Jobs4Football meets John Robertson
Jobs4Football spoke to former Hearts and Scotland striker, John Robertson, about his Tynecastle playing days, a 20-year career in coaching and his current position as sporting director at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and what he hopes to achieve with the club.
Robertson is the Jam Tarts’ all-time leading scorer with 310 goals spanning across two spells at the club, and he was part of the squad that won the Scottish Cup in 1998, ending Heart’s 36-year trophy drought in what was his final game for the club.
He said: “Hearts is the club that I will forever be tied with because they are the ones that gave me an opportunity. Everything just seemed to fit whilst I was there, the support was always incredible, the manager was great with me and the style of football we played was attacking, so that suited me as a small striker.”
“If someone told me I was going to break the club record for the number of league goals I never would have believed them, that person was probably living in fantasy land, but I left the club as the top league goal scorer, top cup goal scorer, most goals in Europe and in the derbies and so I’m extremely proud of what I was able to achieve at the club.”
“I wasn’t an athlete, I wasn’t six foot three who could run like the wind, I was small and chunky, but I could score goals so when I look back on my playing career, without being arrogant, I think I managed to achieve everything I could’ve possibly done in the 18 years that I played.”
Robertson also went on to make 16 appearances for Scotland, scoring three times including once on his debut against Romania in 1990 but was unfortunate to miss out on Euro 1992 due to a hernia injury.
In 1998 he joined league one side Livingston, and this where Robertson’s transition from footballer to coach began and would lead to him managing clubs such as Inverness, Ross County, East Fife, as well as a return to Hearts to manage the club for the 04/05 season.
He said: “I was a player coach at Livingston for two seasons, and we actually got promoted in my first year at the club so we were looking to try and get into the premiership, and it was at this point I made the decision to stop playing and focus on coaching because I quite liked it.”
“I did my apprenticeship under the former Celtic manager, David Hay, and he was brilliant for me in terms of developing skills such as, how to look at things in training, how to look at individual players, how to get something out of each session both technically and tactically, and not just put a session on that ticks boxes.”
“A couple of years later I was approached by Inverness, and I felt I had the tools and skills to become a manager, and we got promoted straight away in my first season to the Premiership.”
“I’ve managed teams in the top flight, the Championship, I’ve done part time management, and then I came back to Inverness in 2017 for four more years as manager before now settling into the sporting director role.”
The duties of a sporting director in football can vary depending on the club, but the position is seen as the catalyst between the owner, CEO and manager, with the roles preliminary focus being on supporting the manager and overseeing the entire footballing side of things other than the day-to-day coaching.
From sorting out players’ contracts to liaising with the local community, the role of a sporting director is often nonstop and has become one of the most vital aspects in ensuring football clubs are run successfully, but what does it take to be an effective sporting director?
“I think you have to be open minded because there is a lot of things to do, you have to be a good negotiator because you’re dealing with agents and players, you have to have an understanding of finance and understanding of the club’s position and making sure you are getting the best value possible. Transparency is also important because you have to be honest with the head coach, and communications have to be clear in terms of discussing who the club can and can’t afford. You have to also have a reasonable knowledge of the game because another aspect of the role is player recruitment, so I actually go and watch players that are recommended to us by the scouts to make sure they are of the right quality and character we need.”
“There’s a lot of different traits required to be successful in the role and I hope I can put these to good use and help this club be successful.”
Inverness currently sit in second place in the Scottish Championship, joint on points with first place Arbroath, as the club looks to get themselves back in the Premier League under the management of former Rangers player Billy Dodds, and Robertson has big ambitions for what he would like to help the club achieve in the future.
“Right now, I have one aim and one aim only and that’s to help Dodds become the most successful manager in the club’s history, and if he is to do that, he will get us into the Premiership, stay there and compete for trophies.”
“All I want to do is pour everything I’ve got into making Inverness the best possible club it can be, so I will assist the CEO and the board to help them be the best they can be whilst also helping Billy deliver on the pitch, because if the team is successful then that will mean the rest of the club can be successful.”
‘Caley Thistle’ looks set for a big 2022 as they try to get back into the top flight, and despite no longer being in the dugout, Robertson will put everything into ensuring this hope becomes a reality.