Bobby Robson is 70 today

Bobby Robson, hardcore addict

is bobby the most likeable premiership manager? strachan's cool in a grumpy sort of way, but who has bobby's charm?

Astrology has been completely proven!

Anyway, happy birthday to someone representing lots of the good things about football.

Har har.

In solidarity, the Toon Army should mass-manufacture masks, so that for the next game, St James' is full of 40,000 Sir Bobbies, like in that new Barclays ad.

Anyway, poor Bobby! and haha to Steve Carr.

I like Sir Bobby. He can come to my house any time.

The knock-on effect is that a player with potential (and a huge transfer fee) like Viana, complained that he felt excluded from the dressing room.

Too much personality in that team, too many characters.

He did and he couldn't keep a lid on them. That's a fault of his judgement. However, it's more a depressing indication of what players feel they can get away with. "I don't want to play right midfield", "I'll move on if Rooney signs."

Perhaps it's his age or perhaps his style is now redundant. I hope not.

I WANT YOUR SOUL...

So is PJ Miller, again.

This episode has reminded me of my latterly dormant geordie-hate.

1) “She thinks I’m stupid. She thinks I’m just out of my head” - On wife Elsie.

2) “My father had five sons. I had four brothers.”

3) “Denis Law once kicked me at Wembley in front of the Queen in an international. I mean, no man is entitled to do that, really.”

4) “He was handing those cards out like tram tickets” - After an Ipswich match at Everton back in 1977.

5) “He managed with a velvet glove. But everyone at Old Trafford knew who was the manager” - On Sir Matt Busby.

6) “With Maradona, Arsenal could have won the World Cup” - Sir Bobby in 1986. Note to younger readers: the Arse were pretty naff in those days.

7) “Hitler didn’t tell us when he was going to send over those doodlebugs, did he?” - On why he was refusing to name his England team before a World Cup qualifer against Sweden in 1989.

8) “He’s learning about management now, isn’t he?” - On Trevor Francis, sacked earlier in the day by QPR in 1990.

9) "We didn't underestimate them. They were a lot better than we thought” - Sir Bobby after England sneaked through against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup.

10) “I think I have the best job in the country” - On being national coach.

11) “I will not let these people get to me or rattle me. They have no qualifications. They have never been anywhere or done anything in football. Why should I listen to them? - Sir Bobby on being criticised in the press.

12) “I was just a victim of the tabloid newspaper war. I had watched this cancer spread over the eight years. It was ugly and damaging” - On announcing he was stepping down as England manager in 1990.

13) "Look at those olive trees. They're two hundred years old - from before the time of Christ!" - Sir Bobby illustrates how great life is in Barcelona.

14) “I played cricket for my local village. It was 40 overs per side, and the team that had the most runs won. It was that sort of football.”

15) “We don't train in this country. We train at the beginning of the season to get fit - once the season starts, we're a nation of match-day footballers.”

16) “I'm here to say goodbye - maybe not goodbye but farewell” - On leaving the England job in 1990.

17) “Players never know why they are taken off or substituted - until they become managers.”

18) “They're two points behind us, so we're neck and neck.”

19) “I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence.”

20) “Tottenham have impressed me: they haven't thrown in the towel even though they have been under the gun.”

21) "Football never surprises you and it never sometimes demoralises you."

22) "If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won't lay any eggs in the basket."

23) “We've got nothing to lose, and there's no point losing this game.”

24) “I would have given my right arm to be a pianist.”

25) “I do want to play the short ball and I do want to play the long ball. I think long and short balls is what football is all about.”

26) “Their football was exceptionally good - and they played some good football.”

27) “Eighteen months ago they [Sweden] were arguably one of the best three teams in Europe, and that would include Germany, Holland, Russia and anybody else if you like."

28) “They tell me even Wimbledon are playing good football” - Sir Bobby, while PSV coach, in 1992.

29) "We're taking 22 players to Italy, sorry, to Spain... where are we, Jim?" On whether Paul Gascoigne should have gone to the 1998 World Cup.

30) “He's very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.”

31) “Sarajevo isn’t Hawaii.”

32) “The first 90 minutes are the most important.”

33) “In a year's time, he's a year older.”

34) “Some of the goals were good, some of the goals were sceptical.”

35) “Anything from 1-0 to 2-0 would be a nice result.”

36) “Home advantage gives you an advantage.”

37) “The margin is very marginal.”

38) “Well, we got nine and you can't score more than that.”

39) “He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg - he’s always had one but now he’s got two.”

40) “Everyone's got tough games coming up. Manchester United have got Arsenal, Arsenal have got Manchester United and Leeds have got Leeds.”

41) “Manchester United will find it very intimidating with 100 screaming fans in the Bernabeu.”

42) “I thought that individually and as a pair, they'd do better together.”

43) “If you’re a painter, you don’t get rich until you’re dead. The same happens with managers. You’re never appreciated until you’re gone, and then people say: ‘Oh, he was OK’. Just like Picasso.”

44) “What can I say about Peter Shilton? Peter Shilton is Peter Shilton, and he has been Peter Shilton since the year dot.”

45) “Why couldn't John Barnes play for England the way he played for Liverpool?...If he was a chicken winger I could have understood it, but we are talking about a brave man, built like a cruiserweight boxer.”

46) “I used to see Ruud Gullit play for his first club, Harlem. We at Ipswich thought he was a promising kid but we felt we had kids like him in England.”

47) “Daft as a brush” - On Paul Gascoigne, part one.

48) "When he was dribbling, he used to go through a minefield with his arm, a bit like you go through a supermarket” - On Paul Gascoigne, part two.

49) “The little lad jumped like a salmon and tackled like a ferret” - On Paul Parker at the at the 1990 World Cup.

50) "Steve Hodge has been unfit for two weeks, well, no, for 14 days.”

51) “Ray Wilkins' day will come one night.”

52) “Steve Guppy has a dextrous left foot.”

53) “He’s not the Carl Cort that we know he is.”

54) “Carl Cort” - Sir Bobby’s name for Shola Ameobi.

55) “Kevin Dyer” - Sir Bobby’s name for Kieron Dyer.

56) “All right, Bellamy came on at Liverpool and did well, but everybody thinks that he's the saviour, he's Jesus Christ. He's not Jesus Christ.”

57) “Jermaine Jenas is a fit lad. He gets from box to box in all of 90 minutes.”

58) “If you see him stripped, he's like Mike Tyson. But he doesn't bite like Tyson" - On Titus Bramble.

59) “Nobby Solano discharged himself from hospital after the Tottenham game and he's driving, living the life and aware of who he is.”

60) “We can't replace Gary Speed. Where do you get an experienced player like him with a left foot and a head?"

61) “They can’t be monks - we don’t want them to be monks, we want them to be football players because a monk doesn’t play football at this level” - On Newcastle’s disciplinary problems.

62) “If we invite any player up to the Quayside to see the girls and then up to our magnificent stadium, we will be able to persuade any player to sign.”

63) “We mustn’t be despondent. We don’t have to play them every week - although we do play them next week as it happens” - Following Newcastle’s 2-0 league defeat by Arsenal who they then played the following Sunday in the FA Cup.

64) Alan Brazil: “I'm delighted to say we've got Sir Bobby Robson on the end of the phone, fresh from getting his knighthood at Buckingham Palace. Bobby, terrific news.”

Sir Bobby Robson: “What is?”

Brazil: “You know, getting the old sword on the shoulder from Prince Charlie.”

Sir Bob: Eh? [Long pause] “Oh yeah... well, it was a day I'll never forget.”

65) “The crowd were expecting Craig Bellamy to come on and turn it around in an instant. They think he's a magician. He's not, he will be, but he hasn't got a magic wand. He hasn't played for seven months. He will be an October player. He's not a September player.”

66) “I'm not going to look beyond the semi-final - but I would love to lead Newcastle out at the final.”

67) "Both teams - and Brazil even - got better on their way to the World Cup final.”

68) “There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that might be the game that they lose.”

69) “We used to have Shaka Hislop on our books but I've never heard of Shakira. Is she a singer?” – On learning that the pop diva was staying in the same Barcelona hotel as his players in November.

70) “I don’t think she knows I’m in Germany because we play Bayer Leverkusen that night. She might have arranged a dinner party. I will have to tell her. She doesn’t know, honestly” - On his wife’s arrangements for his 70th birthday celebrations.

Only problem is that people will then start seriously touting him for the England job.

Oh, poor Sir Bobby.

I like Sir Bobby and wish him well. I doubt he will read this though. He is strictly I Love Comics.

A friend of a friend (*) was at a Bobby Robson signing at Waterstones. He got to the front of the queue and started chatting:

"Have you signed many of these today, Mr Robson?"
"Oh yes! Thousands and thousands."

After having the book signed he walked out of the shop and then decided to look at what Bobby had written. He had written:

To Dave, all the best, Bobby Thousands

(*) fair warning then: this story may by apocryphal.

IT IS ROBBIE BENSON !! Death Be Not Proud.....

http://www.lostinthepast.net/past/Robbie2/02807rb.jpg

Sad:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00446/Robson_446228a.jpg

He looks happy to me. He's had a good life, old Robby Bobson

ah.

if you've been diagnosed with cancer 5 times, yet live to be 75, + enjoyed a lot of success in your career, you have a right to a)be happy b)look like this ;)

Shall we wait until he dies before we call him a vicious ignorant homophobe?

(that's why) there are no homosexual footballers, rrrrite? ;)

Apologies if I've already posted this anecdote, but it's so good it bears repeating.
A friend of a friend (*) was at a Bobby Robson signing at Waterstones. He got to the front of the queue and started chatting:

"Have you signed many of these today, Mr Robson?"
"Oh yes! Thousands and thousands."

After having the book signed he walked out of the shop and then decided to look at what Bobby had written. He had written:

To Dave, all the best, Bobby Thousands

(*) fair warning then: this story may by apocryphal.

― caek (caek), Monday, 21 August 2006 19:46 (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've only ever heard this as 'Bobby Hundreds' and a fan stopping to get an autograph on the street, but I choose to believe it regardless as I like it (ditto making the England team wait for Peter Reid for ages pre-game before someone piped up that he wasn't in the squad)