Karl Robinson interview: What it is like working for United’s Class of 92 at Salford City
Karl Robinson has a very clear answer as to why he took the job as head coach of Salford City. “Everybody just speaks with brutal honesty. No bulls---. There is one of them down here every day,” he says.
One of “them” is the Class of 92, of course: Ryan Giggs, who is the director of football, Paul Scholes, the head of recruitment, and chief executive Nicky Butt. And then there are Gary and Phil Neville, and David Beckham, who are also part of the ownership of the League Two club.
However, having employed six managers in eight years, Robinson might be forgiven for believing he is on a hiding to nothing at high-profile Salford, who are only his fourth club in 14 years. Except he is very different from his predecessors.
Saturday’s fixture away to Swindon Town will be Robinson’s 700th game as a manager. At 43 years and five months old he is the youngest to achieve that landmark in English football and, quite probably, the youngest to do so in the world.
It is a remarkable achievement and, after five games, the transformation at Salford is also remarkable with three wins – including last Saturday’s hugely impressive 3-1 victory over Wrexham – and two draws which have already lessened the fears of relegation.
To put that in context, Salford had gone 11 games without a win, losing four in a row, before his arrival last month. They had not won a league game since October 24.
It is also, to be honest, a surprise to see Robinson in League Two given his pedigree. Certainly Salford feel fortunate to have him after a career that has taken him – so far – from MK Dons, where at 29 he was the youngest manager in Europe, to Charlton Athletic and Oxford United. He has also been an assistant manager at Blackburn Rovers, when they were in the Premier League, and last season at Leeds United as he and Sam Allardyce reunited to try to save them from relegation.
“I heard something the other day about a young manager starting out and he was 39! I was 10 years in at that stage,” Robinson says.
He is passionate about his job. He can also be animated. So, what would the older Robinson tell the younger one who managed his first game – a 2-1 win for MK Dons away to Walsall in August 2010?
“Be calmer, at times,” he says, before adding: “In saying that you are smirking as I got sent off in my first game (at Salford)!”
Robinson was indeed red-carded, just 14 minutes into that debut game: a 2-2 draw at home to Forest Green Rovers. He was dismissed for allegedly holding onto the ball to delay a throw-in.
“I got embarrassed about that,” he says. “I remember sitting down with our owners and telling them how much I had changed – and I have and I am at so much peace now, even when things aren’t right, I cope with them better.
“As soon as I was sent off I remember Paul [Scholes] coming into the room and saying ‘Doesn’t look like you’ve changed!’ He asked me what I did, but I wasn’t out of control. I was calm. I was out of control with the team as I want them to epitomise everything I and the fans believe in and that’s energy, passion, drive.”
Robinson, who started off as a promising striker in the same Everton schoolboy youth-set as Francis Jeffers and Leon Osman, went into coaching at 21 when a chronic back problem curtailed his career.
He was encouraged to do so by Bill Bygroves, who is still Liverpool FC’s chaplain, and was soon working with the legendary Steve Heighway at the club’s academy. “I loved coaching,” he says, and he was noticed by Paul Ince, whose son Thomas he worked with.
Ince took Robinson to MK Dons, where he later returned with Ince, after a spell at Blackburn. When Ince finally left MK he recommended Robinson as his successor – “I told him I was not ready but he told me I was!”
Robinson certainly was and he has an impressive record of success wherever he has been before a tricky campaign at League One Oxford led to him losing his job last February.
After his spell at Leeds, which ended in May, Robinson had the longest period during which he did not work since he was 16. “I was scared of it,” he admits. But he also took time to travel – to the Netherlands and Spain, where he spent time at Athletic Bilbao “to find out how a club builds a culture of just Basque players”.
He also experienced rugby and Formula One and used contacts in the army and police force to learn more about managing people. “I wasn’t in a good place when I left Oxford and so it was the opportunity I needed,” he says.
Job offers came. “I had turned down four or five – in higher leagues, some in a different countries; in Scandinavia, in Scotland. But I wanted to do something that was a bit more raw. This just felt right,” he says of taking over at Salford.
Why? “Because of the owners. They were so clear,” Robinson explains. “At Salford there is something to immerse yourself in. Sometimes people believe in something so much that football has to represent what the area stands for.
“The owners know what it is all about because they were once them kids on the streets, coming through and making it to the levels they did. When I sat down and met them it was the clearest interview I had ever been involved in. It was honest. It was a conversation about where the club is and I thought ‘wow, that’s a hard challenge’.
“So why? I can pick up the phone to people who are icons of our game and ask them questions of working for the greatest manager of all-time (Sir Alex Ferguson) and I always ask questions. People say I talk a lot. I do. But I always ask questions.
“Ryan managed Wales, Paul has had a go at managing, Gary’s had a go at it, Nicky’s new to his role. They are all so clear and honest and, in different ways, they are learning new ways.
“Also, if people of the calibre of our ownership are buying into this, have faith in this, who aren’t used to losing, it shows they will get it right. I know they get criticism for some of the decisions they have made, and they admit they should have done some things differently.”
Can it be intimidating?
“No, because they don’t make you feel like that,” Robinson says. “It is only help and advice. If Paul comes in or Nicky comes in or Ryan comes in then 10 minutes of them talking about football has a bigger impression than some people talking for two hours.
“At previous clubs I have always had the likes of Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright and Martin Keown coming in because if you can’t learn as a manager or a player from some of the best, who can you learn from? Again, that’s me dropping my ego. I am not frightened of saying ‘you know more than me about this’.”
Robinson adds: “The results have been OK. The phone conversations are relentless. Everyone wants to succeed and we all have this bit between our teeth of how we can help each other out.
“As a manager I am like ‘what can I do to make it better?’ and they are the same as owners. We know things aren’t right. We know we need a training ground, but I have done that before. I had that at Oxford. We used to do 11 v 11 on a cricket pitch, half a pitch. Now they have one of the best training grounds in League One.”
Managing in the Premier League is still an ambition, as is reaching 1,000 games. What about – given he is still just 43 – becoming the first to manage 2,000?
“No chance. No, no,” Robinson says. “Because there will be a time when it’s another generation’s time. I have actually now got a number of my former players who are managers – Ryan Lowe, Johnnie Jackson, John Mousinho. There are people managing all over who played for me!”
Dele Alli’s genius and Oxford regrets: Quickfire Robinson
Biggest highlight?
I will never forget the day we got promoted (to the Championship at MK Dons in 2015). I have a picture of me and Jasmine walking around the pitch. She is my daughter, my best mate and my world. My family was there as well. Success without anybody around you is boring.
Most memorable win?
There are three or four: Man Utd 4-0 and West Ham 4-0 (both in the League Cup – at MK Dons and Oxford United). Ryan (Giggs) was the (United) assistant manager! (Louis) Van Gaal made me wait while he signed autographs. I was stood there like a bit of a fool and said ‘well played’ but then thought ‘why have I said that’ because they hadn’t played well! I felt so stupid. We were waiting to do the media and someone passed me a pint of beer. As he did, Louis walked out. In my career I have always had moments when I have been in the wrong place at the wrong time! I just quickly handed it to the press officer and walked in.
Lowest point?
When Andy King (the former Everton midfielder, Swindon manager and MK Dons chief scout) passed away. It left me in pieces. Today, I still struggle. I wish he was here. He was the best recruitment man I have ever seen. He never ever used a pen and paper. Never used a laptop. But he knew everybody. I remember him telling Arsene Wenger he knew more than him. He was just so infectious, such a hard worker and he passed away two weeks after we got promoted at MK Dons and I will never forget that day.
And the other one was getting sacked at Oxford. That is still something I want to put right by proving a few people wrong. We were in the top 10 in Europe for two years on goals, points, you name it. But then when I was struggling I didn’t get time to get to the summer. It was what could have been. I got told on the Friday that my job was safe and got sacked on the Sunday. That hurt.
Toughest opponent?
Obviously Pep Guardiola. He came in, he knew people’s names, he didn’t have security around him, he knew my players, he competed like he really wanted to beat us. He wanted to win. We (Oxford) were good on the day – at that time we had the most shots against a Pep team. Don’t know if that still stands! But also (Peterborough United’s) Darren Ferguson. He’s the manager I have managed against the most. We both go for it. We don’t speak but there is mutual respect.
Funniest moment?
A lot of the stories would involve (former Oxford striker) Jamie Mackie. But it’s Ryan Lowe. I dropped him (at MK Dons) on the Friday and said ‘you have to come on and score’ and he scored the winner and comes running up to me and jumped on me. As he did it I split my trousers.
Best player worked with?
Dele (Alli). He was the best player in Europe at one stage for his age. Did he fulfil his talent? He certainly did at that age. Where he is now is at a crossroads and I still speak to him, I still have faith in him, I still believe he will deal with it. One hundred per cent. I love him. When I first saw him I was like a little kid. I just knew he would play for England. He was that good.
Best player you have faced?
You have to look at Man City. When I saw Ilkay Gundogan I didn’t realise how good he was. Phil Foden made one of his first starts (against us) and scored his first goal and I made that comparison with (Andres) Iniesta – and someone else said it a year later! Then seeing Declan Rice up close. The power he had, the calmness. We went man-to-man against him (at Leeds United) and he just cruised. There are moments on the touchline when you just go wow – like when Didier Drogba runs past you.
Biggest regret?
Not getting Oxford promoted. The first goal (in the League One play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers in 2020) was handball and the second was offside! It was a hard moment to take. I remember getting in my car and I broke down a little bit. We had worked so hard to keep the club at the forefront of the community and tried to connect with the fans in every way we could in Covid. Helping people who were losing people, on the phone to fans, then getting to Wembley with no one there and to lose – it was just… We remember the bad times.
