UEFA Pro Licence holder and former West Ham United player Mark Robson returned to his role as the Academy of Football’s Senior Professional Development Phase Coach/U21s Lead Coach in July 2026.

Upton Park-born Robson has the reputation as one of the most highly-respected development coaches in English football, having previously spent more than four years at the Football Association as a National Specialist Coach, working closely with the best young players to progress through the national team pathway into the senior England squad.

Robson enjoyed a 13-year playing career as a winger with Exeter City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham – winning promotion to the Premier League in 1992/93 – Charlton Athletic and Notts County.

He then moved into coaching, spending eight years at Charlton working with the U18s, U21s, as a development coach, and as a first-team coach and assistant head coach under Alan Pardew between 2006-08.

Robson moved to Gillingham as first-team coach under manager Mark Stimson, then onto Peterborough United in the same role, working with Gary Johnson and later Darren Ferguson, before being appointed head coach of Barnet in 2012.

A spell as an FA Youth Coach Educator followed before Robson was appointed as the England U17s assistant coach in 2013. Later the same year, he joined Norwich City as U21s lead coach before being promoted to first-team coach under manager Neil Adams.

Robson took a first-team coach role under Tim Sherwood at Aston Villa in 2015, then spent four years working as a national specialist coach with England U20s.

After a second spell at Peterborough with Ferguson, Robson returned to West Ham in November 2021, as Senior Professional Development Phase Coach/U21s Lead Coach.

He returned to the role in summer 2024, after spending the 2023/24 season as a First-Team Coach under manager David Moyes, and then again in summer 2026, after working with the first team under Nuno Espírito Santo for the majority of 2025/26.