Charlton confirm Robson exit

1:14pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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CHARLTON today confirmed last season's first team coach Mark Robson has left The Valley.

Robson has spent the last eight years with the club, also serving as youth coach, assistant academy manager, reserve-team manager and development coach in addition to his four years in SE7 as a player.

His departure takes immediate effect in order to allow Robson to pursue his ambition to be a manager or assistant manager at another club.

Robson said: "Charlton is a great club and I have been privileged to serve it in a number of roles.

"I have had tremendous support from the club and its fans and will be sad to leave. I am ambitious, however, and would like the opportunity to either become a number one and take the reins at my own club, or take on an assistant manager's role elsewhere."

He added: "I wish Alan Pardew and the staff well and I hope the squad he is building will be able to bring Charlton the success they deserve.

"It has been a pleasure to work with him, all the staff and the players and for the fans of this fantastic club."

Pardew said: "Robbo has been a great servant to Charlton and a great help to me and previous managers. He has helped to develop the careers of several young players at the club.

"He is a dear friend and always will be and I fully understand his ambitions and respect them.

"I'm certain he will get a chance in his own right and will be a success wherever he goes."

Robson became first-team coach in December 2006 following Pardew's arrival at the club.

He started the 2006-07 campaign as development coach under Iain Dowie and then became assistant head coach to Les Reed when Dowie departed the club in November.

A tricky winger in his playing days, Robson made 123 appearances for the Addicks in the mid-1990s and his coaching pedigree was apparent from an early age.

Indeed, aged just 18 and having completed a dream first professional move to Tottenham Hotspur from first club Exeter City in 1987, he started to coach his brother's Sunday side.

Robson returned to Charlton as assistant academy manager in late 2000 and took charge of a Charlton under-18 side which reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup in 2002/03 when the Addicks were beaten over two legs by eventual winners Manchester United.

The same season saw Robson lead the club's under-19s, as the senior academy age group was at the time, to a club record run of nine unbeaten games.

He became reserve-team coach in 2006 and the keen advocate of youth talent has therefore played a key role in the progress of Charlton's youngsters over the past eight years.

No fewer than six academy products - Darren Randolph, Harry Arter, Grant Basey, Elliot, Jonjo Shelvey and Scott Wagstaff - have made their senior Charlton debuts in the last 15 months, illustrating the importance to the club of developing young talent.

Among the players Robson has worked closely in recent years are current first-teamers Lloyd Sam, Grant Basey and Harry Arter.

A number of Charlton youth system products are successfully plying their trade elsewhere, such as Michael Turner at Premiership Hull City and Jamal Campbell-Ryce at Barnsley.

Richard Murray, chairman of the football club board, said: "When I first came to Charlton, I had the pleasure of watching Mark perform on the pitch as a key player in the team and he possessed some delightful skills.

"Mark has brought those skills, along with his great personality, to his coaching roles, and passed them on to many young players.

"He always did his best for the club and has been an integral part of our development.

"I'm sure he will bring this experience to bear on any future role he plays in the game and we all wish him well."