TRIBUTES have been paid to former Middlesbrough defender Dicky Robinson, who has died following a long illness.

The 82-year-old played alongside greats such as Wilf Mannion, George Hardwick and Brian Clough, and took part in 416 games for the club for 14 years immediately after the Second World War.

The right-back is in the top ten of the club’s league of all-time appearances-makers.

Born in Whitburn, near Sunderland, he was brought to the club by manager David Jack.

After he left Ayresome Park in 1959, he joined Barrow, in Cumbria, where he played 139 games and later became the club’s trainer and settled in Barrow-in-Furness.

Alan Peacock, of the Middlesbrough Former Players Association, briefly played in the same Boro team as Robinson in the late Fifties.

He said: “Dicky was one of my heroes when I used to watch Boro from the terraces.

“He and George Hardwick were the regular full-backs and he was a class act.

“He was good enough to play for England. I vividly remember getting my first chance to play with him in the reserves. As well as being a very talented player, he was a really nice guy.”