Londoner Mark Robson joined Exeter City from school and, after making 26 league appearances, signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1987. Later returning to St James’ Park on loan in 1992, he subsequently appeared for West Ham, Charlton and Notts County ahead of a long coaching career. 

Mark trod the same path as Martin Ling three years previously when, as a sixteen-year-old school-leaver, he moved to Devon from East London to become a trainee with Exeter City.  Arriving in 1985, he made a goalscoring debut aged seventeen against Lincoln City in October 1986 ahead of signing professionally in December 1986. Making rapid progress, and displaying considerable potential, Mark had started 26 league games - scoring on seven occasions - when Tottenham Hotspur paid £50,000 fee (plus a further £10,000 after 10 first team appearances) for his services in July 1987. 

Never really establishing himself at White Hart Lane, Mark had just eight league outings for the first-team over the following five years and found himself loaned in short bursts to Reading, Watford and Plymouth Argyle. 

Subsequently in January 1992, as his time in North London was drawing to an end, Mark returrned on loan to St James' Park where, now playing for Alan Ball in the third tier, he appeared in eight games scoring once against Preston North End. 

Moving to West Ham United in August 1992, Mark scored eight goals in 47 league games before a £125,000 switch to Charlton Athletic in November 1993 where he played the most football of his career scoring nine times in 105 league appearances. He later moved to Notts County in June 1997 and on to Wycombe Wanderers in October 1998. 

Moving into coaching in 2000, Mark worked in Charlton’s academy before progressing to reserve-team manager, assistant head coach and first-team coach. Joining Gillingham as first-team coach in 2007, Mark worked as first-team coach and assistant manager before taking roles with Peterborough United, Barnet (alongside Edgar Davids), England under-17s and Norwich City in the period up until the end of 2014.

A stint as a first-team coach at Aston Villa followed ahead of a role with the FA at St George’s Park and a belated return to Peterborough United as assistant manager prior to his November 2021 appointment as lead coach of West Ham’s under-23 team. After turning down an opportunity to move to Wolves, Mark subsequently became first-team coach at West Ham in August 2023.