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Supported by mysportsite.co.uk |
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Sir Bobby Robson
| Category: | Manager |
| Year Inducted: | 2003 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
By guiding England to their best performance in a World Cup on foreign soil Bobby Robson lifted the reputation of English football in troubled times, in what he knew would be his last act as national team manager.
During eight turbulent years in charge, England reached the quarter-final of the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 and the last four in Italy four years later, the country's best result since winning the tournament as hosts in 1966.
And, remarkably, he almost took charge again in 2000 in a part-time caretaker capacity – at the age of 67. According to media reports, Newcastle United, his employers at the time, blocked any approach by the Football Association.
Robson is best remembered for the events that took place in Turin on 4 July 1990. After slugging it out with West Germany, the eventual winners, for 120 minutes, England came agonisingly close to a World Cup final appearance.
‘I don't think I'll ever get over losing that penalty shoot-out,' said Robson more than a decade later. ‘It still hurts, after all these years.'
Compensation of sorts came when FIFA awarded England the Fair Play trophy for sportsmanship and good conduct. ‘A magnificent achievement for the team,' said Robson.
England's conduct on the field, allied to the good behaviour of fans on the terraces, was said to be a key factor in UEFA's decision to lift the ban on English clubs competing in Europe.
At club level, Robson is closely associated with two English clubs: Newcastle United, the team he supported as a boy, and Ipswich Town, where he made his reputation as a manager.
His popularity is undiminished: in Suffolk, a statue stands in his honour outside Portman Road; and, on Tyneside, Robson was granted Freedom of the City in 2005.
Affable and shrewd, Robson guided Ipswich Town to success in the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981.
With Robson at the helm the modest Suffolk club achieved a level of consistency over a period of 13 years from 1969 to 1982 that was bettered only by Liverpool. In eight seasons out of nine during that time, Ipswich qualified for Europe. Twice they finished runners-up in the league.
An expanded scouting network and youth development programme yielded results when Ipswich won successive FA Youth Cups in the mid-1970s. Eight members of the FA Cup-winning side in 1978 came through the youth system.
Then, in the late 1970s, Robson pioneered the signing of foreign players – bringing Dutchmen Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen to Portman Road for a bargain £370,000.
‘The only way you will leave this club with our blessing is to become manager of England,' Patrick Cobbold, the Ipswich Town chairman, once told him. And so it proved.
Throughout his eight years working for the FA, beginning in 1982, Robson led with a calm authority, despite being subject to bouts of media and public vilification unprecedented in their intensity. ‘He departed the England job with dignity, and grey hair,' the FA noted in its official history.
Having been told beforehand that his contract would not be renewed, Robson enhanced his standing on the Continent by subsequently winning major honours for PSV Eindhoven in Holland, Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.
Eventually, in 1999, he decided upon a sentimental return to his native north-east and then lifted Newcastle United out of the doldrums, qualifying for the Champions League in successive seasons; in 2003-04 the club reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup. ‘This job was a dream come true for me,' he said.