Newcastle United have added Robbie Stockdale to their backroom staff. The former Sunderland coach and caretaker manager has joined the club as an assistant to Diarmuid O'Carroll with the Under-21s.

Stockdale has had a long and varied coaching career, despite being just 45 years old. he has worked as a manager, assistant and first-team coach since graduating from Sunderland's youth set-up. Newcastle believe he can add some valuable experience in a key appointment behind the scenes.

Stockdale, who was a first-team coach under both Chris Coleman and Simon Grayson at Sunderland, had a couple of spells leading the team. He also managed Rochdale and has worked at Hibernian in the SPL. ChronicleLive takes a look at the varied career of the ex-Scotland international.

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Who is Robbie Stockdale?

Born in Redcar, Stockdale graduated from the renowned academy setup at Middlesbrough and made his first-team debut in 1997. Having been a forward during his youth football days, he was converted to a right-back and spent seven seasons at the Riverside.

Despite winning five caps for Scotland, Stockdale could never really cement his place in the first team on Teesside, taking in loan spells with Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Rotherham. He would make a permanent move to Rotherham in 2004 and would go on to turn out for Hull, Darlington, Tranmere and Grimsby before retiring from playing in 2012, aged just 32.

During his time at Grimsby he made his first move into the world of coaching. In 2010, he was appointed as the Mariners’ Youth Team coach and in 2011, he briefly took temporary charge of the first team in March 2011, following the sacking of Neil Woods.

In August 2012, Stockdale swapped the youth setup at Grimsby for the youth setup at Sunderland, working alongside Craig Liddle with the club’s under-18’s side. He was appointed assistant manager of the first team on a temporary basis, following the sacking of Paolo Di Canio in 2013, and he then succeeded Kevin Ball as the Black Cats’ under-21 coach in the 2014/15 season. He also had a brief spell as stand-in manager after Dick Advocaat left the club.

Stockdale presided over an impressive run of form while in charge of the under-21’s and guided them to the top of the Premier League at one stage of the 2015/16 season. His work was enough to convince Sam Allardyce to appoint him as a first-team coach, with ‘Big Sam’ even predicting that Stockdale possessed all of the ingredients to become a successful manager in the future.

Speaking in October 2015, he said: “Robbie has impressed me as a young, ambitious and talented coach,” said Allardyce. “It’s great for me to be able to promote a young man up to this position.

“I don’t think he quite realises the honour I have bestowed on him just yet, because these jobs are rare – there’s only 20 of them in the best league in the world – and he has a chance to grow.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he had the capabilities, and hopefully he will blossom as one of the coaches of the future as many of the backroom staff who have worked with me have gone on to greater things over the last 10 or 12 years.

“I think Robbie can develop and evolve into a very, very good coach indeed. As a session coach, Robbie has excellent potential. It’s all about what he wants to be, and now he has got the opportunity to step up and get involved with the senior boys. Certainly in my time here, he has mastered that challenge already.

“Having a young up-and-coming coach with the drive to be better and get better is important to me. Hopefully he can be guided on to become as successful as many a coach who has worked with me before.”

He was put in caretaker charge of the team again in November 2017 after Simon Grayson's departure as manager, and then again when Chris Coleman was sacked in 2018 as he guided the team to a 3–0 home victory against Championship winners Wolves. That was his last act at Sunderland as new owners took over, appointed Jack Ross - who is now also on Newcastle's staff - and Stockdale left. He later reflected on his time at the Wearsiders, hailing John O'Shea for his help.

After leaving Sunderland, he has had coaching jobs at Hibernian in the SPL, working alongside another ex-Sunderland man, Paul Heckingbottom.. He then reunited with Allardyce at West Brom as first-team coach.

His first role as a permanent manager arrived at Rochdale in July 2021. He lassted just over a year before being dismissed a following defeat in their opening four games of the 2022–23 season, with the club rooted to the bottom of League Tow. In total, he managed 59 games for Rotherham.

Since then, Stockdale has had brief spells as first team coach at Hull City and MK Dons. He then joined Stephen Clemence's staff at Gillingham and Barrow, where he has been working as assistant head coach before his move back to the North East.