Former MK Dons and Oxford United boss Karl Robinson is the news Leeds United's new assistant manager, working under Sam Allardyce
Leeds have appointed Allardyce to replace Javi Gracia who has left the club after just 10 weeks at the helm.
Robinson previously worked with Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers, and has been out of a job since being sacked by Oxford United in February.
Here is everything you need to know about Leeds' new No. 2...
Who is Karl Robinson?
Robinson was a Liverpool academy player in 1997 but was denied the chance to play for the Reds after suffering a back injury. He subsequently launched his coaching career as a youth coach at Liverpool, whilst playing for a number of non-league clubs.
In 2006/07, Robinson served as assistant coach at MK Dons under Martin Allen, before spending two years as a fitness coach at Blackburn Rovers. Robinson worked under Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Sam Allardyce during his spell at Ewood Park, and returned to MK Dons as manager in July 2010.
At the age of 29, Robinson was the youngest manager in the Football League at the time and helped guide them into the League One play-offs during his first two seasons at the helm. In 2014/15, MK Dons condemned Louis van Gaal's Manchester United to a resounding 4-0 defeat in the EFL Cup, and went onto achieve automatic promotion to the Championship.
Their Championship adventure would last just one season as MK Dons finished second from bottom and faced an immediate return to the third-tier. Robinson was approached by former Leeds owner Massimo Cellino in 2016 but turned down the chance to takeover at Elland Road.
Speaking the No Tippy Tappy Football in March, Robinson explained: "“I met them on the Friday. I didn’t sleep on the Friday, I didn’t sleep on the Saturday so something didn’t feel right. Leeds weren’t the Leeds they were today, but they were still Leeds.
“I actually saw Sam Allardyce on the Monday and he said to go and meet them again, so I arranged to meet them and they weren’t there – 10am not there, 10.30am not there – so I phoned Sam and asked what to do, and he said to wait until 11am. Next thing they turned up and the conversation was a little erratic, unstable, and I thought, this isn’t me. It didn’t feel right.
“I met them on the Friday. I didn’t sleep on the Friday, I didn’t sleep on the Saturday so something didn’t feel right. Leeds weren’t the Leeds they were today, but they were still Leeds.
“The fact that it was Leeds, it just wasn’t the right time. I’d just got relegated a few days before with MK Dons, and I felt so guilty for that. My personality meant I had a lot of guilt about that relegation – but then I got sacked by MK Dons two months later!”
Robinson joined Charlton Athletic in 2016 and guided them to a 13th place finish at the end of his debut season. The Addicks had been in contention for a play-off place throughout his second season but a run of four matches without a win saw them fall to ninth.
He left The Valley in March 2018 and was replaced by former Leeds midfielder Lee Bowyer, who ultimately led them to the League One play-off semi-final. His spell out of management was short-lived because he was unveiled as the new Oxford United manager less than 24 hours later.
Oxford twice reached the play-offs under Robinson but fell to a 2-1 defeat against Wycombe Wanderers in the final in 2020, and lost over two legs in the semi-final against Blackpool in 2021.
Leeds loanee Lewis Bate played under Robinson at Oxford during the current campaign, but the 42-year-old was relieved of his duties in February following a run of seven defeats in eight games.
What has been said about him?
Sam Allardyce (May 2021): "And I look at someone like Karl Robinson, who's done a terrific job getting Oxford in the play-offs while having to balance the books. Will he do enough to get noticed and move up? That's another matter."
Joey Barton (February 2023): "I was torn because we were both coming in with poor form but you don't ever want to see that and I think the job Karl has done here will stand the test of time.
"I think he has been outstanding and constantly produced play-off chasing groups. In the midst of that, they have sold a lot of talent and it is tough at these levels if you keep losing your best players to replace them
"He has done a wonderful job. He's had a bit of adversity and I've seen it with Karl's teams before, and they pick up and they go on an incredible run and I'm just hoping they give him time because that is what every manager needs.
"It's not Karl's fault the players at the moment aren't firing on all cylinders. He hasn't become a bad manager in the past six months. He has been at this for a long time and had a lot of success at MK and a lot of success here."
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