Profile of Bobby Robson on Famous Like Me

Sir Robert William Robson KBE, known as Sir Bobby Robson (born February 18, 1933) is a football manager and former football player. His most recent appointment was as manager of Newcastle United and he previously managed the English national football team.

Currently 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.

Robson was born in Langley Park, County Durham, the youngest son of Philip and Lilian Robson (née Watt). As a child he walked a round trip of several miles to watch Newcastle United, then in its golden years. He 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 moved back to Fulham before a short spell as player/ coach at Vancouver Royals in Canada from 1967 to 1968, their inaugural season in the North American Soccer League.

He began managerial life proper in the dug-out at Fulham before entering a blissful union with Ipswich Town F.C. in 1969. After 13 years, including 2 seasons as league championship runners-up, an FA Cup, and a UEFA Cup later, he answered the call of his country by succeeding Ron Greenwood as national coach.

A mixed eight-year reign included glorious failure at both the Football World Cup 1986 (where England lost in the quarter finals to Argentina in the infamous 'hand of God' game) and the 1990 World Cup finals (when England reached the semi-finals and 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. Since then he has coached PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands (twice), Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto of Portugal and Spain's FC Barcelona where his assistant was José Mourinho to great success and was voted European Manager of the Year. But it was only in September 1999 the affable Geordie with the charming penchant for forgetting his players' names landed his dream job--that of reviving the club he worshipped as a child. With no money for major signings Robson guided the club to finish fifth in the 2002 and 2003 sesons enough to qualify for the Champions League - though both campaigns were shortlived. Unfortunately Robson was at odds with the millionaire lifestyles of his players at Newcastle and the politics of the English Premiership. A split also opened up with the club's owners as Robson was rarely kept informed of transfer deals. He held the Newcastle post until August 30, 2004, when he was dismissed following a poor start to the Premier League season and alleged discontent in the dressing room. The final straw came when Robson made an off the record negative remark to a reporter about the club's fans that was published. On June 7, 2005 he declined the invitation to become manager of Hearts because he wanted to stay in Newcastle.

Robson, who has had successful surgery to beat cancer, was knighted in 2002 for services to football.

Links

• Sir Bobby Sacked as Newcastle Manager.
• Sir Bobby gives his side of the story, in an interview with The Guardian over his sacking

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Bobby Robson