Andrew Robson talks about Christmas without Sir Bobby

Dec 24 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

LIFE without Sir Bobby Robson goes on for his family who are buoyed by the knowledge his legacy lives on, his son Andrew revealed last night in a moving interview.

As Sir Bobby’s loved ones face their first Christmas without him, Andrew told how they drew strength from the work of his charitable trust.

And in a rare insight into the life of the soccer giant, Andrew reveals his father fought on till the very end.

Andrew said a month before he died, his father looked him in the eye and said: “I don’t want to die yet”.

But company boss Andrew, 50, from Tynemouth, said the words meant his dad simply loved life to the very end.

And despite his failing health, he threw himself into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation during the last two years of his life.

“He had a real zest for life, but it was the work of the Foundation which kept him going towards the end. He enjoyed life so much and put so much into life that he didn’t want to pass away.

“He did say towards the end in a very poignant moment, I do not want to die. He said that to me one evening before he died.

“He did it just as I was leaving the house. It was a very sad moment. I think It was due to the fact that he had so much enthusiasm and determination in all that he did that reflected in the fact that he didn’t want to die.

“But the cancer he had finally beat him after he had been fighting it for 17 years.”

Sir Bobby’s final public appearance was just five days before his death when he attended the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy at St James’ Park on July 26. The fundraising game reunited players from his 1990 World Cup squad against semi-final victors Germany, and Andrew said: “He had a steely determination not to miss that game, even though he was in very poor health by that time.

“His fitness and his ability to be able to walk normally and to be able to drive and things like that were taken away from him. But he just got on with life. As a family we had to rally around and help him in everything he did, in particular a golfing tournament in Portugal at the start of July, and then that football match. He just felt that he had been unlucky as a result of getting cancer, really. But he fought it with a real stoicism, with a real bravery.