Sheffield United vs Watford

UTB 51
United, scoring one goal before joining
Cardiff City in July 2004.
He soon moved to Coventry City for
more regular first team football and later
had spells with Huddersfield Town and
Chesterfield. Following his release by the
Spireites in March 2011 his professional
career was over after making 475
appearances in total for all his clubs.
In addition to his clubs, Robert also won
international honours with Wales at U18,
U21 and B levels as well as winning 41
full caps.
After his playing career was over, he
moved into coaching joining Port Vale in
July 2011 as a youth coach before being
promoted to first team coach a year later.
In 2014 he was promoted to assistantmanager.
He then took over as caretaker
manager a couple of months later when
Micky Adams resigned and after a good
run of results, he was appointed Vale’s
manager at the end of October 2014. He
remained in this role until the end of the
2015-16 season where his side played a
possession based game and succeeded
in retaining their League One position.
In May 2016 he accepted the manager’s
job at Northampton Town after Chris
Wilder had left the club to join the Blades.
However, after a poor run of results and
elimination from the FA Cup by nonleague
Stourbridge, he was sacked in
January 2017.
He soon had a new job as youth coach
at Nottingham Forest as well as being
appointed manager of the Wales U21
team and later assistant coach to Ryan
Giggs, the Welsh national team manager.
Robert became caretaker manager in
November 2020 following the Welsh FA’s
decision to grant Giggs extended leave
to deal with a legal case. In this new role
Robert led Wales in the delayed 2020
UEFA Euro Finals (actually played in the
▲ Rob in charge of Port Vale back in 2015
summer of 2021). They qualified from
their group but were eliminated in the
round of 16.
He then had the proud achievement
of leading Wales as they qualified for the
2022 World Cup Finals in Qatar following
their play-off win against Ukraine last
June. Robert was also confirmed as
Wales’ permanent manager later that
month and signed a new four-year deal in
September 2022. This was the first time
Wales had qualified for the World Cup
Finals since 1958. Although disappointed
to be knocked out at the Group Stage,
Robert can be proud of his international
record to date and look forward to an
optimistic future.
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs WATFORD