Sir Bobby Robson remembered by Langley Park residents

Aug 4 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

AT Tow Law Town football club on Saturday they held a minute’s silence before kicking off a pre-season game against Workington Reds in memory of Sir Bobby Robson.

No different, then, from countless other grounds across Britain.

Except that at Tow Law, more than 1,000 feet above sea level and just a few miles from Sir Bobby’s home village of Langley Park, the silence had a special resonance.

For Sir Bobby was Life President of the tiny County Durham club and had formed a special bond with its officials and supporters, helping out when it was strapped for cash after the foot-and-mouth outbreak which devastated the area in 2001.

In Tow Law they still talk about the time he came straight from St James’s Park, where he was managing Newcastle United at the time, to give a talk on football to raise much-needed funds.

The talk – which he gave for free – was supposed to last around half an hour, but two-and-a-half hours later his mobile rang – at around 15 minutes before midnight.

It was his wife Elsie wondering where he had got to!