Sir Bobby Robson passes away age 76

[MattM4 0]

[Gemmill 44894]

It pissed down like that when I was there on the stadium tour!

[Monkeys Fist 42458]

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his tears with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That wept with us upon Sir Bobby's day.

 

Amended slighly but....

Goodbye Sir Bobby, we were privileged indeed to have you.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

The England - Germany game from Italia'90 is on itv4 now.

[Asprilla 96]

It's really hitting me today.

 

What an absolute star he was.

[peasepud 59]

Jonny mate, you're a star

[catmag 337]

I thought I'd be in pieces when I went to the ground today but I wasn't. The atmosphere was really lovely with just a lot of love and smiles all around you. Overheard a couple of lads saying they were here from Sheffield on a stag do and wanted to come and pay their respects, and there were people with various club shirts all over the place. So much love for Sir Bobby everywhere you looked and it was a privilege to be part of it (as it was with his charity game last weekend)

[Happy Face 29]

I was talking to wor lass earlier and said I was going to make my own tribute using In My Life by The Beatles. Then I watched the extended Look North special and they had already decided to do the same themselves. So instead of making one too, I just cropped theirs a little and changed the lighting on it ever so slightly. Do enjoy as with that song being one of my favourites it certainly got me choked.

 

 

Roger Tames put it together.

 

[Craig 6682]

I was talking to wor lass earlier and said I was going to make my own tribute using In My Life by The Beatles. Then I watched the extended Look North special and they had already decided to do the same themselves. So instead of making one too, I just cropped theirs a little and changed the lighting on it ever so slightly. Do enjoy as with that song being one of my favourites it certainly got me choked.

 

 

Roger Tames put it together.

 

 

The quality of the vid has somewhat gone down in my estimations.

[Craig 6682]

Fans turn out in their thousands to pay tribute to Sir Bobby Robson

By JAMES MOSSOP

 

Above the cathedral reverence of the old football ground, a mournfully grey sky began to shed its tears on the spontaneous remembrance of a footballing knight.

 

For nine hours on Saturday August 1, men, women and children filed into St James’ Park to lay their tributes to Sir Bobby Robson along the barriers behind the goal at the Leazes End.

 

Most lingered, reluctant to leave. Among them, Malcolm Macdonald, a legend who knocked in many a winner at that end of the ground. A soft conversation turned to remembering Sir Bobby, who died on Friday, aged 76, in a way that might embrace all who loved him.

 

Should it be the ground itself or the splendour of Durham Cathedral for a memorial service? Sir Bobby will be buried privately this week, but the clamour for a service in a stadium that holds 52,000 on match days was growing.

 

Supermac, as they all knew him, was in no doubt. ‘There is no cathedral big enough,’ he said. ‘To have the memorial here would be totally fitting. Sir Bobby was a man of the people and he would be horrified if the people were to be denied.’

 

Macdonald was an eight-year-old, living in a street close to Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground when he first encountered Robson. ‘I met him getting off the bus when he was a Fulham player and he let me carry his bag,’ he recalled.

 

‘It became a habit. He always asked me about my football. Everything was positive and I took it all in, as did everyone who ever met him.’

 

Years later, Robson, then a manager, signed him, turning him from a cumbersome full-back into a quick and lethal goalscorer.

 

Among the crowd laying their flowers, replica shirts, balloons and messages was one John Shearer, second cousin of Alan Shearer — another scoring legend who wore the black-and-white stripes of Newcastle.

 

Overnight, John had Sir Bobby Robson’s name transferred in bold type on the back of his United shirt. Aged 48, he has been following Newcastle since 1966.

 

‘The Memorial Service should be here,’ said. ‘These are his people and they could fill the ground four times over. He was a great man and, whenever I saw him after games, he would always stop to talk.

 

‘It was terrible when he was sacked after finishing in the top five for three seasons running. That should never have happened. I think his health only really started to go downhill after that.’

 

Derek Smith, one of Newcastle’s scouts and a former player, joined in the chorus, as did young and old. Twelve-year-old DJ Amers — he insisted on the initials — turned out to be a youngster with so much detail of Sir Bobby’s career that he could be a candidate for Mastermind, and instantly offered an idea for a permanent memorial.

 

‘I have been coming here since I was six and I think the East Stand where I sit should be renamed the “Sir Bobby Robson Stand” because he means so much to everyone.’

 

Typical of the messages among the balloons and teddy bears were ‘A True Legend’ and ‘God on the Tyne’. There were shirts and scarves from clubs all over Britain and parts of Europe. A Barcelona strip sat next to one from Wolves. Black-and-white were the predominant colours and 75-year-old Annie Rimmer, who arrived in a wheelchair pushed by her daughter, said: ‘It’s a shame you can’t get black flowers — but my white and purple ones will do.’

 

After people had toured the scene with their camera-phones, they formed a quiet, patient queue through the club’s front entrance to sign the book of condolence.

 

It turned out that several books were required.

 

They were scribbling their affection for the great man, who was the Geordies’ Geordie; a miner’s son who, although he never played for the club, brought happiness and promises as a manager — promises that were never allowed to be fulfilled.

 

Great dramas, great players have made the ground one of the most famous theatres in the football world. Last season the show turned to tragic-comedy and even now, as they prepare to face life without Premier League football, there is no manager in place.

 

Owner Mike Ashley was not to be seen yesterday, but one supporter, passing by the television cameras, said angrily: ‘You want to get that Ashley in front of the camera to answer a few questions.’

 

Perhaps Ashley was wise to stay away. Yesterday was an occasion for remembering the ultimate football man. The brief rain stopped and a watery sun broke through, surely in a show of support for the honourable, incomparable knight.

 

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...n.html?ITO=1490

[Happy Face 29]

"I'm not taking you shopping Elsie!"

 

 

Hero

[Craig 6682]

That bit right at the end man when he's driving out of SJP, winds down the window and says "Thanks, see you again..."....

 

I wish we could.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Just watched the BBC documentary, blubbing like a bairn at the end.

[Acid 0]

Just watched the BBC documentary, blubbing like a bairn at the end.

 

Same.

[Happy Face 29]

I'm struggling to think of another man held in such high esteem. Whenever any other person that's achieved any level of fame dies there's inevitably jokes about it or a backlash against the oversentimentalisation. But there's not been any of that with Sir Bobby, and you can confidently say there won't be. He deserves every platitude given.

 

My lass surprised me today when she'd said she met him. I never, so I was already jealous. Apparently she was on a course up at the old training ground and they'd broken up for lunch, she was at the buffet and heard a knock on the window. She turned around and there was bobby, with a cheeky grin on his face he mimed through the glass how fat she'd get if she had any more. She can't stand football, she's never been to a game and doesn't have a clue what he did for us...but just from that one meeting where he came in and chatted to her and the others she saw what a good bloke he was. Nothing to do with what he achieved or who he inspired, just that he was a nice man. She's been as close to tears as me watching the coverage.

[Howay 12496]

Just found out about this as I'm in America, absolutely devastated and feeling numb really has upset me and I'll be in a sad mood all day tommorow

R.I.P a true legend

[Tom_NUFC 0]

Some pics I took yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NJS 4386]

I'm struggling to think of another man held in such high esteem. Whenever any other person that's achieved any level of fame dies there's inevitably jokes about it or a backlash against the oversentimentalisation. But there's not been any of that with Sir Bobby, and you can confidently say there won't be. He deserves every platitude given.

 

I agree with that 100% but I'm starting to feel things are getting stupid. The rise of the death cult a la Diana/Goody/Jackson which now includes Bobby shows a desperation of people needing to grieve over people they don't actually know which I think is very unhealthy.

 

I'm sad the man is dead but the way people are talking here about crying their eyes out/being devastated etc can only lead me to think they've never suffered the loss of someone close - or if they have I think they should re-evaluate what should be the appropriate difference between the two.

[Guest alex]

I'm struggling to think of another man held in such high esteem. Whenever any other person that's achieved any level of fame dies there's inevitably jokes about it or a backlash against the oversentimentalisation. But there's not been any of that with Sir Bobby, and you can confidently say there won't be. He deserves every platitude given.

 

I agree with that 100% but I'm starting to feel things are getting stupid. The rise of the death cult a la Diana/Goody/Jackson which now includes Bobby shows a desperation of people needing to grieve over people they don't actually know which I think is very unhealthy.

 

I'm sad the man is dead but the way people are talking here about crying their eyes out/being devastated etc can only lead me to think they've never suffered the loss of someone close - or if they have I think they should re-evaluate what should be the appropriate difference between the two.

Maybe it reminds them of the loss of someone close too. I sort of agree with most of what you're saying though.

[Craig 6682]

Grief is something that is dealt with differently by everyone and on an individual basis for each time they experience it.

 

I lost my Mam at a young age (19) and one of my best mates was killed in an avalanche when I was 15 - I've lost someone close before. I cried my eyes out at the funerals of my Grandad and Nan but at the other two, I was motionless and numb.

 

Ayrton Senna was one of my heroes but while his death was a shock to me, I never shed a tear. With Bobby it's been different and I can't explain it, nor should I. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I've followed this game since 1982 when he has always been a focal point of it to me be it manager of England, a Geordie who found massive success abroad or the manager of my own club.

 

I've questioned myself why the fuck has this upset me so much but there's no rhyme & no reason. And I feel slightly angry that I am now made to feel somewhat guilty for feeling upset. As I said, we all deal with grief differently and each experience of it is different.

[NJS 4386]

I'm not having a go on an individual level Craig - I accept the "each to their own" pov - I just feel as a general trend its something I find a bid strange.

[Craig 6682]

I'm not having a go on an individual level Craig - I accept the "each to their own" pov - I just feel as a general trend its something I find a bid strange.

 

That's fair enough mate - I agree with you about the general out-pouring of grief towards celebrities who people didn't know on an individual basis - particularly Diana and Jackson. I think the difference with those is that they (and 99% of mankind) have a shortcoming one way or another. I can't think of one aspect of SBR's personality or life where he was anything but the model human being. Even when he was questioned by Lineker 6 years ago the only thing he could come up with was that he never left work early enough and felt he could have given his boys more time with Dad.

 

If there is a god (and I'm agnostic) then he's got some serious fucking questions to answer in my mind when he can allow someone as special as Sir Bobby to go through the hell that is cancer not once but 5 times.

[Happy Face 29]

I'm not having a go on an individual level Craig - I accept the "each to their own" pov - I just feel as a general trend its something I find a bid strange.

 

I agree. I was up at the stadium yesterday....and walked straight past. I had no desire to go in or lay any sort of tribute, but I was impressed so many people did. What I was trying to convey is he's different to Diana/Jacko/Goody, people generally only had a bad word for those three. Nobody (I'm aware of) has yet tagged us as mawkish...because the population as a whole is in complete agreement that he WAS a great man.

[NJS 4386]

On the "not a bad word" thing - I watched that tribute on BBC last night and theres some journalists out there who I presume are still working who need to beaten with the hypocrisy stick for their outpourings of praise this week.

[Toonraider 0]

I'm struggling to think of another man held in such high esteem. Whenever any other person that's achieved any level of fame dies there's inevitably jokes about it or a backlash against the oversentimentalisation. But there's not been any of that with Sir Bobby, and you can confidently say there won't be. He deserves every platitude given.

 

I agree with that 100% but I'm starting to feel things are getting stupid. The rise of the death cult a la Diana/Goody/Jackson which now includes Bobby shows a desperation of people needing to grieve over people they don't actually know which I think is very unhealthy.

 

I'm sad the man is dead but the way people are talking here about crying their eyes out/being devastated etc can only lead me to think they've never suffered the loss of someone close - or if they have I think they should re-evaluate what should be the appropriate difference between the two.

Maybe it reminds them of the loss of someone close too. I sort of agree with most of what you're saying though.

 

I sort of agree too. And yes it does bring your own losses to the front again. My Dad passed away a year this Weds, its a painful time anyway, plus he was a football man who loved Sir Bobby.

But I think there are certain people in life even if you dont know them personally who mean something to you and their death affects you. Senna was one for me and now Sir Bobby. It doesnt matter that I didnt know them, they symbolised everything I admired in a person doing the sports I love. You didnt need to know Sir Bob, infact he said not many people really knew him anyway, its what he stood for, his values, his dignity and his love for the game and his hometown.