Luke Edwards: Sir Bobby Robson, my hero

Aug 1 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

CHIEF Sports Writer Luke Edwards pays a personal tribute to the former Newcastle United and England manager Sir Bobby Robson.

WHEN the striker Craig Bellamy was still a Newcastle United player he told me a story about an incident which occurred in the away dressing room at Elland Road during the 2002-03 season.

Newcastle were beating Leeds United 3-0 in front of a typically partisan home crowd, when Robson sent on Shola Ameobi as a late substitute for right midfielder Brian Kerr.

With just nine minutes remaining, Robson ordered Bellamy to move over to the right flank to allow Ameobi to play through the middle alongside Alan Shearer. It was a reasonable request, but Bellamy lost it, throwing his arms up in the air before complaining to the bench.

With hindsight, Bellamy realised he had been out of order, but as the red mist descended, he point blankly refused to move over to the right wing which meant Newcastle finished the game with three strikers playing in a central position.

Back inside the privacy of the dressing room, Robson and Bellamy screamed the place down. Robson was seething at Bellamy’s insubordination and the prickly little Welshman was stubbornly refusing to back down, insisting he had been the team’s best player on the day so why should he switch position.

“Listen son,” replied Robson. “I’ve been in this game a long time, I’ve managed England and I’ve managed Barcelona and, trust me, I’ve squashed better and bigger players than you so get in the shower, shut up and you can apologise when you get out.”

As thoughts of Brazilian superstars Romario and Ronaldo flashed across his mind, followed by iconic images of England heroes like Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker, Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley, Bellamy was, for once, completely lost for words and meekly did as he was told.

At the end of his managerial career, Robson was sometimes talked about in the same sort of way you would refer to a kindly grandad, but even in his 70s, a man who had traded blows with two burly centre-halves in a bid to establish his authority in the Ipswich Town dressing room, retained a hard, steely edge.

It is impossible to be a successful manager without it and, even if they had cause to fall out, Robson had the respect of virtually every single player he managed in a career which took him to Fulham, Ipswich Town, England, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona and, finally, Newcastle United.