Carl Robinson began
his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he enjoyed seven
seasons, before being signed on a Bosman by Portsmouth in the summer
of 2002. The versatile midfielder, who spent time on loan at Shrewsbury
Town during his Molineux career, played almost 200 games for the
club as they tried to win promotion into the Premiership.
But his career with Portsmouth was not as enjoyable. After making
his debut in a 2-0 home win over Nottingham Forest, he eventually
dropped down the pecking order and was loaned out to Sheffield
Wednesday in January 2003. He failed to really find top form and
Hillsborough and a month later swapped his loan move to Walsall,
who he helped to stay in the First Division.
The Llandrudod-born midfielder has been capped at Under-21, 'B'
level and Full international level (Robinson made his full international
debut against Belarus in 1999). He was loaned out to Rotherham
United in mid-September 2003. He impressed greatly with the Millers,
and they were sorry to see him go at the end of his three-month
spell - in which he made 16 appearances. On his return to Pompey
he found himself in first team action due to the club's injury
problems, featuring three times before joining Sheffield United
on loan in late-January 2004. He was a success at Bramall Lane,
but the Blades could not afford to take him on permanently.
That led to a loan move to Sunderland on transfer deadline day
in March, leading to the free move in the summer. He made 40 League
starts as the Black Cats took the title and booked a place in
the Premiership. Robinson ended a nomadic couple of seasons in
the summer of 2004 when he signed for Sunderland on a permanent
basis. He then became a mainstay of the side which stormed to
the Championship title the following season. Robinson signed a
new two-year contract in the summer of 2005.
But after starting the first three Premiership matches he lost
his place in the side, featuring only sporadically from the bench.
That led to a loan move to Norwich City at the end of November.
Robinson made his Canaries debut in a 2-2 draw at Coventry City.
Carl's move to Carrow Road became substantial on 17th January
2006 for a fee of £50,000. It was the first time in his
career that a transfer fee had been paid for his services. Robinson
scored his first goal for Norwich in the 5-1 win against Barnsley
on 26 August 2006. He netted once more with a headed goal in the
3-1 victory over Leicester City on 28 November 2006.
Never that popular with the Carrow Road faithful, Carl was released
in January 2007 so that he could sign for Major League Soccer
new boys Toronto FC, who also field Jim
Brennan.