Sir Bobby Robson Day

I remember today is exactly one year after English football lost one of its most popular, highly respected & inspirational figure, Sir Bobby Robson. Times change but beautiful memories of Sir Bobby Robson will always remain in my mind. Salute to a true English gentleman of the football world.

I like the line in the song:

"Becoz he's wor Sir Bobby

And he took the National chair

MAKE ENGLAND FLY , SAW GAZZA CRY

AND ALMOST WON IT THERE."

(England were the better team on that 1990 night in Turin)

"Becoz he's wor Sir Bobby, He gives football a spark..."

Message about Sir Bobby from his former England team striker Gary Lineker

I'm no Geordie fan but feel very happy that Sir Bobby got to manage Newcastle Utd towards the late stage of his managerial career, the club that he supported as a boy. Though he was 70 years old then & grand-daddy manager, his passion to do well for the Magpies is still there. In fact, he gave the Toon Army fans their best performance for a few seasons since Kevin Keegan 1st reign as manager.

An interview with Sir Bobby Robson on his 75th Birthday

My good feeling for Sir Bobby Robson started with the England football team, mainly from the good performances in the Italia 90 World Cup. I still remember before Italia 90 & during pre-world cup final qualifying campaign, Sir Bobby Robson didn't give a lot of playing time for Paul Gascoigne. The media and football fans were all screaming for Gazza inclusion but very often, Sir Bobby brush it off and choosing to give minimal attention to English football most talented player. Gazza wasn't impressed at that time if I remember correctly. Maybe he was protecting Gazza or keeping his secret weapon. He launched this weapon on the biggest show in football, Italia 90. And as we all know, Gazza put up a fantastic show at Italia 90. I think Gazza is still very grateful for the influence that Sir Bobby has on his career during his prime All great managers have their strong ideas and Sir Bobby Robson wasn't afraid to change his very strong idea of a 4-4-2 formation to a new sweeper system midway through Italia 90. This was also one of the factor that enabled England to progress to the semi-finals.

Aside from Newcastle, Ipswich & England, Sir Bobby Robson is also very well-respected across European continent where he has managed teams such as Barcelona, PSV, Sporting Lisbon and Porto and lead them to football triumph. He also played an important role in the success of 1976 born Ronaldo, the Brazilian World Cup striker, who used to play for him @ Barcelona. Sir Bobby is the also the "shifu" /teacher of Jose Mourinho. The special one was understudy to Sir Bobby Robson at both Sporting & Barcelona.

Sir Bobby Robson is also a survivor of harsh reality of life and battled cancer many times in his life. He lost the battle last year but setup a cancer foundation organization to fund research efforts. More details can be found at : http://www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk/

I miss the football days of Sir Bobby Robson but will remember him for his immense contribution to English football. He is the manager of the finest England team that I've watch during my time. Thank you very much, Sir Bobby Robson. May you be well and happy wherever you're now. I believe your football passion will link you back to the game one day.