Sir Robert William Robson CBE (born 18 February 1933, in Sacriston, County Durham, England), commonly known as Bobby Robson, is an English football manager and former international football player. As an inside-forward, his professional playing career spanned nearly 20 years during which he played for just three clubs, Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. He is currently a mentor to the manager of the Irish national football team.

Bobby Robson


He achieved success as both a club and international manager, having won league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup.Robson was knighted in 2002, is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame and is the honorary president of Ipswich Town. He has, since 1991, had recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in May 2007 revealed that he had cancerous nodules in his lungs: he vowed to “battle as I’ve always done” against the illness.

Although Robson had signed professionally, his father insisted he continue to work as an electrician. He spent the day working at the Festival of Britain site and trained three nights a week at Fulham. Eventually this took its toll on Robson and he gave up his trade for full-time football.

Bobby Robson

Robson made his debut in 1950 for Fulham, recently promoted to the First Division, in a match against Sheffield Wednesday. He came to regard Fulham as “a nice club, a social club…” but “never…a serious, championship-challenging club”. Indeed, he and Fulham were relegated from the top-flight in the 1951–52 season, but he made his return to the First Division, four years later, when he signed for Vic Buckingham’s West Bromwich Albion in March 1956. The transfer fee of £25,000 was a club record for Albion at the time.He made his Albion debut in a 4–0 home defeat by Manchester City on 10 March 1956. He went on to play 257 games and score 61 goals for West Bromwich Albion and captained the team for the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons. In August 1962, however, he returned to Fulham after a disagreement with Albion vice-chairman Jim Gaunt over his salary. The on-going dispute over both minimum and maximum wages in the game, instigated by Robson’s team-mate Jimmy Hill and the Professional Footballers’ Association, combined with the birth of Robson’s second son, prompted Robson to demand a higher salary. Gaunt refused to negotiate Robson’s contract, so Robson placed a transfer request and was sold to Fulham for £20,000 in a deal which doubled his salary. Soon after Robson joined Fulham, the club sold Alan Mullery and Rodney Marsh, meaning Robson’s chances of securing any significant honour there were substantially reduced. Robson himself stated “In all my time as a footballer, I didn’t win a thing.”

Bobby Robson

Despite press reports of interest from Arsenal, and the offer of a player-manager role by Southend, Robson left Fulham in 1967 and accepted a three-year deal with Canada’s Vancouver Royals. He was to be player-manager in their inaugural 1967–68 season in the North American Soccer League and believed it “…was a chance too good to miss”. The position proved difficult; a long-distance joint-ownership agreement gave the Hungarian footballer Ferenc Puskás control over the San Francisco section of the squad, while Robson took care of the Vancouver squad. Robson was dissatisfied by this situation and when, in January 1968, Fulham offered him a contract as their manager, he accepted the position at Craven Cottage.During his first spell at Fulham, Robson participated in two ambassadorial Football Association tours in the West Indies in 1955 and South Africa in 1956. However, it was during his time at West Bromwich Albion that he graduated to the full England squad, with his first call-up in 1956. His manager, Vic Buckingham, advocated the “push and run” approach to the game, a precursor to “total football”, and playing this, Robson graduated to the full England squad in 1956, It was also at West Bromwich Albion that Robson met future England international and assistant coach Don Howe.

He went on to make 20 appearances for the England national team, making his debut in a November 1957 victory against France, scoring twice in a 4–0 victory. Although he made a successful debut, he was dropped for England’s next game against Scotland, in favour of Bobby Charlton. He was, however, selected for the 1958 World Cup squad, ahead of Nat Lofthouse and Stanley Matthews but returned from Sweden disappointed, as England were defeated by the Soviet Union in a group play-off match.

Bobby Robson

Following the 1958 World Cup, Robson became an established member of the England squad, enjoying considerable success in a period between October 1960 and March 1961 when he played in six England victories, including a record 9–3 defeat of Scotland at Wembley Stadium. He was selected for the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile but an injury to his ankle sustained in a pre-tournament friendly against a Chilean club side ruled him out of most of the tournament. As Robson recalled, “I never played for England again…my international career was unfulfilled”.

bobby robosn, bobby robsln, boobby robson, bobby robsom, bobbh robson, obbby robson, bobby robxon, bobby obson, bibby robson, bobby robson, bobby rosbon, nobby robson, gobby robson, bobby rpbson, bobgy robson, bkbby robson, obby robson, bobby ronson, bobby rrobson, bobb robson, bobby robsn, bobby fobson, bobyb robson, bobby dobson, bobby robsoj, bobby robson, bobby rboson, bbobby robson, bohby robson, bobby robsson, bobby robdon, blbby robson, bonby robson, bbby robson, bobbt robson, bobby rohson, bobvy robson, bobby robeon, bobby rlbson, bobbby robson, bobby roobson, bobby robspn, bobby rogson, bogby robson, bobby rbson, bobby rkbson, bobby rovson, bobby robsoh, bobby ribson, bobby eobson, bobby robwon, bobby robaon, bobhy robson, bobby orbson, bobby robzon, bobby tobson, bobby roson, boby robson, bobny robson, bboby robson, bobbyr obson, bobby robsin, bpbby robson, bobbyrobson, bobby robsoon, bobby robon, hobby robson, bobb yrobson, bobby robskn, bobbg robson, bobby robsno, vobby robson, bobbu robson, bobby robsob, bobby robbson, bobby robsonn, bovby robson, bobby robso, bobbyy robson

Popularity: 26% [?]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 10:52 am and is filed under England. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.