Birmingham City signing Robin Shroot can go all the way, says a former Blues coach

Jan 24 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

ROBIN Shroot is not likely to sink without trace after making the big step up from non-league to Championship.

David Howell, the former Blues coach who has helped nurture the 20-year-old winger, said that he could go all the way.

Howell loaned Shroot from AFC Wimbledon and then signed him on a free when he was released in the summer.

“Robin probably played about eight games in two years at Wimbledon,” recalled Howell, who assisted Barry Fry between 1994-96.

“He became disillusioned there, he had fallen right down the pecking order.

“With us, I decided to structure the team around him, to get him on the ball. So when he played, we played. I think he will adjust to the Championship because of that. In our set-up, there were big demands placed on Robin.

“He knows when to take people on, when to lay it off, he has got a very good appreciation of the game as well as ability.

“He’s a confident boy, but not arrogant. He’s not fazed by anything and he’s focused and willing to learn.

“He’s a real football nut. It’s all he’s wanted to do and he’s one of those statto types who knows everything about every player.

“The fans at St Andrew’s are educated. They know what they want, and they know what they are looking for in a player.

“For me, they will take to him as much as they did to Jose Dominguez. Robin has got big talent and a big heart – he will give everything for Birmingham.”

Conditioning work Shroot did with Harrow player-coach and soccer academy supremo Jamie Lawrence when he was recovering from a knee injury helped his cause, said Howell.

“It turned him from a boy into a little man. Teams would try to kick lumps out of him just before the end, but Robin was just that bit stronger and could look after himself,” he said.