Sir Bobby Robson: Farewell to a Legend and a Gentleman

After a long, hard and brave battle with cancer, Sir Bobby Robson has passed away at the age of 76.

Bobby was perhaps best known for his work with Newcastle United when he took them to the lofty echelons of the Premier League and secured them a Champions League berth in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.

In what is an ever rare occurence in modern sport, he was loved by all involved in football. Robson was recognised as a gentleman and someone who was in the game merely for the love of it.

His playing career in the 1950s and 1960s was spent with Fulham and West Bromwich Albion.

He went on to play 20 international games for England, scoring four times.

It was as a manager that Robson would make his name, managing some of the biggest names in European football including PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and of course Newcastle.

Robson's first successful stint came at Ipswich Town where in a reign covering 13 years he lead them to a runners' up spot twice in the league and captured the UEFA Cup in 1981 by defeating AZ Alkmaar.

In recognition of his achievements with the club, there is a life sized statue of Robson at Portman Road and in 2006 he was named honoury president of Ipswich Town.

He then went on to manage the English national side between 1982-1990 with varying success.

England failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship but did make it to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where they were knocked out in that infamous game against Diego Maradona's Argentina.

The Euro 88 championship saw England knocked out in the group stage but they followed this up with a great showing at the 1990 World Cup in Italy where they finished third.

With his contract up with England, Robson took up the challenge of managing Dutch side PSV Eindhoven where he won the league in the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 seasons.

From there he went to Sporting Lisbon and worked with Jose Mourinho who would interpret his message from English to Portuguese for the players.

Despite taking the club to the top of the league, Robson was sacked by the club's chairman with whom he had a volatile relationship. Rivals Porto were quick to snap him and Mourinho up and they lead Porto to league and cup victories.

In 1996, Robson and Mourinho were again on the move, this time to Barcelona where he signed Ronaldo.

Barca won the Spanish Cup, Super Cup and Cup Winners Cup before Robson briefly retook the reigns at Eindhoven.

In 1999 Robson moved back to England with Newcastle.

In the space of a year, he took the Magpies from the bottom of the table to the Champions League.

Despite the leaps he made at Newcastle he was fired by then chairman Freddy Sheppard who cited discontent in the dressing room. As is quite clear now, the problems at Newcastle go far deeper than that.

Not one to be out of the game, Robson took up the role of football consultant to Steve Staunton in the Republic of Ireland setup in 2005. However, Staunton's tenor is better forgotten and Robson stepped down from his role in 2007.

With the news of Robson's death today, tributes have been flooding in for a much loved football icon.

"It's devastating. Everybody knew it was coming. The people who have seen him at the weekend at the charity game, you could see he wasn't a well man. It shows the courage of the man to actually turn up in front of 33,000 people and get the fitting send-off he deserved because he's a fantastic football person." - Terry McDermott

"I met up quite a few times with him when he was Newcastle manager and that passion was still there. I think that was still there to this very day. He had a genuine, refreshing love the game. He'll be sadly missed." - Glenn Hoddle

"It's a sad day for football and football people. He had such honesty and enthusiasm for the game as a player and manager. Even right up to the very end, when he spoke about football the enthusiasm still shone through how much he loved and cared about the game." - Ray Clemence

R.I.P. Sir Bobby Robson 1933-2009

* All quotes are taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/31/sir-bobby-robson-tributes