Robbie Earle, MBE

Robbie Earle launched his football career at Port Vale in 1982 and in 1991 he signed for Wimbledon FC, for a then-club record of £775,000. Robbie rapidly became a legendary member of the Wimbledon 'crazy gang' side. During an extraordinary career, Robbie played in over 600 league games, scoring approximately 150 goals. He captained Wimbledon for five years and was also the Captain of the Jamaican National Team for two years.

As an attacking midfielder, Robbie made history in 1998 when he scored Jamaica's first goal in the World Cup Finals against Croatia, on the first occasion that Jamaica had qualified for the competition. He gathered 33 caps with Jamaica between 1997 and 2000, scoring eight international goals.

Whilst enjoying his career as a professional football player, Robbie also established himself as a highly articulate and capable spokesperson and media personality. In 1997, he was selected to be part of a government-appointed Football Taskforce established to address the various issues surrounding the sport. Along with David Mellor, the Chairman of the taskforce, Robbie toured the country with road shows, discussing pertinent issues involving the game at the time. This and other similar opportunities provided Robbie with an initial platform from which to launch what was to become, post-retirement, a flourishing media career.

Moving into sports journalism, Earle has worked for Capital Radio, Radio 5 Live, BBC, ESPN, ITV, Sky Sports and One Digital. Earle was a regular pundit on ITV's football coverage until 2010 and was an occasional guest on ESPN Press Pass. He has also written columns for the London Evening Standard and for the Stoke-on-Trent Evening Sentinel.

Earle has been awarded many accolades in honor of his ability and dedication as a footballer. Most notably, he was awarded an MBE in 1999 and was also voted Carling Player of the Month in March 1996 and Wimbledon's Player of the Decade in 2000.