Coach that left Birmingham City this summer lands job at Championship club

Former Birmingham City player and coach Paul Robinson has joined the coaching staff of Championship club Watford.

Robinson returned to the club earlier this year to form a part of Gary Rowett's backroom team after the pair returned to St Andrew's in March. Upon the end season ending which saw Birmingham relegated, the duo departed as their short-term deals came to an end.

Rowett has remained out of football management, but has been working as a pundit for Sky Sports. For Robinson, this is the third club that he has coached at, having worked with the academy at Birmingham, before linking up with Rowett at Millwall.

Speaking about the appointment to the official club website, head coach Tom Cleverley said: “We’ve identified Robbo as the perfect person to come in and help us achieve our goals.

“Defensively is somewhere we need to improve, set-pieces also.

“I feel like Robbo’s experience as a player and as a coach; in the environments he’s been at they’ve always had top defensive records and top set-piece records.

“Although he’ll be assisting us in every way he can, those are two areas where I feel he comes in and can improve us straight away. It’s a perfect appointment for us.”

The 45-year-old was born in Watford and began his career at Vicarage Road. He played under Graham Taylor and was part of a double-winning promotion squad, appearing over eight seasons for them. Robinson later moved to West Brom, appearing over 200 times for them, before spells at Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United before landing at Blues.

Robinson made 175 appearances in total during his time as a player at Birmingham, and as mentioned he would later go on to work with the academy.

Cleverley added: “People on the outside could think ‘top six, everything’s going fantastically well’ but for me there are clear areas where we could improve and I think Paul brings the experience, knowledge and coaching qualities to get that over to the players and improve us in the right areas.

“Technically, ideas take a few weeks, but on the other hand his personality and style will have an immediate effect and there’s no better game to have that type of character than Saturday.”