Bobby Robson
Sir Robert William Robson CBE, born
February 18 1933, popularly known as
Sir Bobby Robson, is a
football manager and former football player.
Robson is regarded as the
grandfather of English managers - but a sprightly one. He has a coaching CV as impressive as any in world football. Among his coaching roles, he has guided English and European clubs, as well as the
English national football team. He is one of the few football knights and is a member of the
English Football Hall of Fame. Robson is currently the "International Football Consultant" for the
Irish national football team, as well being honorary president of Ipswich Town.
Born in
Sacriston,
County Durham, Robson was the youngest son of Philip and Lilian Robson (née Watt). The family moved to the nearby village of
Langley Park when he was just a few months old. His father was a coalminer who often took young Robson on a walk of several miles to watch local side
Newcastle United, which is where he developed his love of football.
Robson signed for
Fulham F.C. in May
1950, playing as a winger. He moved to
West Bromwich Albion F.C. in March
1956 where he was to play 257 games, scoring 61 goals and winning 20 England caps as a midfielder. In August
1962, he returned to Fulham before a short spell as player/coach with
Canada's Vancouver Royals in their inaugural
1967-
68 season in the
North American Soccer League.
Fulham
Robson made his debut as a manager in the dug-out of his old club Fulham in January 1968, but did not last long there, leaving the London club in November..
Ipswich
He moved on to
Ipswich Town F.C. in
1969, and it was here that he first established his reputation as a successful manager. His reign at Ipswich lasted 13 years and during this time he re-shaped a side whose results had consistently placed them in the lower half of the First Division table. The team would go on to finish as league vice-champions twice, and began to make regular appearances in European competition, capturing both the
FA Cup and
UEFA Cup. During his tenure he only brought in 14 players from other clubs, relying instead on players developed through Ipswich's youth programmes.
On
7 July 2006, Bobby Robson was named as honorary president of Ipswich Town Football Club. He is the first honorary president of the club since Lady Cobbold died in 1987.
England
Robson's achievements with the previously unheralded side merited him the call of his country, and in
1982 he succeeded
Ron Greenwood as coach of the
English national football team after the World Cup in Spain.
Under Robson England put forward their best World Cup performances since their victory in
1966. However, his turn at the helm of the national side was bittersweet: in both tournaments England would be eliminated by the team that would go on to claim the title. Robson's eight year tenure included a glorious failure at the
Football World Cup 1986. England had started the competition poorly and Robson's captain and chief play maker
Bryan Robson was injured. Robson changed the team's tactics during the first round promoting
Peter Beardsley as a striking partner for
Gary Lineker which saw the team win two matches 3 - 0. England were defeated in the quarter finals by
Argentina and
Maradona's infamous
"Hand of God" goal.
He also led England to the semi-finals in the
1990 World Cup where they lost to
West Germany on penalties. Robson has since said that not a day goes by when he does not think about the semi-final and other choices he might have made.
Europe: Eindhoven, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona
The FA did not renew Robson's contract as England manager after 1990 and he moved on to the continent to coach
Holland's PSV Eindhoven. Despite winning two league titles, Robson was not regarded as a successful manager by PSV due to poor performances in European competition and personality clashes with players.
[Simon Kuper, Football Against the Enemy (Orion, 1996), Chapter 11.] He moved to
Sporting Lisbon in
1993, but was unexpectedly sacked in December 1994, despite the clubs's position atop the league table. Rivals
FC Porto quickly hired Robson and they promptly went on to beat Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Cup final, following up that achievement with league titles in 1995 and 1996.
This attracted the attention of
Spain's FC Barcelona. One of the key decisions Robson made was the £12 million signing of
Ronaldo, a gamble that paid off when Barca won the
Copa del Rey,
Spanish Super Cup and
European Cup Winners' Cup in 1997, and Robson himself was voted European Manager of the Year. His assistant at the club was
José Mourinho, the current manager of
Chelsea.
Robson was then moved to the position of General Manager by Barcelona, but stayed in this position for only one season before returning to manage PSV Eindhoven for the
1998-
99 season. Robson has been quoted as saying that management style in Europe is significantly different from that of English football with considerably more being expected of a club's new manager in a much shorter space of time.
Newcastle
It was in September
1999 that the adopted
Geordie with the charming penchant for forgetting his players' names landed his dream job that afforded him with the opportunity of reviving the fortunes of the club he worshipped as a child. In late 2000, following the resignation of
Kevin Keegan as
England manager, the
Football Association asked chairman Freddy Shepherd to permit Robson to take over in a part-time
caretaker capacity. The request was refused. Having made some astute signings for little money, Robson guided
Newcastle United from bottom of the premiership when he took over to a fourth-place finish in the
2002-03 season and a third in the next year's campaign â€" enough to qualify for the
Champions League both times.
Unfortunately, Robson found himself at odds with the millionaire lifestyles of his players at Newcastle and the politics of the
English Premiership. A split opened up with the club's owners as Robson was not always kept informed of transfer deals. He held the Newcastle post until
August 30,
2004, when he was dismissed by
Freddy Shepherd after a perceived poor start to the
Premier League season (ironically, much better than his successor's start the following season) and alleged discontent in the dressing room. The final straw had come when Robson made a negative
off the record remark about the club's fans that found its way to publication. However, it is true to say that he is still held in the highest esteem by the Newcastle fans for what he achieved with the club, and for his honourable behaviour throughout his tenure. He was granted the
Freedom of the City of Newcastle-upon-Tyne on
2 March, 2005.
In his 2005 autobiography, Robson provides detailed criticism of Shepherd's chairmanship, claiming that while manager he was denied information regarding the players' contracts and transfer negotiations. He also criticised Shepherd and
Douglas Hall, the club's deputy chairman, for their focus only on the first team and St James' Park, causing them to neglect less glamorous, although equally important, areas such as the training ground, youth development and talent scouts. The club's training ground was later blamed by Graeme Souness (his successor) for causing injuries to first team players, although this is now not believed to be the case - in fact the training facilities are reported to be amongst the finest in England. Youth development has also improved greatly since the book was written.
Ireland
On
June 7,
2005 he declined the invitation to become manager of
Hearts because he wanted to stay in Newcastle. On
January 13,
2006 he was appointed as 'International Football Consultant' for the
Republic of Ireland national football team, while
Steve Staunton was appointed manager.
On
6 May 2006, it was revealed in the
Daily Mirror that Robson was suffering from cancer for the third time and had recently had a tumour removed from his lung. The cancer is now in remission.
On
5 August 2006, Robson was taken to hospital after complaining of feeling unwell ten minutes into the
Championship match between Ipswich Town and
Crystal Palace. Before the match Robson was paraded before fans at
Portman Road to celebrate his appointment as honorary club president. Hospital sources declined to give details of his symptoms but later described his condition as "comfortable". [
1]. He was discharged from hospital on
7 August.
*He was
knighted in
2002 for services to football.
*In
2003, Robson was inducted into the
English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact as a manager.
*He briefly replaced
Brian Clough as a columnist at
Four Four Two magazine, following Clough's death.
*His autobiography, entitled
Bobby Robson: Farewell But Not Goodbye was released in
2005. The title is based on one of his infamous quotes. A biography,
Sir Bobby Robson: Just Call Me Bobby was most recently reissued to cover the 2003-04 football season. The book was based around a TV special originally screened to celebrate his knighthood.
*He once claimed in an English newspaper that
Shay Given, of
Newcastle and the
Republic of Ireland, is the best goal keeper in Europe.
*
Sir Bobby Sacked as Newcastle Manager.
*
Sir Bobby gives his side of the story, in an interview with The Guardian over his sacking*
England's Mr Football*
English Football Hall of Fame Profile*
Bobby made honorary president of Ipswich Town
