On This Day – 18th February
One of the biggest names in English football was born on this day in 1933.
Sir Bobby Robson spent most of his career playing for Fulham and also spent six years at West Bromwich Albion.
He then went on to manage in three different countries and managed the England national team for eight years, guiding his country to the World Cup Semi Final in 1990.
Robson began his playing career at Fulham, making his debut at the age of 17. He spent six years at Craven Cottage, playing in over 150 league games and scoring 68 league goals.
Robson played as an Inside Forward and in 1956, Vic Buckingham came in and signed him for his West Bromwich Albion side. He cost £25,000 which was a record signing for West Brom at the time.
Several months after moving to The Hawthorns, Robson was called up to the England first team, scoring twice on his debut in a 4-0 victory over France. He would go on to play for his country 20 times, scoring four times.
Robson was West Brom’s top goalscorer in his second full season at the club, scoring an impressive 24 times. Four of those came in a single game, a 5-1 win over Burnley.
He captained the team in his final two seasons at the club, before a disagreement with the club over his wages. Robson was transfer-listed at his own request and re-joined Fulham after making a total of 239 league appearances, scoring 56 times.
Robson made 192 further league appearances for Fulham before he spent a short time as player-manager at the Vancouver Whitecaps. This was to prove unsuccessful and he returned once more to Craven Cottage, this time as the club’s manager in 1968.
He couldn’t prevent Fulham from being relegated to the Second Division and was sacked a few months into the 1968/69 season .
Robson wasn’t out of work long as he was offered the manager’s job at Ipswich Town. It took him a while to find his feet, but things began to work out in the 1972/73 season as he guided Ipswich to an impressive fourth place in the old First Division.
Under Robson’s guidance, Ipswich would only finish out of the top six positions in the league on one occasion. That season was the 1977/78 season and what a magical season that was at Portman Road.
Robson guided Town to the FA Cup that season and a goal from Roger Osborne was all that was needed to bring the FA Cup back to Suffolk.
Ipswich would finish runners up twice under Robson, the 1980/81 season being the closest that they got to the League Championship, losing out to Aston Villa on the final day of the season.
They regularly played in Europe and won the UEFA Cup in the 1980/81 season, beating Dutch side AZ Alkmaar 5-4 over two legs in the Final.
England came calling and Bobby Robson replace Ron Greenwood as the England manager.
He was unable to guide England to the 1984 European Championships in France but he managed England to the World Cup in Mexico two years later.
England made hard work of their first few games but managed to reach the Quarter Finals before losing 2-1 to Argentina in a game remembered for Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal.
England qualified for the next major tournament, the 1988 European Championships in West Germany but lost all three of their group games and finished rock bottom of the group.
Many fans and pundits called for Robson to leave but the FA stuck with him and his finest hour was yet to come.
England reached the 1990 World Cup in Italy and as with all three major tournaments under Robson, made a slow start. Draws with the Republic of Ireland and Holland were followed up with a narrow 1-0 victory over Egypt and England topped their group.
In the Second Round, England were drawn against Belgium and needed a goal from David Platt in the last minute of Extra-Time to face Cameroon in the Quarter Finals.
The African underdogs put up a great fight and even lead at one point but two penalties from Gary Lineker sent England through to a Semi-Final against West Germany.
The Semi-Final went the distance, with the teams tied at 1-1 after Extra-Time. Sadly, the West Germans won the shoot-out and went on to beat Argentina in the Final.
with West Germany
Robson had already signed a contract with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, ready to take charge of them after the World Cup. He guided them to the Dutch First Division title in his first two seasons at the club.
Sporting Lisbon was to be the next stop in Robson’s career before he moved on to FC Porto where he won two league titles in a row.
Robson then accepted the job at Spanish giants Barcelona and managed them for the 1996/97 season.
He lifted three trophies in his one career at the Nou Camp – the Spanish Cup and Super Cup an the European Cup Winners Cup.
Robson returned to PSV in 1998, spending a year back in Eindhoven and winning the Johan Cruyff Shield.
Newcastle United came calling a few months after Robson left Holland and in his first game in charge, United thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 8-0 with Alan Shearer bagging five goals.
Robson would stay at Newcastle United for five years before retiring in 2004. He was knighted during this time, becoming Sir Bobby Robson in 2002.
He continued with his media work and punditry before losing a long battle with lung cancer on 31st July 2009.
Sir Bobby Robson was one of football’s true gentlemen. He was loved by all who met him and will forever be remembered by those who either saw him play or managing.
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