The Fat Lad On The Left

“When you get the ball, just give it to the fat lad on the left”. This is the tactical wizardry given to Nottingham Forest players during the Brian Clough era. Years of coaching at the highest level boiled down to one comment. The “fat lad on the left” was John Robertson. Who at the time was probably one of the most underrated players in Europe.

You’d think when reading Clough’s derogatory and mean comments that he didn’t really have any respect for Robertson. But it couldn’t be any further from the truth. Clough knew that in Robertson he had a game-changer, a real winger who could glide past the best defenders with ease.

A Dominant Force

He was so important to Clough and his Forest plans that Robertson played every game for 4 straight seasons under him. This included 2 European Cup successes as Forest became for a short time the dominant force in both England and the European game.

In Robertson, they had a player who could change direction with ease with a drop of the shoulder. A player who was comfortable with the ball at either foot. This ability to use both feet was never more evident in both of Forests’ European Cup victories.

European Champions

Against a resolute Malmo side in 1979 he skipped past 3 defenders to reach the byline before using his left foot to cross to Trevor Francis at the back post. The rest is history as Francis dived to header into the roof of the net to secure a 1-0 victory. Nottingham Forest were the European champions.

Then the following season a quick one-two with Gary Birtles and Robertson dispatched the ball with his right foot into the bottom corner. The goal was enough to secure another 1-0 European Cup Final victory this time over Kevin Keegan and Hamburg.

Family Heartbreak

These were memorable times for the man from Uddingston in Scotland. However, the good times were tainted by personal tragedy for Robertson. On the eve of the 1979 European Cup semi-final first leg against Cologne, he lost his brother and sister-in-law in a car crash.

The funerals were due to take place the day after the game and Clough had informed Robertson he didn’t have to play. Robertson had other ideas though.

The Fat Lad On The Left

Forest were 2-0 down but they clawed back two goals before, in the 63rd minute, Robertson launched himself at the ball to put Forest ahead.

“I f***ing scored,” he said. “I looked up and said: ‘That’s for you, son …’”

“I’ve never scored a header in my life. A diving header too.”

Forest’s Greatest Player

Robertson’s time with Forest heralded two European Cups, a league title and two League Cups. Along with a meagre 28 Scotland caps and an appearance at the 1982 World Cup Finals, where he scored in the 5-2 win over New Zealand.

However, when asked about his favourite moment in football Robertson never hesitates to answer. A winning penalty for Scotland against England at Wembley in 1981.

During his time with Forest Robertson made 514 appearances for the team from the City Ground over 2 separate periods scoring 95 times. In 2005 he was voted Nottingham Forest’s greatest player and when the poll was repeated in 2015 to mark the club’s 150th anniversary, he won it again.

High Praise From Clough

Brian Clough was quoted as saying “John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If one day, I felt a bit off-colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn in comparison. But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist, the Picasso of our game.

In his autobiography, Clough noted that “Rarely could there have been a more unlikely-looking professional athlete. He was a scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time…but something told me he was worth persevering with.”

Not bad praise at all from the legendary Clough. He knew that Robertson was so much more than the “fat lad on the left”.