Sir Bobby Robson (1933–2009)

[Belfast Mags]

He was like the super cool Granddad you never had.

 

I adored him 

[Ryan]

Same, he was a hero to me growing up and is one of a very few legends associated with our club.

 

Happy Birthday Bobby

[Cronky]

He was the best. Sad that we didn't know what we had till it was gone.

[sempuki]

How lucky we were to have him. Especially considering the snivelling coward we have in charge now.

[Sean]

Great manager and a great man too. Happy birthday. 

[Guest bimpy474]

How lucky we were to have him. Especially considering the snivelling coward we have in charge now.

 

Aye a man of class, compared to a snivelling gutless sack of shit.

[David28]

 

My first ever manager being a NUFC supporter. 

[Guest bimpy474]

Funny thing that, while Alex Ferguson will be remembered as a great manager, he'll never be remembered with the love and fondess that Sir Bobby was. I would think only in Manchester and Aberdeen will they think of him that way.

 

Sir Bobby was loved in Spain, Portugal, well practically everywhere. Beautiful man, Jeez if only we could have his like again at our club.

[DJ_NUFC]

We should have saved some recordings of half-time teamtalks during his days here, and should just leave them playing on a loop and keep Pardew away at HT from our players. Man, whatever the players take away from that will be 1000x better than the shite they would come out with under the current plonk. The names of players wouldn't matter as SBR was never one to bother with names anyway, everyone just knew who he was referring to.

[Ronaldo]

I wonder what he'd make of the current squad? Something tells me he'd spent 2 years totally rebuilding it.

[bowlingcrofty]

Funny thing that, while Alex Ferguson will be remembered as a great manager, he'll never be remembered with the love and fondess that Sir Bobby was. I would think only in Manchester and Aberdeen will they think of him that way.

 

Sir Bobby was loved in Spain, Portugal, well practically everywhere. Beautiful man, Jeez if only we could have his like again at our club.

 

Probably because, on the whole, Ferguson was/is a cunt.

 

Bobby was a gent.

[Incognito]

I wonder what he'd make of the current squad? Something tells me he'd spent 2 years totally rebuilding it.

 

He would,  even before looking at the technical deficiencies,  absolutely loathe the lack of energy up front mainly but throughout the team in general.

[Guest bimpy474]

Funny thing that, while Alex Ferguson will be remembered as a great manager, he'll never be remembered with the love and fondess that Sir Bobby was. I would think only in Manchester and Aberdeen will they think of him that way.

 

Sir Bobby was loved in Spain, Portugal, well practically everywhere. Beautiful man, Jeez if only we could have his like again at our club.

 

Probably because, on the whole, Ferguson was/is a cunt.

 

Bobby was a gent.

 

That's was i was getting at 

[Ronaldo]

I wonder what he'd make of the current squad? Something tells me he'd spent 2 years totally rebuilding it.

 

He would,  even before looking at the technical deficiencies,  absolutely loathe the lack of energy up front mainly but throughout the team in general.

 

[kirkwdavis2001]

His enthusiasm and passion for this club is something I doubt we will ever see again unfortunately. Rest in peace Sir Bobby, you were one of a kind

[Kanj]

It was just a shame we didn't have him longer around in life and with Newcastle, as manager or involved with the club. I wish we had him right after Keegan and I wished he'd have moved up to the boardroom for life.

[soyt]

Nice stuff from Bellamy in the Fantasy Football Show. Sir Bobby was the strictest manager he has ever had. The team could not leave from lunch untill bobby was finished etc..

Also tells that Bobby totally ripped him after he refused to play at right wing ever again.

 

Sometimes you can get the image that Sir Bobby was just a funny old man, but to achieve so much success he had to have that  side as well. 

 

[Paully]

Absolutely fantastic

 

 

 

• By Neil Cameron

• Comments

Sir Bobby wanted the foundation to be his legacy - only his name could raise so much

13 Mar 2014 10:41

Almost five years after his death, the name of Sir Bobby Robson continues to raise millions of pounds through the foundation he set-up.

Share on printShare on email

 

Sir Bobby Robson

Monday morning was spent in a cancer ward.

The patients in there aren’t going to get better. The best they can hope for now is a few more years of life.

My conversation with the lady sitting across from me is one of those that after a bit you find there is something in your eye.

Let’s not beat about the bush. We are talking death. Of great people. Of young people.

And if we can sum up such a topic it is that life isn’t fair and cancer really does deserve a massive kick in the goolies.

So why did I walk away from my hospital visit with a skip in my step and feeling just that bit better about the world we live in?

Because I spent my morning at the Freeman Hospital, specifically inside the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre.

It reminded me why people, football people especially, are actually really good for the most part.

I spent most of the morning with Liz Luff. To describe her as the woman who does the PR for Sir Bobby’s foundation would be like suggesting the great man was something in football. She is all that and more. Much more.

And it was my great fortune to meet Professor Ruth Plummer, who was Sir Bobby’s doctor as he faced cancer for the fifth and, as he was all too aware, the final time.

We are approaching the foundation’s sixth anniversary. It’s as good a time as any to take you over why Sir Bobby’s name has managed to raise close to £6m and built a cancer care unit, which houses vital drug trials that are going to save lives.

“Sir Bobby wanted this to be his legacy,” explains Liz who has been involved right from the beginning.

She was in PR and marketing for an agency in town. The foundation – she did the PR at the launch – became more than just a client. Liz began using days off to work for Sir Bobby. It meant that much.

And then fortune took over.

Sir Bobby Robson with Liz Luff 

Liz said: “When I was with an agency, they asked me to work with Sir Bobby because I was a season ticket holder at St James’ Park. I nearly broke my neck jumping over my desk to say yes.

“Working with him was a passion for me. Like anyone who had a connection with the guy, you just wanted his approval. So I did a lot of stuff in my spare time.

“Then I was made redundant. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but what I did know was that I wasn’t going to give up the Sir Bobby Foundation. I set up as a freelance because working with him meant too much.

“I am sure Sir Bobby had no idea he had this affect on my life, but working with him gave me more confidence in my own abilities than I ever had before.

“I worked with some fantastic managers, but Sir Bobby could make anyone feel great about themselves. I know so many people who through meeting Sir Bobby have gone on to make life-changing decisions.

“I won’t be the first person to say this, but I wanted him to be proud of me. I didn’t want to let him down.

“He worked hard so you worked hard. You made sure everything was done to his standards. He genuinely changed my life. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go out on my own if it hadn’t been for him.”

And so Liz and Sir Bobby, plus a lot of other people, started to put on events before and after his death, on July 31, 2009, and so far they have raised close to £6m.

It’s a remarkable total.

“The charity came out of aspecific need. Prof Plummer was treating Sir Bobby and he knewthere was nothing that could be done for him,” added Liz. “She needed £500,000 to equip a cancer trials research centre. She asked Sir Bobby if he knew of anyone who would like to contribute.

“And despite the fact he was very ill himself at this point, he told Ruth that this wasn’t her job.

“Her job was to look after people with cancer, so he took on the responsibility to raise the money.

“We launched in March 2008. He was nervous. He didn’t know what response he would get. He did charity work before, but this was the first time he put his name to something. He was asking people for money. He keenly felt that responsibility.

“Ruth got the £500,000 she needed within seven weeks.”

  Sir Bobby Robson hands over a cheque for £500,000 to Prof Ruth Plummer, the oncologist who treated him towards the end of his life. The money, which helped equip the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, was raised in a matter of weeks once Sir Bobby put his name to the project

You get to the centre by walking down what is known as the football corridor.

On either wall hangs pictures of Sir Bobby, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. All three big North East clubs have stepped up to the plate.

“Ruth was telling me that patients are late for their appointments because they spend so much time looking at the pictures,” Liz says with a smile. And there are a lot of smiles at the centre itself.

It’s not a gloomy place. You wouldn’t want to find yourself there, but those who do get the best of care.

When you are buzzed through the big set of double doors, you are greeted by the friendly front-desk staff and a picture of a certain County Durham lad.

“Lady Elsie likes it because she says he’s smiling with her eyes,” Liz says.

It’s there I meet Prof Plummer, or Ruth as she insists on me calling her.

The affection that existed between her and Sir Bobby is clear to see, even if he, at times, could be “a handful.”

She tells me a brilliant story. Sir Bobby, despite not being great, liked to come down and see the centre take shape. He would talk his way past the builders, a few autographs and some nice words did the trick, and then would wander around without a hard hat, stretching over pipes and holes in the ground.

“I mean, imagine if he fell in,” says Ruth.

To give some context, the facilities before were a bit grim. “Sir Bobby used to say we had a great team, but we needed a new stadium,” recalls Liz. “His attitude was always ‘let’s get this sorted.’ Everything could be done. It rubbed off on everyone.”

Lady Elsie with the suit her husband wore at 1990 World Cup semi-final

It’s easy to feel cynical when famous people put their names to charity. You do wonder what their real intentions are.

Not with this one. Remember, this was a terminally ill man who used up every last ounce of his remaining energy to do some good.

Liz says: “After a trustees meeting just recently, one of Sir Bobby’s sons sent me a text which says, ‘It’s quite a thing we have on our hands.’ I loved that. So understated. We don’t have professional fundraisers. We are totally reliant on people who come to us to say they would like to do something.

“The power of his name opens doors to places you wouldn’t believe.

“In February last year, which would have been his 80th birthday, we had the Knight to Remember at the Sage and the names we got were unbelievable.

“Mark Knopfler was there!

“That night we received a letter from Sepp Blatter and a cheque for £10,000 from FIFA.

“We also had juniors from Winlaton Football club distributing the programmes.

“So we had contributions from right at the top of the game to junior football. The full spectrum. He would have absolutely loved that.”

Liz never thought the charity would fail, but the way it has taken off never ceases to amaze her.

She will probably hate so much attention on her, but Liz is a little – she is tiny, bless – hero. The charity is even more personal for her as her sister Rebecca was diagnosed soon after Sir Bobby died and she sadly passed away nine months later.

She had 18 months of working with the man. It was a precious time.

“I was very lucky to get to know him. He had a presence every time he walked in a room. Very few people have that. It was special to meet him, every single time,” she said.

“The last time I saw him was at the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy at St James’. It was the last time he left the house. We didn’t know if he would make it because he was so poorly.

“He would go to any event he could. He’d step up a gear and you would think there was nothing wrong with him. But then he’d have to spend the next day in bed.”

Did he ever get your name wrong?

“Ha. No, but there was one time, and by this stage I’d worked with him God knows how many times, and he whispered to his PA Judith, ‘It is Liz, isn’t it?’

“Well he thought he’d whispered it. It came right across the room. You had to laugh.”

Liz is rightly proud to be part of something so big, so important.

He wasn’t a bad manager was Sir Bobby, but there are few who can claim they have helped literally to save lives.

Perhaps this says it best.

In Professor Plummer’s room, she keeps a signed picture of her most famous patient. It reads: “Why did you ask? I’m glad you did.”

The Sir Bobby Robson Centre

• Constructed by the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the Northern Institute for Cancer Research and Newcastle University, the Sir Bobby Robson Centre is at the forefront of research into cancer.

• It brings together all the clinical research staff who are working to improve cancer treatments into one purpose-built unit with a clinical treatment area, laboratory space for blood sample handling and offices for data collection and drug safety reporting.

• The Centre offers patients access to early trials and potential new treatments and works closely with the Imaging Research Centre to improve diagnosis and study the effects of new drugs.

• Often these are ‘first in human’ trials and the Centre’s dedicated staff also co-ordinate trials of drugs at later stages of development, working with the National Cancer Networks to ensure patients are offered the best options for treatment.

• Every patient who goes on an experimental trial in the Sir Bobby Centre has terminal cancer and knows that standard treatment will not prove effective for them.

• In some cases, patients are aware from the outset that the treatment they receive in the Centre will not benefit them at all – but that the information gained from their participation will help someone else facing cancer in the future. They are, as Sir Bobby put it, “utterly selfless and brave.”

• Most recently, the Foundation contributed £438,000 to purchase an ImageStream Imaging Flow Cytometer, called an ImagestreamX (ISx), which allows scientists to see cancer cells that may be circulating in a patient’s blood and is able to analyse up to 4,000 individual cells a

second.

• It will provide an insight into how cancers spread around the body and how effectively new treatments are working and will primarily help with the drug trials being undertaken in the Sir Bobby Robson Centre.

• The Foundation’s largest funding contribution to date, £850,000, is helping purchase the latest generation in stereotactic radiotherapy surgery.

 

[Andymc1]

Absolutely fantastic

 

 

 

• By Neil Cameron

• Comments

Sir Bobby wanted the foundation to be his legacy - only his name could raise so much

13 Mar 2014 10:41

Almost five years after his death, the name of Sir Bobby Robson continues to raise millions of pounds through the foundation he set-up.

Share on printShare on email

 

Sir Bobby Robson

Monday morning was spent in a cancer ward.

The patients in there aren’t going to get better. The best they can hope for now is a few more years of life.

My conversation with the lady sitting across from me is one of those that after a bit you find there is something in your eye.

Let’s not beat about the bush. We are talking death. Of great people. Of young people.

And if we can sum up such a topic it is that life isn’t fair and cancer really does deserve a massive kick in the goolies.

So why did I walk away from my hospital visit with a skip in my step and feeling just that bit better about the world we live in?

Because I spent my morning at the Freeman Hospital, specifically inside the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre.

It reminded me why people, football people especially, are actually really good for the most part.

I spent most of the morning with Liz Luff. To describe her as the woman who does the PR for Sir Bobby’s foundation would be like suggesting the great man was something in football. She is all that and more. Much more.

And it was my great fortune to meet Professor Ruth Plummer, who was Sir Bobby’s doctor as he faced cancer for the fifth and, as he was all too aware, the final time.

We are approaching the foundation’s sixth anniversary. It’s as good a time as any to take you over why Sir Bobby’s name has managed to raise close to £6m and built a cancer care unit, which houses vital drug trials that are going to save lives.

“Sir Bobby wanted this to be his legacy,” explains Liz who has been involved right from the beginning.

She was in PR and marketing for an agency in town. The foundation – she did the PR at the launch – became more than just a client. Liz began using days off to work for Sir Bobby. It meant that much.

And then fortune took over.

Sir Bobby Robson with Liz Luff 

Liz said: “When I was with an agency, they asked me to work with Sir Bobby because I was a season ticket holder at St James’ Park. I nearly broke my neck jumping over my desk to say yes.

“Working with him was a passion for me. Like anyone who had a connection with the guy, you just wanted his approval. So I did a lot of stuff in my spare time.

“Then I was made redundant. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but what I did know was that I wasn’t going to give up the Sir Bobby Foundation. I set up as a freelance because working with him meant too much.

“I am sure Sir Bobby had no idea he had this affect on my life, but working with him gave me more confidence in my own abilities than I ever had before.

“I worked with some fantastic managers, but Sir Bobby could make anyone feel great about themselves. I know so many people who through meeting Sir Bobby have gone on to make life-changing decisions.

“I won’t be the first person to say this, but I wanted him to be proud of me. I didn’t want to let him down.

“He worked hard so you worked hard. You made sure everything was done to his standards. He genuinely changed my life. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go out on my own if it hadn’t been for him.”

And so Liz and Sir Bobby, plus a lot of other people, started to put on events before and after his death, on July 31, 2009, and so far they have raised close to £6m.

It’s a remarkable total.

“The charity came out of aspecific need. Prof Plummer was treating Sir Bobby and he knewthere was nothing that could be done for him,” added Liz. “She needed £500,000 to equip a cancer trials research centre. She asked Sir Bobby if he knew of anyone who would like to contribute.

“And despite the fact he was very ill himself at this point, he told Ruth that this wasn’t her job.

“Her job was to look after people with cancer, so he took on the responsibility to raise the money.

“We launched in March 2008. He was nervous. He didn’t know what response he would get. He did charity work before, but this was the first time he put his name to something. He was asking people for money. He keenly felt that responsibility.

“Ruth got the £500,000 she needed within seven weeks.”

  Sir Bobby Robson hands over a cheque for £500,000 to Prof Ruth Plummer, the oncologist who treated him towards the end of his life. The money, which helped equip the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, was raised in a matter of weeks once Sir Bobby put his name to the project

You get to the centre by walking down what is known as the football corridor.

On either wall hangs pictures of Sir Bobby, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. All three big North East clubs have stepped up to the plate.

“Ruth was telling me that patients are late for their appointments because they spend so much time looking at the pictures,” Liz says with a smile. And there are a lot of smiles at the centre itself.

It’s not a gloomy place. You wouldn’t want to find yourself there, but those who do get the best of care.

When you are buzzed through the big set of double doors, you are greeted by the friendly front-desk staff and a picture of a certain County Durham lad.

“Lady Elsie likes it because she says he’s smiling with her eyes,” Liz says.

It’s there I meet Prof Plummer, or Ruth as she insists on me calling her.

The affection that existed between her and Sir Bobby is clear to see, even if he, at times, could be “a handful.”

She tells me a brilliant story. Sir Bobby, despite not being great, liked to come down and see the centre take shape. He would talk his way past the builders, a few autographs and some nice words did the trick, and then would wander around without a hard hat, stretching over pipes and holes in the ground.

“I mean, imagine if he fell in,” says Ruth.

To give some context, the facilities before were a bit grim. “Sir Bobby used to say we had a great team, but we needed a new stadium,” recalls Liz. “His attitude was always ‘let’s get this sorted.’ Everything could be done. It rubbed off on everyone.”

Lady Elsie with the suit her husband wore at 1990 World Cup semi-final

It’s easy to feel cynical when famous people put their names to charity. You do wonder what their real intentions are.

Not with this one. Remember, this was a terminally ill man who used up every last ounce of his remaining energy to do some good.

Liz says: “After a trustees meeting just recently, one of Sir Bobby’s sons sent me a text which says, ‘It’s quite a thing we have on our hands.’ I loved that. So understated. We don’t have professional fundraisers. We are totally reliant on people who come to us to say they would like to do something.

“The power of his name opens doors to places you wouldn’t believe.

“In February last year, which would have been his 80th birthday, we had the Knight to Remember at the Sage and the names we got were unbelievable.

“Mark Knopfler was there!

“That night we received a letter from Sepp Blatter and a cheque for £10,000 from FIFA.

“We also had juniors from Winlaton Football club distributing the programmes.

“So we had contributions from right at the top of the game to junior football. The full spectrum. He would have absolutely loved that.”

Liz never thought the charity would fail, but the way it has taken off never ceases to amaze her.

She will probably hate so much attention on her, but Liz is a little – she is tiny, bless – hero. The charity is even more personal for her as her sister Rebecca was diagnosed soon after Sir Bobby died and she sadly passed away nine months later.

She had 18 months of working with the man. It was a precious time.

“I was very lucky to get to know him. He had a presence every time he walked in a room. Very few people have that. It was special to meet him, every single time,” she said.

“The last time I saw him was at the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy at St James’. It was the last time he left the house. We didn’t know if he would make it because he was so poorly.

“He would go to any event he could. He’d step up a gear and you would think there was nothing wrong with him. But then he’d have to spend the next day in bed.”

Did he ever get your name wrong?

“Ha. No, but there was one time, and by this stage I’d worked with him God knows how many times, and he whispered to his PA Judith, ‘It is Liz, isn’t it?’

“Well he thought he’d whispered it. It came right across the room. You had to laugh.”

Liz is rightly proud to be part of something so big, so important.

He wasn’t a bad manager was Sir Bobby, but there are few who can claim they have helped literally to save lives.

Perhaps this says it best.

In Professor Plummer’s room, she keeps a signed picture of her most famous patient. It reads: “Why did you ask? I’m glad you did.”

The Sir Bobby Robson Centre

• Constructed by the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the Northern Institute for Cancer Research and Newcastle University, the Sir Bobby Robson Centre is at the forefront of research into cancer.

• It brings together all the clinical research staff who are working to improve cancer treatments into one purpose-built unit with a clinical treatment area, laboratory space for blood sample handling and offices for data collection and drug safety reporting.

• The Centre offers patients access to early trials and potential new treatments and works closely with the Imaging Research Centre to improve diagnosis and study the effects of new drugs.

• Often these are ‘first in human’ trials and the Centre’s dedicated staff also co-ordinate trials of drugs at later stages of development, working with the National Cancer Networks to ensure patients are offered the best options for treatment.

• Every patient who goes on an experimental trial in the Sir Bobby Centre has terminal cancer and knows that standard treatment will not prove effective for them.

• In some cases, patients are aware from the outset that the treatment they receive in the Centre will not benefit them at all – but that the information gained from their participation will help someone else facing cancer in the future. They are, as Sir Bobby put it, “utterly selfless and brave.”

• Most recently, the Foundation contributed £438,000 to purchase an ImageStream Imaging Flow Cytometer, called an ImagestreamX (ISx), which allows scientists to see cancer cells that may be circulating in a patient’s blood and is able to analyse up to 4,000 individual cells a

second.

• It will provide an insight into how cancers spread around the body and how effectively new treatments are working and will primarily help with the drug trials being undertaken in the Sir Bobby Robson Centre.

• The Foundation’s largest funding contribution to date, £850,000, is helping purchase the latest generation in stereotactic radiotherapy surgery.

 

Brilliant as ever.

[Beren]

[High Five o]

just love this picture, so many characters 

 

[mattypnufc]

RIP, forever in our thoughts. X

[Paully]

Five years today - where has that gone

 

£7.3 million raised for cancer research via the SBR Foundation - truly unbelievable

 

R.I.P Legend

[Ste]

Tear in my eye this morning thinking about Sir Bobby. A true great.

[Ste]

One of the men who remind me why I love this football club, despite all that is going on with it now. It's a far cry from when Bobby was manager, but there will be a day when the club is ran competitively once again.