Born on this day in County Durham is Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson. The iconic centre forward played for both Sunderland (three spells) and Newcastle, as well as West Ham among others.
Newcastle was Robson’s first senior club, despite being a Sunderland fan. He became a huge favourite at St James’ Park, firing the Mags to promotion in 1964/65 and helping win the Fairs Cup in 1969.
After a disagreement with the board though, Robson handed in a written transfer request and was swiftly sold to West Ham for a club record transfer of £120,000. In the three seasons he spent at Upton Park, he was the Hammers’ top scorer twice!
Despite his goalscoring exploits at West Ham, Robson was part of a shock transfer to his boyhood club Sunderland in 1974, a year after our famous cup win. The striker cost Sunderland £145,000 but it was a great investment as Robson’s goals fired us to the Top Flight as champions.
However, Robson didn’t stay at Wearside for long as in 1976, West Ham decided to bring the striker back to London. Over two spells at Upton Park, Pop Robson played over 250 games and scored 104 goals.
In 1979, Robson clearly missed the north east too much and returned to Sunderland. The striker continued where he’d left off, continuing his great goalscoring form at Roker Park. He once again helped us to promotion, this time finishing runners-up in Division Two.
It was another brief stint at the club, with Robson joining Carlisle United as a player/coach in 1981. After one successful season with Carlisle, scoring 21 goals in 48 appearances, Pop went back to London once again to sign for Chelsea. After a brief stint as a player/coach, and returning to Carlisle again on loan, Robson came back to Wearside for a third and final time.
On the final day of the 1983/84 season, the ageing Robson saved the day for Sunderland. The lads were away to Leicester, and needed a win to survive relegation from Division One. Robson was recalled to the side at the age of 38, and scored his final goal for the club as Sunderland won the game 2-0 and stayed up.
Robson was caretaker manager for one game after the sacking of Alan Durban, and has had a range of behind-the-scenes roles at the club; most recently as chief scout in 2013.
