins's achievements gained much plaudits from local press and fans alike, when considering Coventry City had only moved down the Football League since relegation from the Premier League in 2001. The win in the League Two play-off final represented Coventry's third competitive win at Wembley and Robins' second trophy in just over a year.
After an eighth-place finish in the 2018–19 season, Robins signed a new contract with the club in October 2019. In the 2019–20 season, Robins took Coventry to the Championship after winning the league, with just three defeats all season and unbeaten since 14 December 2019. On 8 May 2021, Robins guided Coventry City to beat Millwall 6–1 to secure a 16th-place finish, in the club's first season return in the EFL Championship in nine years. The following season, Robins guided the Sky Blues to a 12th-place finish in the Championship, their highest league placing in over ten years.
Robins signed a new deal with the club in May 2022. Robins said he was "delighted" to have signed a new deal. The 2022–23 season under Robins' stewardship saw further improvement, having guided Coventry to a fifth-placed finish, which secured them a place in the Championship play-offs. Coventry were ultimately unsuccessful in their bid for promotion to the Premier League, narrowly losing the penalty shootout in the final at Wembley against Luton Town, after playing out a 1–1 draw following extra time. On 17 May 2023, Robins agreed to a four-year contract to remain at Coventry until 2027. In the 2023–24 season, Coventry reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1987, losing to Manchester United on penalties. Coventry had initially fought back from 3–0 down to level the match in stoppage time before losing on penalty kicks. On 7 November 2024, after a slow start to the 2024–25 season, Coventry announced they had dismissed Robins. At the time, Robins was the longest serving manager in the Championship.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Manchester United | 1988–89 | First Division | 0 |
| 1989–90 | First Division | 10 | |
| 1990–91 | First Division | 7 | |
| 1991–92 | First Division | 2 | |
| Norwich City | 1992–93 | Premier League | 15 |
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 1 | |
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 4 | |
| Leicester City | 1994–95 | Premier League | 5 |
| 1995–96 | First Division | 10 | |
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 2 | |
| 1997–98 | Premier League | 0 | |
| Copenhagen (loan) | 1996–97 | Danish Superliga | 4 |
| Reading (loan) | 1997–98 | First Division | 0 |
| CD Ourense | 1997–98 | Segunda División | 5 |
| Panionios | 1998–99 | Alpha Ethniki | 1 |
| Manchester City (loan) | 1998–99 | Second Division | 0 |
| Walsall | 1999–2000 | First Division | 8 |
| Rotherham United | 2000–01 | Second Division | 26 |
| 2001–02 | First Division | 16 | |
| 2002–03 | First Division | 7 | |
| 2003–04 | First Division | 0 | |
| Bristol City (loan) | 2002–03 | Second Division | 5 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 2003–04 | Second Division | 7 |
| Burton Albion | 2004–05 | Football Conference | 1 |
Leicester City
Individual
Individual
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