Sir Bobby Robson (1933-2009)

Watched it last night. Absolutely brilliant. Surprised how well it was edited/put together. Really skillfully done, was expecting it to be a little more straightforward/simplistic.

A brilliant watch

A brilliant watch

Just figured out how to view More Than a Manager (!) after purchasing via iTunes the other day. It’s taking forever to download onto an iPad, I feel knackered, but I now just have to watch it. Like, HAVE to. Still only 330mb of 3.2GB. Beers on a school night, it’s the only solution.

569MB... fuck me it’s slow.

Loved it. The Barcelona bits were cool.

Just watched it. Fantastic film. If only Ashley would watch it, it may give him something he has never had . . . PRIDE in our great club. He might even start to realise what he and Rafa could achieve here.

40 minutes in this is really fucking good. What a man the Barca stuff is great.

Can you imagine how it feels to watch that if you are one of the ex-NUFC players who got him the sack?

I'm fascinated by the dynamic between him and Jose given what Jose is like these days.

Imagine if we’d got him in 1997, man.  He’d have brought Mourinho with him and moulded him to be his eventual successor.

Imagine if we’d got him in 1997, man.  He’d have brought Mourinho with him and moulded him to be his eventual successor.

Tried so hard not to think about that  :'(

Mourinho, Guardiola and Ferguson all willing to contribute and say such positive things about him. Tells you everything you need to know about the man. Seem to recall some early footage (seen years ago) of him as a very raw manager at Fulham trying to establish his authority over senior players/former teammates (talking of fist fights in the dressing room etc) was looking forward to seeing that again. Surprised it wasn’t included.

Just watched it, very emotional and insightful, but more uplifting than anything else. How Lucky am I he said towards the end, nah Bobby we are the lucky ones. And Gazza man

It’s noticable he was shat on by the very 3 clubs/international team he dreamed of managing. And how quick he detiorated after he was sacked here man... as his doctor said, his drug for fighting cancer was football. It’s noticeable the look on Shearer’s face when he said perhaps he was sacked too hastily, that look said to me he may have had a role in that, albeit I think a minor one as he was a consummate professional in training, following orders etc. Maybe the look on his face was of shame that as the club captain he could have been more supporting... I’m just super proud that a) he’s from our region and b) managed us and with distinction as well. Fitting that it was his last job as his wife said, closing the circle.

Yeah i caught that look on Shearer too, and wondered. It was a shit state of affairs, I wonder if because of the way Bobby was treated it affected out chance of getting the right person into succeed him. His leaving should have been a transition with a stand named after him or something and an ambassador role for the club or role upstairs. Karma hit us hard for that afterwards.

I wouldn’t go as far as naming a stand like... Joe Harvey is far more deserving and even KK.

That’s not me knocking what Sir Bobby did, as Shearer said, looking back what he achieved was great. Fergie got it right, he should have been part of the club in terms of helping recruit his successor and to help build an institution.

His interview with the reporters when sacked, coming out because he didn’t want them hanging around for ages and then telling them to go home to their family, that’s the measure of the humility he had. The tears in his eyes, when talking, I remember watching that live when it happened and felt disgusted with the club and although I was of the opinion at the time that we had stagnated finishing 5th and starting the season we did and that we should have been looking at a successor, he didn’t deserve to be sacked and then to be replaced by fucking Souness man! Still boils my piss to this day that whole pre-season, start to it, our signings and how it went from there. We haven't really recovered. If I was a superstitious person you could say it’s karma or something...

Partisan Belgrade man, Partisan Belgrade.

I didn't realise at the time that I was witnessing the capitulation of our club. It's been downhill since then, with minor moments of joy.

Just watched this tonight. Was brilliant. What a legend. Even Pep wrote to him from Spain asking if he could come play here under his management 

Had this on for 10 mins.  Already feel the lump in my throat.

Had this on for 10 mins.  Already feel the lump in my throat.

Get it checked mate!

Weyyyyy!

I enjoyed watching it, with all that old footage dating back years. It really brought out Sir Bob's will power and infectious optimism. It carried him and his teams through many a sticky patch and on to success.

There was a lot made of his spell at Barcelona, which felt a little distorting, because he was only there as manager for one season. In truth, his finest achievement was probably at Ipswich, where he took a second tier club to consistent top-five finishes and the very top of the European game. He took the risk of bringing in continental players at a time when that was a rarity in the English game.

Such a shame we weren't able to land him after his year at Barca. He should definitely have walked after Van Gaal had been brought in, but I suspect he loved the job so much he was hoping to be able to step back into it, if things went belly-up with Van Gaal.

The definitive story of exactly went wrong in his final year with us will probably never be written. There were rifts, between him and the Chairman and between the younger and older players in the squad, but I can't help but feel that the most significant one was the one that gets glossed over  - ie between him and Shearer.

Still not watched it yet. Got the DVD in the house. Trying to find time whilst working and then getting in and there's 2 games on the tele to watch. I'll watch it when there's a day without any games on.