Bobby Robson dies

[Wanted Man]

Football legend Robson dies at 76

Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson has died at the age of 76, following a long battle with cancer.

Robson will be best remembered on the international stage for leading England to the 1990 World Cup semi-final.

At club level, he cut his managerial teeth at Fulham before establishing his credentials at Ipswich where he won the FA Cup and Uefa Cup in a 13-year stay.

Spells at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona followed before ending his career at Newcastle.

More to follow.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8177945.stm

[Chicano Shamrock]

We had a moment of silence for him over here in the US before the LA Galaxy v Barca match.

[Killfacer]

We had a moment of silence for him over here in the US before the LA Galaxy v Barca match.

Yeah i saw about that online, he managed Barca for a period didn't he.

[Wanted Man]

Here, he is mostly known for his periods at PSV, who also held a minute of silence last weekend.

Robson led them to the championship, but they contacted another manager behind his back. Robson had to hear it from a journalist over the phone (the guy in my avatar, incidentally). To avoid publicity, he invited the journalist to meet with him in some shitty northern village. There, the journalist had to make signals with his car's headlights to make sure he wasn't being followed, Robson jumped in the car and told him to drive to a discrete location. He then told the journalist everything that went on at PSV, off the record, and he heard that he really was being screwed over by his board. The whole dirty, rotten affair really hurt him, and the reporters actually saw him cry.

He later had a similar experience at Barcelona, who hired Louis van Gaal behind his back, and "promoted" Robson to a scouting job. He incidentally met his journalist friend on the plane from Barcelona, and once again spilled the beans. About the dirty way Van Gaal (who was a big shot in the football managers' union at the time!) grabbed his job, and so on. And once again, all off the record; he was so correct that he would never attack his employers in public. The stories of both these meetings were revealed on tv just last night.

All in all, Dutch policymakers, managers and (former) players have caused him a lot of suffering, which is very sad to think of. And last weekend, all these people were in Eindhoven to talk about what a great man he was. The same players who, in his first period at PSV, leaked to the press that he was a poor manager.

Yet he was never bitter. In fact, we have him to thank for the fact that McClaren is managing in the Netherlands today, Robson recommended him to go here. And, far from a form of cynical retribution, it's actually been pretty good for our league. So here's to all the English gentlemen in football.

[Wanted Man]

Some vids from Robson at PSV:

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[Killfacer]

Thats "Sir" to you dutch ;)

[Pogue]

all this proves is how evil dutch people are