Bobby Robson was someone who was loved almost universally. Even José Mourinho, a man known for being as ruthless as the come, had more than a little soft spot for his former mentor. He was someone that rose above the darker side of the game, coming close to being the only manager since Alf Ramsey to win the World Cup with England, only to miss out. He succeeded at Barcelona, even if it was one of the only clubs where he failed to earn respect, whilst the rest of the football world put him on a pedestal. When he died, the tributes poured in from almost all corners, such was the extent to which he was admired.
Starting Out in Football
3⃣7⃣0⃣ #FFC appearances
8⃣0⃣ #FFC goals
🔟 months as #FFC Manager
1⃣ Sir Bobby RobsonToday would have been this legend’s 86th birthday. Sir Bobby – gone, but never forgotten 🖤 pic.twitter.com/vZVjrcAXRm
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 18, 2019
Robert William Robson was born in the village of Sacriston in County Durham on the 18th of February 1933. He was the fourth of five sons that Philip and Lillian Robson had together, with his family moving closer to the coal mine his father worked out when he was just a few months old. His father would often take the young Bobby Robson to St James’ Park in order to watch Newcastle United play on Saturday afternoons, which was a 34-mile round trip. He viewed Jackie Milburn and Len Shackleton as his heroes, later playing in the same inside-forward position that they had mastered.
He went to Waterhouses Secondary Modern, failing his 11-plus and therefore not being allowed to join the school football team. He played for Langley Park Juniors instead, playing football whenever possible, leaving school when he was a 15-year-old in order to become an electrician’s apprentice. In 1950, the manager of Fulham travelled to the family home of the Robsons in order to offer Bobby a professional contract, which he decided to take up in spite of the fact that in doing so he had to turn down an offer to play for nearby Middlesbrough.
Turning Professional
In spite of the fact that he was a professional, he continued to work as an electrician as per his father’s wishes, spending the day working on the Festival of Britain site whilst training at night. He eventually decided to give up the electrician’s work, feeling exhausted from effectively working two jobs, making his first-team debut for Fulham in a game against Sheffield Wednesday. They were relegated in his second season at the club, forcing Robson to move to West Bromwich Albion in order to try to fulfil his ambitions. He ended up playing 257 games for the Baggies, scoring 61 goals.
His West Brom teammate, Jimmy Hill, was behind a move instigated by the Professional Footballers’ Association to get players paid more, but the West Brom Chairman refused to up Robson’s salary. As a result, he put in a transfer request and was sold back to Fulham for £20,000, seeing his wages double as a result. There were reports of interest in him from Arsenal, as well as a player-manager role being offered by Southend United, but instead Robson moved to Canada in order to play for the Vancouver Royals, becoming player-manager for their first season in the North American Soccer League.
Robson the Manager
In the January of 1968, Fulham offered Robson the manager’s position and, disillusioned by how the NASL operated, he decided to take up the role at Craven Cottage. In 1959, the England manager of the time, Walter Winterbottom, had suggested to Robson that he should take a coaching course, which he did. In spite of this early move into management, Robson could do nothing to save Fulham from relegation and he left his position in the November. In 1969, Ipswich Town came calling and it was whilst working for the Tractor Boys that he began to make a name for himself.
The first four season at Portman Road could best be described as ‘mediocre’, but in his fourth season he took them to fourth place in the First Division and won the Texaco Cup. In the nine seasons that followed, Ipswich only finished lower than sixth once, but even that was a successful campaign thanks to the fact that they beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup final. They finished as league runners-up twice during the 13 years that Robson spent as Ipswich Town manager, winning the UEFA Cup in 1981. Although ‘not a tactical genius’, Robson’s interpersonal skills were a key part of his management style.
Becoming England Manager
Sir Bobby Robson, one of the #ThreeLions’ most iconic managers, would’ve been 85 today.
We miss you, Sir Bobby. pic.twitter.com/kNx1yfmCkI
— England (@England) February 18, 2018
Such was Robson’s achievement at Ipswich Town that the Football Association offered him the role of national team manager in the July of 1982. The Chairman of the Tractor Boys, Patrick Cobbold, offered him a ten year contract extension and a higher salary, but Robson turned him down, becoming Three Lions manager two days after England were knocked out of the 1982 World Cup. In the end, he took on 28 qualifying matches as manager of the national side and lost just one of them, which resulted in England missing out on a berth at the European Championships of 1984.
He did get the Three Lions squad into the World Cup in Mexico two years later, making it to the quarter-finals before losing to Argentina thanks to the infamous ‘Hand of God’ moment from Diego Maradona. They made it to the 1988 European Championship, but finished bottom of the group. They made it to the 1990 World Cup without conceding a goal, topping the group at the tournament proper before defeating Belgium and Cameroon in order to setup a semi-final with West Germany. The game ended 1-1 after extra-time, but the Three Lions lost to the Germans in a penalty shootout.
Managing in Europe
Prior to the 1990 World Cup getting underway, the Football Association had told Robson that it would not be renewing his contract, so in the aftermath of the tournament’s conclusion he moved to the Netherlands in order to manage PSV Eindhoven. He won back-to-back Eredivisie titles, but left the club after the 1991-1992 season because of a lack of progress in Europe. He moved to Sporting CP in the July of 1992, working with a young interpreter by the name of José Mourinho. He took them to third in his first season, but was sacked midways through the second even though the club were top of the league.
Porto quickly hired Robson, who took Mourinho along with him. The club was not in a good state when he arrived, but he became known as ‘Bobby Five-O’ thanks to the fact that they won so many games 5-0. They won the league in both 1995 and 1996, which led Barcelona to hire Robson in the summer of 1996. Having made the appointment of Mourinho as his assistant a condition of taking the role, the pair moved to the Camp Nou and Robson was soon named European Manager of the Year as Barca won the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Returning to England
Remembering Sir Bobby Robson, 18/02/1933 – 31/07/2009. Gone but never forgotten. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/TczHRGHl2W
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) July 31, 2013
Robson moved upstairs at Barcelona the following season before taking up a short-term role as PSV manager. In the September of 1999, however, Ruud Gullit resigned as Newcastle United manager, which resulted in the lad who used to travel to St James’ Park with his dad all those years before becoming manager of his boyhood club. In his first match in charge, with the Magpies sitting on the bottom of the table, Newcastle won 8-0 on the charge to an 11th place finish. In the 2001-2002 season, he took Newcastle to fourth place in the Premier League, then third the season after.
He remained the Newcastle manager until the 30th of August 2004, when a poor start to the Premier League campaign resulted in him being dismissed by Freddie Shepherd. In spite of this, just over a year later he was granted the Freedom of the City of Newcastle and remains someone who is held in the highest regard by the supporters. On the seventh of June 2005, Robson turned down a role as the Director of Football at Heart of Midlothian, but became an ‘international football consultant’ for the Republic of Ireland less than a year later, supporting Steve Staunton as manager.
He stepped down from his role on the 17th of November 2007, 15 years after he had defeated bowel cancer. Having also recovered from a malignant melanoma in 1995 and a rumour in his right lung as well as a brain tumour in 2006, the partially paralysed Robson had revealed on the seventh of May 2007 that he had been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time. It had being diagnosed as terminal several months earlier, leading to the launch of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation in 2008. He died of lung cancer on the 31st of July 2009, having raised more than £1.6 million by that point.