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Fullname: Barry Robson
Born: 7 Nov 1978
Birthplace: Aberdeen
Height: 5.11
Weight: 12st
Position: Midfielder
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: [TBC at end of career]
International Goals: [TBC]
Signed: 31 Jan 08
Fee: £1.25m
Left: 13 Jan 2010
Fee: £1m

KDS Honours
MOTM Winners 2007-08
16-Apr-08	Celtic 2 v 1 Rangers	SPL
Apr-08	Apr-08 Player of the Month
11-May-08	Celtic 2 v 0 Hibs	SPL
22-May-08	Dundee Utd 0 v 1 Celtic	SPL
May-08	May-08 Player of the Month
MOTM Winners 2008-09
02-Nov-08	Hearts 0-2 Celtic	SPL
25-Nov-08	Aalborg 2-1 Celtic	Champions League
MOTM Winners 2009-10
17-Oct-09	Celtic 0-0 Motherwell	SPL

Biog

Midfielder Barry Robson proved to be an inspirational buy for the Bhoys when he moved to Parkhead for £1 million in January 2008.
The former Tannadice skipper was regarded by some as little more than a decent SPL journeyman when he made the move to Glasgow. Indeed at 29-years old it had appeared that the former Rangers and Inverness Caley man had missed his chance to play at the very highest level.
But that would all change when Celtic sealed a transfer deadline day deal to bring Robson to Glasgow.
Despite the reservation of some of the Hoops support Robson had been in outstanding form for United and had earned himself international recognition from Scotland. An industrious midfielder with no little skill and a keen eye for goal he was unquestionably one of the most consistent and talented performers outside the Old Firm and was regularly a standout whenever the Bhoys faced the Tangerines.
He may not have been a glamour signing but within four months of joining Celtic Robson had more than repaid his transfer fee and justified the move.
His impact was immediate as he scored with his very first touch of the ball as a Celt as he came off the bench to curl home a delightful free-kick a 5-1 thrashing of Aberdeen Pittodrie on February 10th.

A goal in the 3-2 Champions League defeat to Barcelona at Parkhead followed but it would be in April’s Old Firm double header that Robson would show his true worth.

In the opening moments of the first game Barry showed his intent – and had the Parkhead crowd on their feet - with a strong challenge on Christian Daily. It was an obvious foul but it was also a clear sign to the Rangers midfield that the Celts would not be bullied by the visitors’ typically physical approach. So it proved as Robson and Paul Hartley ran the show in the middle of the park as the Celts snatched a last gasp but thoroughly deserved 2-1 win.

Just 11 days later he put in a superb show and kept his cool to convert a penalty to give the Bhoys a championship lifeline and their second Old Firm victory (3-2) in a fortnight. Barry picked up the April Player of the Month Award and he would stay on top form for the remainder of the season, helping to drive the Hoops to the title.

After his performances for both United and Celtic, Barry Robson was a deserved nominee for the SPFA’s Player of the Year Award.
Things didn't reach those heights again. Season 2007/08 was difficult. He played a good part before spending the last third of the season out injured. We'd squandered the league as a lacklustre side managed by the increasingly ostracised Gordon Strachan. If Barry Robson had been around for the end it might have made enough of a difference to the side and capture enough points to win the league but that's just conjecture now. We definitely lacked his ability to get stuck in, and it likely wasn't a coincidence that our worst spell was when he was out of the side for a long duration.

Barry for all his limitations is a player who gives his all. The truth is that players like Gravesen, Donatti & Jarosik were far more talented and experienced but gave only a fraction of what Robson has done. Brown is far better technically and is known to have some "dig", but let's face it when the chips were down Robson stepped up to the mark and was worth more to us than any of those players.

Barry Robson was too easy a target for some critics and it showed. Being a domestic purchase meant that he was marked down compared to anyone who was bought from a foreign side (inferiority complex on being Scottish?). He lacked finéss and his ball control skills could have been a lot better but he made up for it in other ways. The word "dig" is not far away when you talk about Barry Robson, as that was his greatest quality, and you sometimes need players like him to get the team that push or advantage to get the win.

In a squad with many high transfer fee players, few seemed to be able to take a free kick or penalty. Critics can say what they want about his method but at least Barry Robson had the bottle to take them. He could have improved his technique but he had a good scoring rate at penalties (usually kicked down the middle!) and scored a few free-kicks. Only Naka in the past ten years has been more successful.

He returned during season 2009/10 from a long injury spell with limited opportunities under new manager Tony Mowbray. The squad was now chock-a-block with midfielders, and with the purchase of N'Guemo, Zheng Zhi and the emergence of Crosas, Robson was likely to be far behind in the pecking order. Yet he got his opportunities and gave his all which you can respect him for immensely.

Age was creeping up and his contract was running down, though he still had another season to run before being able to renegotiate or walk out the door with his contract being up in June 2011. Though his opportunities to start games were limited he still managed to give his best when called upon by Mowbray and he started 13 games and scored two goals. In December Gordon Strachan, now manager at an ailing Middlesbrough in the English Championship started enquiring after a number of Celtic players with a view to taking them down south. A deal eventually saw Robson go to Teeside in January 2010 along with season long loans (with the prospect of contracts to follow) for Willo Flood and Chris Killen.

We wish him well for the rest of his career, he gave as good as he could with a lot of "dig".

Playing Career

Season	SPL			League Cup			Scottish Cup			European			TOTAL
	P	S	G	P	S	G	P	S	G	P	S	G	P	S	G
2007-08	9	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	10	6	3
2008-09	13	4	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	4	1	1	17	7	2
2009-10	9	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	13	2	2
TOTAL	31	11	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	8	2	3	40	15	7

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish/FA Cup		League cup		Other
Middlesborough	13/01/2010		£1,000,000
Celtic	31/01/2008	13/01/2010	£1,250,000	31 (11)	4	0 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	8 (2)	3
Dundee Utd	01/07/2003	31/01/2008	£ 50000	139 (6)	32	9 (0)	3	9 (1)	1	1 (0)	0
Forfar	01/10/1999	08/05/2000	Loan	25 (0)	9	3 (0)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Inverness CT	15/10/1997	01/07/2003	Signed	102 (33)	17	11 (3)	7	7 (4)	2	6 (1)	1
Rangers	10/07/1995	15/10/1997	Youth	No appearance data available
Totals				297 (50)	62	23 (4)	11	17 (6)	3	15 (3)	4
			goals / game	0.17		0.4		0.13		0.22
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Premier League

• 2007-2008

Pictures

• Barry Robson Pics

Quotes

"I want to play but at a big club like Celtic there are so many players and everybody needs to rotate a bit at certain times," said the £1.2m recruit from Dundee United. As long as I play in the majority of games and I'm playing well, that's my main aim. It's a great club to be at, a massive football club, and I want to play at the highest level, I want to play in the Champions League and win titles and cups - and that's why I came here."Barry Robson Feb 08