Bryan Robson, born 11 January 1957 in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, is a former England footballer who also captained and coached his country.
He signed professional forms with West Bromwich Albion F.C. in 1973 and made his first team debut for Albion in 1975. He helped the West Midlands club gain promotion to English football's top flight in 1976.
In 1980, Robson made his England debut against the Republic of Ireland. The following year, he joined Manchester United for a then British transfer record fee of 1.5 million pounds. He captained Manchester United to victory in the FA Cup with a final replay win over Brighton and Hove Albion in 1983. Robson scored two goals in the replay and famously passed up the chance of a hat-trick (which had only occurred once before in the FA Cup final) when a penalty was awarded and he insisted Arnold Muhren take the kick. His team won the competition again in 1985.
In 1982, he set a record in World Cup history scoring the quickest ever World Cup goal after 27 seconds of England's World Cup victory over France in Spain. He became captain of his country after this tournament, when unrelated namesake Bobby Robson was apppointed manager.
Robson won the last of his 90 international caps (65 as captain) for England against Turkey in 1992. Only four players have won more caps for England. and scored an impressive 26 goals at international level in total from midfield.
He became the first player to captain three FA Cup-winning teams as United defeated Crystal Palace F.C. in a replay at Wembley in 1990. Robson had scored in the first game, which had ended in a 3-3 draw. He helped United to win the European Cup Winners Cup in 1991, beating FC Barcelona 2-1 in the final in Rotterdam.
In 1993, United captured their first league title for 26 years - then first year of the newly-formed Premier League. Robson, as club captain, accepted the trophy at Old Trafford alongside team skipper Steve Bruce. However, he left Old Trafford in June 1994 after 13 years and joined Middlesbrough F.C. as player manager.
In 1995, Middlesbrough won promotion to the Premier League in Robson's first season in charge. However, they were relegated again in 1997 and also lost both domestic cup finals - the FA Cup to Chelsea and the League Cup to Leicester City. Controversy surrounded the relegation - Middlesbrough had been deducted vital points after they failed to send a team out for one game while, according to the club, a proportion of the squad had been laid low by illness. The Football Association rejected this explanation and the punishment proved crucial to Middlesbrough's fate. They did, however, bounce back to the big time the following season. During this period, Robson also acted as a coach to the England team under Terry Venables, who later would join him at Middlesbrough for a short coaching spell when the club was in danger of relegation. They survived, but Robson left at the end of that season.
Robson made his last appearance as a player as Middlesbrough in a 2-0 loss at Arsenal in 1997.
In his 22 years of playing, Robson made 731 league and cup appearances for WBA, Manchester United and Middlesbrough.
Robson was named as Bradford City manager in November 2003 but was unable to prevent their relegation. He left the club in the summer of 2004.
He is married to Denise, has three children and is known for his love of horse racing.