Bobby Robson Is No More  Bobby Robson |
Bobby Robson, former manager of England Football team died on Friday following a long battle with cancer.
Bob who was 76, passed away at around 6.30am.
"It's a sad day," said Don Howe, who was Robson's assistant at the 1990 World Cup.
"He was a man of standards. Whatever he talked about or did, he had high standards to do the best he could possibly do and he lived his life that way.”
"Having known him since the 1950s when he was transferred from Fulham to West Brom, where I was already, we just gelled together."
He played for Ipswich Town, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion and had won 20 caps for England. He achieved his greatest success as a manager.
Taking over Ipswich in 1969, he led them to the FA Cup in 1978, and then to the UEFA Cup in 1981, an extraordinary achievement for a small-town club.
A man who believed in attacking football, Robson replaced Ron Greenwood as England manager in 1982.
It took Diego Maradona's Argentina in 1986 - the hand of God goal and then that brilliant jinking run - to eliminate England in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Robson was savaged by the press, after the team could not win any of the three games in Euro 1988, but Robson retained his dignity and enthusiasm for the game throughout.
He then led England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup, which is regarded as the team’s best overseas performance. The team lost on penalties to West Germany.
He twice won the Dutch championship while playing for PSV Eindhoven, and then moved to Portugal with Sporting.
He subsequently led Porto to two championships, before moving on to Barcelona. He was part of the winning team in European Cup Winners' Cup in 1997.
He came back to PSV for a season before joining his home team Newcastle United, the club he had supported as a boy.
When he arrived in 1999, Newcastle were bottom of the table, but they put eight past Sheffield Wednesday in his first home game in charge, and survived comfortably.
They went on to finish fourth in 2001-02 and third the following season, earning two qualifications for the Champions League.
Robson was released from the club at the beginning of the 2004-05 season.Robson remained in the club's affections, and was their honorary president until his death.
"He just mesmerised everybody, it was a pleasure to be in his company," said the former Newcastle assistant manager Terry McDermott.
"He always had a story to tell, a very amusing guy. Our hearts go out to his wife and all his family."
