By Les Crang

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. - F.Scott Fitzgerald

In starting the rogues gallery on 7amkickoff, I wanted to look at the players that were good but not quite top class. The ones that maybe fell through the cracks but also those players we hate. Stewart Robson certainly falls in the ‘hate’ category. It’s a harsh word hate, but it so easily applies to Robbo. Its hard to imagine but there were many a fan in the early 1980’s who saw Robson as the future of Arsenal (and England). But now? Robson seems an embittered old man, who only enjoys criticising Arsenal F.C. There is nothing wrong with criticising per se, but the difference is that Robbo never seems to have anything constructive to say about Arsenal. You might find out why below.

In a career at Arsenal that spanned 5 years between 1981 to 1986 and in which he made 186 appearances for the club you’d think Robbo was fairly good. Well, surprisingly, Stewart Robson was bloody good.

I remember Robson’s introduction to the team as I think he was one of a few (if any) players at the time who had a private education (at Alleyn Court Prep School). Don’t forget this is a highly stratified period of English history and private education was sneered upon. I remember reading Shoot or Match interviews with Robbo and the first question was inevitably about his ‘schooling’. Hardly an auspicious way to start a fairly working class sport (at the time) for Robbo.

Anyhow, for those who never had the pleasure (unfortunately, it was a pleasure) of seeing Robbo play, Stewart Robson was a midfielder, centre half, and full-back. He was fast, good with his feet, fairly skillful, and home grown. In the early 1980’s with Brady gone, any chance of a second Liam was always to be seized upon. And although no Brady, he was still pretty handy and like Brady, Terry Neill handed him his debut aged just 17.  

Also, this was a period referred to as ‘the dark ages’ in Arsenal’s history. Players of such limited quality of Hankin and Hawley (the infamous h-bums) and a midfield of Peter Nicholas replacing the irreplacable Liam Brady, there was not much to cheer. Robbo did give us that though.

Stewart Robson’s debut was ironically against West Ham United, the team who we would sell him to 5 years later. The Times (licence required) said of his debut:

In defence no one was more impressive than Robson, a 17-year-old, playing his first league match. His tackling was crisp and clean and his covering could not be faulted.

Spurling was equally effusive about Robson’s debut:

At Upton Park, the debut of a genuine boy wonder, Stewart Robson, at right back filled the hearts with hope once more. His superb nullifying of the Hammers’ Alan Devonshire and his precious blend of skill and energy revealed a player of breathtaking potential. Sweet seventeen he may have been, but here was an example of a footballing brain which was way ahead of most lads his age.

Not that Robson saw the debut as a walk in the [Upton] Park. Robson, years later discussed how on that day West Ham fans shouted ‘murderer’ whenever Alan Sunderland touched the ball after a car accident a few months previously, he killing another driver.

In his first season (1981-82) Robson made 20 appearances and helped push Arsenal to 5th in the league (and the EUFA cup), scoring two goals. His first goal was against title challenging Ipswich (that’s not a typo btw) and The Times described it thus (licence required):

One young man who is well on the way… is Stewart Robson, whose versatility makes him a particularly smart 17-year- old. Already he has experience at full back, centre back and midfield for Arsenal and the management are still undecided where his best position lies. David O’Leary, Arsenal’s genial yet uncompromising centre back, hopes it is in midfield but fears it may be in his own area. Robson created and scored the winning goal…Tomorrow’s Robson chipped the ball intelligently for Sunderland but though McCall was there first he and Sivell, the goalkeeper, left it. Sunderland, quick as a thief, nipped past then, and with a 90-degree turn struck the ball back to Robson, who scored simply but assuredly.This goal may carry the autograph of Ipswich but it bears the stamp of Robson.

Although Robbo started well, the period that he played in, was one of dire football (aesthetically and trophy wise). In fact, although Robbo was one of the shining lights in an often poor team, Robson was also often a member of some of our shining defeats to minnows.

For example, in the 1982-83 season, Stewart Robson got his first (bitter) taste of European Football. Our first round opponents were Spartak Moscow. We went there first and surprisingly  went 2-0, with goals from Robson and Lee Chapman. The Russians came back and won 3-2. And after what was regarded as a good result away from home, Arsenal felt confident of overhauling the score at Highbury.

Unfortunately, the home leg ended up being Arsenal’s worst ever home European result as they were trounced 5-2. The Times said of the game: 

The Russians were immeasurably superior in a tactical and technical sense. Arsenal,  regarded as one of our prominent first division teams  were ruthlessly torn apart to such an extent that the crowd could only applaud such vast superiority. It was to their immense credit that they suffered humiliation with such generosity. Two absurd intruders were the solitary exceptions.

The 1982-83 season would conclude with us losing both domestic semi-finals to Manchester United and Robbo being substituted in the F.A cup semi with injury.

In the following season Arsenal and Terry Neill would suffer the embarrassment of an infamous home defeat to Walsall 2-1 in the fourth round of the league cup. Of the game, Spurling reported:

After Stewart Robson blasted Arsenal’s opener, the Gunners inexplicably panicked. Walsall swarmed forward in the second half, and Mark Rees equalised after sixty-one minutes. With six minutes to go, Chris Whyte mis-kicked, allowing Ally Brown to slam in the winner. After a crescendo of boos greeted the final whistle, 3,000 converging fans in Avenell Road bayed for blood, their vocal protests captured for posterity on radio and television. Stewart Robson recalls: ‘The dressing rooms at Highbury face Avenell Road, and believe me, the dressing room was really quiet after the Walsall match. You could clearly hear the fans chanting “Neill out, Neill out”. It was a weird situation, because Terry did his best to ignore it, but you could see that his time was coming to an end. Neill clearly couldn’t comprehend the disaster, saying ‘I’ll never know how the team that beat Spurs at White Hart Lane in the last round could then go out and perform like a bunch of pantomime horses.’

Within 3 weeks Terry Neill would be sacked for the humiliation.

Although during this period Arsenal were pretty mediocre team, Robson season was majestic. Spurling wrote of Robbo, after a 4-1 defeat of Wolves :

Playing with surging energy in central midfield, his efforts were reminiscent of an on-form Patrick Vieira. Several tabloids gave Robbo the perfect ten for his bewildering display, capped by an explosive 25 yard drive which tore into the net.

Robbo was also part of the team that defeated Spurs 3-2 at Highbury, scoring the first goal.

During this period, Robbo had played and captained the England under-21 team and was called up to the England full team. Unfortunately, every time he got called up by the full team he was injured. A recurring theme in Robbo’s career at Arsenal and elsewhere.

Spurling, when interviewing Robbo said (and this will surprise some fans):

The fans were always excellent to me. I think fans admire players who are 100% committed and they knew that I was. It was strange, because I played alongside Davis and Rix who technically were maybe better than me but they also made mistakes, like Rixy would often balloon the ball into the crowd. I was consistent – sometimes I think I played really well, sometimes just okay but I was never awful… Now I wouldn’t say he didn’t try sometimes, but even if you’re only ten per cent below maximum, that’s enough for the likes of Luton or Watford to wallop you. So there was them [Woodcock, Samsom and Mariner] and there was us – O’leary, Talbot and me. The professional side; rather than the social set.

 Spurling also wrote:

Robbo has been frequently victimized and overlooked, in that he has been virtually excluded from many memoirs almost in a way similar to Stalin’s cover up of Trotsky’s role in the communist revolution.*

Robson said of George Graham’s introduction in 1986 with their first game against Manchester United:

Stewart Robson recalls that Graham referred to Highbury on more than one occasion during his rousing pre-match speech. He recalls: ‘He talked of the tradition of the place, and of Chapman, James and Bastin. He said that we should appreciate our heritage, but not to fear it. He claimed we should aspire to what they had done. Graham reckoned we were playing in one of the most famous stadia in the world, and that players from across the globe would give their right arm to play in such a place. He was using Highbury to motivate us. Even right down to the size of the pitch. The fact that the pitch is so small lent itself to his vision that we should squeeze, harry and snaffle the ball off visiting teams. “Squeeze them, hussle them, don’t let them play,” he urged us before the United match. He told the midfielders to help the defence so that United were smothered. It worked a treat. It may not have been pleasing on the eye, but it worked.’

Although Robbo seemed a fan’s favourite when George Graham joined in 1986, Robson loyalty was questioned by the manager after being called up for hs  fifth full England game (in which he had to withdraw and never played for England again). Graham and Robson got into a row and Robbo told him ”Well, you pissed off to Manchester for more money when you were an Arsenal player.” Graham didn’t like people who stood up to him.

By January 1987 Robson and his iffy knee’s were sold by George Graham to West Ham United for £750,000 (the same fee we’d spend on Alan Smith in April of the year). He’d made 185 starts for Arsenal (and just 1 sub) and had only just turned 23 years of age.

Unfortunately, Robbo is now known as a pundit, having worked on something called Arsenal TV (which lasted from 2008 to 2009). During the time of his employment at the club he also worked commentary for several international television broadcasts in which he would constantly drone on about what is wrong with Arsenal, whether they were the team he was commenting on or not!

Fans noticed and began to ask on twitter and via letters to the club how he could be employed at Arsenal doing his tactical analysis on Monday mornings when two days before he’d been on television ripping the club’s tactics in front of millions of fans world wide. Things reached a head last March when Robson said “Theo Walcott, for me, is not a good footballer. He is an athlete who puts on a pair of football boots.” The outrage on Twitter and on the blogs was palpable. Whether that led to the fact that he’s no longer at the club not is unclear but Robson’s contract was not renewed this season and freed from the shackles of his employment Robson let loose.

To many people, Robbo is seen as one of Arsene’s and more specifically Arsenal’s vociferous critics. Much of it is true, but not totally. Robson (and i’m sure i’ll get criticised) can come up with informed criticism of team and manager. Of Wenger, he has said:

UEFA-qualified coach and former Arsenal midfielder Stewart Robson observes, “he develops players not by fantastic coaching but by giving them the environment to express and experiment themselves. He takes the fear out of their play by coaxing them to be more elaborate, precise and imaginative.” As Wenger himself sums up, “I would say that usually to win is a consequence of the quality of play you achieve.”

Robson also pointed out some of Arsenal’s defensive frailty against the Newcastle, during the disastrous 4-4 draw said during the match:

Stewart Robson was bemoaning the fact that Arsenal were not trying to play behind the opposition as they had done in the first half. “Arsenal are playing too deep,” he said. “That’s where they are outnumbered. They need to pass forward and get in behind the opposition.”

Robbo gets some things right but other times he tends to go over the top. For example, during the faux controversy over whether Wenger was offered a two year contract in February of this year, he gave an interview in which he savaged Arsene Wenger.

I’ve listened to thousands of Arsene Wenger press conferences and he’ll often contradict himself from one week to the next. He’ll always talk about the press trying to harm the football club, and I can’t believe that Arsenal would offer him a two-year contract in the current state the club’s in at the moment and the way that the fan’s opinion is turning against him.

Robbo followed that screed up with another interview in which he said that he was looking forward to the day that Wenger was fired. It was such an extraordinary personal attack on Arsene’s methods and record that Arsenal goalkeeping legend Bob Wilson felt the need to defend Arsene publicly:

This is a guy who worked for this club up to a few weeks ago, doing the pre-match stuff on the opposition, who then went to a newspaper, without naming anybody who had given him the so-called facts about him [Arsene Wenger] being a dictator. Today, he’s been on every half hour on Radio Five Live, and this is a guy who obviously is a bitter guy because he’s no longer got a role or any employment here.

But Robson’s ultimate crime? I think last week Robson infuriated nearly all Arsenal fans when he said Manchester United should try and ‘test Arsenal’s resolve’ and buy Jack Wilshere after signing RVP last year. Not taking into account his long contract and his age, that ‘resolve’ would cost at least £60,000,000. Or in Manchester United financial terms ‘a yearly interest payment on outstanding debt’. 

One  Arsenal fan on twitter summed it up nicely, saying:

Stewart Robson saying that United should sign Jack Wilshere. What a cunt he is. Not bitter about being sacked by #afc at all.

It is a real shame. Robson was a really outstanding player in a difficult period of Arsenal’s history. But the ubiquitous ‘media career’ that Robbo has carved out for himself has meant he has become as popular as Nasri and Ashley Cole in ex-players stakes. Whether it was that we released him from playing in 1987 or releasing him from the website I’m not sure, but he seems to love criticising the club and that’s all he seems to do now.

A sad end to what should have been a good tale.

*The term for this is damnatio memoriae and it’s a fascinating subject. – Tim.