Ex-England Soccer Coach Bobby Robson Dies at Age 76 (July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Bobby Robson, the former England soccer coach who led clubs to trophies in four of Europe’s top leagues, died today after a battle with cancer. He was 76.
Robson “died very peacefully this morning at his home in County Durham with his wife and family beside him,” according to an e-mailed statement issued on behalf of his family.
Robson played for Fulham and West Bromwich Albion during the 1950s and 1960s and appeared 20 times for England. A coaching career flourished at Ipswich Town, earning him the national post in 1982.
He led England to its second World Cup semifinal in 1990 before winning trophies with clubs in the Netherlands, Portugal and in Spain, where he managed Barcelona. His full-time managing career ended at Newcastle in 2004 after which he became an adviser for Ireland’s national team.
“The whole football world loved Bobby Robson as a player, a manager and an ambassador for the game,” Ian Watmore, chief executive officer of the English Football Association said in a statement. “This is a sad day.”
Ipswich will hold a two-minute’s silence before today’s pre-season match against Valladolid and its players will wear black armbands.
Newcastle players held a minute’s silence before training today and the club opened its St. James Park stadium for fans to lay tributes to a man British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said “epitomized everything that is great” about football.
‘Fighter’
“He will be sorely missed, not only in Newcastle and Ipswich, both of whom he served with such devotion, but by all sports fans in our country,” Brown said in a statement.
Alan Shearer, who played for Robson at Newcastle and England, described him as “a winner, a battler and a fighter” who “fought until the very last.”
Robson was first diagnosed with cancer in 1992, according to the Web site of the charitable foundation he set up to raise awareness of the disease. He had an operation in August 2006 to remove a brain tumor and in May 2007 had chemotherapy to treat nodules on a lung.
Prince William, who is president of the F.A. said he was “deeply saddened” by Robson’s death. “His contribution to English football as a player, manager and superb ambassador for our national game has been immense,” the prince said in a statement on the association’s Web site.
Robson was born in Durham, northeast England, in February 1933, the son of a coalminer.
Playing Career
A winger or midfielder, he started his playing career with Fulham aged 17, before switching to West Brom, where he earned all his call-ups to the national team and a place in the squads for the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.
After a brief return to Fulham, Robson ended his playing career in Canada with the Vancouver Royals, where he started coaching. He took a first full-time managerial role at Fulham in 1968, lasting 10 months before joining Ipswich.
At that time, Ipswich had won the English championship once, its only trophy in 91 years. During 13 years under Robson, the club won the F.A. Cup and Europe’s UEFA Cup, and twice finished runner-up in the top division.
Robson’s record at Ipswich led to his fending off competition from candidates including Brian Clough, a two-time European Cup-winner with Nottingham Forest, to succeed Ron Greenwood as England coach.
Under Robson the national team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship and lost all its matches at the continental tournament four years later.
World Cup
Having lost to Diego Maradona’s self-proclaimed “hand of God” goal for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal, England lost a penalty shootout in the last four to eventual champion West Germany in 1990 It was its best World Cup performance winning the World Cup in 1966.
“He was a fantastic man, and loved by so many people,” current England manager Fabio Capello, who coached against Robson in Spain, said in a statement. “His spirit and courage was incredible.”
The F.A. decided not to renew Robson’s contract after the 1990 and he joined PSV Eindhoven, twice winning the Dutch league. He moved to Sporting Lisbon, which fired him in 1994 even as the club topped the league table.
He then joined Portuguese rival Porto, which defeated Sporting in the national Cup final and won the league in 1995 and 1996.
Barcelona
Success in Portugal attracted Barcelona, where Robson’s acquisition of Brazil striker Ronaldo from PSV helped the club win the Spanish Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
After a year as Barcelona’s general manager, Robson spent another season with PSV before returning to England to join Newcastle, near his birthplace of Sacriston.
Bottom of the Premier League when he took the job in 1999, Newcastle finished fourth and third in 2002 and 2003, qualifying for Europe’s elite Champions League.
Robson left in 2004 after Newcastle finished fifth. He took up his role with Ireland in January 2006 until the end of his contract in December 2007.
“Sir Bobby was one of the game’s true footballing legends, a unique, passionate man who gave so much to the game,” Newcastle Managing Director Derek Llambias said in a statement on the club’s Web site. “He will be enormously missed by the whole football community worldwide.”
Knighted in 2002 for his services to soccer, Robson told the Sun newspaper in August 2008 that he was “going to die sooner rather than later,” but added that he had “enjoyed every minute.”
He is survived by his wife Elsie and three sons. Funeral services will be private, the family statement said. A thanksgiving service will be held at a later date.
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