John Robertson (footballer, born 1964)

John Grant Robertson is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Robertson played as a striker for Newcastle United, Dundee and Livingston, but he is best known for his two spells at Heart of Midlothian totalling about 18 years, where he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer. He has since managed Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hearts, Ross County, Livingston, Derry City and East Fife.

Playing career

Hibernian attempted to sign Robertson as a teenager but he asked for time to think the deal over; after Hibs refused, he signed for Heart of Midlothian along with school friend and fellow future internationalist Dave Bowman. Robertson eventually earned the moniker "The Hammer of Hibs" as he scored a record 27 goals in Edinburgh derby matches. In 1986, 20 league goals from Robertson helped Hearts to the brink of a league and cup double. A 27 league game unbeaten run ended with two Albert Kidd goals for Dundee in the last six minutes of the season allowing Celtic to overtake them to win the title. A week later, Hearts lost 3–0 to Aberdeen in the cup final. He scored 106 goals in 202 Hearts league games in this spell at Tynecastle Park.
He left Hearts to play for Newcastle United in April 1988. Robertson failed to score in 14 Newcastle competitive first team games and returned to Hearts in December of that year, and remained there for the next decade. In 1998 Hearts won the Scottish Cup with Robertson an unused substitute, earning him his only senior medal as a player. In this second spell at Hearts he scored at a much less prolific rate compared to his first spell, with this time 106 goals in 310 league games. After an earlier loan spell with Dundee scoring once in 4 league games, he left Tynecastle that summer. He joined Livingston as a player-coach, scoring 14 goals in 41 league games.
Robertson was also a Scottish international, playing on 16 occasions for Scotland. He made his debut against Romania in 1990, scoring in a 2–1 win. He missed out on selection for the UEFA Euro 1992 due to a hernia injury.

Coaching career

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (first spell)

Whilst playing for Livingston, Robertson became involved in the coaching side of the game. He left the club in season 2002–03 to become manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle where he guided the Highland team to the SPL for the first time in their history.

Heart of Midlothian manager

In November 2004 he returned to Hearts as head coach and despite two cup semi-finals and a good season in Europe as well as finishing fifth in the league, he was sacked in May 2005.

Ross County and Livingston

Robertson was appointed manager of Scottish First Division team Ross County in June 2005, but left by mutual consent after four months. He was then appointed manager of Livingston in February 2006, but was sacked in April 2007 after finishing sixth in the First Division.

Derry City

Robertson was appointed by League of Ireland side Derry City in July 2007. He took club out of the relegation battle to a safe mid table position and also won the FAI League Cup and qualified for the Setanta Cup before being dismissed by the new chairman and board of directors at Derry, and replaced by former Derry boss Stephen Kenny. In 2009, Robertson coached strikers at Scottish Premier League clubs Dundee United and Kilmarnock. In March 2010, Robertson helped coach the strikers at Hearts on a non-contract basis.

East Fife

Robertson was appointed manager of East Fife in October 2010. In September 2011, his East Fife side knocked SPL club Aberdeen out of the Scottish League Cup at Pittodrie Stadium. On 1 March 2012 it was announced that Robertson had left East Fife.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (second spell)

In June 2017, Robertson returned to Inverness Caledonian Thistle as manager. On 24 March 2018, the club won the Scottish Challenge Cup. In the 2018/19 season, Inverness qualified for the promotion playoffs but were beaten in the semi-finals by Dundee United. Dundee then made an approach for Robertson, but this was rejected by Inverness. Inverness finished second in the 2019–20 Scottish Championship, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June 2020, his contract with Inverness was extended by two years. Robertson was placed on compassionate leave in February 2021, with Neil McCann given caretaker charge of the team in his absence. Robertson returned to Inverness in May 2021 as sporting director, with a new manager to be appointed. Dodds was sacked in September 2023, and Robertson was placed in caretaker charge of the Inverness first team until Duncan Ferguson was appointed later that month. He left the club in November that same year.

Ross County Return

In June 2025, Robertson returned to Dingwall to join Don Cowie's coaching staff. He was made interim manager in August 2025, after Cowie left the club.

Career statistics

International

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 September 1990	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland		1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
2	17 October 1990	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland		1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
3	24 May 1995	Toyama Park Stadium, Toyama, Japan		1–0	2–1	Kirin Cup