(Video) Ex-England Soccer Coach Bobby Robson Dies at Age 76
Soccer Extreme : Bobby Robson, the former England soccer coach who led clubs to trophies in four of Europe’s top leagues, died today after a battle with cancer. He was 76.
Robson “died very peacefully this morning at his home in County Durham with his wife and family beside him,” according to an e-mailed statement issued on behalf of his family.
Robson played for Fulham and West Bromwich Albion during the 1950s and 1960s. After appearing 20 times for England, his coaching career flourished at Ipswich Town, earning him the national post in 1982.
He led England to its second World Cup semifinal in 1990 before winning trophies with clubs in the Netherlands, Portugal and in Spain, where he managed Barcelona. His full-time managing career ended at Newcastle in 2004 after which he became an adviser for Ireland’s national team.
“The whole football world loved Bobby Robson as a player, a manager and an ambassador for the game,” Ian Watmore, chief executive officer of the English Football Association said in a statement. “This is a sad day.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Robson “epitomized everything that is great” about football.
“He will be sorely missed, not only in Newcastle and Ipswich, both of whom he served with such devotion, but by all sports fans in our country,” Brown said in a statement.
‘Battler’
Alan Shearer, who played for Robson at Newcastle and England, described him as “a winner, a battler and a fighter” who “fought until the very last.”
Robson was first diagnosed with cancer in 1992, according to the Web site of the charitable foundation he set up to raise awareness of the disease. He had an operation in August 2006 to remove a brain tumor and in May 2007 had a chemotherapy course to treat nodules on a lung.
He was known for his love of the sport, his ability to talk about it endlessly, and his absent-mindedness. Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi said Robson would often forget his name.
Robson was born in Durham, northeast England, in 1933, the son of a coalminer.
A winger or midfielder, he started his playing career with Fulham at the age of 17, before switching to West Brom, where he earned all his call-ups to the national team and a place in the squads for the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.
Only Trophy
After a brief return to Fulham, Robson ended his playing career in Canada with the Vancouver Royals, where he started coaching. He took a first full-time managerial role at Fulham in 1968, lasting 10 months before joining Ipswich.
At that time, Ipswich had won the English championship once, its only trophy in 91 years. During 13 years under Robson, the club won the F.A. Cup and Europe’s UEFA Cup, and twice finished runner-up in the top division. He recruited just 14 players from other teams, preferring to develop his side through Ipswich’s youth system which nurtured the likes of Kevin Beattie, George Burley and John Wark.
Robson’s record at Ipswich led to his fending off competition from candidates including Brian Clough, a two-time European Cup-winner with Nottingham Forest, to succeed Ron Greenwood as England coach.
Under Robson the national team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship and lost all its matches at the continental tournament four years later.
World Cup
Having lost to Diego Maradona’s self-proclaimed “hand of God” goal for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal, England went a step further in 1990, losing in a penalty shootout to eventual champion West Germany in the last four.
It was England’s best World Cup performance since Alf Ramsey led the team to its only major trophy, on home soil in 1966. It came after Robson selected midfielder Paul Gascoigne, whom he called “daft as a brush” yet who gave standout performances at the tournament.
The Football Association decided not to renew Robson’s contract and he joined PSV Eindhoven, twice winning the Dutch league. Poor performances in Europe and clashes with players led to Robson joining Sporting Lisbon, which fired him in 1994 even as the club topped the league table.
He moved on to Portuguese rival Porto, which defeated Sporting in the national Cup final and won the league in 1995 and 1996.
Success in Portugal attracted Barcelona, where Robson’s acquisition of Brazil striker Ronaldo from PSV helped the club win the Spanish Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Newcastle
After a year as Barcelona’s general manager, Robson spent another season with PSV before returning to England to join Newcastle, near his birthplace of Sacriston.
Bottom of the Premier League when he took the job in 1999, Newcastle finished fourth and third in 2002 and 2003, qualifying for Europe’s elite Champions League.
He left in 2004 after Newcastle finished fifth -- missing out on a place in the continent’s top competition. Robson took up his role with Ireland in January 2006 until the end of his contract in December 2007.
“Sir Bobby was one of the game’s true footballing legends, a unique, passionate man who gave so much to the game,” Newcastle Managing Director Derek Llambias said in a statement on the club’s Web site. “He will be enormously missed by the whole football community worldwide.”
Robson had a tumor removed from his lung in May 2007 after overcoming previous battles with skin and bowel cancer.
“It was the first time I’d left a game early in 55 years, apart from being carried off on a stretcher as a player,” Robson said after being taken ill Aug. 5, 2007, while watching Ipswich, where he was honorary club president.
Knighted in 2002 for his services to soccer, Robson told the Sun newspaper in August 2008 that he was “going to die sooner rather than later,” but added that he had “enjoyed every minute.”
He is survived by his wife Elsie and three sons. Funeral services will be private, the family statement said. A thanksgiving service will be held at a later date. (bloomberg)
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