Mark Robins

Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969 in Ashton-under-Lyne) is an English football manager, appointed manager of Barnsley in 2009.

As a player, he was most notable for his exploits with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City. Robins is often noted as the player who scored the goal which "saved Alex Ferguson's job" in 1990.

Playing career

Manchester United

Robins played a very important part in winning the FA Cup for Manchester United in 1990, which was the first trophy of manager Alex Ferguson's reign at the club, scoring the winning goal in the semi-final replay against Oldham Athletic.

However, it was an earlier goal that secured Robins a vital part in the history of the club. United were playing away from home against cup specialists Nottingham Forest on 7 January 1990, in a third round FA Cup tie. It was widely speculated in the media (but perennially denied by then-Chairman Martin Edwards) that under-pressure United manager Alex Ferguson would have been sacked had United lost and gone out of the Cup, as they were 15th in the league by this stage and had already been eliminated from the Football League Cup. Instead, Robins came off the bench late into the game and scored the winning goal from a Mark Hughes cross. That goal was a turning point in the history of the football club — Ferguson would keep his job and go on to achieve an unmatched run of success at the...
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