Farewell, John Robertson, the little fat guy who became Nottingham Forest’s greatest player | OneFootball

John Robertson, the Nottingham Forest winger who illuminated two European Cup triumphs, has died aged 72. NY Times reports that he spent most of a 16-year career at Forest and is widely regarded as the club’s greatest.

He set up Trevor Francis’s winner against Malmo in 1979, then struck the decisive goal against Hamburg in 1980. Clough often reduced the plan to a simple instruction to find him.

Clough called him the Picasso of the game. Jose Mourinho, who wrote a 2015 foreword for I Believe in Miracles, admired his extraordinary talent. Many contemporaries judged him Europe’s leading winger for at least two seasons, despite no Ballon d’Or recognition.

He had two spells at Forest split by two seasons at Derby County. He entered the English Football Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2016. He later served as Martin O’Neill’s assistant, from Grantham Town to Celtic.

Robertson lived with Parkinson’s in recent years yet remained the convivial heartbeat of the European Cup winners’ lunches in Nottingham. That group has recently mourned Larry Lloyd and Trevor Francis. His unpretentious charm endeared him to team-mates and supporters.

His life carried profound sorrow too. His daughter Jessica died aged 13 in 1996, and three days after learning his brother Hughie and sister-in-law Isobel had been killed in a car crash, he scored with a diving header in a 1979 European Cup semi-final against Cologne, then travelled to the funeral. For many Forest fans, JR embodied the club’s soul.

Source: NY Times