Carl Robinson

Personal information
Full name	Carl Robinson
Date of birth	October 13, 1976 (1976-10-13) (age 33)
Place of birth	Llandrindod Wells, Wales
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Toronto FC
Number	33
Youth career
	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–2002	Wolverhampton Wanderers	165	(19)
1996	→ Shrewsbury Town (loan)	4	(0)
2002–2004	Portsmouth	16	(0)
2003	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	4	(1)
2003	→ Walsall (loan)	11	(1)
2003	→ Rotherham United (loan)	14	(0)
2004	→ Sheffield United (loan)	5	(0)
2004	→ Sunderland (loan)	7	(1)
2004–2006	Sunderland	45	(4)
2005–2006	→ Norwich City (loan)	7	(0)
2006–2007	Norwich City	42	(2)
2007–	Toronto FC	74	(3)
National team‡
1995–1997	Wales U-21	6	(0)
1998	Wales B	2
1999–2009	Wales	52	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 October, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 5 April, 2009

Carl Robinson (born October 13, 1976 in Llandrindod Wells) is a Welsh football player who currently plays for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer.

[edit] Career

[edit] Club

A combative player, Robinson started his career as a trainee with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Made his football league debut whilst on loan to Shrewsbury Town during the 1995-96 season and played in the Auto Windscreen Shield final(Football League Trophy) at Wembley for Shrewsbury Town loosing out 2-1 to Rotherham United. Made his debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers during the 1996-97 season. After over 180 appearances for Wolves over six seasons, he moved to Portsmouth in July 2002 under the Bosman ruling after rejecting a new contract with them. He played in the first 20 odd games for Portsmouth in their promotion year but then had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Walsall, Rotherham, Sheffield United and Sunderland. After impressing at the latter, he signed a permanent 3-year deal with Sunderland in June 2004. He then went on to collect another championship winners medal as they gained promotion in a season where he played 42 out of 46 matches.

After a loan spell with Norwich City, he signed for The Canaries permanently for an undisclosed fee on a 2½-year deal in January 2006. Robinson scored his first goal for Norwich in the 5-1 win against Barnsley on 26 August 2006. He racked up over 50 appearances in 15 months before deciding to leave.

On January 31 2007, Robinson joined Toronto FC from Norwich after just over a year at Carrow Road, even though he still had 18 months remaining on his current deal. He scored his first MLS goal when he netted Toronto's 3rd goal in a 4-0 win against FC Dallas on June 17, 2007. He was voted team MVP in his first year, and has since gone on to win the award again in the second year. He is currently completing his uefa licenses in preparation for the opportunity to become a coach/manager. This is something i have always wanted to do and believe i have so many excellent ideas when the opportunity arises".

Although sought-after in the English Championship, Robinson has since announced that he plans to spend the remainder of his club career in MLS: "Being brought up in English football, this is all I know, but I'm at the next stage of my life now." Although he took a substantial pay cut when moving across the Atlantic, the considerably lower property prices of Canada as compared to the United Kingdom allowed him to purchase a country estate near Toronto. It was purely a football decision. He also remarked,^[1]

[edit] International

A Wales international player, Robinson made his debut against Belarus in 1999, winning the man of the match award. His 50th cap came in the 2-0 World Cup Qualifier victory over Liechtenstein. On April 1, 2009, Robinson announced his retirement from international football at the age of 32 after Wales suffered two consecutive defeats, making it virtually impossible for them to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[2]

[edit] Personal

He married his childhood sweetheart Laura in the summer of 2003, has a daughter named Lowri Isabella (born in 2002) and a son named Milo Carter (born in 2008). His brother, Lee, was formerly the Academy Manager at Cardiff City, but now works with a sports agency. Robinson is also a big fan of rugby union. He sees himself going into football management after he retires. Carl also writes a sports column for a weekly newspaper, the County Times, which is sold in his home county of Powys, Wales.

He has his own website, www.robbo33.com, that you can follow the latest news and updates from him, or you can follow him on twitter as carlrobinson33.

He was also recently given the award of Citizen of the Year in his tome town of Llandrindod Wells, which was a "fantastic honour" for him.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Shrewsbury Town

• Football League Trophy Runners-Up 1996

Portsmouth

• Football League Championship (1): Winners 2002

Sunderland

• Football League Championship (1): Winners 2005

Toronto FC

• Canadian Championship (1): 2009

[edit] Individual

• Toronto FC Player of the Year: 2007(Co-Winner), 2008

[edit] See also

• List of current MLS players

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Carl Robinson career stats at Soccerbase
• MLS player profile
• Biography at BBC Mid-Wales