MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Before Eric Cantona, David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo, there was Mark Robins.
The list of Manchester United greats is long but Robins is not on it. Yet he is widely regarded as the man who saved former manager Alex Ferguson his job and provided the platform for more than two decades of success.
On Sunday, Robins could push current United coach Erik ten Hag closer to the brink by leading his second-tier Coventry team to a shock win over United in the FA Cup semifinals.
“We will never know how close I was to being sacked (fired),” Ferguson wrote in his autobiography. Robins is mentioned on the very first page.
It was in January 1990 that Robins scored the only goal in United’s 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Reports at the time suggested Ferguson’s job was on the line after more than three years without a trophy.
Ferguson himself accepts that without going on to win the Cup that year “grave doubts would’ve been raised about my suitability for the job.”
United did win it — with Robins also scoring the winning goal in the semifinal replay against Oldham — the first of 28 major trophies under Ferguson.
