Sir Bobby Robson Dies
Newcastle Mourns the Death of a Legend
To the younger generation he will always be known as the man who gave Newcastle United their last few years in the sun, his sacking coinciding with Newcastle’s demise and eventual resting place in the Championship. As a doting fan of his boyhood club, there will have been few more miserable at their rapid decline, and it is a fair bet that such a generous man did not find solace in boosting his ego through the knowledge that, as everyone else realizes, this would not have occurred had Sir Bobby himself stayed at the helm.
Time In England
Robson’s earlier achievements have still found a way to register with all. A national treasure who transcended traditional boundaries formed by age, he will be perhaps remembered best for his time as manager of England, with his remarkable eight year, ninety five game spell being characterized both by some great performances and large ladles of lamentable luck, losing the 1986 World Cup Quarter Final at the hands of Maradona – quite literally - and exiting the subsequent 1990 World Cup at the Semi Final stage on penalties. No England manager has since gone on to better his achievements in a World Cup.
Preceding that, Robson had achieved unprecedented success with Ipswich Town. During his thirteen year reign in East Anglia, Robson’s fantastic man management skills and ability to get the best out of players – a fact trait that Alan Shearer would later attest to -took the club from relative obscurity to the brink of greatness, being crowned F.A Cup winners, UEFA Cup winners, and twice narrowly missing out on the league title. Such was the respect that Robson was given at Ipswich, fans continued to adore him years after his departure, unveiling a life size statue of Robson outside Portman Road in 2002 and naming him as the club’s honourary president in 2006.
Sporting, Porto and Barcelona
Integral to Robson’s skills as a manager was also his ability to spot talent and thus facilitate greatness, the two prime examples coming in the form of the Brazillian Ronaldo and a young and enthusiastic José Mourinho. The latter was Robson’s interpreter at Sporting Lisbon but the wily manager soon realized the footballing nous of the Portuguese and, upon his move to F.C. Porto made Mourinho his assistant; together they transformed the flagging club, delivering them two successive league titles despite Robson’s battles against cancer at the time.
Robson was soon offered the unenviable task of following Johann Cruyff into the managerial hot-seat at Barcelona. Despite knowing that it would be nigh on impossible to match the peaks achieved by Cruyff’s legendary ‘Dream Team’, Robson took the job on the sole condition that Mourinho would also be hired as his assistant. The inspired signing of Ronaldo from PSV Eindhoven ensured a successful and phenomenally entertaining season for Barcelona, marred only by the sides’ failure to win the league title – to compensate, Robson delivered the Cup Winners Cup, Spanish Super Cup and Copa Del Rey to the Camp Nou trophy room. Mourinho would go on to become perhaps the most charismatic manager to appear in English football since the late Brian Clough and Ronaldo one of the greatest strikers in the history of the game, thrice winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
At Barcelona though, winning is never enough and Robson, just as he did later at Newcastle, fell victim to his own success and was moved ‘upstairs’ to make way for the incoming Luis Van Gaal.
Legacy
Despite his undeniable love and immersion in the game, Robson was not only a man of football. It is difficult, in writing this article, to steer clear of words such as ‘gentleman’, ‘legend’, ‘class’ and ‘passion’ for the simple reason that Robson was an embodiment of all of these values. This was highlighted by the spirit and heroism shown through his battles with cancer in the latter parts of his life, never allowing the disease to get on top of him and continuing to remain both humble and philosophical about his life. This was highlighted in an interview in August 2008 where Robson spoke of his disease, stating: “My condition is described as static and has not altered since my last bout of chemotherapy [but] I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute.”
It is rare that true greatness can be seen unfolding before our very eyes, but Sir Bobby Robson has proved to be one of those elusive few: his place in history is not merely preserved by football, the sport that all attest to be his greatest love, but by his supremely generous, cheerful and spirited character. His legend will live on through the millions of lives that this quintessentially ‘good’ man touched.
There is a light that never goes out.
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