Mikky

Lance Armstrong from Twitter "Sad to hear about Sir Bobby Robson's passing, legendary England football manager and hero to millions the world over"

Sorry if already posted: some tributes from Barcelona Barça Atlètic coach Luis Enrique Martínez learned of the death of his former coach Bobby Robson while in El Montanyà. The Asturian described the Englishman as “a manager who left his mark”. Luis Enrique Martínez and Bobby Robson both came to FC Barcelona in 1996/97. The player signed from Real Madrid while the manager arrived from Porto. The man who now coaches the Barça reserves has fond memories of that first season and of Robson: “It was a fantastic year both for football and for personal experiences. Although he was only on the bench for a year, Robson was a manager who left his mark”. “A very intimate person” One of the many virtues Luis Enrique remembers of Bobby Robson was his human quality. “He was a very intimate man. He found it hard to speak Spanish and spoke to us in English, but was very intimate in his manner”. “Only good words” Luis Enrique went on to say that “he is a great loss not just in a footballing sense, people only had good words for him wherever he went, he was also a very likeable person on a human level”. Alfons Godall has expressed the club’s sorrow to learn of the death of Sir Bobby Robson. The vice president has fond memories of the year the Englishman was in charge of the first team. After hearing that Sir Bobby Robson has died, vice president Alfons Godall wished to send his condolences to his family and to the football world via Barça TV and www.fcbarcelona.cat. “It is the moment for me, in representation of FC Barcelona to express our sorrow, our condolences, and our support to Bobby Robson’s family and to share out sadness with the football world, because we are aware that he was a very well respected person, who made history as both a club and international manager” he said, before adding that “he will be very much missed at FC Barcelona”. The great 1996-97 season Godall also remembered the 1996-97 season, when Robson was manager of the first team. “Bobby Robson took the reigns of the first team after the Dream Team era under Johan Cruyff. It was a huge responsibility and I think he did a great job, winning three titles. And we were also able to enjoy lots of goals. I remember the spectacular football of players like Ronaldo, Gica (Popescu), Luis Enrique, Nadal, Guardiola and so many other players that under his management were able to enjoy an excellent season”. “He showed how to win with a smile”www.fcbarcelona.cat Those are the words of Gica Popescu, captain of FC Barcelona in the 96/97 season, who Bobby Robson brought from Romania to Holland and later made captain of Barça. Gica Popescu and José Ramón Alexanco were both part of Robson’s team at FC Barcelona, the former on the field, the latter on the bench. Speaking to the club today, they remembered the Englishman’s qualities, both in a sporting and personal sense. A true gent Having learned today of the death of Bobby Robson, the Barça captain during his year as manager of the club, Gica Popescu, has spoken about the great man. “He was an exceptional person, a true gentleman who won some very important titles with all of his teams”. “He showed you could win with a smile, not just shouting”, explained Gica Popescu in reference to Robson’s affable and respectful nature. “He always spoke well of his players and with a smile, it was always the image he gave. It is very hard to find managers like him.” Gratitude “The best thing that ever happened to me in football was becoming captain of FC Barcelona and it was he who made me captain. I owe that honour to Bobby Robson” said the Romanian. Popescu always had a very special relationship with Robson: “It was him, in 1990, who brought me from Romania to play for PSV Eindhoven. We won two titles there, and in his year at Barça we won 3 of the 4 titles at stake”. On the bench with Alexanco The current youth football coordinator at FC Barcelona, José Ramón Alexanco, was third manager in that season of 96/97. He worked alongside Bobby Robson, who he remembers as “a man that everyone loved, he had a sensational way of dealing with football and everybody around him”. “He put together one of the best squads Barça has ever had, we won several titles, but he couldn’t continue the work he was doing for long because of the arrival of Van Gaal”.

Is there a certain Shane Ferguson from the Toon playing??

would love to buy that classic navy nufc top from 95/96

anyone know some good online websites were you can buy kits for most countries/clubs from around the world?

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Just thinking what the Man U team might be? Foster Rafael G Neville Evans Fabio Nani Fletcher Simpson Giggs Tevez Marcheda In any case I dont think we'll get anything against Villa

Matta, David Silva and Baraja: The have a really good squad do Valencia, shame they are $400m in debt

Great shout that.....has had a very good season in my opinion, considering age and how inconsistent Arsenal were prior to christmas Also agree with the Jagielka call... Others worth a mention: Given, Cahill, Anelka?, Mascherano, Alonso, Torres Young Player: Bassong, Fellaini

Completely agree with you!! No matter what is going on behind the scenes, the players have no excuse for such a bad performance, a lack of professionalism.

Terribe, complete shambles, there's no rhythem to the play: WTF have these clowns been doing in training all week? They can't even pass a ball to a team mate 2 yards away: incompetency at its best. Those players are a disgrace to the club

Of course he was here on Sunday......I mean he just got on a plane from China, signed for the club and went back to China a few hours later......he'll be presented through a live video link

I guess its a start which is very promising and bodes well for the future: good idea by the powers that and they seem to have done it in a dignified way by giving others choices of were to relocate

So just to clarify, how many people will roughly be in the singing section??

Zenit bought him for £10m. Correct me if i'm wrong didn't Bobby Robson have this guy watched? I think he was at Shalkhar Donesk at the time. Arshavin looks a great talent (As does Denisov)

No harm in asking....

Thought that guy singing the Blaydon Races at the start was quality like, got the crowd going right from the start (not that they needed any invitation) Good performance from the team: the back 4, Butt and Owen in particular shone

I would say Christoph Metzelder could be a viable option in the summer, given that Real Madrid look set to overhaul their playing staff come the summer. Garay from Santander is another option (but could be pricey)

Totally agree on the point made about Duff: still baffles me why he is in the team: I don't know what kind of game he had today, but whenever I've seen him this season he hasn't set the place alight: he dithers on the ball too long and slows our attacks down as a result: Ball came to him in the first half, ten yards of space in the penalty area, only the keeper to beat, what does he do? Waits till he gets closed down then fires a tame shot straight at the goalkeeper. He'd already missed an open goal because he didn't have the spine to use his right foot. I hate him more than I hated Jenas and that's some f****** acheivement. Sell him, loan him, kill him - just do not let him pull on a Newcastle shirt again. Theres no point playing someone whos productivity is zero: he rarely takes players on, rarely crosses, rarely shoots, to sum up he rarely does anything worthy of a positive mention: Its time he was dropped in favour of N'Zogbia whom if given a chance could do the business, plus he will bring that extra bit of energy to the midfield that we lack

Totally agree on the point made about Duff: still baffles me why he is in the team: I don't know what kind of game he had today, but whenever I've seen him this season he hasn't set the place alight: he dithers on the ball too long and slows our attacks down as a result:

Wrong, it went wrong at Derby, that's when Allardyce started messing with the team and going away to try to stop the opposition instead of trying to take them on and win games. The players were not able to keep trying to play two different kind of games from one week to the next. Fair point...can't argue with that

One way or another I just want this season to end..... to think we started the season with such optimism, went all downhill from the pompey game...we never quite recovered after that

Absolutely gutted....sometimes there is no justice in the world roll on Liverpool

Yep he's still on our books

Depending on us staying up: i think the following will be on their way out Carr Rozenthal N'Zogbia (hopefully not) Ameobi Unfortuneately I can see Keegan keeping Butt and Smith