John Robertson (footballer, born 1953)

John Robertson

John Robertson in 1980
Personal information
Full name	John Neilson Robertson
Date of birth	(1953-01-20) 20 January 1953 (age 64)
Place of birth	Uddingston, Scotland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Left winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1983	Nottingham Forest	386	(61)
1983–1985	Derby County	72	(3)
1985–1986	Nottingham Forest	11	(1)
Total		469	(65)
National team
1978–1983	Scotland	28	(8)
Teams managed
1990–1995	Wycombe Wanderers (assistant)
1995	Norwich City (assistant)
1995–2000	Leicester City (assistant)
2000–2005	Celtic (assistant)
2006–2010	Aston Villa (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

John Neilson Robertson (born 20 January 1953 in Uddingston) is a former Scottish footballer who played as a left winger. He played for Nottingham Forest when they were at the peak of their success under manager Brian Clough, notably scoring the only goal in a 1–0 victory in the 1980 European Cup Final against Hamburger SV. He also played for the full Scotland national football team, scoring the winning goal against England in 1981 and against New Zealand in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He has since moved into coaching acting as assistant to his former Nottingham Forest teammate Martin O'Neill. Robertson's last role was assistant manager at Aston Villa between 2006 and 2010.

Robertson had played for Scotland at Schoolboy and Youth levels and for Drumchapel Amateurs before joining Forest in May 1970, making his debut for the team in October 1970. Although he was an infrequent member of the first team as a midfielder up to 1975, and was on the transfer list when Clough became manager, Robertson became a key player as a left winger under Clough and appeared in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980. He scored the winning goal, a penalty, for Forest in the 1978 Football League Cup Final replay against Liverpool. He also scored the winner in the 1980 European Cup Final against Hamburg and provided the cross for the winning goal in the 1979 European Cup Final, scored by Trevor Francis, against Malmö FF.