Sir Bobby Robson (1933–2009)

[merlin]

Turned us down for a pay off. Beew.

Whether you - or anyone else - likes it or not, he turned us down...not once, but twice.

A case can be made for him not leaving Ipswich after their board had been so loyal to him initially when he faced virtual mutiny from some players, esp when he would be joining an NUFC run by Westwood & Co, but not in the case of 1997. We had just finished second in the PL and had plenty of money for players.

You know(but probably won't accept)the position he was in at Barcelona - I have made my own judgement on the matter and that's my right. Robson was a fine manager, one of England's most successful, but he was no saint and I refuse to treat him as such just as I don't claim KK was a saint.

KK did NOT turn us down when we needed him and he walked out when he felt he had been undermined...I thought he was wrong the first time but absolutely right the second time.

Sorry if you don't like it, but tough.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He turned us down, so what? The definition of irrelevant to how important he ended up being.

[Guest reefatoon]

Christ, what is it with people wanting to put downers on the rare feelgood football threads?

[sempuki]

Christ, what is it with people wanting to put downers on the rare feelgood football threads?

Exactly - we don't have much to crow about at the moment and probably not in the near future. Bloke was a bona fide legend.

[Gallowgate Toon]

As if the club have included that famous quote of his in their Facebook post for him.

 

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Sir Bob. I was incredibly young when Keegan was around and only have limited (possibly fabricated) memories of his tenure, so SBR was the first and only great NUFC manager I've had in my time truly supporting the club. Some brilliant memories of his time here.

[Jack Flash]

Sir Bobby had his own pre-match superstition which was to make sure he shook every player’s hand. So before most games' date=' we’d end up at the back of the tunnel together, having a chat about what lay ahead and the opponents we were facing. He’d stare at their players. “He’s shit scared of you already, that one, son,” he’d say. Or it might be: “Get him on the turn today, son, and you’ll kill him.” Or: “Look at him, son, he’s not even fit to be on the same pitch as you.” I felt like I was the quickest player going, I felt strong, I felt invincible because of him. There is a lot to be said for managers who give you that kind of confidence, managers who build you up rather than try and hammer you all the time. He would talk to me like I was the best player in the world and I went out at St James’ Park feeling like I was going to play like the best player in the world. I am 5ft 6 or 5ft 7ins tall but I am telling you this: when I put that kit on and I was standing in that tunnel with Bobby Robson, I felt like I was Didier Drogba[/quote']

 

Eventually, I plumped for Laurent Robert, of Paris St-Germain, who was also excellent at free-kicks, corners and generally directing the ball into the box. Charlie saw him play and I saw him play. We realised that, defensively, he was suspect. He knew about going forward but he wasn’t so smart about travelling backwards. The modern game is played both ways, but we felt we could develop him, coach him, talk him into being the player we wanted him to be. Such was our faith in our own ability to change him that we paid PSG something like £9 million to bring him over from France.

 

Now, let me tell you, I had Laurent Robert in my office more times than any player I have known in my whole career. I cornered him in the treatment room, the dressing room, my office and even the boardroom twice. Sometimes we even had his interpreter there for the sake of clarity. We used a flip-chart. I tried everything to make him understand his defensive responsibilities. ‘Do you understand what I expect from you?’ I would ask, fixing him with a stare. ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ would come the answer. Then I would turn to the interpreter. ‘Does he understand what I’m saying about where we move the ball, where to come, how to drop back, how to drop inside, how to slide...?’ ‘Yeah, yeah.’ The answers were always in the affirmative. My God, we spent some time on those conversations. If nothing else, they improved Laurent’s grasp of English.

 

Whether he’ll ever get the message, I really do not know but I can say for certain that in the 2003–04 season he scored eleven goals and made twenty-nine last passes prior to other players scoring, which equates to forty goals. When he’s doing that, you can put up with some of the play falling back on top of you because Laurent’s not doing his defensive job. That’s just what he is – talented and exasperating, and a great deliverer of the ball. He would put it on the spot for Shearer, who returned to the first team after five months out, in a 1–1 draw with Sunderland in August, our first home game of the season. When we beat PSV 2–1, Laurent delivered two fantastic crosses, one for Shearer, one for Speed, both curling on to the head of the incoming player

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I could read about Bobby all day.

[Beren]

Bellamy mouthed off as though he was as big as Drogba!

[RR15]

Completely different club now, so depressing reading those quotes.

 

Happy birthday Sir Bobby.

[Jack Flash]

Bellamy mouthed off as though he was as big as Drogba!

 

If Craig Bellamy wasn’t such a gifted footballer, you would turn your back on him, because he’s a nightmare of a boy. You’ll have a fight with him every day in training. Graeme Souness, my successor, would back me up on that. Their relationship deteriorated so badly that Craig ended up being sent out on loan to Celtic, in January of 2005. In matches, often, it was all effing-this and effing-that from beginning to end. We talked to Craig about that a lot. We would say, ‘You can’t swear like this in training because if you do it here you’ll carry it into matches on a Saturday afternoon, and if you do that you’ll end up with a red or yellow card. You can’t swear at referees. It’s in the laws. You’ll be sent off.’

 

He’s a spiky little kid, very ambitious. He wants the best and he wants to win. Believe you me, there’s no doubting his will to win. He’s quite prepared to have a go at a team-mate at half-time. He has no fear of saying what he thinks. In fact, sometimes he says too much and comes out with opinions that are simply not correct, but it all stems from his ambitious nature. As long as he has the desire, and as long as he has that natural pace in his legs, he will always be a potent and valuable player

 

Soon after he died in July 2009, I read a newspaper interview that my friend Kieron Dyer had given about Sir Bobby’s strength of character and his handling of the players, particularly me. It made me smile when I read it. It brought back a lot of happy memories. It went like this. “There was a lot of talk about the brats, the likes of me and Craig Bellamy,” Kieron told the interviewer, “but Sir Bobby knew how to put us in our place. He never lost the dressing room.

 

We played Leeds at Elland Road once and Bellers was having a great game. We were 1-0 up at half-time and after about 60 minutes the manager put Craig’s number up and Craig came off. “We won the game 3-0 but when we got back to the changing room, Bellers was cursing and raving about how he did all the running, how everyone else profited from his efforts, how he needed goals, how he was judged on goals and so on and so on. “The gaffer said ‘will you shut up’ but Bellers kept jabbering on. And then Sir Bobby went: ‘I’ll squash you, son, like an ant’. Bellers was a bit taken aback but he mumbled something else and this time the gaffer let him have it. ‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘Ronaldo, Romario, Stoichkov, Hagi, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Gascoigne. These are the people I deal with. Who are you?’ “The changing room went quiet and Bellers went quiet. And then Bellers looked over at me and said: ‘He’s got a point, hasn’t he’.

[TaylorJ_01]

"like an ant"

[LooneyToonArmy]

great looking shirt..shame ours is nowhere near this nice

 

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2015-02-25/sir-bobbys-charity-on-display-during-magic-weekend/

 

http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/603122/stream_img.jpg

[Alberto2005]

How on earth was Carver assistant to Sir Bobby for so long and yet has failed to pick up anything from the great man?

[Flip]

Bellamy mouthed off as though he was as big as Drogba!

 

If Craig Bellamy wasn’t such a gifted footballer, you would turn your back on him, because he’s a nightmare of a boy. You’ll have a fight with him every day in training. Graeme Souness, my successor, would back me up on that. Their relationship deteriorated so badly that Craig ended up being sent out on loan to Celtic, in January of 2005. In matches, often, it was all effing-this and effing-that from beginning to end. We talked to Craig about that a lot. We would say, ‘You can’t swear like this in training because if you do it here you’ll carry it into matches on a Saturday afternoon, and if you do that you’ll end up with a red or yellow card. You can’t swear at referees. It’s in the laws. You’ll be sent off.’

 

He’s a spiky little kid, very ambitious. He wants the best and he wants to win. Believe you me, there’s no doubting his will to win. He’s quite prepared to have a go at a team-mate at half-time. He has no fear of saying what he thinks. In fact, sometimes he says too much and comes out with opinions that are simply not correct, but it all stems from his ambitious nature. As long as he has the desire, and as long as he has that natural pace in his legs, he will always be a potent and valuable player

 

Soon after he died in July 2009, I read a newspaper interview that my friend Kieron Dyer had given about Sir Bobby’s strength of character and his handling of the players, particularly me. It made me smile when I read it. It brought back a lot of happy memories. It went like this. “There was a lot of talk about the brats, the likes of me and Craig Bellamy,” Kieron told the interviewer, “but Sir Bobby knew how to put us in our place. He never lost the dressing room.

 

We played Leeds at Elland Road once and Bellers was having a great game. We were 1-0 up at half-time and after about 60 minutes the manager put Craig’s number up and Craig came off. “We won the game 3-0 but when we got back to the changing room, Bellers was cursing and raving about how he did all the running, how everyone else profited from his efforts, how he needed goals, how he was judged on goals and so on and so on. “The gaffer said ‘will you shut up’ but Bellers kept jabbering on. And then Sir Bobby went: ‘I’ll squash you, son, like an ant’. Bellers was a bit taken aback but he mumbled something else and this time the gaffer let him have it. ‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘Ronaldo, Romario, Stoichkov, Hagi, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Gascoigne. These are the people I deal with. Who are you?’ “The changing room went quiet and Bellers went quiet. And then Bellers looked over at me and said: ‘He’s got a point, hasn’t he’.

 

Amazing Miss that team, the team that got me to love this club. Players like Bellamy, Shearer, Solano, Robert, Dyer, Speed, Lua Lua and of course Sir Bobby. Amazing times, how much we've fallen since then

[Ronaldo]

Lua Lua?

[Mick]

Lua Lua?

 

Lua Lua looked like he could have been a good player early on in his career here, I though he was much better than the bloke who he was in contention with for a place, Shola.

[Interpolic]

Watching Shearer and Shola up front was always painful like, should always have been Lua Lua in for Bellamy when it was him who wasn't fit.

[Ronaldo]

Lua Lua?

 

Lua Lua looked like he could have been a good player early on in his career here, I though he was much better than the bloke who he was in contention with for a place, Shola.

 

He had the odd good game but he doesn't belong in the company above.

[Mick]

Watching Shearer and Shola up front was always painful like, should always have been Lua Lua in for Bellamy when it was him who wasn't fit.

 

His goal celebrations were also better.

[Mick]

 

 

He had the odd good game but he doesn't belong in the company above.

 

You can't mean Shola, I think even you could belong in his company as a footballer and I've never seen you play.

[Interpolic]

He's a baller, Mick.

[Mick]

He's a baller, Mick.

 

[Guest Brendan_Rice]

Lua Lua?

 

Lua Lua looked like he could have been a good player early on in his career here, I though he was much better than the bloke who he was in contention with for a place, Shola.

 

He had the odd good game but he doesn't belong in the company above.

 

Did we not start Lua Lua and Ameobi against Barca

 

[Flip]

Lua Lua?

 

 

As if I was ranking them by any sorts of ability. Lua Lua was fucking hilarious man, loved him during his time here, had this swag about him as if he was anything special. Didn't he leave because he wanted more first team-appearances? 

[Paully]

 

Watching Shearer and Shola up front was always painful like, should always have been Lua Lua in for Bellamy when it was him who wasn't fit.

 

His goal celebrations were also better.

 

Not at Fratton Park in injury time they weren't! Awful day that - coming back on the coach, we were overtaken by many Smoggie buses celebrating winning The League Cup!