Sir Bobby Robson has given a long interview to Setanta Sports and it’s a very good interview. Freddy Shepherd sacked Bobby in August, 2004 and we’ve struggled ever since then. But we’ve always thought there’s an opportunity to get Bobby back on the payroll at Newcastle United, in some capacity, once his health improves.
Bobby Robson – disappointed at Newcastle’s progress since he was sacked
Bobby was sacked by Shepherd presumably because 5th place was not good enough, which is where we finished at the end of the 2003-2004 season. But we’ve been nowhere near ever since that time, although Glenn Roeder did get us up to 7th place a couple of seasons back.
Bobby is still respected within the game but battling ill health with the energy and effort he displayed as both a player and manager,
Robson started by talking about when he was manager of Newcastle – appointed in September, 1999:
â€It was wonderful,â€. “I was home. I enjoyed every single moment of it.â€
â€I took over when we were bottom of the league and finished, in my last three years, third, fourth and fifth. You had Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle – a top five. We were in the top five for the last three years and going very well. I was slowly getting the team up to speed, slowly building a squad and making Newcastle quite a powerful side.â€
â€Then I lost my job rather abruptly. It was a shock to me. I couldn’t believe it and, since then, I’ve stayed out of it. I did have offers to stay in the game at other clubs but they were not for me.â€
â€No doubt about it I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t lose two consecutive matches and lost my job. I lost my job in August so I’m very rare. How many managers lose their job in August? I didn’t even get to September. It shows you how crazy, absolutely crazy, it was.â€
â€Without being egotistical, the club has suffered ever since. The club are a long way from where they were so it’s going to take time to get back up there.â€
Bobby Robson can still be seen at Newcastle’s games and we know that Chairman Chris Mort has talked to him quite a bit. Bobby was at the Birmingham match and is looking forward to Setanta’s live clash against the first club he ever managed – Fulham. It was also the first club Bobby ever played for. But Bobby does not believe the Newcastle fans can be too demanding, as Joey Barton has said recently.
Bobby continued:
“It’s been very mixed to be honest,†“We had a good start. Obviously people say it was the best start for 10 years or whatever but that was only the start. In some cases, in some of the games, we’ve played pretty poorly really.â€
“There was a slight improvement in the draw with Arsenal and they could’ve won the game. For me, it was the best performance all season. At least there was fervor and bite, passion and a will not to lose in the team that night against Arsenal. I was delighted about that.â€
â€They’ve picked up four points out of six so it’s a bit of a revival and let’s hope they can go on from here.†â€You’ve got to live with the expectations. 52,000 screaming Geordies go there every Saturday in hail, rain, shine or snow, if the team is playing great, moderate even poorly. It’s a one-city team. Everyone going in is black and white. It’s Geordieland.â€
â€Obviously the club has changed hands,†he added. “For years it was in the hands of Freddy Shepherd and the whole family has now been bought out. Mike Ashley has taken over and, presumably, he’s a rich man.” â€He won’t throw money away. No clever man does that. He will want value for money and I don’t blame him for that either. So it’s a question of the acquisition of some players Sam can maybe bring in.â€
â€The team, at the moment, are not good enough. That’s for sure. If they were good enough, they wouldn’t be 10th. If they were good enough, they would be fifth. They wouldn’t be first, second, third or fourth. They’ve already been labeled and we know who will get those places.
â€But fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth are available, where Newcastle should always be – where I put them.”
â€It’s a fantastic, phenomenal club. I don’t blame the public for expecting it. They’ve not had a Wembley appearance or winning silverware for years and years and years and we should do better.â€
Spoken like a real Geordie and if truth be known Bobby was one of our best-ever managers. He had the lads playing great football and he would only have continued to have us high up the league, if he had continued in the job. But a drop of form at the strart of the 2004-2005 season give Shepherd and Douglas Hall a chance to sack him, which they did. They replaced him with Graeme Souness, enough said.
As we’ve said before it would be great oif Newcastle could find some position for him at the club. He did attend training recently to buck the lads up, and we all know he’s a great motivator. Come on Chris, we’re sure you can find Bobby a suitable position at the club, he certainly deserves it.
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
Bill F
Dec 14, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Comment #1Its not just the city of Newcastle its the whole of Northumberland plus a big chunk of Durham that the Toon gets its support from, plus many many more dedicated supporters (as was pointed out to me in no uncertain terms recently) from other diverse parts of the world.
Bobby was given a sh*t deal by a sh*t head chairman who we are well rid off. That is water under the bridges now. But I cannot think of a better way to stimulate his health and wellbeing than by given a role as an advisor to us. Better still give him a seat on the board as well.
All those in favour say “Aye”
Matt
Dec 14, 2007 at 10:27 AM
Comment #2He was a great mangaer, and sacking him was a disgrace, particularly how it was handled.
But we have to move on.
It was a tearjerker watching him accept his award the other night, but you could tell he is getting a lot slower (if not mentally it still would be perceived that he is too old).
Giving him a position would simply undermine the current manager, and be a waste of time.
A honorary lifetime membership or something like that would be great, but not a job.
Let Bobby enjoy his retirement as one of the all-time greats.
And please please can we smash Fulham.
magpieranger
Dec 14, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Comment #3I can’t agree more, even though he is not 100% at the momemnt gives the fans and I’m sure would give the players, a lift. Use him as a motivator, a talent scout, with the kids, anything but get him back involved. He is a genuinely nice bloke and the club could do a lot worse than just having him around.
Brian
Dec 14, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Comment #4I have to agree with Mat Time to move on, and I also remember a load of fans screaming for his head saying he was to old and had lost the dressing room, Where are you now? Probably the same people Booing the lads at SJP.
Mike
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Comment #5“The team, at the moment, are not good enough. That’s for sure. If they were good enough, they wouldn’t be 10th. If they were good enough, they would be fifth. They wouldn’t be first, second, third or fourth. They’ve already been labeled and we know who will get those places.”
never a more true statement has been said, well done sir bobby, your a legend.
Micky Toon
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Comment #6The term Legend is used far too cheaply these days, but Sir Bobby is a true Legend. He is still the England team’s 2nd most sucessful manager and he is the man that can be credited with giving us Jose Mourhino. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you. Unfortunatley for us we got him too late. If he had joined us straight after Keegan, I’m sure we would have won the league by now. But he is a man of his word and he stuck loyal to Barcelona. Let’s remember he wasn’t a bad player either with numerous England caps, when it was actually quite hard to get an England cap. These days you get one just for turning up for a friendly. Back then only 1st team players in competative matches were awarded one.
The way he was treated by the fat controller was an utter disgrace, he deserved much, much better. However not every so called toon fan thought so and there were calls for his head from within the ground. Shameful.
It’s interesting how much we’ve taken Sir Bobby to our hearts, considering how little time he was associated with the club, and also not winning anything during that time. Ipswitch is the club with a statue of him outside of their gound. 😀
It’s time to let Sir Bobby live in peace. I fear he may not have much time left and he sould be spending it with his family and not having the pressures of a premier league football team bothering him.
Mike
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:31 AM
Comment #7yeah hes not the man he used to be and to be honest if he was still in charge when he was diagnosed with cancer the pressure of the day to day role could of finished him off…
glad to see he is still a supporter of the club even after the way we treated the gent
Dingo
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:36 AM
Comment #8Aye
Rich
Dec 14, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Comment #9i dont know Mickey Toon, its Sir Bobbys decision, if he feels fit enough then i would welcome him back with open arms.
I have never got over the day we sacked Robson, if we had stuck with him we would still be in the top 4 teams.
to sakc someone who made the team play so well, someone who is a geordie so heartlessly is beyond me.
I have got his book, and the part when Shephard sacks him just gutted me, how shephard could do such a thing i will never know.
i love you Sir Bobby!
Haway man
Dec 14, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Comment #10Legend is an understatement.
ObaFan2
Dec 14, 2007 at 1:10 PM
Comment #11Sir Bobby is a living legend, a true legend who had been disgracefully treated by NUFC.
Unfortunately we got Sir Bobby @ the toon too late in his career but that was down to his own decision staying loyal to Barca and his contract.
Give him a key to SJP and let him do whatever he wants imo but hide the brooms and players shirts cos he’d probably end up sweeping up and doing the laundry after the games………. 🙂
“we’re not worthy, we’re not worthy”
Get well soon and I hope you can enjoy many many games at SJP in the future. You will always be in the hearts of Newcastle fans and football fans around the world. God bless you.
the longshanks
Dec 14, 2007 at 1:44 PM
Comment #12Bobby was the man who found ronaldo and van nistelrooy amoung others and told alex ferguson to make a bid for him bout 4 seasons ago.Th man has an eye for talent,sure he also bought jenas and nzogbia.Give the man a job in maybe scoutingHe is a legend and remember he got us champs league 1-0 against juventus, MAGIC!
Hadrian
Dec 14, 2007 at 2:37 PM
Comment #13bobby always had an eye for youngsters ,
go back to his ipswich days and he did wonder with their academy .
all the young signings he made for us were good players , some of them didnt make it but it was never due to technical ability .
bobbys right , we’ve went backwards since we sacked him , he should never have been sacked . id spit on freddy sheperd if i saw him .
George
Dec 14, 2007 at 3:25 PM
Comment #14Like most of the comments in this section, i agree, Bobby Robson should retire graceffully and enjoy his life.
no body would argue that what happened to BR was bad, however, lets not forget the number of fans calling for his head due to the results which lead to his dismissal at the time.
Lets not forget he had lost control in the dressing room.
Lets not forget the umpteen stories of his forgetfullness, not just from the press but by eyewitnesses at some of the reserve games.
These can all be attributed to getting old.
Look how many chairman and managers spoke out about his sacking, saying how much he had to offer the game, but, who actually gave him a job. It was years before he was employed again and only as an advisor to Rep of Ireland.
The new management owe BR nothing, any loyalty had to come prior to MAs arrival. How would SA feel about an interfereing old codger talking away to all that will listen about whats going on within the club.
How would any of us in a managerial role like someone who retired some 7 years plus earlier start advising us. NO ONE.
Bobby we thank you from our hearts for what you did for us, but please retire permanantly and let the club move forward with the new regime. You have had your time, let someone else have theirs in peace.
Leo
Dec 14, 2007 at 4:48 PM
Comment #15if it is going to be debtrimental on his health then i would not want to burden him with it, but if he is going to be fit and well then great, we could use a man of his stature who can inspire his players.
Eamonn
Dec 14, 2007 at 5:41 PM
Comment #16I think the turning point under SBR was the 6-2 reversal v Man U, April 12th 03 I recall . I was over for that disaster of a game. Jenas got us ahead with a scorcher just outside the area at the Leazes end. We went mental, if we’d have won that game we’d have been title contenders. But it was all downhill after that, then he lost the plot and sold Nobby…