Blackpool Schools team-mate remembers Liverpool and Manchester City striker Michael Robinson as a "super player and really decent guy"

But for Fylde coast native Michael Parr, his memory will always be cherished as a team-mate for Blackpool Schools Under-11s at the end of the 1960s.

A less well-documented part of Robinson’s football journey is that it began in Blackpool, after his parents relocated from Leicester to run a boarding house when Michael was four.

While at Thames Primary he gained selection for Blackpool Schools and teamed up with St John Vianney pupil Michael Parr.

Now a Manchester solicitor, Parr remains a Blackpool FC supporter and has retained his close connection to Bloomfield Road as brother of the club’s popular PA announcer Tony.

Michael kindly contacted The Gazette this week, happy to share his memories of Robinson from half a century ago and a photograph of that Blackpool Under-11s team.

Parr recalled: “I clearly remember Michael being a super player. He played in midfield and was a truly stylish player, with skills that we admired and envied.

“It was me who wore the number nine shirt, which was madness because my best position was centre-half.

“I remember we lost only once all season, to Kirkby Boys from Liverpool. It’s hardly surprising we were a good team with two future internationals in Michael and George Berry (later to play in defence for Wolves, Stoke City and Wales).

“I remember Michael as a very unassuming guy and a nice bloke, who was passionate about football.

“He was a really nice guy, who played brilliantly and was clearly a cut above the rest of us.

“George was as tough as .... with him you got away with nothing. But Michael’s personality was one of a really decent guy.”

That was the only season in which the Michaels were team-mates. Robinson moved on to Palatine High and continued to feature for Blackpool Schools, while Parr focused more on rugby at St Joseph’s Grammar.

However, they would play in one more match together, on opposite sides, in the Harry Johnston Trophy, which continues to this day for Blackpool school teams.

Parr recalls: “The competition was organised by my dad Ken, a Football League referee and Blackpool director.

“I played for St Joe’s against Michael’s Palatine team in a semi-final in 1974 and we won. Michael was gutted at the time but he signed for Preston North End the following year.

“I’m sure his adopted home town of Blackpool will mourn his passing, as will all of his fans and viewers in Spain and around the world.

“He showed that his talents were not to be confined to the football pitch as his career took off as a TV personality.

“I smiled every time I saw his name in the papers and I always kept that photo of the Blackpool Under-11s, resplendent in tangerine, of course.”

Michael Robinson is on the back row of our picture (fifth from left). On the front row are fellow future international George Berry (second left) and Michael Parr (far right)