Preview: Even if yours truly does not have any real anecdotes of the late Sir Bobby Robson, whatever I have been reading since news of his death came about on Friday, it is like of a sudden as if I feel that I had known the former England coach for a while now. He even used to manage players whom I eventually came to like...like the Brazilian Ronaldo, for example. Blabberings since Friday had made me realised I need to have a full entry on what I felt about Robson's legacy for us all in the world of football. A man ahead of his time in every sense of the word, someone who loves football more than it can repay back to him, the people's manager, a genuine gentleman with a sense of humour...but most of all, a true football legend. In the unofficial football focus series extra, yours truly looks back at Robson's life and times and ponders about his legacy along the way.
Before I officially begin, recommended readings. Not only that, this entry is as a result of endless reading of articles and tributes and it came from various sources online. A handful of what I read from the almost endless articles come from the two links I post in the first sentence of this paragraph. Now, the entry title is actually from PSV Eindhoven's YouTube page with how they look back at Sir Bobby Robson's two coaching stints at the club. In every inch a gentleman. Definitely, in my opinion. I had been watching that countless times and I laughed, cried and smiled all at the same time countless times too. Even if the commentary, except for what Robson was talking about in the video, is in Dutch.
I had originally only wanted to do an entry on just how Sir Bobby Robson's European adventure in the 90s mean in the modern English game given his time outside of England fascinates me. All the more we often talk about that there are not many English managers in the top-flight of the Premier League these days. Fact, but how many are willing to venture abroad, probably heading into another country where English is not the first language or not widely spoken at all? Now probably the most prominent English manager working abroad is Steve McClaren, at FC Twente in Holland. It was actually partly due to Robson's advice that McClaren went to work there when he got the offer. Now McClaren is in his second season in Holland after equalling his side's best-finish since the 70s when FC Twente came in second behind surprise champions AZ Alkmaar. Dutch football has never seen the traditional 'big three' (Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord) dominate the domestic league standings for a long time and Steve McClaren should be lauded for what he did in his maiden season after his rather forgettable England stint. Not only McClaren, now it seems English football is really starting to wake up on the achievements of its countrymen who had dared to work abroad, just like Fulham manager Roy Hodgson who had worked in Scandinavia himself. His last job before the Fulham one, he was the coach of the Finnish national team and they almost went to the Euro 2008 tournament. Hodgson is also remembered in Switzerland for leading the national team to the 1994 World Cup after years of international wilderness. All the more amazing because Hodgson's only stint back home until his work abroad which led him to also count Inter Milan in his CV was a forgettable stint at Blackburn. Even if the Premier League like to tout itself as the best league in the world, there is actually still much learning from working overseas. Hodgson did learned from his time working abroad (probably it also helped he knew a handful of languages like German and Italian), understanding that they view football quite differently during his time working in Scandinavia especially in Sweden, in Switzerland and Italy. And Hodgson actually almost became the coach of the German national team at one time.
The Premier League was formed from the old Division One in 1992. At the same time in that year, Sir Bobby Robson had won the second consecutive Eredivisie title with PSV Eindhoven. An Englishman winning the league title, in a Dutch club. His European adventure indirectly began when ahead of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, it was known that the English FA would not be renewing his contract regardless of England's performance at the tournament. When the former Ipswich Town manager announced before the World Cup that he will be heading to PSV Eindhoven after the tournament is over, he was 'attacked' left, right and centre. Compared to now the English press are saluting his time of working beyond English shores after his England job with them especially pondering whether he deserves more than just a season in the Barcelona dugout before being 'moved upstairs' to work as a scout, that is a real sharp contrast indeed.
But already 12 years ago, the English press were made to eat their words about Sir Bobby Robson after his Barcelona side (with the original Ronaldo) won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1997. It was won by a Ronaldo penalty. Now the original one is back home in Brazil nursing an injury on the sidelines after scoring goals for fun but back then, he was widely considered as the best footballer in the world. And Robson had a hand in Ronaldo's development. It was him who convinced the Barcelona board to sign Ronaldo from his former club PSV Eindhoven (Ronaldo came a few seasons after Robson left PSV). It does give me the goosebumps that it was Robson who once oversaw Ronaldo's career considering the Ronaldo I had always knew all along was the Brazilian one, not the one now at Real Madrid who used to play for the club I support in Manchester United. I actually come from the generation when people talk about Ronaldo in football, it is the one from Brazil. The one now at Real Madrid came into the scene a time when I am in my teenage years. Even as a Manchester United supporter myself, I rather prefer the Brazilian one than the Portugese one anytime. Period.
Now from the beginning. It is easy to forget while Sir Bobby Robson is more celebrated for what he achieved in football as a manager, his own playing career which also included playing for England 20 times was actually not too shabby either. If not for an injury which ruled him out of the England squad and making way for Bobby Moore, who knows who could have been the one celebrating in the 1966 World Cup final instead. Robson could have played three World Cups in a row. But before his own football career began, he almost followed into his father's footsteps working in the coal mines. In fact for the young lad from Sacriston, Durham County who grew up as a Newcastle supporter was a trainee electrician when he earned his first professional contract at Fulham at 17 (the link was to when he was in his third year at the club). Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson's tribute to a former colleague and friend says it all of Robson's beginnings, "His character was hewn out of the coal face, developed by the Durham County mining background that he came from. His parents instilled in him the discipline and standards which forged the character of a genuinely colossal human being." Many can probably agree that formed the man many came to love, adore and respect. The joy he brought to the fans at the clubs he used to work at in England (Ipswich Town, Newcastle) and abroad (PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona), and the respect from those in the footballing community for what he had achieved and contributed.
After ten months managing his former club Fulham which he only knew through the papers that he was out of work, Ipswich Town will be remembered for a period of time of hitting great heights at home and abroad with FA Cup and UEFA Cup triumphs. During Sir Bobby Robson's 13 years at Ipswich from 1968 to 1981, it is worthwhile to note that he only brought in 14 players from other clubs. It is always about the quality of the players. When after the FA Cup triumph in 1978 Robson brought in two Dutchmen in the form of Frank Thijssen and Arnold Muhren from Holland, it was seen as a surprise move by many in England. But the two Dutchmen helped to change the way how football is to be played in the motherland. Then there was the England job which came the year after the UEFA Cup triumph in 1981 with Ipswich. At a time when English clubs were not allowed to play in Europe due to Heysel, it could have been a tough job for Robson as compared with his predecessor Ron Greenwood given of players with no experiences of playing in European club competitions. Taking away those times when Robson was often the target of criticism, the time he was blamed for England not qualifying for the 1984 European Championship (even if the only match England lost in the qualifiers was the last one against Denmark), England's rather unlucky exits in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals against Argentina and four years later in Italy against West Germany in the semi-finals on penalties...he actually has got quite a squad in the 1990 World Cup.
It was him who gave a certain Paul Gascoigne (whom Robson actually rejected when he was still working at Ipswich, ironically enough) the chance to play in the World Cup. The class of 1990 also included people like captain Bryan Robson, Chris Waddle, Gary Lineker. And Waddle was playing in France at that time with Marseille, with those YouTube compilations of his time there telling me that he was a hit with the French during his time at the club. I had read about interest in football increased in England since that summer of 1990. Sir Bobby Robson helped to generate interest in the game. After eight years when he left the England job with the national team being fourth in the tournament in Italy and his managerial reputation still there (given it was raised after he led unfashionable Ipswich Town to European glory), it was Europe next. He arrived in PSV Eindhoven in the shadows of his countrymen not amused at his decision of working in Holland after the World Cup, and being the successor to a certain Guus Hiddink who led the club to European Cup glory two years beforehand in 1988. And Robson went to Holland alone, without the wife in tow. No English assistants, and he never brought players from his time in England over. It was a case of learning all over again in another footballing culture different from the English way.
Usually when a coach/manager went into a foreign country to work, he will tend to bring in people he knew from his own country and maybe also player(s) he knew back home. Sir Bobby Robson never did that at PSV Eindhoven. He did had the initial culture shock of how the Dutch approach football but apart from him not really well-liked for his tactical knowledge, people soon warmed to him after the initial scepticism. He is who he is, no airs about it. Genuine nice person with his sense of humour which the latter part that current club general manager Jan Reker touched upon when news of Robson's death reached Holland ("A fantastic man with a great sense of humour"). But like any coach/manager who does not like what he saw on the pitch by his players, showing his displeasure about it. It was in the early parts of PSV's YouTube page about his time there where Robson talked about his side went from 'a football club to a Christmas club in ten minutes'. He being not amused at his side throwing the points away. In the end, two back-to-back titles in the 1990/91 and 1991/92 seasons meant that the eventual first phase of re-enhancing his reputation after the 1990 World Cup was completed. But then in view of the club's performance on the European front at that time, the 1991/92 season would also be his last. His eventual first stint at PSV would also come at a time when there was a certain Romario whom he had to handle. Despite the Brazilian's work ethic which did frustrated Robson, he was still that good. For the players who used to play under him, people like Andre Oijer now back at his former club after leaving Blackburn on of the man who was his coach in the 1998/99 season to The Times, "He was one of those managers who listened, which is what players value most of all." And Stan Valcx who once played under Robson said about his former club observing a minute's silence ahead of their opening Eredivisie match yesterday in memory of his former coach also in the same newspaper, "For him, it should be 20 minutes’ silence."
While there was no translator when Sir Bobby Robson was at PSV Eindhoven given the Dutch do speak and understand English, it was not the case later in Portugal in July 1992 which became Robson's next stop in his European adventure. It was his time at Sporting Lisbon where he first met the man who eventually came to be known as the 'Special One' to the rest of us - Jose Mourinho. Mourinho was working as his translator and assistant and would later followed Robson to rivals Porto and later when Robson accepted the Barcelona job, he joined him there as well. The time at Sporting would come to be short-lived though even if it was a third-place finish in his first season and the following year in December 1993 with the club at the top of the league in 15 years. The club structure which Robson was uncomfortable about, though it was the club's early European exit which cost him (or so the club said then for the reason of the dismissal). Club president Jose Sousa Cintra would eventually regretted it when Robson went to Porto soon after. Sousa Cintra said this to The Times after news of his former employer passed away on Friday, "He was a good coach, and we let him go after a couple of errors. That was a mistake. He went to Porto and won two titles."
Porto was in a poor state with dwindling attendances when Sir Bobby Robson arrived. Robson soon endeared himself to the fans when Porto promptly went on to beat Robson's former club, Sporting Lisbon in the Portugese Cup final together with successive domestic titles in the 1994/95 and 1995/96 seasons. Still, what I like reading about Robson's time in Portugal was that he was nicknamed 'Bobby Five-O' by the fans due to the number of matches Porto won 5-0. It was also amazing that Robson still managed to lead the club to another title in the 1995/96 season even if he had to miss the first few months of the season due to malignant melanoma. At Porto, club president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa said to The Times on the memory of their former coach, ‘he was an example of strength and a will to win that never hid’. The summer of 1996 would eventually came to change everything in Robson's managerial career when he got a call from Barcelona. From what was initially then Barcelona vice-president Joan Gaspart to discuss about Luis Figo, Nou Camp came calling for the Englishman.
While Barcelona has a history of Englishmen at the dugout (The Times noted that seven worked there in the club's first 35 years) with also other nationalities apart from Spanish coaches in the mix, Sir Bobby Robson would come to be replacing the legendary Johan Cruyff and his 'Dream Team' legacy. Cruyff had already served the club with distinction as a player, and it was the same as coach with their brand of football earning them fans. Robson has got his work cut out from Day One. Back home, the English press saw it as him having landing one of the most biggest jobs in club football. But even if his approach was different from his famous predcessor and not everyone's cup of tea, Robson still managed to bring titles to Barcelona. Spanish Super Cup, Copa del Rey (the Spanish domestic cup) and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. All in a single season! The Cup Winners' Cup triumph would finally become the time when Robson had finally been vindicated with the English press finally acknowledging his work abroad (he was awarded the European Manager of the Year award in the wake of the European triumph). A treble of sorts, given it was Real Madrid which won the domestic title with a certain Fabio Capello (ah yes, the current England coach) in charge. But unfortunately, the 1996/97 season would eventually be Sir Bobby Robson's only time at the dugout as he had to make way for the Dutchman Louis van Gaal (now currently working at Bayern Munich). A job 'upstairs' as a scout for Robson. Robson's successor would eventually be disliked for his player policy of almost setting up a Dutch clique with mainly Dutch players. Barcelona have always thrived on retaining their Catalan identity and van Gaal had damaged it.
Louis van Gaal's time at Barcelona would come to put things into perspective on the legacy his English predecessor had left behind even if the Dutchman did won titles at the Catalan giants as well. Because the English press wondered whether Sir Bobby Robson deserved more than what he got at the club than just a season as the coach. Meanwhile during Robson's time at Barcelona, the club he would had always wanted to manage were in need of help. That was Newcastle. The job he had always wanted came at a wrong time as he replied that he had to honour his two-year contract with the Catalan giants, even if the Barcelona directors were not amused at Newcastle's approach at that time. When it all ended, Robson actually headed back to the club where his European adventure began in PSV Eindhoven for the 1998/99 season. A temporary appointment though, but it eventually ended with PSV getting to play European football on the final day of the season in what came to be known as the 'Miracle of Utrecht'. In order to secure the Champions League qualifying spot, the club has to be third then and by doing so, they have to win in Utrecht. It was false alarm in the first 34 minutes when PSV was two goals down before a goal and a penalty would level things up. The eventual sending-off of Luc Nilis did not really matter as events went PSV's way due to Roda JC and Vitesse (PSV's other competitors for the third spot) not doing well in other matches. Because Arnold Bruggink came to score the eventual winner in injury time.
After the second stint at Eindhoven was over, that was when Sir Bobby Robson returned home for good eventually. He first worked at the English FA's technical department before Ruud Gullit resigned at Newcastle. That was when the job was opened up and after the club he grew up supporting never managed to sign him for his first professional contract (he once said in a BBC interview that for some reason, he chose Fulham instead and his father was not happy), it has come one full circle. Newcastle had tried everything they could in Robson's absence coinciding with him building his reputation in Europe. When Robson finally arrived at Newcastle, the club was at the bottom of the league standings. It might had all ended in controversial circumstances five years later in 2004, but at least Robson did brought European football to his boyhood club during his time there. Club chairman Freddy Shepherd who was there to oversee Robson's tenure, famously said that he did not want to be seen as the one who 'shot Bambi'. He did in the end still, and that was the beginning of what observers saw as the downfall of Newcastle. Where is Newcastle now? They are going to begin the new football season in the Championship. The second division. It was not Alan Shearer's fault when he took on the temporary job to try save his former club in the previous season given the troubles were already there before he arrived.
Two years after the dismissal from Newcastle in 2006, Sir Bobby Robson would be working as a consultant to the Irish national team after Steve Staunton was appointed as the national team coach. But it was during his time working as a consultant to Staunton when his health condition almost threatened to end his workings with the Irish FA. After he was given the all-clear, Robson went back to his job. He stepped down after Ireland never qualified for the Euro 2008 tournament. The following year, the foundation in his name was launched where the main purpose is for fundraising for cancer research (which the former England coach battled cancer five times before it caught up with him on Friday). Money was raised faster than he had expected for the foundation which was based in the area where he grew up. It was during the week of his 76th birthday earlier this year where the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre was officially opened with people like Alan Shearer, Fabio Capello (whom the current England coach Robson first knew from their time in Spain with him working at Barcelona and the Italian at Real Madrid) in attendance with the English FA also chipping in donations as well.
That would become the second-last time Sir Bobby Robson made a public appearance to me because his last would come at poignantly enough, Newcastle's home ground of St. James Park last Sunday in a charity match to raise money for his foundation in a re-match of the famous 1990 World Cup semi-final between England and West Germany. Newcastle has always been his big love, even if he got the boot on controversial circumstances five years after he finally became the manager of the club he grew up supporting. The squad members of both sides gather at Newcastle's home stadium for the match along with many who were there to see one man - Robson himself, and this is despite his health. Though this time, the class of 1990 from the England side won (Newcastle icon Alan Shearer scoring through a penalty which became the winner)...I was never prepared for what was to come five days since that charity match. I knew he was battling cancer but, I was still in a state of shock. 17 years since he was first diagnosed (ironically enough, in the early days of his European adventure) and after four battles, the fifth time round...it caught up with him. It is like weeks after my maternal grandfather passed away seven years ago when it only really hit me that he is no longer with my family.
In a time when football is often ruled by money, in a time when people can get easily cynical about football, in a time when real football icons are hard to find...Sir Bobby Robson has managed to really stand out from the crowd. I said in the beginning of the entry that he was ahead of his time in every sense of the word...it was because of the two Dutch players he brought in during his time as manager of Ispwich Town which changed the landscape and he daring to make the leap to work abroad even with his managerial reputation still much intact from his eight-year stint in the England job even if the press never liked him at times then. Even if he was formerly the England coach, there is still much to be learned and he actually went abroad. But before all that happened, Robson was heavily influenced by what he saw when England played Hungary at the Wembley in that eventual famous 1953 match which the visitors won 6-3. That affected Robson for life and eventually formed of how he believes football should be played.
A man who never forgets his roots, someone who is born English but yet a very international man at the same time judging by how Holland, Portugal and Spain reacted to his death (reactions from his former employers and those who know him for example in Holland, Portugal, Spain). All too often people often forget their beginnings when they make the big time, but not in the case of Robson. Probably I will have many other ways to describe the late Sir Bobby Robson in the future but, his very existence in this world till the day he died last Friday has always make many happy. They miss him in his native England, but they also miss him at the countries where he used to work at and the fans of those clubs. One thing is clear: Rarely you can find anyone in football these days who achieved much and yet still well-liked by many. At PSV Eindhoven, they sing that there is only one Bobby Robson, at Porto, he is 'Bobby Five-O' and for the Barcelona fans...they like him more than his successor Louis van Gaal and that he is 'El Mister' in Spain as well. But before all that, Robson did had his rough start at Ipswich with the players he got but in the end, he managed to overcome it. Football made Robson all that and more but yet, he still view the game like an innocent child, an enthusiastic follower, someone watching a football match for the first time all rolled into one. He reminded us why we are football fans in the first place even if it has make cynics of us all.
Because, it has always been the game he love all along, just like how current PSV Eindhoven general manager Jan Reker said of Sir Bobby Robson during the latter's time working at PSV - "All players loved him. He showed huge passion and love for football. 'Enjoy the game – be happy you are allowed to play football,' he always said before a match. The man possessed huge vitality and was a great coach." One can only hope like what Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said in his tribute to Robson of hoping that someone like Robson will turn up in the future. Hard to find one these days, you know. To be honest, really.
To the rest of us, he is a 'Sir' after he was knighted in 2002. But for those who came from the same England's north-east like him, he is just simply 'Wor' Bobby Robson. For all we know, from up there, he is probably surprised at how much he is loved and remembered from Newcastle to Barcelona. What is for sure though, his wife Lady Elsie is 'overwhelmed' at how people reacted to her husband's death. Sir Bobby, thanks for everything. Gone but never forgotten for the man who was born Robert William Robson.
