Jack Robson

Who was Jack Robson?

John "Jack" Robson was an Englishman who was the full-time secretary manager of Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion, as well as manager of Manchester United. Robson started his managerial career with Middlesbrough, where he was paid £3 a week and declined to travel to away games as an economic measure. Despite his tight-fistedness he took the club from being an amateur outfit in the Northern League to a professional club in the First Division. He was also the first manager of Crystal Palace and coached the club to one of the greatest FA Cup shocks of all time when they defeated Newcastle United at St James' Park in 1907. He later managed Brighton & Hove Albion and started the concept of being a manager and not a secretary at Manchester United. He stepped down as United manager due to ill health in October 1921 and died of pneumonia on 11 January 1922.