18 Witheridge Dec 26_Layout 1 11/03/2014 22:39 Page 33
Both as a player and a personality, Robin
remains a major figure for both Reading and
Cardiff. He was named ‘Player of the
Millennium’ by Reading in1999, and voted the
top ‘all-time cult hero’ for both Reading and
Cardiff in a 2004 BBC poll. In 2007, a poll of
fans run by Reading resulted in him once
more being named the club’s best ever player.
Robin was very competitive. His physical
style of play was based around his
exceptional ball skills and his instinctive
footballing vision, which enabled him both
to execute flamboyant individual moves and
to create attacks for his team-mates.
A natural goal scoring forward, Robin was
unselfish and would take just as much
pleasure out of setting up a goal as netting
one himself.
He possessed fine ball control and dribbling
skills, and could also shoot with both great
power and sharp accuracy.
He was also conspicuous in the professional
ranks for never wearing shin pads, and for his
resistance to physical harm; no matter how
badly he was hurt he would always get up
and continue.
Lawrenson’s kit bag!
The sending off saw Robin transfer-listed and
he served a three-match suspension before
making his final appearance on December
10, in Cardiff’s 6-3 away defeat at Bolton.
Robin regularly took a battering from
opposing defenders, with referees failing to
afford him any protection. Because of this he
often retaliated, consequently leading to a
bad disciplinary record.
Robin claimed that he had enough of people
telling him what to do and walked into
Jimmy Andrews’s office on December 20,
1977, to announce that he was retiring from
professional football. The club promptly
released him and cancelled his contract. He
was still only 25 years old.
Jimmy Andrews, his manager at Cardiff, later
called Robin ‘the complete centre-forward’
and placed him on a par with Alan Shearer,
while the former Reading manager Maurice
Evans was one of several people who
claimed that Robin could have played for
England had he sorted his head out.
After retiring from football, Robin moved back
to London and returned to work as an
asphalter and decorator. He briefly trained
with Brentford during the 1978-79 pre-season,
but, after regaining his fitness suddenly
changed his mind and stopped training.
And now the story is to go worldwide with
Hollywood set to release a feature film (now in
pre-production) based on his life later this
year. The ɔ