Robbie Stockdale

Robert Keith "Robbie" Stockdale (born 30 November 1979 in Redcar, North Yorkshire) is an English-born Scottish former professional footballer, who is a first team coach of Premier League side Sunderland.

As a player he was a defender from 1997 to 2012. He notably played Premier League football for Middlesbrough having also appeared as a professional for Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United, Rotherham United, Hull City, Darlington and Tranmere Rovers before joining Grimsby Town in 2008. Stockdale has five international caps to his name whilst representing the Scotland national football team. In 2010 he mixed his playing duties with a new role as Grimsby's youth team manager, a position he held until moving to Sunderland in 2012.

Club career

Middlesbrough

Stockdale began his career at Middlesbrough in 1997 after breaking from its youth system, however this was playing as a striker where he scored two goals in 35 appearances against Watford^[1] and Chelsea,^[2] but the Middlesbrough team had no space for strikers with the likes of Alen Bokšić, Hamilton Ricard and Brian Deane in the senior squad. Stockdale was thus converted to a right back and made over 50 Premier League appearances as well as earning five international caps for Scotland. He had several loan spells during his time at Middlesbrough, to clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United.

Rotherham United

In 2004, Stockdale moved to Rotherham United after a successful loan spell in which he scored once against Burnley.^[3] He became an integral part of their defence, but the club and manager Ronnie Moore could not keep hold of Stockdale and several months later, midway through the 2004–05 season he left Rotherham to move to another part of Yorkshire.

Hull City

Stockdale signed for League One side Hull City and played out the season at the KC Stadium, but after the end of the league campaign he lost his place in the squad. After a troubled 2005–06 season when he failed to make a league appearance for Hull.

Tranmere Rovers

Stockdale was signed on a two-year contract by his former Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore for Tranmere Rovers in a £100,000 deal which also brought Kevin Ellison to the club. He made 35 league appearances during his debut season of 2006–07. Stockdale continued to be first choice at right back during the 2007/08 season, but was released by the club at the end of the campaign.^[4]

Grimsby Town

Stockdale signed a two-year deal with Grimsby Town under Alan Buckley in June 2008 and was the first new signing for The Mariners in for the 2008–2009 campaign.^[5] He made his debut on 19 July in a pre-season friendly against Oldham Athletic at Blundell Park, and went on to score his first goal in a 2–1 defeat to Morecambe in the FA Cup.^[6] By this time Grimsby were under new stewardship following the sacking of Buckley in September 2008, with the club bringing in Mike Newell as his replacement. Following an injury spell in mid season, Stockdale remained on the sidelines for several months while his position was covered by Jamie Clarke. He managed a return to the first team in the closing months of the season and cemented his place at right back, eventually helping The Mariners stave off the threat of relegation from the Football League. During the 2009–2010 season Stockdale suffered a hernia injury that kept him sidelined again for several months and would only see him compete 9 times during that season in which right sided attacking midfielder Peter Bore was deployed as the club's first choice right back which would eventually see him be awarded the "Fans Player of the Season". Grimsby suffered relegation from the Football League in May 2010 and a month later Stockdale signed a new contract to keep him at Blundell Park for a further season but in the contract was the introduction of Stockdale as the new youth team manager as well as continuing to make himself available for selection as a player. Grimsby manager Neil Woods handed Stockdale the number 39 shirt for the 2010–2011 Conference National season as cover for Bore and Bradley Wood. On 18 January 2011 Stockdale played his first competitive match in 18 months when he was called upon to start in the 2–1 home win over Kettering Town,^[7] the game would be his final competitive match.

On 5 August 2011 he came on as a substitute in Town's pre-season friendly away at Brigg Town^[8]

International career

Although initially representing England at U21 level, Stockdale earned several call-ups to the Scotland team in 2002 whilst a Premier League regular for Middlesbrough. He was handed his Scotland debut by Berti Vogts in a 2–1 home defeat against Nigeria on 17 April 2002. In that same year he also played in defeats against Denmark, South Korea and South Africa as well as a 4–0 victory over Hong Kong.

Coaching career

Grimsby Town

In June 2010 Stockdale signed a new deal with The Mariners, which also included he became the club's youth team manager as well as staying on as a player.^[9] The club had not appointed a new youth team boss since promoting Neil Woods to first team manager following the sacking of Mike Newell in November 2009. Stockdale was kept on the playing records as well for the 2010–2011 season and was handed a squad number to be used as cover for Peter Bore, Bradley Wood and Dwayne Samuels who were the club's other contracted players who are capable of playing in Stockdale's position.

On 4 March 2011 it was announced that Stockdale and assistant manager Dave Moore would take caretaker control of the first team for the home tie with AFC Wimbledon on 5 March, following the sacking of Neil Woods.^[10] The game ended in a 2–1 victory for The Mariners in what was Moore's first managerial match in fifteen years and Stockdale's first ever game as a manager.^[11]

On 23 March 2011, Stockdale and Moore relinquished managerial duties to the newly appointed duo of Paul Hurst and Rob Scott following 2 victories, 1 draw and 1 defeat. Stockdale continued to manage the youth team at the club until stepping down on 29 August 2012.

Sunderland

On 29 August 2012 Stockdale became a youth team coach of Premier League side Sunderland. In return Sunderland offered to take their first team squad for a pre-season friendly at Grimsby for the following summer.^[12] On 22 September 2013 Stockdale was appointed assistant to caretaker manager Kevin Ball, following the sacking of manager Paolo Di Canio.^[13] After Ball stopped working due to injury, Stockdale became the U21 team manager for the 2014-15 season.^[14][15] With four wins out of the final six games of that season, the team finished 4th in the Barclays U21 Premier League, just below Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.^[16][17] Their unbeaten run, starting from March 2015, continued to the 2015-16 season and came to an end when they lost 0-1 to Reading in August.^[18][19] Stockdale then guided the team to another five wins and one draw against the likes of Manchester City, Southampton and Liverpool which sent the team to top of the U21 Premier League table.^[20][21] Their victory over Liverpool marks a record of only 1 defeat in 22 games.^[22] With the impressive work he did with the U21 team, Stockdale was handed the role of acting head coach of the first team on 6 October 2015 after manager Dick Advocaat left.^[23] He was subsequently named as first team coach following the appointment of manager Sam Allardyce.^[24]

Career statistics

References

External links

• Robbie Stockdale at scottishfa.co.uk
  
• Robbie Stockdale career statistics at Soccerbase