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English Football Legends Series

One of the game's true gentlemen, Sir Bobby Robson had a colourful career which saw him win trophies in four different countries, and take England to the brink of a World Cup final.

Bobby Robson

Managed:
Fulham, Ipswich, England, PSV, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, Newcastle Utd

Honours:
FA Cup, 1,
UEFA Cup, 1
Cup Winners Cup, 1
Dutch Eredivisie, 2
Portuguese Liga, 2
Portuguese Cup ,1
Copa del Rey, 1

Playing Career

Robson began his career at Fulham, making his debut in 1950, in a match against Sheffield Wednesday.

Fulham had just been promoted to the First Division, but were relegated from the top-flight in the 1951/52 season.

Robson spent another 4 years at the club before moving to West Bromwich Albion in March 1956. The following season, he was the club's leading scorer, and by 1960, he was club captain.

In 1963, he returned to Fulham after a dispute with the Albion board over wages. He had played 257 games for the Baggies, scoring 61 goals.

While at West Brom he made the first of his England appearances. He was a member of the 1958 and 1962 World Cup squads and finished his international career with 4 goals in 20 appearances.

Robson's second spell at Fulham lasted till 1967, when he accepted a three-year deal with North American Soccer League team Vancouver Royals.

Management Career

Fulham

He saw out just a year of his deal with the Royals before Fulham offered him a job as manager. He accepted and returned to England in early 1968.

He joined Fulham with the club anchored in the relegation zone and was unable to save them from relegation.

The next season Fulham struggled at the lower level, they were 8th in the table when Robson was sacked.

Ipswich Town

Bobby Robson moved to Ipswich Town in 1969 and it was there that he built his reputation as a manager.

His first four seasons, though, were a struggle, with the club usually involved in the relegation scrap.

However, in 1972/73, Robson led the unfashionable Suffolk club to fourth place in the First Division.

Over the following nine seasons, Ipswich became a fixture in the First Division's top six, only once finishing lower.

They were league runners-up twice (1980/81, 1981/82), won the FA Cup in 1978, and the UEFA Cup in 1981.

What makes his achievement more astounding is that during his entire 13 year tenure, he only signed 14 players, relying for the most part on players developed through the club's youth system.

England Manager

Robson's achievements with Ipswich led to the FA offering him the England manager's job offer, and he succeeded Ron Greenwood after the 1982 World Cup.

His first game in charge was against Denmark, and he immediately put his stamp on the team by dropping Kevin Keegan.

England failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships, and Robson offered his resignation, but the FA rejected it, and he stayed on to ensure qualification for World Cup, Mexico '86.

England started the tournament poorly, but made it to the quarter-finals, where they met Argentina. They were eliminated by a brace from Diego Maradona - the first infamous as the "Hand of God" goal, the second a sublime individual effort.

England dropped only one point in qualifying for Euro 1988 but failed in the tournament itself - suffering defeats to Ireland, Holland and the USSR to finish bottom of their group.

Robson was savaged by the British press in the wake of England's elimination. Once again he offered his resignation, again it was rejected.

England completed their six-match qualification campaign for World Cup Italia 90 without conceding a goal, and were one of six seeded teams for the tournament.

They were drawn again in a group containing Holland and Ireland, but this time they won the group to advance to the knock-out stages.

There, victories over Belgium and Cameroon set up a semi-final with West Germany.

England lost the match in a penalty shoot-out, after the game had finished 1-1 after extra time.

PSV Eindhoven

Bobby Robson had been told before the World Cup that his England contract would not be renewed, so after the tournament he moved to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.

He won the Dutch Eredivie in each of his two seasons with the club, but failed to make progress in Europe resulting in his contract not being renewed at the end of the 1991/92 season.

Sporting Lisbon

He next moved to Sporting Lisbon, where his interpreter was a young Jose Mourinho.

Robson guided the club to third place in his first season in charge. In the following campaign, with Sporting top of the table, Robson was fired, following a UEFA Cup exit to Casino Salzburg.

Porto

Sporting's rivals, FC Porto, quickly stepped in to hire Robson, with Mourinho as his assistant.

The former European champions were in a bad state when Robson arrived, but he got them to the Portuguese Cup final, where they beat Robson's former club, Sporting.

He followed this up with back-to-back league titles in 1995 and 1996.

Barcelona

Bobby Robson's next port of call was Barcelona, where he took over in July 1996, with Mourinho again his assistant manager.

Barca won the Spanish Cup, Spanish Super Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in his first season, and Robson was voted European Manager of the Year.

The following season he was given the role of General Manager at Barcelona, with Louis van Gaal taking over as manager.

But Robson wanted to be involved in the day-to-day running of a team. He stayed in this role for just one season before returning to PSV on a short term contract.

His second spell at PSV was only for one season, during which the club finished third, to guarantee Champions League football.

Newcastle United

After Robson's contract expired, he returned to England to take up a job with the FA.

However, following the resignation of Ruud Gullit at Newcastle United, Robson took up that job in September 1999.

He inherited a team rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, but got off to the best possible start.

Facing Sheffield Wednesday in his first home game in charge, Newcastle won 8-0.

Newcastle finished 11th that season, in the following two they were 4th, then third, to qualify for the Champions League.

In 2003/04 they finished fifth, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, in which they reached the semi-finals.

However, the following season Robson was dismissed, after a poor start in the Premier League, and alleged discontent in the dressing room.

In January 2006, Bobby Robson was appointed as a consultant for the Football Association of Ireland. He resigned the role in November 2007, after the Republic's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Death

Robson had fought an ongoing battle with cancer since 1991. He'd had a number of operations including one to remove a brain tumor in 2006.

In May 2007, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time, and that his condition was considered terminal.

Robson dedicated his final years to helping fight the disease.

On 25 March 2008 he launched the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and raised over 1 million pounds to fund equipment for a Research Centre, at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

Bobby Robson died on 31 July 2009. He was 76 years old.

Honours

Robson received a number of honours for his contributions to football.

In 1990, he was awarded a CBE and in 2002, he was knighted for services to to the game.

In 2002, he was awarded the freedom of Newcastle upon Tyne and also received the UEFA President's Award.

He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2005, Bobby Robson was made an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle, describing the award in his autobiography as "the proudest moment of my life".

On 5 May 2008, he was granted the Freedom of Ipswich, and on 8 December 2008, he was given the Freedom of the City of Durham.

In March 2009, Robson received the Emerald UEFA Order of Merit award, awarded to "individuals who have dedicated their talents to the good of the game".

In 2002, a statue of Bobby Robson was unveiled at Ipswich Town's home ground, Portman Road.

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