Farewell to a friend…

By: Gary | July 28th, 2008

The loss of Paul Robinson is more than the departure of a goalkeeper.

It is farewell to a very special friend.

It is goodbye to a man who lived for Tottenham.

It is the end to a fans favourite.

I think I speak for the majority of Tottenham fans when I say it is a huge disappointment to see the back of a much loved custodian.

That is not to say his departure is at all surprising. It is part and parcel of a new management team sadly. Players who belong to an era before often wave goodbye.

Robinson will be remembered in the days of Martin Jol. His departure makes absolutely certain of that.

The writing has been on the walls ever since he was dropped for the first leg of our Carling Cup semi-final with Arsenal back in December in fact.

The shock inclusion of Radek Cerny in the starting eleven that night proved no-one was safe and a fragile Robbo was always going to find it tough to recover.

He was dropped from the England later in the season too and I suspect the double blow hit him for six.

Robbo did bounce back to start the final at Wembley against Chelsea, but his relationship with new boss Ramos always came across as uneasy.

And you cannot blame the Spaniard for seeking an alternative stopper this summer. Ever since Ramos arrived at White Hart Lane Robbo has been vulnerable to say the very least.

But Robbo’s demise in truth began way back in Croatia.

Humiliation on the international stage punctured his confidence and he never seemed the same again. A shaky keeper behind a naive back four was never likely to bode well.

We say it time and time again but football is a very cruel game. You are lucky to get a second chance and Robbo merely ran out of a manager’s trust. He threw up his opportunities making his future prospects at Spurs always dim.

It may be easy to say now but a troubled end to life at Spurs does not make him a poor goalkeeper. In fact I believe quite the opposite – he is a top top player. I am sure he will come back and prove that to everyone.

We have seen evidence of that time and time again. On his day he can boast himself as one of the Premiership’s finest shot-stoppers, while his distribution has always been second to none.

The only thing you can question is his confidence – and he showed no signs of beating his demons while still in a Spurs jersey. And that is exactly why this move was the only way forward for his own career.

No-one will be as disappointed as Robbo after failing to stake a claim on being Juande’s number one this season. He was given his fair share of chances to impress but simply threw them away.

We would all have loved to see such a character as Robbo end out his playing days with Tottenham, but all things considered it was unlikely when such a dip in form just seemed to run on.

Ramos understandably grew tired of poor displays and probably didn’t face much of a decision whether to replace him this summer.

There are no sentiments in football. However Robbo loves Tottenham, and the fans love him. But that would never have been enough. Maybe he just wanted a return to form too much along with the fans.

I would have loved Robbo to have stayed. And the thought of another set of fans singing his name will be hard to swallow. I doubt Robbo will forget the Spurs fans in a hurry. And we won’t forget him either.

He’ll be back at the Park Lane next season. And a hero’s reception will await him.

Good luck Robbo, you will always be England’s No 1…