{"id":210472,"date":"2025-12-25T16:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210472\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T16:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:23:09","slug":"john-robertson-obituary-the-super-tramp-who-helped-nottingham-forest-to-two-european-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210472\/","title":{"rendered":"John Robertson obituary: The \u2018super tramp\u2019 who helped Nottingham Forest to two European Cups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lanarkshire-born Robertson signed for Forest aged 15, soon making his debut when only 17, and would become a key player as Clough\u2019s side won the First Division league title in 1978 before back-to-back European Cup triumphs.<\/p>\n

It was Robertson who provided the assist for Trevor Francis to score the only goal as Forest beat Malmo 1-0 in Munich and he then slotted in the winner himself as Clough\u2019s men beat Hamburg 1-0 in Madrid the following season.<\/p>\n

Robertson, who also won the League Cup twice with Forest, was part of Scotland\u2019s World Cup squads in 1978 and 1982.<\/p>\n

We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.<\/p>\n

Please review your details and accept them to load the content<\/p>\n

After a brief spell at Derby, Robertson returned to the City Ground in 1985, playing 12 times in his final season before being released.<\/p>\n

Following his retirement, Robertson later moved into coaching as assistant to former Forest team-mate Martin O\u2019Neill at Celtic and Aston Villa.<\/p>\n

\"Nottingham<\/p>\n

Nottingham Forest\u2019s John Robertson (centre) in action against Birmingham (PA)<\/p>\n

John Robertson was one of several players whose lives were transformed after Brian Clough took over as Nottingham Forest manager, but it was the return of Peter Taylor which had a profound impact on him.<\/p>\n

Taylor resumed his role as Clough\u2019s assistant 18 months into his reign in the summer of 1976, and ordered Robertson back to the team hotel ahead of the first pre-season training season before launching a verbal attack on his attitude and lifestyle.<\/p>\n

The winger\u2019s reaction was instant and lasting.<\/p>\n

Robertson played a key part in Forest winning promotion that season and played all 42 league games as Forest won the title and League Cup the following campaign.<\/p>\n

He went on to set up the winner in one European Cup final and scored in the next one while enjoying a memorable career with Scotland, and was twice voted Forest\u2019s best player of all time.<\/p>\n

John Neilson Robertson was born on January 20, 1953 and brought up in Uddingston, a Lanarkshire town just outside Glasgow, living in the same Viewpark area as another great Scottish winger, Jimmy Johnstone.<\/p>\n

The youngest of three children, his father Hughie was a former miner who worked with the electricity board and his mother worked at the local Tunnock\u2019s biscuit factory.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Robertson scored from the penalty spot as Scotland beat England 1-0 at Wembley in May 1981 (PA)<\/p>\n

Robertson represented Scotland Schoolboys and signed for Forest aged 15 before making his debut when 17.<\/p>\n

Forest were relegated from the top flight in 1972 and, although Robertson enjoyed a spell under Dave Mackay, he fell out of favour with Clough\u2019s predecessor, Allan Brown, who tried unsuccessfully to swap him for Partick Thistle\u2019s Ronnie Glavin.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Robertson was bizarrely and mistakenly called up by new England boss Don Revie as he named 90 players for a get-together in 1974.<\/p>\n

Clough jokingly branded Robertson \u201ctramp\u201d because of his appearance, but the winger longed for any gesture of approval he got from his boss, saying in his 2012 autobiography, Super Tramp: \u201cWhen I was the recipient I could have done cartwheels. The day I stopped playing for the gaffer, it seemed there was a huge void in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson won the title, two League Cups and two European Cups \u2013 setting up Trevor Francis to score the only goal against Malmo in the 1979 final after overcoming the death of his brother Hughie in a road accident days before the semi-final, an incident which precipitated his heavy smoking. He scored himself against Hamburg in the 1980 showpiece.<\/p>\n

His form with Forest got him into Scotland\u2019s 1978 World Cup squad before he had even made his international debut.<\/p>\n

Robertson netted eight times in 28 appearances, scoring against New Zealand in the 1982 World Cup and netting a Wembley winner in 1981 \u2013 after which he got a lift into London on the England team bus having arranged a night out at Stringfellows with Forest and England striker Tony Woodcock.<\/p>\n

The day he stopped playing for Clough initially came in 1983 when, with Forest contract talks slow to get going, he shocked his mentor by signing for Taylor at Derby. The deal spelled the end of Taylor and Clough\u2019s already frosty relationship and Robertson was initially told he was not welcome at the City Ground.<\/p>\n

The move proved a disaster.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Robertson (2nd left) was part of the Forest squad which won the League title in 1978 (PA)<\/p>\n

Robertson\u2019s mind was not fully on the job after his first child, Jessica, was born severely disabled in pre-season. With Forest back in Europe, Derby were struggling and relegated from the Second Division at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Clough forgave Robertson and re-signed him in 1985, with the Scot playing 12 times in his final season before being released.<\/p>\n

At 33, he was surprised to find no offers from league clubs and he had an unhappy spell running a pub.<\/p>\n

Life after football proved difficult initially with Robertson and first wife Sally involved in a lengthy legal battle with the NHS over the treatment of their daughter at birth.<\/p>\n

Jessica, who had cerebral palsy, could not communicate and she died aged 13, but Robertson admitted she had made him more caring and considerate.<\/p>\n

\"Robertson<\/p>\n

Robertson remained a popular figure at the City Ground (Mike Egerton\/PA)<\/p>\n

Robertson split with his wife and spent time sleeping on friends\u2019 couches, but his friendship with former Forest team-mate Martin O\u2019Neill helped him enormously.<\/p>\n

Robertson played for O\u2019Neill at non-league Grantham, got a job under him selling insurance, then, after a spell as Grantham manager himself, was a scout for him at Wycombe, Norwich and Leicester.<\/p>\n

By the time the pair left for Celtic in 2000, Robertson was O\u2019Neill\u2019s right-hand man and he bought a house back in Uddingston.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a special (coaching) partner, no question about that,\u201d O\u2019Neill recalled in 2024 when Robertson was featured in BBC Scotland\u2019s Icons of Football series.<\/p>\n

\"Robertson,<\/p>\n

Robertson, left, worked alongside former Forest team-mate Martin O\u2019Neill at Celtic (Maurice McDonald\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople, for want of a better phrase, bought into John, they really did. There was something about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson\u2019s final job in football was Aston Villa assistant manager from 2006 to 2010.<\/p>\n

In August 2013, Robertson was taken to hospital having suffered a suspected heart attack while playing tennis with former Forest team-mate Liam O\u2019Kane and had a stent inserted.<\/p>\n

Robertson is survived by daughter Elisabeth and second wife Sharyl and their children, Andrew and Mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lanarkshire-born Robertson signed for Forest aged 15, soon making his debut when only 17, and would become a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,9884,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-210472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-nottingham-forest","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}